Some help required.

[Dazsww]

Hi there,

Just got my first Tamiya car a TA04-S Skyline at the grand old age of 32 hehe.

Car is used although has new motor and esc and for the first day it was fine.

Unfortunately my 3 year old got hold of the controller, and now the car doesn't want to reverse.

If I switch on the transmitter then the receiver, it will reverse ok the esc light comes on and it makes beeping noises, but once I go forward after that if you try to reverse the light just flashes and nothing else happens.

Forwards works fine as does turning left and right, very occasionally it will reverse but this is rare.

Is there something I must to do the transmitter or receiver to get it to reverse?

Thanks.

[Percymon]

Some ESCs (speed controllers) need a double press of the triggger for reverse after a previous input of forwards, the first press is brakes and then return to neutral and press again for reverse.

Also check that the trim adjusters on the transmitter (dial, sliders or electronic via any lcd panel) are also central, or at least not pushed fully over one way.

would be useful to know what esc you have if the above doesn't help in any way

[mr crispy]

As Percymon suggested, tell us what brand or post a picture of the ESC is and we should be able to talk you through resetting it.

[atf300]

it could also be a race spec esc set into forward/brake only

[Flerbizky]

it could also be a race spec esc set into forward/brake only

OP said it occasionally reverses, so no.

As others have suggested - the double reverse move to get it to reverse is also my guess.

[alfagta]

could it be that the end point has been adjusted on the transmitter, some esc's wont go to reverse until full brake has been applied first, they do this to allow brake to applied more than once without engaging reverse and shrediing gear boxes , if the epa is not allowing full brake it wont go into reverse , just a suggestion , as said until the esc and transmitter are known its all guessing.

[wolfdogstinkus]

My 1year old gets hold of the T.V remote and changes things and then I can't get the T.V to work,

Don't let him have the controls

My 1year old plays with my transmitter, he knows it controls the car but it still makes him jump when the car moves. :D

As others have said, check your trims, if it was working before there can't be much wrong with it.

My rule is,....If it just stops working, then it's usually fixable,

if it goes BANG or catches fire or even lets out the magic smoke then it's probably broken.

[Dazsww]

Thanks for the assistance guys.

Seems to be it will reverse if you press reverse quickly about 5 times, sometimes does it after 1 or 2.

A bit annoying but guess will just have to live with it.

Other information that may be helpful:-

ESC is an Etronix Probe Plus.

Transmitter is an Acoms Techniplus AP-202.

Receiver is an Acoms AR-301.

Finally the battery is a 3000ma, the charger is a 400ma, how long would it take to fully charge, roughly?

Thanks again.

[alfagta]

hi again dazsww,

i've never ran one of the etronix esc's , but, if it does reverse sometimes it could well be a bad pot in the transmitter , i have had 3 ap202 radios many years ago , they were all fine for about a year but two of them went wonky , i thought my tamiya esc's had lost reverse but it turned out it was the radios , although the third one still works to this day , i replaced my radios and have had no issues since , it may be worth nipping into your local hobby shop and see if they would be kind enough to quickly hook up your car to another radio to see if yours has gone bad ,

your battery should take 8 hours for a full charge , 400ma x 8hrs =3200 mah , the 200 extra will actually be lost as heat during the charge process ,

good luck and have fun

[TA-Mark]

It does sound like the throttle/brake trim is slightly off centre, which means the ESC is not seeing a neutral position to allow it to change from brake mode to reverse mode.

Manual is pretty simple. The 'setup' is automatic everytime the ESC is powered up, the transmitter does need to be turned on first though for it to calibrate.

[alfagta]

It does sound like the throttle/brake trim is slightly off centre, which means the ESC is not seeing a neutral position to allow it to change from brake mode to reverse mode.

Manual is pretty simple. The 'setup' is automatic everytime the ESC is powered up, the transmitter does need to be turned on first though for it to calibrate.

hi TA-mark,

as you mentioned, the esc has auto set up so i assume that even if the trim has moved a little surely the esc would just auto set to this new position next time its set up?

[Dazsww]

Just a wee update.

I don't have access to another transmitter.

What I did was firstly reverse the front back, the car still woudln't go back when trying to use the forwards motion.

I then swapped channels one and two.

The forward/reverse then worked the left right controls on car perfectly, but the left right controls still struggles to get the car to reverse.

Same issue once car is turned on it will reverse, but once you go forward to reverse you have to press sometimes 5 or 10 times.

If you switch car off and thus reset the ESC it will reverse when turned on then the same thing happens,

ESC problem?

[alfagta]

hi,

if the channels on the radio have been swapped and throttle now works the steering and it steers fine as you said then i think we can say "yes thats an ESC issue " ,

probably best to grab a new esc , mtronics, ansmann and tamiya teu105 can all be had very cheaply ,as well as many others , if you are fealing like it may be worth it for what you intend on doing with the car then you could worse than grab a budget brushless system from Hobbywing, turnigy, leopard, hobbyking , yeah racing , but, a cheap brushed esc will keep you happy and wont put too much demand on your battery.

good luck with it and have fun ,