I bought a Flatana and seem to be having a problem with my BL-8 ESC as well. When I pulled it all out of the box & plugged it in it worked a couple times on the table & then when I mounted everything the ESC/Rimfire doesn't even beep when I plug the battery in. It's as if it's just fried...
I called GP & they want me to send it in for them to test. Man, that stinks now I'll probably be waiting a couple weeks before they get around to sending a new one.
I am also using a Futaba micro receiver & if I plug a battery directly into it, it works fine so I'm guessing it's within the ESC/Rimfire setup.