No power...

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi everyone,

I am running into an issue with my motion pack (red boxes).
Problem is that my StuG runs fine, but doesn't have the power it should have (and always had).
Normally it is so strong I cannot hold it back. Now I can without much effort.

Climbing hills is therefor no succes either. As what i suspect to be a side affect is that it steers at random moments without steering input.
Perhaps something is off with the power distribution.

Batteries are fully charged, and the telemetry shows around 9 amps when I hold it back completely (no tracks turning), which seems a low number for the situation.

Anybody any suggestions on what this could be or what I could check?

Thanks in advance,

[Adrian Harris]

If you are using FrSky, disconnect the SmartPort lead to the current sensor and see if the tank drives normally.

Adrian.

[Roy Beukeveld]

Hi Adrian,

Thank you for the suggestion, but i use a Spektrum NX8 with an AR8020T. No changes on that front were made by the way, used this from day one…

[Adrian Harris]

That's interesting - as your symptoms and mine are very similar but mine started when I introduced telemetry.

I remember you had issues before, which stopped after you had disconnected and reconnected everything. Could anything have become partially attached ?

We had an issue today with a recoil which didn't work properly and it was traced to a wire which had broken but was being held in partial contact by the heat shrink covering.

Adrian.

[John Clarke]

Are you using Armortek's red boxes?

[Roy Beukeveld]

...That's interesting - as your symptoms and mine are very similar but mine started when I introduced telemetry....

Hi Adrian, yes you remembered that correctly, I had problems before. After disconnecting everything and reconnecting one by one the issue stayed away.

Your remark about telemetry got me thinking... I said I didn't change anything on the radio part, not concerning to components no, but I did reconnect the voltage sensor cable into the receiver.... I tested it and the voltage appeared nicely on the transmitter again.

Such a minor thing I didn't thought of again. Now you mentioned telemetry explicitly it became a suspect.
Disconnected the wire, and there you have it. Power!
Climbs the ramps with ease and no steering without input.

Reconnected/disconnected several times and testing in between, and yes, problem back and gone. So that was it.
Strange though, I do run a SPMA9605 unit to send consumed capacity and amperage to the radio. This one is also connected to the Rx of course but gives no problem.
After the first power issue (months back) the voltage sensor cable has never been reconnected. So that must have been the case back then as well...

A big thanks to you Adrian for triggering this