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Thread: Speedo sadness

  1. #1
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    Default Speedo sadness

    Debris field.

    There's still more but I quit looking.
    (2) Turnigy
    (4)Seaking
    (3) Swordfish
    (1) Aquacraft
    (1) Schulze
    (12) Castle
    (1) Atomik

    There were 3 times this many before I started keeping them. In the early days failures usually resulted in a crispy critter. Identifiable under a microscope maybe. Mostly looked like something you might find in your barbecue grill.

    The Hacker 77 amp speedo was like $280 and we were all still guessing on setups. Little bit more...little bit more....fr'shizzle. Haha. Funny now but it was a dark time.

    20161204_202936.jpg
    Noisy person

  2. #2
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    Wow terry! That's a lot of dough right there!


    On a side note, if your going to toss them, I'd like the 240 castle cases (or ones that are the same size with the metal cases) I use them to make my own speedos like in my Rivercat.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

  3. #3
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    Ouch my condolences that's a lot of scratch,,,, pretty unexceptionable if you really think about it,,, they have a amp & volt rating & if that's the boundaries we are using them in then that's unexceptionable ????????????!!!

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by T.S.Davis View Post
    Debris field.

    20161204_202936.jpg
    I realize that this is over a bunch of years, but that picture is disturbing on many levels. If that was my experience in FE, I would have quit a long time ago.

  5. #5
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    The battery pile would be even bigger.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    What class/power systems?
    Darin E. Jordan - Renton, WA
    "Self-proclaimed skill-less leader in the hobby."

  7. #7
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    That's not even half of them. There was such a steep learning curve when we first went brushless. Both for us racers and for the manufacturers. There was a forum but the data we all enjoy these days on OSE wasn't available. We were wing'n it.

    We all had sensored motors in the beginning and outer limits you could get 160 amps from an Aveox. Those were actually pretty good but even humidity would ruin them. Forget about a drip from opening the lid or something. Wrecked.

    We went to CAFE race down in Cleveland and lost 5 Barracuda in 2 days. It was brutal. One year at the Cup, my buddy Fred had a Schulze 40.160 go thermal nuclear in a carbon fiber 1/8 scale. Had to dunk it the fire was so intense. We suspect that was a dead short against the carbon. We were ignorant. Wasn't his boat or his speedo. It was my speedo. Those were $600 at that time I believe.

    So much learning we all went through to get where we are today.

    In fairness, those of you that know me can testify.......I'm hard on gear. Some of those in the pic have turned 100's of laps and been dunked, overamp'd and abused in every which way. Some of those failures are absolutely self induced. I can admit that.

    Is it dedication or disease? I don't know any more. Despite this pile of baked cash I still have ZERO interest in quitting. I'm having more fun than ever. Maybe that's because my son is now a racing super freak too. Little bugger studies video of other guys record runs. It's kinda funny to be honest.

    Maybe I'm just horribly addicted. I do have a pile of MGM's on route to give em a go so I guess it's addiction. I can't help but feel like a social drinker jumping up to the hard drugs with the MGM pricing.
    Noisy person

  8. #8
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    Biggest question is how have you contained that wonderful smell of toasted electronics?

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by photohoward1 View Post
    The battery pile would be even bigger.
    HAHA Amen Howard. I'm still disposing of pushed and matched sub C's that ran $10 to $13 per cell. Let that sink in a second guys. For racing it mattered if the cells were matched and that you had every volt you could get. A matched pushed set of sub C's equal to a 10s pack would cost you around $320+ and that would get 32 loose cells. You still had to make your own packs. You could end to end solder if you had the equipment but had to be careful not to overheat in the process. The other alternative was bar ends. So another 20 dollars or so. You ended up with maybe 32.5 volts loaded with only 4200 mah. Over amp them one time and they were ruined. ackkk I still have a Schulze 636 charger. Those were outrageously priced too. Think 2 Hyperian Duo priced. Can't give that away.

    This pile is only a few years. The oldest is that Schulze. That was probably early LiPo era. The Seaking, Atomik, Turnigy, and Castle units are only a few years old. All since 2013 I would think. The two smaller swordfish I purchased just before the 2014 nats. The 300 is less than 1 year old.

    Darin, all 4s and up in that pile. Everything from spec to 8th scale.
    Noisy person

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by RayR View Post
    Biggest question is how have you contained that wonderful smell of toasted electronics?
    Oh it's permanently burned into my brain. I'm thinking about it right now and can actually taste it.
    Noisy person

  11. #11
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    Well Terry, I would personally thank you for your sacrifices as I am sure in some way it helped soften my learning curve. A lot of reading off this forum before I dove right in.
    Shawn

    BTW, I remember all the finicky sub c stuff from cars/boats in brushed days

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    I feel your pain Terry. I still have one good Aveox controller, Three Victor Super IQ2, Two Schultz Chamalien ISL 6-636, A Tutbomatcher 4 and on and on. Like you I do not want to quit, we just did a toys for tots race yesterday. But I do everything possible to be the fastest possible and make the boat live.
    Randy
    For ABS, Fiberglass, Carbon hulls and Stainless hardware
    BBY Racing

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    Terry, send me the Schulze's. Some may be repairable.
    Tyler Garrard
    NAMBA 639/IMPBA 20525
    T-Hydro @ 142.94mph former WR

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    We thank you for your diligent efforts and tons of $$$ spent to make our lives easier. I don't see any Suppo's in that pile???? lol.
    Nortavlag Bulc

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    Unhappy

    Hmm, these are just a few pics, most went into the trash undocumented. Hehehe, undocumented Speedos.

    34tg.jpgBurn.jpgdickburned4.jpgJim_s_Toasty_Hacker_77.jpgwe56.jpg
    ERROR 403 - This is not the page you are looking for


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    No matter how well I try and keep the stench of newly burned esc's away from inside the house after an unlucky run at the lake, my wife always can sniff the carnage...she calls it the smell of burnt money...I call it "time to order more in a higher amp rating ASAP". To me what is more annoying than losing an esc is having to gut the boat and clean everything, in a way the hull is forever ruined, I hate it especially when it's a high dollar build. For me it feels like an addiction for sure but I am OK with it. Just today I mailed two MGM 25063's back to Czech for minor repairs (Cap replacement) and upgrades, my big fear was the downtime so I jumped on those Flier 400's we are talking about right now, I have no patience. To make matters worse I have a new order for a set of MGM 40063's...but that's another story. It's come to a point where I am embarrassed when someone asks "how much does something like that cost" and I usually tell them just the value of the esc and that shuts them up...but that's where you guys come in and "enable" my addiction and make me feel a while lot better, thank you Terry for the pic's! ;-)

  17. #17
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    Hahaha. Jay and Randy know. That pic of the hacker motor with a hacker dingle berry hanging from it cracks me up. I shouldn't laugh but I did.

    This past summer I had a slew of 180's reach the end of their life span. They all went in a short span. I had a bit of a melt down at the pond. Guys were offering up their spare speedo. I was like "does it work? Then don't let me use it. It'll just burn up if I touch it". It wasn't pretty.

    Tyler, that Schulze you've probably seen before. Belonged to Brian once upon a time. It's basically perfect unless you put it in the water.

    Ray, are those the same speedo that were sold under the Himodel label? Those were tough little speedo. Set a world record with one of those. They would be in the pile too.

    Sorry if this thread looked like whining. Didn't mean for it to read that way. That day I lost it I was whining. I'm a racer. I push and break crap. You have to reach a certain zen to not lose your mind.

    I guess I just wanted some of you guys to realize that things go wrong. That speedo you broke doesn't have to mean the end of your boat career. Things break. Sometimes you break them. When they do you MUST asses why it happened. Then accept it if it was you.

    It's those speedo that die and you haven't a clue why that are frustrating. These 300 lites are examples. I've not gotten anywhere their rating. Those Castle too. I had some Castle failures I still don't understand. Setups that worked on a Seaking 180 but killed a Castle 240? Um..........what?
    Noisy person

  18. #18
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    Haha

    I use to say "Smell that..........? That's the edge. Yep.....found it"
    Noisy person

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    Since we are sharing. This was one of the latest ones. Now how many of you can save you bent a solid copper core 40.160 from heat?

    It is bad that I kind of like the smell of burnt electronics now? I need a support group!

    IMG_4368.jpgIMG_4369.jpgIMG_4370.jpgIMG_4371.jpg
    Tyler Garrard
    NAMBA 639/IMPBA 20525
    T-Hydro @ 142.94mph former WR

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    Quote Originally Posted by RaceMechaniX View Post
    Since we are sharing. This was one of the latest ones. Now how many of you can save you bent a solid copper core 40.160 from heat?

    It is bad that I kind of like the smell of burnt electronics now? I need a support group!

    IMG_4368.jpgIMG_4369.jpgIMG_4370.jpgIMG_4371.jpg
    We should have some sort of 'sealed in glass' museum, lol.

    That's impressive Tyler

  21. #21
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    Yep, Hi model.

    I burnt at least 4, still have 3 new ones unused.

    My little heap
    1-T120
    1-SF 200 old style
    1-T180
    2-YGE 120 knock offs
    1-SF240

    I don't run as much as some of you.
    Nortavlag Bulc

  22. #22
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    Tyler..........me too. Love it. I want a cologne made of that. Not sure what to call that smell. Burnt phenolic?

    I Ran an Alien 250 with 4400 kV on on 4s. That one didn't even burn The FETs left the board like chicklets at terminal velocity. They were all over the place inside the boat. It was glorious.

    Back in the plastic hull days I had a Barracuda burn its' way clean through the deck. So burnt phenolic and melted plastic. Mmmmmmwaaa! Delicious. Spread that on toast.
    Last edited by T.S.Davis; 12-05-2016 at 11:08 PM.
    Noisy person

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    I'll admit I've been lucky. I can count on one hand how many I've burnt. The first one was a Fightercat esc. It lasted about 15 seconds. I think it went like this: 32" Rivercat, 1515 2200kv castle, 6s and a three blade prop with a lot of pitch. It was smoketacular. Then I took out a seaking 180. Same Rivercat. 1900kv 1521, 8s attempt. It doesn't like 8s. That one just quit. No burn. It had LOTS of passes and abuse. Months worth. It was worth keeping and hanging on the wall. Then the next one I burnt was an MGM 25035. The lehners motor I was running took it out. The magnets shifted. Kv changed. (I don't remember all the details that happened to it, Tyler has it in his possession) and it exploded. Yes. Exploded. Like I had a m80 firecracker in it. The canopy almost came off, it flexed and let out the smoke and pressure. It was awesome and I didn't even get it on video. Then lastly I had a sf300 go out. No burn. No smoke. Just quit. I flipped the boat very hard at 100mph and it dead stopped in less that 2 feet (I have it on video and it was quite awesome to see it stop so fast). Nothing. Never worked again. Maybe the g force. I dunno. So yes I've been lucky. Might mainly be because I just make a straight line pass of two and bring it in. I do have some riggers, and a couple other boats that I "drive" but because I'm not racing anyone I don't keep it wide open for a whole race. That's got to be hard on stuff.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Quote Originally Posted by T.S.Davis View Post

    Back in the plastic hull days I had a Barracuda burn its' way clean through the deck. So burnt phenolic and melted plastic. Mmmmmmwaaa! Delicious. Spread that on toast.
    The two YEP's weren't nice to my PTSS. Bubbled the new paint
    Nortavlag Bulc

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    Quote Originally Posted by RaceMechaniX View Post
    Since we are sharing. This was one of the latest ones. Now how many of you can save you bent a solid copper core 40.160 from heat?

    It is bad that I kind of like the smell of burnt electronics now? I need a support group!

    IMG_4368.jpgIMG_4369.jpgIMG_4370.jpgIMG_4371.jpg

    Yes, but the hull survived!

    Medical examiner's report: Severe migratory FET syndrome.
    Last edited by raptor347; 12-06-2016 at 01:57 AM.
    Brian "Snowman" Buaas
    Team Castle Creations
    NAMBA FE Chairman

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    You know what they say: "Friends help you move, real friends help you move burnt ESC's".

    Sunday afternoon at a time trial, Tyler says it best "Tune for maximum smoke".

    Since we're doing group therapy here, why limit this to cooked ESC's.

    "Hello, my name is Brian and I race FE model boats."

    I used to buy round cells by the case. There's the cell zapper that I built with enough capacitance to make a hospital defibrillator look like a kiddie toy. Cell matcher, hammer head soldering irons, etc. Ten runs was the total life span towards then end of round cells. 2006 was a 2 case season.

    Remember when Deans connectors were considered overkill?

    I've got SAW boats on the bottom of three lakes in as many states.

    Burnt ESC's? Let's just say I can identify the country of origin by smell.

    I had a Seaking 180 that emitted three different colors of smoke when it went up! Cool in a barbaric, viking funeral kind of way.

    For the old timers here, that old Aveox sitting in the drawer, I probably wound the stator. There's still about 40Lb of magnet wire hiding in a cabinet in the shop.

    Let's not even get into the number of props. Bent, cut too much, thrown blade, lost in the lake, you name it. Sort of like potato chips, "crunch all you want, we'll make more".

    How about the shed full of obsolete hull molds?

    It's an addiction and there is NO 12 step program. Pretty cool group of fellow addicts though.
    Brian "Snowman" Buaas
    Team Castle Creations
    NAMBA FE Chairman

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    Brian..........is.....a........junky. Sorry man. I feel yer pain.

    Your molds made me think of my vacuum forming stint. Randy must have two tons of plugs kicking around from when plastic was king. My wife and daughter thought it was funny to label my home made machine the easy bake.

    Those plugs are everywhere. These are just a handful.

    20161206_060659.jpg20161206_060718.jpg20161206_060740.jpg
    Noisy person

  28. #28
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    Cool

    So yes I've been lucky. Might mainly be because I just make a straight line pass of two and bring it in. I do have some riggers, and a couple other boats that I "drive" but because I'm not racing anyone I don't keep it wide open for a whole race. That's got to be hard on stuff.
    Actually, WOT on the oval is probably much less stressful on an ESC that zip-zip running. Rpm are high most of the time meaning lower amp draw. Logged amp spikes on my oval boats are relatively low compared to my SAW setups, like 30-40% lower, and then just at the start. It is strong acceleration with a potent setup which really draws the amps, when rpm are lower and climbing. Once running the average draw isn't bad. Too, I tune my oval boats enough to win, not enough to put smoke on the water.

    I am puzzled by so many Castle controllers dying on folks. In the past five years I've only burned up two, and those were taken out by the same defective Neu motor (brand new from Neu, shorted windings. Blew the ESCs 20 seconds into the very first mill lap!). But most (not all) I do modify, usually the 200-amp Lite versions with water cooling. Add at least 1000 mF of capacitance, sometimes 5000 mF for SAW controllers. Keep them dry. I used one ICE 200 Lite for three different SAW events in two different record holders, then for two seasons in my oval boats - and it is still running.

    Maybe I'm just lucky. But as seen in my post above, I've burned up my share over the years. There were plenty more I didn't post, and others which burned up prior to having a digital camera. Cell phone cameras? New fangled stuff!


    .
    ERROR 403 - This is not the page you are looking for


  29. #29
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    Yes I have a pile of molds and bucks, not sure what I am going to do with them. In the attempt to build a better boat I have a few more in the wings.
    Brian thanks
    Randy
    For ABS, Fiberglass, Carbon hulls and Stainless hardware
    BBY Racing

  30. #30
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    Andy Kunz told me when I first started "amps kill". So maybe its not a coincidence that my esc failures have come from my n & p setups. My 6s setups run cool and fast without many issue.
    Steven Vaccaro

    Where Racing on a Budget is a Reality!

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