Erik, On all my other builds the 5000mah battery is more then enough for the job and the tanks work perfectly fine both on and off road. The problem that I'm having with this one is that it's not a stock or upgraded taigen, but is a all metal Mato. On flat hard terrain the model runs as good as any other tank model for almost the same duration. The problem is when the model is driven off road, the tank runs for about 3 minutes until it runs out of steam. I have tested the tank both ways, first on flat smooth surface, then on off road. The model was charged fully before each run and the results were repeatable.

My guess is that because of the tank's weight the power source is on more strain compared to a standard or plastic or metal upgraded model. However this strain combined with the more stress of off road conditions is too much for even the 5000mah battery

I will try swapping out the current battery with the another fresh 5000mah I have on hand, but I'm not expecting anything different

Steve, I'm not using lipos or anything fancy on these 1/16's and over the last 20 years I've never had a battery go kaboom on me. *knocking on wood intensifies*