Mystic - blown ESC

[Derrick Davis]

Greetings all,

I thought it worth while to share with you that it appears that I have burned up the electronic speed control in my month old Mystic. This is knew territory for me so please bare with me.
First off- the boat is all stock. I'm running 2x 2s1P 40c 5000 mah lipo batteries (Turnegy). The only thing I've done is the maintenance (flex shaft grease, etc.) after every other run. I ran the boat last night and made 2 quick laps. At the start of the 3rd lap it stopped dead. My first thought was that I didn't have enough battery power in my DX3S radio.....I have read that the digital radio must have a minimum voltage to communicate with the receiver (mr200). Of course I looked through my DX3S manual and can not locate where I read it! As the wind proceeded to push the boat closer to me I could tell I had servo control but NO throttle. I waited for a a couple minutes and then tried the throttle again. It moved forward for a moment and then went dead again. This time NO servo control either. The problem is NOT the radio. I waited for the wind to push the Mystic back to shore. As I picked the boat up I could smell that something burned. As soon as I removed the hatch tape, canopy hatch and then the plastic electronics lid, the smoke ....as they say, came out! Literally... the smoke was floating out of the boat hull. I got the boat on my work bench and was relieved to find NO burn damage anywhere inside the hull. No soot either! Just a really stinky burn odor.
I did as much trouble shooting that I could think of. Tried the motor in another boat. Works. Tried the steering servo in another boat. It works. In fact, I tried the servo in the Mystic again and it worked....just NO throttle. Faulty 60 amp ESC? I welcome any ideas or suggestions from you on this. Based on the description of my issue, a confirmation that my esc is shot from someone here with more experience would be greatly appreciated!
So, I will be calling Horizon (place of purchase) today to see if they would be willing, in good faith, to help me out.
Stay tuned.

[roadrashracing]

I would not even waste my time calling them, I had the same issue. Called many times, kind of got the same answers. First they will tell you that the warrenty states that everything is covered to work brand new, once it hits the water thats it. They will ask what batteries you where using, if you are basiicly not using the dynamite lipos they recomend, its your fault. One person told me I was using the wrong battery becasue they where not 50c even though it says it no where in the manual. I was told just to buy a new one, they all said you could send it in but it did not promise to replace it. You need your recept, your moms, moms permisson, and $50000 for them to look at it. I would just upgrade it and be done. They have changed a lot, in the past you had a problem with something, 6/10 times they would have a replacement part sent to ya with in a few days.

[Derrick Davis]

This will be my first experience with asking for help from Horizon on a part that has gone bad. We'll see. I've really had good results with all of my purchases from Horizon. And, the customer service has been solid (always get a call back) when I've had questions.
Whenever you have products mass produced, no matter how good the Q.C., your bound to have a few bad parts slip through the system. I certainly understand that.
I have tried to find as many posts here about what the general consensus is for which aftermarket ESC guys are using. Seems quite a number of guys are using the seaking 120a. Diesel endorses it. I think I'll be ordering that one from OSE. That one should allow me to run a bigger prop in the future when I'm ready.

[roadrashracing]

if the help you out have them send one my way.

[Derrick Davis]

roadrashracing,
Your Packers are sure looking good! My Vikings....well, not so much.

[Diesel6401]

How where you running the boat? I.e what was your throttle management (half most the time full most the time)? What prop? I have had nothing but great experiences HH dealing with planes and boats.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk

[bluznbeers]

Been reading this post with interest. I have had nothing but good luck with Horizon Hobby; anytime anything breaks within a couple of months of buying a new item they have been good for it.
I had a receiver quit working on the throttle channel and they sent me a new one right away. I also had an ESC fail in the stock configuration on my Shockwave 26 BL. I did the trouble shooting and told them I proved it to be the ESC and they sent a new one right away. I always choose the call back option when I phone them and always get a call back.

[Derrick Davis]

Good questions Diesel. The boat was all stock. I did sharpen and balance the stainless steel prop (polished too ). You asked how I was driving the boat when this happend....I was running her around 3/4 throttle for 15 to 25 seconds and then full throttle. I was going back and forth at these speeds. In my research this weekend, I found that you, and a few others memebers here on the OSE forum commented that running 1/2 throttle was not good. Your explanation why makes complete sense to me now. Do you think the 3/4 throttle caused the esc to burn instead of going full throttle the whole time? If so, this is interesting. My son has the black Jack with the only mod being an x642 balanced and sharpend prop. The 45a esc in that boat seems to be very solid. I know he verys his speed with that boat....especially since the handling is what it is in the BJ (I have read the posts re the mods of the BJ). And in case anyone (the noobs that is) is wondering....the BJ with the X642 prop, 45a esc and 1500kv motor is faster then the Mystic with the stock stainless steel prop, 60a esc and the 1800 kv motor. I should probably upgrade the esc in the Mystic to 120a anyways if I want to try another prop. Heck....I gotta keep up with the kid! I appreciate your input Gents!

It must be that the 60a esc and 1800 kv in the Mystic is just a different animal than the stock BJ with the x642 prop.

P.S. If I start to spin the prop on the Mystic with my fingers while holding the throttle (not smart - I know), the motor will sputter and barely turns.....but its obvious there is an issue.

[LarrysDrifter]

Derrick, I know you know this, but NEVER hold any part of the drivetrain and give it throttle, or even while the batteries are plugged in for that matter. You'll be in the hospital thinking about why you held the prop instead of getting a new esc.

[Derrick Davis]

Excellent advice LarryDrifter! I can definitly see how a prop, whether sharpend or not will make a mess of fingers, hands or anything else filled with blood. After I tried this prop spin test- STUNT with my fingers and my other hand on controller throttle I did the old ! I'll chalk it upto a moment of getting the best of me.....and being very lucky.

[Derrick Davis]

Update: For anyone who cares to know, I did receive a replacement ESC for my Mystic (no charge) from Horizon Hobby. Someone else here stated a similar experience with Horizon based on the following. When I called to explain what happened, they said they would send out a new ESC as a one time courtesy. Any additional issues with the boat would require me to send the whole boat back to them for service. That won't be nessecary with all the info that is shared here. I have plugged it in and taken the boat out for a couple test laps. It works! However, I quickly found that there was NO water coming out of the cooling outlet on the side of the boat. I had only been running it for about 30 seconds when I noticed this. I brought it back in and started to trouble shoot. I unplugged the water tube that is connected to the rudder and proceeded to blow through it. I found it to be very difficult to get air through the system. SO....I unplugged the water tube going OUT of the ESC and blew air from that point and found that the air was freely flowing through the motor cooling jacket and out the side of the boat as it should be. I determined that there was an air/water restriction in the NEW ESC. I removed the ESC from the boat unscrewed the water nipples (inlet & outlet) and guess what I found? small beads of silicone that was obstructing the outlet nipple enough to not allow sufficient water to flow for cooling. I was thinking that this may have been my problem all along with the original ESC....must have had a clog somewhere in the cooling system and in turn the ESC burned out do to lack of cooling. But now after finding the silicone issue in the NEW ESC and NO blockage anywhere else in the cooling system, I'm not sure what happened to the first ESC. In any event, I'm back on the water after being in dry dock for a week! I'm still happy with my experience with Horizon Hobby!
By the way, I was doing some thread research here regarding clogged cooling systems and someone suggested the ESC, silicone blockage approach. I'm thankful that someone took the time to put the tip on this fourm.
Have a nice day.