# Mamba max motor/esc troubles.



## peelu (Jun 18, 2006)

I have recently purchased a Mamba max 5700 combo and am having no luck in getting it to function properly. I have cut the motor wires, braided the motor and esc wires, changed reciever position, changed antenna position, changed esc position, tried 3 different vehicles, 2 different reciever/radio combos, different batteries, different gearing combinations and almost all of the settings available on the esc. My problem is the car is only usable within a 10 to 20 foot range reliably. When used on the grass with my bigger tires the car merely hops about as the esc pulses current to the motor briefly. This is not merely cogging, as I can get fantastic performance out of the car when standing very close to it. The car I have the motor in is a brand new Associated T4 stadium truck using the stock radio and reciever. My other 2 vehicles were broken when the cars decided to run full power into a curb during a rather bad glitch. Needless to say I am getting very frustrated with this happening, especially when everyone else has not had problems with the motor in their unmodified vehicles. I have sent 3 emails to Castle now with not much in the way of responses other than to cut motor wires, move esc, move reciever, replace reciever etc. I now know the problem is not with any of the radio/vehicle equipment that I am running. Is any one else expereincing any similar problems with their mamba max combos.


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## ta_man (Apr 10, 2005)

My first piece of advice would be to dump the 27MHz AM radio and get a good FM system, or if you can afford it, a Spektrum system.

When I first started with RC I was advised by the LHS to get an AM radio because "AM crystals are less expensive and if you are going racing you will need additional crystal sets."

Best thing I ever did was finally convert to FM.

If you can't afford such a radio right now, see if someone will let you install an FM receiver from their radio in your car and see if it works properly then. That will at least tell you if it will solve the problem and you can start saving for an FM radio.


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## peelu (Jun 18, 2006)

ta_man said:


> My first piece of advice would be to dump the 27MHz AM radio and get a good FM system, or if you can afford it, a Spektrum system.
> 
> When I first started with RC I was advised by the LHS to get an AM radio because "AM crystals are less expensive and if you are going racing you will need additional crystal sets."
> 
> ...



I had my JR XS3 with JR RS300 reciever in my previous attempts with the motor. I am having better luck so far with the am radio. I will try using the JR again just for the heck of it, I am desperate to get this motor working.


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## ta_man (Apr 10, 2005)

I would say your last resort is to install the system in one or two other cars that you know to be glitch free. Sine you said it already broke two cars, my suggestion to test it would be to take the rear tires off and lave it on the groud or a piece of cardbord with someone looking at it. The start walking away while opeation the throttle and steering as if you were driving it. My criteria for reliability is no glitchin and full control out to about 100 yards (which happens to be the length of my dead end street.

If it couses problems in two other cars that work fine without the Mamba system, you have isolated the problem to the Mamba. Contact castle again, or try this thread:

http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/showthread.php?t=223182


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## peelu (Jun 18, 2006)

Every time I email Castle I get a one sentence reply addressing one of the least troublesome issues. It is getting quite frustrating.


Hello once again xxxxxx
I have tried cutting the motor wires back a bit and
have braided them as well. the only problem is that it
hasn't really worked out too well. I have also moved
the reciever, antenna and esc with no luck. I have
sent a picture of my brand new Associated T4 and the
current setup. This arrangement seems to have provided
the best results so far, but, the car is still only
reliably usable within a 6-10 foot radius on the grass
with my bigger tires. With the normal sized tires and
stock/ unstock gearing performance is still very
spotty at best. At over 15 to 20 feet the car responds
very erratically if at all. I have also noticed the
programming changes done on the computer such as
brakes and drag brake do not work. I have tried
setting the brakes to 100% 90% etc and never notice
any change. When applied the brakes only come on with
enough force to slow the car very gradually. I know
that there is more available braking power to be had.
My previous setup, a Novak SS5800 would lock up the
tires when the brakes were set near the top end. If
there is anything you can think of that may be causing
these problems please let me know, as I fear that I
may have to send the whole unit in. As I mentioned
before, it is very strange that every one else seems
to be loving their system and eperiencing no
problems. Once again, thank you very much for your
timely response and valuable time.

Braden.



Braden,

After you update the software in the ESC you must recalibrate the ESC 
to
your transmitter.


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## peelu (Jun 18, 2006)

I was also wondering if a Nomadio radio system would fix any problems with glitching etc. I know they are supposed to be great for gas and nitro, But I'm wondering if they would be in the correct frequency to avoid electrical motor interference.


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## briano_72 (Jan 21, 2006)

you are not going to have to spend money on a nomadio just to get your maxx working, when we were beta testing, one of the big deals was not to modify the wire length, that was almost rule #1.  i find it weird that they kinda told you that first. :freak: i see you are using deans connectors, what kind of batterys are you using, im sure castle asked you this first, but you have not said here. matched 3300's at a minimum are needed. as far as teh response you got back from castle, they have been one of the best companys i have ever dealt with, as far as internet help and sending products back for repair. im guessing since the maxx is only a few months old, they are having lots of problems, but im also gonna add, and it may ot may not be in your case, but most problems are gonna turn out to be user error. the system really works great and you can fine tune it almost too much. i ran the 5700 in my t4 during testing and the 7700 in my tc4, both were too fast for indoor carpet racing, and the 7700 outdoors in the tc4 melted my diff outdrives !!! :tongue: its worth the time you are spending, once you get it figured out, your gonna need to get lots more tires !! the big tires on teh t4 are really overkill, i hope you got it geared waaaaay low. 
:wave:


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## peelu (Jun 18, 2006)

Well I took the radio system out of my Hpi Baja and now this setup works perfectly. I cannot believe I had 3 recievers that were crap. I don't think I will be buying anything by JR again. On another note, this motor is amazing. Very easily programmed and runs like a champ.


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## briano_72 (Jan 21, 2006)

there ya go !! i tryed to say its bad a$$ !! now you need a taste of the 7700 motor !! i just wish they would get roar and arcor approved so we can run in the local first ever national brushless race comming up in 3 weeks !!


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## peelu (Jun 18, 2006)

briano_72 said:


> there ya go !! i tryed to say its bad a$$ !! now you need a taste of the 7700 motor !! i just wish they would get roar and arcor approved so we can run in the local first ever national brushless race comming up in 3 weeks !!




I thank god that there is someone who makes a motor without roar aproval. I think roar is the worst thing to happen to rc. It's like if nascar rules were imposed on every passenger car in america. you would have to have a restrictor here, a restrictor there and a drag inducing device here, all on a 350 cubic inch engine. almost every car is designed with the racer in mind even though 80 percent of people just bash. Of course I'm sure you just want to be able to use this kick ass system when you race, and all the power to you( I hope they do come out with an approved motor for you). I just hate it when there is so much race oriented product out there and not a lot for bashers. Thank god for brushless though, I mean really who takes there car out for 5 minutes at a time. I was getting sick of the solder melting off of my retard roar approved brushed electric motor. I can't believe that the traxxas stampede is one of the first cars that implements a motor with a built in cooling fan. How many monkey does it take to come up with that idea? sorry, just had to get that off my chest, it is an amazing motor and I am having a blast with it!


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## briano_72 (Jan 21, 2006)

im with ya, im not anything about cutting comms, hell, i was racing last year and bought my first can of cleaner about 1/2 way threw the year !! i was haveing probs with my 19 turn eating brushes every week, i asked one of the big guys, he asked when the last time i cut the comm, i looked at him and said its a year and a half old, and i just sprayed it with cleaner for the first time 2 weeks ago. i race in the winter for something to do, i just started getting a little more seroius last year and got some matched batterys, i ran no label batts the year before. im all about brushless, hell, i think brushless came out for guys like me !! i get irritated that like in 2 weeks, we are doing a brushless national race, but all you can use is novak stuff, there are alot more brands of motors out there, and all we can use is novak.


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## bigbadstu (Jun 3, 2003)

Has anyone tried a Novak motor with the Mamba speedo yet?


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## ta_man (Apr 10, 2005)

bigbadstu said:


> Has anyone tried a Novak motor with the Mamba speedo yet?


The Novak motors don't work well with the Mamba Max right now, but supposedly one of their highest priorities is working on programming updates to handle the Novak (and probably LRP) motors.

Check out this thread:

http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/showthread.php?t=223182&page=1&pp=25


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## NovakTwo (Feb 8, 2006)

*GTB is still the one...*



ta_man said:


> The Novak motors don't work well with the Mamba Max right now, but supposedly one of their highest priorities is working on programming updates to handle the Novak (and probably LRP) motors.


The GTB offers a number of excellent features...

GTB has a durable, water-resistent, high quality esc case--protects sensitive electronics from moisture and debris. (Mamba case is rather flimsy.)

GTB esc can be used with brushless and brush motors, with no motor limit.

GTB features locked rotor detection circuitry, which protects the speed control's electronics and batteries.

GTB has user-friendly on board (one-touch) programming-- no need to take a PC to the track.


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## bigbadstu (Jun 3, 2003)

NovakTwo said:


> The GTB offers a number of excellent features...
> And the Mamba Max matches or beats them:
> 
> GTB has a durable, water-resistent, high quality esc case--protects sensitive electronics from moisture and debris. (Mamba case is rather flimsy.)
> ...


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## briano_72 (Jan 21, 2006)

I'll concede Big Orange has a significant advantage for sanctioned racing applications, with ROAR approval and 4-cell capability. The Max needs 6 cells minimum, so 12th scale applications are out. But if you're just after a whole lotta speed and don't need a sanctioned motor, go green!

There's really only one way to settle this: a head-to-head shootout. 

NOTE: I'm not dissing the Novak. I've got a ton of their gear and love every bit of it. I just love the Mamba a little bit more.[/QUOTE]


was just reading the post linked above and on the last few pages, shawn says it does work on 4 cells, his words say it was not supposed to, but it does rather nicely !! i was wondering what i was gonna have to get for the 1/12 scale sitting in the garage right now, maybe i dont have to worry anymore !!


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