New Titan with electrical demon...

[LT4 Hawk 9]

***Newbie warning!***

I'm a little late getting into the Xmods, but I've been into 1/10 scale RC for years...gas, electric, on road, off road, etc.

So...I took advantage of the $20 Titan deal goin' on yesterday. I got it home, ran 2 sets of Duracell batteries through it while my new ones charged up. Put the 4x4 kit in it between batteries. That was it for the day.

Brought it to work this morning (shhhhh... ) and put the freshly charged batteries in and ran for a few minutes. Turned it off to clean the shmootz off the half shafts , and when I turned it back on it's screwed up. It'll run for a second or two, then stop...run a half second, stop...run for 6-8 seconds, stop. No rhyme or reason at all. Range didn't seem to change, as it still works the same from 25' and 2' away. The steering and throttle both stop together...when it does it, the front wheels will stop turned and do not return to center. When it goes again the wheels go where the controller is telling them to. It seems like the batteries are loose, or something similar, since the whole truck shuts down. I tried the other set of batteries with the same results. I tore it down, and inspected all the solder joints at the battery connections...and they looked good. I can pick the truck up and shake it, shake the controller, etc, and nothing seems to change.

Any ideas? I know it has a warranty, but by the time I ship it both ways I may as well buy another $20 truck. Besides...I already chopped the tabs off that limit rotation in the rear suspension, too. I couldn't he'p it, boss.

So, what else can I check to try to get this thing going again? Thanks in advance! Looking forward to checking out the pics section as soon as I get time!

[xmodsnut]

just take it back to Radio shack they will be happy to exchange it for a new one and give you the same upgrades you had in your original. If you dont have a receipt they should have a digital one in their store computer. I had a problem like this with my Lancer and to this day its still messed up and I just use that chassis for spare parts. best thing to do is get a new one. also some stores let you keep the broken cars.

[noturday]

i had the same exact problem with a titan too, but it stopped after a while now both of my titans run fine, idk what it was doing or why, but it is deffinately irritating

[LT4 Hawk 9]

I'll probably just go get another truck tomorrow evening. I have a feeling I'll need the spare parts anyway. I doubt they'd warranty it since I've hacked on it a little already.

[dontspamme]

Just dont tell them you hacked at it already. Just say "I bought this yesterday day(or when ever you bought it) and when I went to use it, today, it stopped working. So I would like to exchange this for a new one" Say that or something similer, just dont say you hacked at it.

[meme405]

i agree with dontspamme, because their not going to tear it appart to make sure you didnt do anything to it...

[Donziikid]

Originally Posted by meme405

i agree with dontspamme, because their not going to tear it appart to make sure you didnt do anything to it...

Sometimes they will.

LT4 Hawk 9, did this only happen at your workplace, or both at your workplace and at home? Maybe your workplace is throwing some kind of interference somehow, stuff happens like that on AM frequencies. A little to easily, sometimes.

Sounds like interference to me. Run it where it ran fine again, if you still have the same problem, it's probably a resistor on the EP for the range. Just because it gets range the same at 2' or 25' doesn't mean there isn't something blocking it from getting a continuous signal.

[BART]

Originally Posted by Donziikid

Sometimes they will.

LT4 Hawk 9, did this only happen at your workplace, or both at your workplace and at home? Maybe your workplace is throwing some kind of interference somehow, stuff happens like that on AM frequencies. A little to easily, sometimes.

Sounds like interference to me. Run it where it ran fine again, if you still have the same problem, it's probably a resistor on the EP for the range. Just because it gets range the same at 2' or 25' doesn't mean there isn't something blocking it from getting a continuous signal.

uhhhhhh...he said above that it ran fine at work until he shut it off to clean it.

[LT4 Hawk 9]

Yeah...it doesn't matter where I run it, same deal.

So, I went and bought another one tonight. It's got issues, too. The steering works sometimes...and sometimes something binds in it. I hope it wears a little and starts working right. Otherwise I'm going to have to combine two into one so I have something I can use.

[Donziikid]

Originally Posted by ZX9RBART

uhhhhhh...he said above that it ran fine at work until he shut it off to clean it.

I understand that. But, what he didn't mention was if it he took it home again and tried to run it there. He never said it didn't work at his workplace, and at home; he just mentioned workplace. I was asking if it worked at home still. I guess I was just trying to rule out the thought if radio interference.

I guess it doesn't matter now because he bought a new one, but that has issues as well..

[BART]

Originally Posted by Donziikid

I understand that. But, what he didn't mention was if it he took it home again and tried to run it there. He never said it didn't work at his workplace, and at home; he just mentioned workplace. I was asking if it worked at home still. I guess I was just trying to rule out the thought if radio interference.

I guess it doesn't matter now because he bought a new one, but that has issues as well..

I figured that, I was just giving you a hard time because that picture freaks me out. Back on topic...have you tried again with non rechargeables? I ask only because we have many different brands of rechargeables and believe it or not they are all slightly different sizes, some are thicker than others and you could possibly be losing connection. I would hook a voltmeter or better yet rig up a 6 volt flashlight battery to the red and black wires on the ep. Then you would see if you are losing power to the board (the light would go out). Simple i know but this would rule out an intermittent power loss. If you use a voltmeter you could hook it up and then wiggle the power switch, batteries, and wiring around to see if you are losing power.

[Donziikid]

Originally Posted by ZX9RBART

I figured that, I was just giving you a hard time because that picture freaks me out. Back on topic...have you tried again with non rechargeables? I ask only because we have many different brands of rechargeables and believe it or not they are all slightly different sizes, some are thicker than others and you could possibly be losing connection. I would hook a voltmeter or better yet rig up a 6 volt flashlight battery to the red and black wires on the ep. Then you would see if you are losing power to the board (the light would go out). Simple i know but this would rule out an intermittent power loss. If you use a voltmeter you could hook it up and then wiggle the power switch, batteries, and wiring around to see if you are losing power.

Wouldn't the spring in the battery tray compensate for the different sized cells? Since this is a new Xmod the springs aren't as compressed as say a five month old Xmod, so that would be more logical there.

Since the negative end of the battery goes flush with the spring, the spring has contact all over the negative end of the battery. The button end; positive; goes towards the front where again there is a large amount of contact surface in the battery tray. So the spring wouldn't let the battery just not have contact; at least in my opinion..

Not trying to say your idea is wrong, but, I just find it hard to have that happen from personal experience.

[BART]

Your probably right but i have seen on a few occasions where the thicker batteries do not slide in the holder (as they are too thick) and while the spring makes definite contact the positive tab does not as the spring is not strong enough to slide the thicker battery through the holder. I had it happen on a nitro 1/8 scale buggy and it would hit a bump and slide the battery slightly away from the contact. A long shot I know but the light or meter trick would also help rule out the wiring and switch.

[noturday]

im pretty sure he's not having a battery issue, like i said i had the same problem on my titan and i used the same batteries on it as i do all my other xmods and they all run fine im still not sure what was causing it to do that, but it stopped doing it. now it runs like a champ.

combining two bad xmods to make one good one isnt a bad idea LT4 Hawk 9, it will give you a good xmod to run while you fix the problems in the other.

[Donziikid]

Originally Posted by noturday

combining two bad xmods to make one good one isnt a bad idea LT4 Hawk 9, it will give you a good xmod to run while you fix the problems in the other.

Not only that but he would learn the inards of the Xmods as well. The more you take it apart, put it back together and mod it, the more you're going to learn about it and it's components that make it run.

Plus, he's experienced with much more complicated scales; so this should be a breeze for him.