Pistix gone bad? Anyone familiar with ICE escs...or any esc that requires a pistix?

[keithbradley]

I ran my boat today and it took in some water. Most of the water stayed to the back of the boat, and the esc is mounted towards the front, so I dont know that the esc got wet, but the rx and pistix definitely did. Im having this issue where the motor will cog. You can give it full throttle, let off, then give it half throttle before it stops and it will just shutter (this is just an example. It can do it from a dead stop, at low or full throttle).

Im thinking maybe the pistix got wet and is malfuntioning...has anyone had this happen? I already switched rx's and motors to rule those out. I dont have any other escs that require a pistix otherwise I would try them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-Keith

[JimClark]

Is this one of Andy's or the new manufacturer? If it is one of Andy's it should be sealed in dp270 epoxy

[AndyKunz]

The ESC is trying to turn the motor over, but there is a phase not working. The problem could be a connection to the motor, or a blown winding in the motor. The ESC is probably fine too, but trying to make it work too hard could kill it. Check the connections first, then try a different motor.

That's not a problem in the PiStix. The PiStix will run under water just fine - the epoxy coating makes it pretty impervious to water.

Andy

[keithbradley]

The ESC is trying to turn the motor over, but there is a phase not working. The problem could be a connection to the motor, or a blown winding in the motor. The ESC is probably fine too, but trying to make it work too hard could kill it. Check the connections first, then try a different motor.

That's not a problem in the PiStix. The PiStix will run under water just fine - the epoxy coating makes it pretty impervious to water.

Andy

Mine doesnt have an epoxy coating, just a sleeve over it thats open at both ends. Its a Mikes pistix from OSE...

I switched out rx's and motors before I even tried anything just to be sure there isnt a problem there. I also ran the setup with another esc but unfortunately I dont have another one that utilizes a pistix to test.

I took the end caps off of the esc and the foam out of the inside, re-sprayed it with corrosion x, and blew it out with air, then hit it with the heat gun (from a long way away, far enough that I could hold it in my hand...not trying to get anything hot, just get some dry air in there). I also did the same with the pistix.

Tried it one more time and it seems to work flawlessly. It must have been a bit of water on one of the esc boards if it wasnt the pistix. The logger on the esc would show nearly 100A when it malfunctioned (on an unloaded motor), now it shows only low current... and the voltage, curent, and RPM lines are pretty smooth across the graph (they werent when there was a problem).

[AndyKunz]

Water on the ESC boards could cause the micro inside to see conduction between the power leads to the lead being sensed. That's consistent with trying to start with a disconnected lead as far as the ESC is concerned.

I'm pretty sure Mike is using DP270 on the units. He was initially - I hope he's still doing it.

Andy

[BakedMopar]

I had one that did the same thing. Although mine never got wet. It was the pistix, swapped it out with a spare I had and the problem went away. Not saying that whats wrong with yours but I would check that before sending the esc back to CC.

BTW the last one I got was coated.

[egneg]

I had a pistix that got wet and didn't work right after that.