Quark fried, blown capacitor...

[zeropointbug]

Precisely.

[snellemin]

well, this guy at work owes me favors. He is the ROM developer for the business PC's. If somebody could get me the S&T "rom" chip, there might be a chance of reading the data that's in it.
It would be kinda neath to be able to totally modify the Qaurk like a mamba. Oh, that is what I need to do when I get my mamba esc back....piggy back with another rom...

Brian, since when do we do things the easy way? If we did that, we'd still be running nitro.

snellemin, now that I think about it, it might be some sort of copyright infringement. Unauthorized use of software or something like that.

Now for the drama. I've managed to get my Quark to thermal twice today. All I was doing was running around in my front yard. I've run the MM harder for longer periods of time and never had any trouble. I took temps at the sink and along the aluminum case and got a temp of about 115, but when I temped the motor leads, it shot up to 140. I'm thinking that the FETs are a lot hotter than the case is getting. How can this be? A THIRD Quark and I'm already having problems. I'm really hesitant to open this one up to do the "mod," but I don't think I have a choice.

Maybe I should just sell the Quark and the Neu that I have coming back and get into a Lehner and run that with the MM. I just hate the thought of buying a motor from FD, but I'm getting to the point of putting all of this stuff aside and waiting for the technology to catch up.

[zeropointbug]

AAngel, how hot is it there? That's pathetic, what is going on? Do you want a machined case for your Quark like in my other thread? It will make the Quark into something else, super cool running will be it.

[bdebde]

Originally Posted by AAngel

Brian, since when do we do things the easy way? If we did that, we'd still be running nitro.

snellemin, now that I think about it, it might be some sort of copyright infringement. Unauthorized use of software or something like that.

Now for the drama. I've managed to get my Quark to thermal twice today. All I was doing was running around in my front yard. I've run the MM harder for longer periods of time and never had any trouble. I took temps at the sink and along the aluminum case and got a temp of about 115, but when I temped the motor leads, it shot up to 140. I'm thinking that the FETs are a lot hotter than the case is getting. How can this be? A THIRD Quark and I'm already having problems. I'm really hesitant to open this one up to do the "mod," but I don't think I have a choice.

Maybe I should just sell the Quark and the Neu that I have coming back and get into a Lehner and run that with the MM. I just hate the thought of buying a motor from FD, but I'm getting to the point of putting all of this stuff aside and waiting for the technology to catch up.

Nitro?..Easy way?

That really sucks about the Quark. I have just been running Mambas... I don't even know what a thermal is! I tried to get a Lehner from FD, but I asked him if it was in stock first, never got an answer back. If he is just going to order it and I have to wait months, well you know the rest (no patience).

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by AAngel

Brian, since when do we do things the easy way? If we did that, we'd still be running nitro.

snellemin, now that I think about it, it might be some sort of copyright infringement. Unauthorized use of software or something like that.

Now for the drama. I've managed to get my Quark to thermal twice today. All I was doing was running around in my front yard. I've run the MM harder for longer periods of time and never had any trouble. I took temps at the sink and along the aluminum case and got a temp of about 115, but when I temped the motor leads, it shot up to 140. I'm thinking that the FETs are a lot hotter than the case is getting. How can this be? A THIRD Quark and I'm already having problems. I'm really hesitant to open this one up to do the "mod," but I don't think I have a choice.

Maybe I should just sell the Quark and the Neu that I have coming back and get into a Lehner and run that with the MM. I just hate the thought of buying a motor from FD, but I'm getting to the point of putting all of this stuff aside and waiting for the technology to catch up.

lol, wellllll, the hardware mods are really the easy part. The software is a bit trickier for most. :)

I really think you have THE worst luck with RC I have ever heard! The only thing I can think of is the thermal pad inside isn't fully "stuck" so the FETs aren't making good contact. But three Quarks that have problems? Wow is all I have to say...

zbp, it's starting to get hot down here. In the 90's. I would be interested in a Quark case, although it would tick me off to no end to put it into a nice case and have it blow anyway.

bdebde, I never had any trouble running nitro. I really had the touch when it came to those engines. I had to tune like everyone else, but I usually spent much less time doing it. I only ran two engines and knew them intimately. The O.S. RG and the Novarossi P5X. Both great engines, if you know what to do with them.

I'm telling you, if the Lehners were available, I'd jump on one and stick with the MM. What sucks is that I found myself afraid to squeeze the throttle with the Quark because I'm afraid of hurting it. I never have such worries with my MM controllers.

[bdebde]

Yeah, I am alot on the full throttle with my Mambas too, probably what torched the 8XL. lol

[snellemin]

Angel, I guess I will have to find myself a busted quark and do the mod and see if it can be done. Might be fun. It will only be illegal if I sold their software, which they only have. There is nothing they can do if you purchased the product and modified it, accept refusing to honor the warranty. Isn't that what you guys are doing with these things in the first place. Adding caps, heatsinks, new cases. Those are all hardware mods, software mods can be done too. Same thing with 1:1 scale cars and modifying/reprogramming the ecu for better performance. If a piggyback rom can be build for more features, then why not.

Brian, "wow" wasn't the word that I used. LOL

I'm tired of messing with it. I put the MM back into the truck and will run it until my Neu gets back. Then I'll pull the Quark apart and do the mod.

BTW, I did find the little note in the Quark manual saying that if you need finer low speed control, you should narrow the neutral range, so this is probably why zpb has such fine low speed control and I don't. They do warn that running a narrow neutral range can cause cogging. I'll have to try it.

O.K. I've been out of town unexpectedly, so....


Zeropointbug- Do you still want the quark I killed????

I have read somewhere that having extra CAPS only works good if they are "on top of" the FETS- I also read somewhere that it is BAD to have the CAPS "very far from" the FETS. (something about extra resistance - I dont remember) These were posts from consumers, nothing official...

I put 4 caps directly on my board where the other 2 caps connect. (1 next to and 3 across from. yes they stick out the side...) I replaced the sticky pads with thermal epoxy, and epoxied the case to the rcmonster heatsink (no fan but it is connected to the chassis and gets good air flow)

I just set up my new NEU 1512 2.5D smooth can with a 6200 5S4P maxamps in my 8ight buggy with 13/46 - the quark setting are all hot (Its a bit jumpy, I'll probly soften the torque)

I ran it HARD and FAST (faster then that buggy has ever been) for about 30 min - Motor = 165* or so, Batteries = 110*, Quark = 145* (it was 94* weather)

Some tuning and a motor heatsink will only make it better!!:017:

Some pics of my mods...

the heatsink bolts into the frame at the engine mount holes (a bit of notching and it fits) the small piece of duct tape keeps the top cover from sliding forward...you can also see the CAPS are epoxied together (they are quite stable and fairly out of reach of the lid)




here you can see the notch in the side extends halfway across the bottom, exposing the solder point for the positive side of the CAPS and power input (otherwise this is unaccesable after the epoxy sets...) (yes i need new diff)





I like the low, centered COG with this install. The top 3 CAPS are along the center line and it all fits nicly under the top. Looks like I have a 'punk' Quark! (it has a mohawk)
Handling is spot-on and balance is very close. (need to change reciever pack and location for spot-on balance)

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by AAngel

BTW, I did find the little note in the Quark manual saying that if you need finer low speed control, you should narrow the neutral range, so this is probably why zpb has such fine low speed control and I don't. They do warn that running a narrow neutral range can cause cogging. I'll have to try it.

Yeah, I narrowed my neutral range and can go VERY slow without cogging.

About the floating PCB; I kinda figured. Makes sense that it wasn't cooling if the FETs weren't even attached to the case! I know it's kind of a crappy solution, but S&T probably uses the pad so that they can remove it easily for service. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long. Once you do the "internal mod", your heat problems should be over. I say "should" because with your luck, it won't work. ;)

Adding caps should help even more...

[zeropointbug]

Yes, I had the narrow neutral range as well, that's why.

AAngel, my FET heat spreader was the very same as that! It was only touching half of the FET's, and the PCB moved around easy (slack). But I am thinking that the caps leads being GONE had something to do with it starting on fire.

Are you sure you don't want to wait for my custom quark case for yours? If not, maybe you should epoxy the top FET heat spreader as well, to increase thermal conductivity (power spikes).

I also received the 30 caps this morning, I have the day off so I will see what I can do for a cap bank.:)

Let me know if you are going to do as far as the 'mod', or if you might want my case.

Since we are on the topic of Quarks here...

I bought some 1000uf 35v 85c caps for my quark. Can I use these with out damage to my quark? Also I am putting a custom heatsink on it too. I'll post pics of it later...

Thanks!

Bye:018: