Blown up XL-5??

[_underground_]

Hi all,
In all honestly, I really don't know what happened but it seems that my XL-5 broke. It won't turn on anymore. It was not running. I was just reorganising some cable work from the lights.

The battery is fine. When pressing the on-button I see a VERY LOW glowing led blinking quite rapidly. This is NOT the same amount of brightness you'll see when it is operating normally. You have to cover the esc with your hand to see the light.

What could have happened here and is there a way to fix it?

Thanks for your help.

Regards
Ruud

[RCWilly]

Have you tried to recalibrate the ESC?

[Greatscott]

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!

Hi all,
In all honestly, I really don't know what happened but it seems that my XL-5 broke. It won't turn on anymore. It was not running. I was just reorganising some cable work from the lights.

Lets start here...

Were you unplugging and unplugging things on the receiver (RX)? If so, check and make sure the steering servo is plugged into one of the first two slots, and that the ESC is plugged into the third slot of the RX.

[_underground_]

Hi there Greatscott!
All cables in the receiver were kept in place. No changes there. After noticing the problem I removed all cables from the transmitter and also disconnected the thick wires leading to the motor. Still the save behaviour. A VERY low blinking inside the xl5. Reconnecting ch1/ch3 makes n9 difference.

Maybe you can tell me what the led on the xl5 does when nothing is connected to it? So no motor and also not a receiver? 8 have no spare xl5 so can not test it and observe differences. Maybe you can?

[_underground_]

Well RCWilly,
Nothing is reacting. No light on the receiver. No normal led on the esc. Strange isn't it?

[RCWilly]

Well RCWilly,
Nothing is reacting. No light on the receiver. No normal led on the esc. Strange isn't it?

There's definitely something wrong with the ESC if the receiver is not getting power... what happened before this (rock crawling, trail running, etc), anything unusual during that run? Also, was the steering servo under high load the last time you ran it?

[_underground_]

There's definitely something wrong with the ESC if the receiver is not getting power... what happened before this (rock crawling, trail running, etc), anything unusual during that run? Also, was the steering servo under high load the last time you ran it?

Nothing from that at all. The car was not outside at all. Just on the table. No smell, no loose ends of cables. As mentioned, I was re-alligning the cablework from the lightkit. All the lights (blinker, brake light etc) have been tested many times that day. Every time the XL-5 was turned off and the battery disconnected....

I do not have many spare parts to evaluate and pinpoint the issue better, but when I read the tip from Greatscott, I thought I might get more insight when I connect the original Traxxas receiver instead of my Carson 14 channel receiver. Maybe the XL-5 would recognise his next of kin and wake up again but nothing happened. The LOW blinking light even didn't come up. After switching back to the Carson receiver even there the LOW blinking light had stopped, so in my opinion it is time to arrange a tiny funeral, right?

I do not expect to be able to make use of warrenty can I?

When all is going fine, tomorrow my new ESC will arrive so we know if more damage is done to the receiver, light kit, switches etc.

[_underground_]

The new ESC arrived 1 day earlier. I tested it right away and I am very happy. All things work as they used to do!
Thanks guys for your support.

Sometimes things just break...

[RCWilly]

The new ESC arrived 1 day earlier. I tested it right away and I am very happy. All things work as they used to do!
Thanks guys for your support.

Sometimes things just break...

Glad it's fixed!

[Squeegie]

Glad for you.
Happy crawling!