** New Zelos 48 Brushless Large Scale Cat From Pro Boat**

[Rafael_Lopez]

It honestly sounds like your batteries are dumping under load, meaning they cant keep up with the boat's amperage demand. The voltage drops low under load, triggering the LVC. Sure, lowering the LVC works but the issue remains, your LiPos are struggling.

5th setting is for CW/CCW motor rotation. It's not on the card, but is in the manual.

The twisting sounds like prop walk. What prop are you running? If it's the stock prop, did you balance and sharpen it?

As far as the caps, I think I've mentioned this before, don't measure cap temps to judge the electronics efficiency. The caps just hold power and release it under load. It's a place to store power. The caps take in and release power every time the prop loads and unloads, be it because the boat is jumping in and out of the water due to rough conditions or you are on and off throttle. Has nothing to with with the actual running temps which should be taken off the board, near the motor connectors, and on the motor near the wires.

Checking the temperature of the caps is like checking temperatures on the shocks of an off-road vehicle. Run it in smooth terrain and the shocks see less friction; low temps. Run in rough terrain and the shock will have higher temps; high friction. All great info, but it doesn't tell you how the engine is doing.

[IRON-PAWW]

Yep. As much as I hate to admit it - I think those batteries are sailing too close to the wind, and their voltage is dropping under load. Can't really see what other explanations there might be at this point. Everything else is eliminated. Can only guess that with those successful runs earlier I only just got away with it. They don't get hot at all though - and I've always thought that over stressed lipo's showed their displeasure through heat. Still - I get one lap maybe before the first cut-out so no heat builds up by then. I suppose the ESC *could* be glitchy but hard to prove without a second one to test. At $230 for a spare and 4 or so Swordfish 300's sitting unused in boxes on my shelf - it'll be a test I won't be doing. I really think Rafael is right though with the subpar batts. *sigh*

Lipo's are *hard* to get in Aus right now without paying an absolute fortune. I notice HK Australia has some 65C graphene's in stock though...

I thought that running 4 of the 4S 5000mah 60C (or so they say) batts in a parallel 8S config should have done the trick.

Prop was the same 4814 cnc prop I've been using up until now. Guess it could have bent out of shape...... my runs *have* been off since that one good run I did. Might try my 48mm 3 blade cnc's as they're the only replacements I have right now.

What effect would a slightly off-vertical rudder have? Mine *looks* straight, but at certain angles looks very slightly off-vertical. Spirit levels etc etc suggest it's good but...

I've had caps go boom before in other projects - so that's why I'm looking at them carefully now. It's always been said that when that happens - you've pushed the ESC too much. But - I hear what you're saying.

[Rafael_Lopez]

If you lowered the LVC and that solved some of the issues you were having or changes the issue, then there should be no doubt that the LiPos are dropping off under load. LiPos dont always heat up or show signs of going bad when voltage womnt hold. Dont know if you ever used NiMh cells, but it's the same thing. They take in voltage but as soon as they load up they go to 0v.

Ive never used the graphite LiPos but I've seen some peopel raving about them on Facebook in the past. Might be worth a try.

As for the caps, they are in line of incoming voltage, but no voltage actually flows through them. If you have blown caps in the past it's been because the bust rating of the ESC was surpassed. I'm not saying the caps cant blow on this ESC, but no one has experienced this yet with this ESC under "normal" use. You can always add a cap bank if you want peace of mind. Adding at least 3 more caps should be enough to give you peace of mind.

[IRON-PAWW]

All right - the hits roll on.

Tell me there's someone having better luck with their boat than I am.

I suffered what I originally thought was a fairly benign slow-speed flip over & crash. It's always hard to really judge from shore - but I wasn't going all that fast when it flipped. I'd say maybe 60km/h (37mph) is about all it would have been. The front just popped up and the whole boat got air, before it was back to the water with a bit of splash. I wasn't really worried about it at all, having seen almost identical flip overs in the videos of this boat online - but that changed when I got back to shore. The front right-hand sponson has split a seam, add there's cracking damage though the resin in that area as well running up onto the top deck of the boat.

Now - before I say more, I think it's timely to point out there's many people with this boat who are having a blast with it - swapping out props and pushing for higher speeds and getting a lot out of it. Remember - forums attract people with problems - you hardly ever read a post where someone has said 'no issues here - boat going well'. I wasn't going to post this at all - as I'm starting to paint the boat in a negative light with all my problems.

But - this split - in my opinion - has revealed another manufacturing issue with this hull. And I want to save people from this happening to them if I can. I'm not doing this to rant or lay *any* blame to anyone, or gain any benefit for myself. I'm just telling you what I've found. The hull thickness along that split is painfully thin. Much, much thinner than the rest of the boat - or at least the hull thickness around the hatch area where you can get a good, decent look at it.

Look at the hull thickness in photo# 3. I need to point out that it only appears as thick as it does in some areas because of a line of glue/epoxy that has been run along the seam inside the boat. If I run my hand up in there I can clearly feel a bead of glue that has been placed there - which the opposite side does not have. So - it's clear that someone has seen that the hull was weak in that area and has tried adding extra glue. You can sort of see it in the inside hull pictures - difficult getting a camera up inside there.

The hull I had clearly needed reinforcing - and I'll be doing that should I get a replacement, no matter how the hull appears when it arrives.

I think if you have one of these hulls - just see if you have that bead of glue running along one of your seams. If you do - be suspicious.

As I say - negative press isn't what I want, I simply want to put this cautionary tale out there. You may need to reinforce after all.

Hope others are getting down & jiggy with it.


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[Yellow]

That's terrible. Have you contacted customer service?

[Xtremespeed]

Man. With the motor alignment that melted the Teflon liner in mine and now the water ingress I'm getting because of the wholered out stuffing tube, I haven't had enough time on the lake to enjoy it, let alone start pushing it harder. That may be a blessing in disguise if mine is as thin as yours in that same spot. I can't wait to get home and check it. Did you compare to the other hull to see if it's the same? I assume the thin spot is where they mate the 2 halves together. Hopefully they will take care of you again. This doesn't look good though. Thanks for sharing.

[IRON-PAWW]

Yes - I'm going back through the warranty process as we speak. I've been given some options to consider. Whether or not I can get another hull is still being worked through. There may be plans afoot to send this hull back to Proboat for them to look at. Incorrectly bent stuffing tube you can put down to production line blues. But this ..... this has apparently garnered a little more interest. Final outcome still being decided.

Actually - I haven't checked my other hull for this as yet, but that's a very good idea. Exactly *how* to check that part of the boat's hull for thickness I'm not sure. But will pull it from storage and check for a glue bead nonetheless. Hope you guys don't have the same problem.

What strikes me from the photos is that it looks like there is only a single layer of fibreglass matting along that seam. With the paint gone you get daylight showing that fact fairly well. Whether a powerful light shone through the hull might show that to others??

As the boat is a little light in any case I figure some reinforcement won't hurt.

[Xtremespeed]

I really hope my hull doesn't look thin there, but I'm definitely going to check when I get home this evening. I was thinking the same. Shine a flashlight along the seam while looking from the inside might allow you to see if it looks thin.

[buckman]

Hey guys I checked for this glue bead on both sponsons and nothing. I might add when using your hands to feel inside of seam area watch for sharp pieces of glass cause they sting as I found out. Also I will bring my cable camera for pipe inspections home to get a closer look.
Cheers
Buckman

[Keagan-Z06]

That sucks to see. A body shop will fix that no prob. While their at it have them put more Fiberglass to strengthen!

[Xtremespeed]

I looked at mine this evening and there is quite a bit of what looks like extra resin on the seam, but only toward the front of the sponsons. I can't really tell how thin it is though. Here are a couple pics of what it looks like.

IMG_2721.jpg

IMG_2724.jpg

[Jesse Flovin]

I too am dealing with hull issues, I've found 3 cracks so far in my bran new zelos 48"20160501_172243.jpg20160501_172052.jpg

[Jesse Flovin]

https://youtu.be/n8kebOo9vW4

[IRON-PAWW]

I feel your pain Jesse. Honestly - I do.

I have been *extremely* well looked after by the Australian Importer of these hulls and most certainly by my local hobby store who really have stuck with me throughout my trials. So I'm really hoping you have the same experience.

I've just arrived home with my third replacement hull - so take heart from that. But the fact that I'm even on my third hull in the first place well........ you decide. It was my choice to accept the third hull or go with other options. The Australian importer has asked for my previous hull back - in it's entirety - so it can be sent back to Proboat / Horizon. I've been given a *complete* new hull.

Just from a quick & very brief inspection of this 3rd hull though - It also appears far too thin up forward. And has glue beads / ridges internally along the seams on both sides up forward. Just pushing down on the top deck of the boat up forward reveals it doesn't have the hull thickness I think it ought to. But I admit - with my experience - it's not really a call I can make.

The call I *am* making though, is that I will be reinforcing this hull. To me - it just doesn't appear strong enough up forward to cope with crashes. I'll be stripping out the hardware and glassing up forward. Then also probably some carbon fiber tape down each side, and dropping some resin into the tips and leading tunnel edge - just as a beginning.

I'm not sure how reinforced this hull is supposed to be - but - what I'm looking at doesn't seem right. (Again - not truly qualified to make that statement though).

I do know the Australian importer is looking at whether there may be bad batch issues - but nothing is verified.


Again - not wanting to scare people away from this boat - and I'm trying to be fair about what I write up here. Many people on RC Groups forum etc etc having a blast with it. Forums collect people with issues.

[buckman]

So I checked mine out and 0- nada hull is sound no cracks or flaws to the naked eye.
Still in in dry dock shiny and new.