lilopaty

hello- i finally finished putting together my hobbico superstar ep tonight - in the middle of the bench check, the esc caught fire and burnt the plastic/nylon cover right off the esc and heat sink - is it normal for the esc to really get hot, and if so, did i mess up by attaching it to the fuselage using the included nylon velcro tape strips ? by the way, the instructions for the motor "elkectrifly t-600" said to run it at full throttle w/out prop to break in the brushes. so i was doing that ... now, i cannot get the motor to run, bu the servos do run ? do i need a new esc and motor - how can i test my motor ?

please help.

Greg Covey

That is odd and certainly not normal.

If you run the motor without a prop attached, the current draw should be quite low.

I would call wherever you bought it from and tell them the story. It will likely get replaced.

You can test the motor by connecting it to a variable power supply from 0-8v or simply connecting it to 1 or 2 "D" cell batteries for a moment to see if it spins.

Good luck!

lilopaty

HI - I JUST RIED THE SAME SET-UP THIS MORNING, AND IT RUNS AT MAYBE 1/3 TO 1/2 THROTTLE, THEN IT POWERS DOWN (THE MOTOR ) ??

DOES THAT MEAN THE ESC IS NO GOOD ?

Stark Cty Flyer

I had an ESC burn up on me and found out the motor caused it. When I went to preflight the motor would turn the prop at a low RPM and the servos were working. The ESC was glowing red hot and burnt it up before I knew what was happening. I tested the motor by running it directly from the battery pack. It ran very slow and the motor wires instantly became very hot. Concluded the motor was drawing too much current. I had to replace the motor and ESC.

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

lilopaty,

Generally when you see smoke from an electronic device, it's not a good thing. Yes, your ESC is junk.

HOWEVER, as Greg Covey said, you should be able to get it replaced under warranty. Your best course of action would be to contact [email protected], assuming you are in the USA. Tell them that you were following the instructions and the ESC caught on fire. They will probably send you a brand new one, no questions asked. Worst case scenario, they will ask for the old one back, which will cost you $4 at the post office.

Taking it back to the store you bought it from is one course of action, but that store probably only had the one you bought. They wouldn't be able to replace it immediately, and would have to send it back to Hobbico. Then, you have to wait for Hobbico to get it, inspect it, determine it's broken, and send the new one back to your hobby shop. This is all at the shop owner's expense, BTW. If your hobby shop's a long drive, it'll be cheaper, not to mention faster, to deal directly with the distributor.

KillerWatt

Running most normally constructed DC motors(including brushless types) at full throttle with the normal battery pack (probably > 6 cells) and WITHOUT the correctly sized prop attached is usually going to let the motor over-speed itself and throw the windings, magnets or possibly damage the bearings.....I've never seen a factory or kit reccomendation to perform that type of breakin operation..just precautions NOT to do so on the normal battery pack..... you can usually carefully get away with it by connecting the prop-less motor directly to a few cells that keeps the RPM's down to a reasonable amount..... but i've not used that particular motor...... Did the motor sound like it was running at a dangerously high, screeming RPM ?? ..... Maybe that motor isn't capable of over-speeding itself and it was just a defective esc or motor but i would never do that to my motors......... kw

Maui-rc

Samething happened to me, I e-mailed hobbico they said I'd get a new esc in 4-5 days that was 5 weeks ago. They tell me I'm on back order. I'm disappointed I just wanted a good size Plane to fly at this huge soccer field at a park my kids enjoy. I think with the simular replys to your and my problem we sould get together and confront hobbico. Hell I'll buy the new esc but should I have to. e-mail Hobbico support , good luck