Dead Monster ='(
 

i was running my jammin crt 2x truggy geared for 38mph on 4s lipo with a cc2200kv. nothing was wrong with the setup. there was no binding and everything always runs under 140F.

the truck stopped and there was no power to the motor. the steering servo was twitching (which it never does) and the lights were going crazy.

i opened up the esc and when i turned it on, a little chip started letting out a tiny bit of smoke. i turned it off and waited 10 minutes. when i turned it on again, it did the same thing. :cry:

i took a picture of it and made an arrow pointing to the part that was smoking. i've only had this esc since october (bought new from LHS) and i can't find the damn receipt. can i still get it warrantied?
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/s...mbaarrow-1.jpg

Its green so its a V1/2 so yes it will be replaced with a V3 but it might be a refurbished unit...

it's a v3 or a v4. it says v3 on the box. i bought it brand new in october.

That looks to be a V4, the control board is blue, making it at least a V3; the power board is green an all of the versions.

Talk with the local hobby shop, they are usually able to reprint a receipt. Without a receipt it does make warranty coverage difficult; we base our warranty on the date of purchase, so without knowing that we have no way of knowing for sure. Talk with the shop, a good hobby shop keeps records and should provide a copy if requested.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support.

the problem with that is my LHS was broken into 3 times in a 30 day span in november-december. the 3rd time, the whole cash register was stolen. :no:
the hobby store owner considered closing up shop, but instead, got thick iron bars on the door and windows. the windows are still vulnerable to being broken, but at least crooks won't be able to get in.

so, i guess i'm either going to have to keep looking for the receipt or see if, somehow, there is still record of my purchase somewhere at my LHS.
i made a thread on this forum when i first got my esc. maybe that could be good enough if i can't find the receipt? i'll find the link to it.

edit: found it. http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24160. the ironic part is, the reason i got the mmm over the ezrun is the warranty.:lol:

Maybe check your CC or bank statement to show the purchase perhaps? That might help?

Have the v3s been out a year? Time flys.

after waiting for a while,

i finally got a new receipt from the LHS and sent the esc in about 2 weeks ago.
am i supposed to get some kind of confirmation from castle when they get it? USPS said 2-3 days.
hopefully, it won't take too long to get it back from castle.

btw: i made sure to fill out all of the needed forms and included what was needed in the package.

You should get an e-mail confirmation from out repair department when we receive your repair. Please PM me your info and I'll check your account and see what the status is. I know we are out of stock on the Monster's right now, so this is probably what's causing the delay. I just want to make sure we have received it and there is not a shipping problem.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

i just got a message from castle saying that a package is being shipped to me.:yipi:

i'm assuming it is my replacement MMM. mine was a v4 and from what i've heard, the current version is the v5. what are the differences between the two?

The number after the "v"...

Yep, pretty much.

Actually the MMM has been slowly getting stronger and more abuse-resistant. :whistle:

The V5 is pretty tough.

not tough enough apparently.....

after patiently waiting for a new MMM to be shipped to me, i ended up getting 2 packages. to my surprise, each one had a refurb. MMM in it. i did the honest thing and called castle, letting them know they had made a mistake in my favor and offered to send 1 back. the dude i spoke to on the phone said it was indeed a mistake and said he will ship me a pre-paid mailer to send back the extra esc.

one of the "new" escs has scuffs, scratches, etc. on the case and switch and smells like an esc that already let out the magic smoke. the other looked brand new and had that new electronic smell to it, so naturally, i chose the newer looking one to run. i soldered a fresh deans plug onto it and did one full run. it had weird, half-second "losses of signal," but i ran it until LVC. that was yesterday.
today, i plugged in the same battery, flipped the switch and nothing happened. i figured the switch was faulty, so i cut it off, stripped the wire ends, and twisted them together, like i did with my blur (hpi MMM) esc. still, there was no response. no beeps, no lights, no nothing. i tried to sync it to castle link and all it did was flash green and the castle link chip got a little warm after a minute of trying to sync it.
i must have pretty bad luck with speed controls.....this MMM is toast.

this was the setup it was run in:

CEN matrix BL converted buggy (~9lb fully loaded)
brand new, never used cc2200kv motor
4s lipo
geared for ~40mph
all i did was drive and drift it on the street with some old, bald tires. the esc, batteries and motor were all under 100F and nothing was stressed on this run. there were no crashes or jumps.

i soldered a new deans plug on the scuffed, smelly extra esc that was mistakenly sent to me and ran 2 full battery packs through it today (after the other one failed) and there wasn't any weird glitching like the other one and it worked fine with the exception of the fan. it sounds like the bushing is about dead. even if the fan does die, it should be fine, because during those 2 runs, it only came on once briefly.


so i guess i will be sending a defective esc back in that pre-paid envolope.:whistle:

update:

i still don't have the pre-paid mailer, but i think i found out why one of the new escs failed. i can hear something small rattle around in the bottom of the case of the dead MMM. it is most likely a small piece that fell off of the circuit board.

edit: the pre-paid mailer came today. i'll send in the defective esc on monday.