Throttle Issue

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jjdurrant

jjdurrant

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Hey guys, having another issue with my Firehammer. The throttle randomly stops working (especially over 50ft or so).. I know the signal is fine because steering works as expected (even when throttle doesn't).

Generally I wait a few seconds and the throttle starts working again

I am thinking bad failsafe.. Your thoughts?

Thanks, Justin
 
Check the battery voltage. Make sure the pack is charged and can hold a charge! What are you using for a charger? If it's the stock "Wall" charger, get rid of it and buy a good peak charger. The wall charger just keeps charging and charging, whether the battery can hold it or not... If you forget to unplug it, it will cook your battery and destroy the cells.

Is you battery a Nicad or Nimah? If it is Nicad and has been overcharged or won't hold a charge for more than 10-15 minutes you may be able to "Cycle" the pack and bring it back to life. Cycling the pack is to charge and discharge the pack a few times, so every time you charge and discharge it is called a cycle. If you mistakenly left the Nicad pack charged for a long period of time, it will develop a "Memory" and will need to be "Cycled" a few times to bring it back. Nicads need to be stored completely discharged!! I go so far as to, discharge the pack and short out the pos and neg wires and toss it in the freezer, if it will not be used for a long time. I have some old Gonzo packs from 1993 that I do this with every year and they are still going strong.

The next time you run your truck (with the engine off) go to full brake and operate the steering with the truck on the ground, is the steering slow or is the failsafe kicking in? If so it is battery problems.

If the battery passed the test, look at your antenna wire, take the tube right off and make sure the wire is long and doesn't have any cuts or missing insulation on the wire...

If that isn't it, let us know... I have lot's more ideas, but this is already getting rather long winded as most of my posts do! lol

Trip..
 
i had a similar issue..and couldnt figure out what was wrong..my steering worked fine..but my throttle was acting up!!! just so happened that i was taking apart my truck and as i removed the radio box my antenna fell off..check that as well..that there are no breaks or anything wrong with your antenna...mine was the spektrum receiver....might be another thing to check...
 
LOL, I said that... I know my posts tend to get a little long!!!

But that's who I am!!

I once explained to a guy, how to rebuild his Big Block Chevy... You should have seen that post!! lol

Trip..
 
Guilty as charged...had to reread....damn...no wonder i never did well in school....if you put it in the first paragraph..i woulda been just fine!!!!!
 
jjdurrant said:
Hey guys, having another issue with my Firehammer. The throttle randomly stops working (especially over 50ft or so).. I know the signal is fine because steering works as expected (even when throttle doesn't).

Generally I wait a few seconds and the throttle starts working again

I am thinking bad failsafe.. Your thoughts?

Thanks, Justin
Click to expand...


Definitely follow Trips post, if you are using a wall charger, throw it away. I had one for my FHMT and the damn thing didn't charge the battery at all.

Which brand controller do you have? I had the stock radio with my Firehammer, when it got about 50 feet away, the failsafe would kick on with full brake and steering to the right.

Also, this is my own personal advice because it took a scary incident before I bought one, get a Killswitch if you don't already have one:

www.rckillswitch.com (hpibajaforum.com has info on these and how to set them up)

If your battery goes dead this will kill the engine, if you go out of range, engine is killed. $38 for cheap insurance. I had a battery dump a couple weeks ago, my Baja shot down the street at full speed and ended up in the yard of a neighbor where it stopped in a bush. I was lucky it didn't hit someone or something...it picked the crappiest house on the block to target thankfully.
 
Kwakr said:
Guilty as charged...had to reread....damn...no wonder i never did well in school....if you put it in the first paragraph..i woulda been just fine!!!!!
Click to expand...

Got IT... I am sorry for the long winded post... I have a double Bachelor degree in physiology and automotive engineering... I apologize for the long post!! I know, I think too much!!!

Trip..
 
Hehe....trip...not your fault...i just don't read very well....though..hey i had the same prob....maybe i can help out for once;);)..sigh..beat me to it....
Now..back to matter at hand...did you get it sorted jj???
 
Thanks guys.. I am using a nice charger with a 1800mah Nimh battery. Battery is fully charged. Radio is a XS3 Pro with a RS300 receiver. DTX is sending me a replacment failsafe. Hopefully that will work.

I will keep ya updated!

Justin
 
If the failsafe is in-line like the nitro one's..they will not kill your engine..
they don't work for the firehammer...you have to much interferance electrical with that
kind of fail safe...Just get a Pico engine kill switch fro pb2 the max....
NOTE: batterys should always be fresh charged both truck and the TX...
.....Slawhammer
 
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What type of servo is it? I would agree to not use the DTX Failsafe that comes with the model and use a Pico or model TX that has a built in one.
 
Thanks guys.. I will pickup a real failsafe.. going to test without the failsafe this weekend.
 
csp1971 said:
Definitely follow Trips post, if you are using a wall charger, throw it away. I had one for my FHMT and the damn thing didn't charge the battery at all.

Which brand controller do you have? I had the stock radio with my Firehammer, when it got about 50 feet away, the failsafe would kick on with full brake and steering to the right.

Also, this is my own personal advice because it took a scary incident before I bought one, get a Killswitch if you don't already have one:

www.rckillswitch.com (hpibajaforum.com has info on these and how to set them up)

If your battery goes dead this will kill the engine, if you go out of range, engine is killed. $38 for cheap insurance. I had a battery dump a couple weeks ago, my Baja shot down the street at full speed and ended up in the yard of a neighbor where it stopped in a bush. I was lucky it didn't hit someone or something...it picked the crappiest house on the block to target thankfully.
Click to expand...

what kit are you running?
 
Get a hold of pb2themax...get kit#1 for $35 dollars...that's all ya need..
If you need help setting it up just ask,,There is always some here in the forum to help you out....Slawhammer
PS..you will have to do some soldering..If your not that handy at that then get kit#3
 
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csp1971 said:
Definitely follow Trips post, if you are using a wall charger, throw it away. I had one for my FHMT and the damn thing didn't charge the battery at all.

Which brand controller do you have? I had the stock radio with my Firehammer, when it got about 50 feet away, the failsafe would kick on with full brake and steering to the right.

Also, this is my own personal advice because it took a scary incident before I bought one, get a Killswitch if you don't already have one:

www.rckillswitch.com (hpibajaforum.com has info on these and how to set them up)

If your battery goes dead this will kill the engine, if you go out of range, engine is killed. $38 for cheap insurance. I had a battery dump a couple weeks ago, my Baja shot down the street at full speed and ended up in the yard of a neighbor where it stopped in a bush. I was lucky it didn't hit someone or something...it picked the crappiest house on the block to target thankfully.
Click to expand...

slawhammer said:
Get a hold of pb2themax...get kit#1 for $35 dollars...that's all ya need..
If you need help setting it up just ask,,There is always some here in the forum to help you out....Slawhammer
PS..you will have to do some soldering..If your not that handy at that then get kit#3
Click to expand...

Thanks.. I am lazy so I ordered Kit #3 :)
 
jjdurrant said:
Thanks guys.. I am using a nice charger with a 1800mah Nimh battery. Battery is fully charged. Radio is a XS3 Pro with a RS300 receiver. DTX is sending me a replacment failsafe. Hopefully that will work.

I will keep ya updated!

Justin
Click to expand...

Are you using one of the small receiver packs? Like one for an 1/8 scale buggy. 1,800 seems like a low capacity for a sub c pack...

Trip..
 
I agree with TRIP on this call..you need to get a bigger battery say 2400mah
that 1800mah will not give you much run time.....That is way I want bigger battery for my firehammer......AKA Slawhammer
 
AS far as physical size, is it a small hump pack or a sub-c pack? Look at the pic closely you will see I have both... The small pack in the upper right hand corner (green cells wrapped in blue shrink wrap) is a "back-up" pack, it is for a 1/8 scale buggy... The bigger pack is yellow (it is under the hold down strap) and it is a sub-c pack... You should have a pack that is a sub-c style... The smaller pack only lasts about 15-20 minutes... It is too small for the large scales!

Trip..
 
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