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Well, that got modified quickly! [1]

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Date: 2022-10-30

The monster truck referred to in the article. It gets used like it's intended to be used. I've learned a lot about electronics from troubleshooting it.

For those of you not afflicted with the remote control vehicle bug, this may get boring. That said, down the rabbit hole we go!

First, a bit of background. Many hobby grade remote control vehicle these days use brushless motors. These fix the wires in place and spin the magnets. This is in contrast to the old-school brushed motor. That motor spins the wires with the magnets fixed in place. The biggest difference is how each motor is commutated. Or how it gets its electricity. Basically the commutator on a brushed motor is where the copper wire windings terminate and where each group of wires gets its electricity. Since the wires are spinning on a brushed motor this is handled by carbon brushes pressing against the pieces of metal attached to each group of wires. Those pieces of metal are collectively called the commutator. Each winding gets energized in turn as it spins and this creates a magnetic field which repel and spin the motor. In a brushless motor that has the wires fixed in place, instead of brushes an electronic speed controller needs to be used to rapidly switch the electricity off and on. This spins the motor. A key advantage of a brushless motor is less friction from the commutator, higher efficiency, and theoretically better reliability due to no mechanical parts handling electricity. Put a pin in that last advantage. A disadvantage is that it needs an electronic speed controller to work.

That electronic speed controller makes or breaks a brushless motor. A good one gives smooth and quick power delivery. A bad one can make a vehicle jerky at best or destroy the motor at worst. Remote control enthusiasts can and do put a lot of effort figuring out the best motor and ESC combination for a particular vehicle. I'm definitely one of those people who can't leave well enough alone. Or, when it breaks, more power!

So, how does all that relate to how my 1/10 scale 45 mph 4WD land missile of a monster truck rapidly got modified with a different motor and ESC? Well, it begins with the need for speed and cost-cutting by the manufacturer. Namely, the ESC included with the truck is well known to be pushed to its limits using the most powerful battery it is advertised to handle. To the truck manufacturers credit they do stand behind their product. So the enthusiast gets another marginal ESC to possibly destroy. A lot of people have zero issues and are perfectly happy with this ESC to be fair. My ESC wasn't one of the good ones and kicked the bucket a few months after purchase.

A lot of folks, including myself, decide to get an ESC from a different manufacturer that can comfortably handle the voltage and amperage the larger battery can deliver when their original ESC goes dead. Unfortunately the replacement ESC I purchased had some issues after a few more months. Those issues managed to cause physical damage to the original motor, such as getting a wire so hot it desoldered the connector at the end. Thinking I had a motor issue at first, I ordered the matched motor for that new ESC. Nope! Same issues with a brand new motor. For those of you keeping score, that's two dead ESC's and one dead motor in under a year.

The manufacturer of the replacement ESC stood behind their product and replaced it once they determined it was a manufacturing fault.

Well, after having said vehicle back in service for a bit now, with the new ESC and motor, it's hilariously over-powered. This compares to merely over-powered as it came from the factory. Too much power? Yes, sometimes. The truck will pull the front tires off the ground effortlessly at most speeds except ridiculously fast, about 37-40 mph. It's not quite as fast as it used to be by a few MPH. That's fine. The antics it's capable of now make up for that. I pretty much always come in with a smile on my face from bashing this truck around. Which is the point of a monster truck.

P.S.: For those of you wondering what “hobby grade” means, it means the vehicle is designed to be serviced. It can also mean the vehicle has features that mimic a full-size vehicle. Things like a transfer case or full time 4WD.

P.P.S: The Ukrainians have shown how to militarize a lot of this off the shelf equipment to defeat the Russians. I saw a YouTube video how a knowledgeable person managed to convert a common DJI drone to drop a toy parachute using a signal from the existing controller. This allowed the 10 km range to be used when picking where to drop something. This was done with off the shelf components and a 3D printed housing. It's practically a guarantee the Ukrainians did something very similar. They may have even referenced that exact video. Or put down a small disposable tracked vehicle for on the ground reconnaissance. Calling this the “First Drone War" seems appropriate. I'm awaiting Mark's article on the drones of Ukraine!

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