SCX24 Power Wagon

[85_Ranger4x4]

We (by we I mean my 5yo son) discovered these like a week before Christmas so it was too late to make that happen. Then he got hurt Christmas day kinda bad... as we were there in the ER and he is crying his heart out... it gets to eating at me all he really wanted was "a little remote controller" and he didn't get one.

I got some money for Christmas myself and since he had been doing so well taking care of his injury I ordered him one. Not the one they had at the store (green Chevy truck) but the green Power Wagon. Has all the "overland accessories" he goes nuts over plus he is a huge fan of Matt's Offroad Recovery's wrecker which it kind of resembles.

Axial 1/24 SCX24 Dodge Power Wagon 4X4 RTR Brushed Rock Crawler (Battery & Charger Included), Green | Horizon Hobby

He was flat out blown away, I don't know how many times he thanked me for it. He ran the wheels off the thing around the house over the weekend. He was even hauling ornaments from the Christmas tree one at a time in the back (spouting off about needing to fix the rear steer, a recent issue with MORR Wrecker)

Ran great for a day and a half. Now the lights work, the steering works but the thing doesn't move. I watched it die, it was just going across the living room floor and stopped.

It really irritates me, I guess burned out motors are pretty common. My SCX10 has been a tank, I figured they would make the smaller guys the same. So now its waiting on a new motor...

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

At the last AVR I went to in Georgia. They had an obstacle course set up for them around the whole camp. Was pretty cool seeing them wheel through the little creek at the campground. A lot of the guys had them decked out just like their real rigs. I have a friend that 3D prints roof racks and little LED light bars for them. He sells the crap out of those things on Etsy.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Having been in the RC hobby industry (reselling LiPo batteries & brushless motors) I must say that Horizon Hobbies is one of the best companies. They send you replacement parts free at least with my few requests. Hope you can get the truck back moving with the new motor. The ESC (electronic speed controller) will send signals to the motor that you can hear, telling you stuff like the motor is ready. Tiny beeps. Hope he is feeling better.

 

[Blmpkn]

Conversion motor mounts to run the small Traxxas crawler motors are super cheap on shapeways. More options for cheap aftermarket motors with that size can too.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

At the last AVR I went to in Georgia. They had an obstacle course set up for them around the whole camp. Was pretty cool seeing them wheel through the little creek at the campground. A lot of the guys had them decked out just like their real rigs. I have a friend that 3D prints roof racks and little LED light bars for them. He sells the crap out of those things on Etsy.

Kansas Rocks Offroad Park actually has an RC course at the campground, they were fun to watch at night.

Having been in the RC hobby industry (reselling LiPo batteries & brushless motors) I must say that Horizon Hobbies is one of the best companies. They send you replacement parts free at least with my few requests. Hope you can get the truck back moving with the new motor. The ESC (electronic speed controller) will send signals to the motor that you can hear, telling you stuff like the motor is ready. Tiny beeps. Hope he is feeling better.

I don't hear anything. Actually acts like it did when it needed the battery charged. It was just off the charger and recharging it has no effect.

I let the truck sit turned on for awhile, put the battery on the charger and the charger shows it it is charging. If I take it off the charger wait a bit and put it back on it shows full charge so I don't think it is the battery/charger.

Conversion motor mounts to run the small Traxxas crawler motors are super cheap on shapeways. More options for cheap aftermarket motors with that size can too.

Motors are pretty cheap for these too, really with a novice driver I wouldn't mind if it was a little underpowered.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Tiny motors have tiny brushes and armatures, I wouldn't be too surprised if it's the motor... you could check resistance across the motor wires to see if there is any which would point at a brush/winding issue

It's been a while since I've run my little crawler, not sure I've ran it since I put the new steering servo in... it's about time I get a new steering servo in my little rc jet boat though!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

For the meantime he is back to his little 3 year old New Bright Bronco that gets stuck in our gravel driveway lol. Aside from being nearly helpless it's big fault is it is easy to leave the switch on and waste a bunch of AA batteries.

The SCX24 axles are worm drive but spinning both backwards I could turn the driveshafts/motor thinking there may be a bad spot in the field like starters can get sometimes. Made no difference.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Horizon Hobby 800-338-4639

That truck may have a supervisory circuit besides the typical ESC/Motor. Follow up with them, they will make it right & send you out new parts. Something perhaps that your Son & yourself can learn about together.

 

[Blmpkn]

Kansas Rocks Offroad Park actually has an RC course at the campground, they were fun to watch at night.



I don't hear anything. Actually acts like it did when it needed the battery charged. It was just off the charger and recharging it has no effect.

I let the truck sit turned on for awhile, put the battery on the charger and the charger shows it it is charging. If I take it off the charger wait a bit and put it back on it shows full charge so I don't think it is the battery/charger.



Motors are pretty cheap for these too, really with a novice driver I wouldn't mind if it was a little underpowered.

IIRC the stock Traxxas motors really just provide more torque than the itty bitty axial ones due to the bigger can, relatively sure theyre both the same 'turns'.. so should still be manageable for the kiddo.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Horizon Hobby 800-338-4639

That truck may have a supervisory circuit besides the typical ESC/Motor. Follow up with them, they will make it right & send you out new parts. Something perhaps that your Son & yourself can learn about together.

I started a case on their website at break yesterday afternoon.

I figured it would be my luck I throw a motor in it and it was the ESC... and I just voided the warranty with the motor.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Grabbed my multimeter out of the garage, 7.4v battery is putting out 6.7v after not being charged since Monday. Per people on google the battery cutoff is around 3.7v so that should be good.

Unplugged the motor from the ESC, it is putting out about a volt at WOT. What that means I don't know... but it is trying to do something.

 

[Snoranger]

Grabbed my multimeter out of the garage, 7.4v battery is putting out 6.7v after not being charged since Monday. Per people on google the battery cutoff is around 3.7v so that should be good.

Unplugged the motor from the ESC, it is putting out about a volt at WOT. What that means I don't know... but it is trying to do something.

WOT should be full (or close to full) battery voltage. Try direct power from the battery to the motor real quick and see if it works.
It’s sounds like the BEC output is working but the motor output from the ESC is shot.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

WOT should be full (or close to full) battery voltage. Try direct power from the battery to the motor real quick and see if it works.
It’s sounds like the BEC output is working but the motor output from the ESC is shot.

That is kinda what I thought, that's how things work on big stuff...

 

[Snoranger]

That is kinda what I thought, that's how things work on big stuff...

I started in the hobby back in the 80’s when you could get a resistor based mechanical speed control… all it did was cut the voltage in 3 different steps to give you slow, med, and fast speeds. Fast was no resistor, full battery voltage.

 

[Curious Hound]

I started in the hobby back in the 80’s when you could get a resistor based mechanical speed control… all it did was cut the voltage in 3 different steps to give you slow, med, and fast speeds. Fast was no resistor, full battery voltage.

Modern ESC's are much better and more efficient.