20 replies to this topic

[Mudhen]

Background; at the track last week, I gently cleaned off my wiper panel with a clean, dry piece of terrycloth. When I hooked it back up, it would no longer go all the way back to the stop without gently goosing it resulting in a few wild rides around the track and a wall shot or two. I took it home and opened it up but I saw nothing openly weird so I put it back together and shazam, it now operated normally.

 

So today, I hit the track and once hooked up, I literally hit the track as my car took off and bongoed the wall head on, hard enough to break my nice Cahoza guide, something that I have never done before. Josh came over and we checked a few things, and it seemed to be OK, so back on the track, only to go nuts two laps later and wall shot another car. The power to the car issue was intermittent, but completely unpredictable, (i.e. it didn't matter if I was on the power or not). I can recognize defeat, so home I went.

 

I am now looking at the controller and there is no burnt anything, but my wiper is contact is loose in its hole, and the arm is bent ever so slightly up where the wiper contact goes through. Also, the wiper arm goes all the way to the screw holding the control panel on. Are these the culprits? Or could it be electronic issue.

 

The controller is an E 'Motion 2 with a 15 band wiper on it.

 

My usual thanks is applied and any and all help, scorn, whatever, is appreciated. 

 

Richard Marnhout

Pleasant Hill, CA

[Jim Difalco]

And why have you not come to me with this issue? Since it is an Emotion 2 it is a pretty old controller and probably needs some service. 

 

Anyone can tell you I go to great lengths to provide great customer service but that cannot happen if I never get contacted. Not sure how another racer can diagnose the problem when I cannot from your description of the issue.

 

What you should do is email me pictures of both sides of the controller with the handle off and pictures of the heatsink circuit board as well. I spend countless hours of time helping racers diagnose their problems for FREE by email. Only then do I suggest they send the controller in for service.

[Mudhen]

Damn Jim, you have completely shamed me, and rightfully so. I am so used to poor customer service in the "real" world that I forgot that craftsmen still exist. In my career as a professional bread baker, I was frequently asked to advise on the problems that bakers would have, difficult enough if I had photos, nigh on impossible if I didn't. Let me take the old thing apart tomorrow and shoot you some pictures.

 

Thanks!

 

Richard Marnhout

[Jim Difalco]

That works for me. 

[Bill Seitz]

As Jim points out, it's usually difficult to diagnose a problem without seeing it. Based on your description, I picture you cleaning it with a piece of toweling through vents or open top and inadvertently have damaged, loosened, or reconfigured something mechanical. This is supported by the wiper contact being loose in the wiper arm, the wiper arm being visibly bent, and the wiper reaching the board mounting screw. Jim can get it sorted for you.

[Mudhen]

Now that is a wall shot.

 

 

[Bill from NH]

Usually you can expect the guidepost to break & the chassis to bend. Your photo doesn't look like either. I'm wondering if that guide didn't have an internal flaw to break across the middle like that. Whose guide is it? I used to boil nylon guides before using them. That is something I learned from RC racers.

[Thom]

Look at the burnt mark next to the braid, a clue?

[Jim Difalco]

I still have not received any controller pictures. 

[Mudhen]

I forgot to photograph the backside of the controller. I will do that and send it today.

[Mudhen]

Usually you can expect the guidepost to break & the chassis to bend. Your photo doesn't look like either. I'm wondering if that guide didn't have an internal flaw to break across the middle like that. Whose guide is it? I used to boil nylon guides before using them. That is something I learned from RC racers.

 

It was / is a Cahoza guide, and it had a long thin blade, and was pretty lightweight compared to say, a Parma.

[Bill Seitz]

As has already been mentioned, guides usually snap at the post. A hard hit might bend the chassis or guide tongue, too. I've had many crashes into track walls and some spectacular airborne wrecks where my car has left the track altogether and landed on the floor some distance away and often under the track, and yet I've never had a guide break like that. That's also an odd burn, and I see other blackening along the length of the guide's braid pocket indicating a serious short. The opening description of the controller problems indicate a chain of events, so it's possible there are multiple contributors to the end damage.

 

I'm suspicious there's more than a single fault involved, but not being there and not being able to perform failure analysis of the bits involved, I can only speculate. Hopefully Jim can diagnose the controller from photos and at least get that portion of the mystery sorted.

[Mudhen]

I just want to say for the record that the title to my post was never meant to be in any way to denigrate Jim or Difalco controllers. It was a proud moment when, years ago, I moved up from my first controller to a Difalco. 

[Mark Onofri]

I hadn't noticed that a solder joint on a lead wire was in contact with the chassis. Due to the age and waveyness of the track, the chassis flexed just before the bank, ~=3.5',(BlueKing)and 💥 wall shot from hell. Evidently the chassis had contacted a braid which resulted in full voltage. It was a IRRA type chassis and, it bent the guide thong 90°. Not to say that it's your problem but I just thought I'd share this with you and everyone else. Stupid simple things that if overlooked can ruin your day.

[Bill from NH]

Use motors with buss bars, if possible. Otherwise, be very careful that when you solder leadwire to motors & guide clips that you don't strip off too much wire insulation. All you should need is about 1/8" max.

[Pablo]

 

It was / is a Cahoza guide, and it had a long thin blade, and was pretty lightweight compared to say, a Parma.

 

Parma and Cahoza both make all kinds and thicknesses of flags.

So it's not a fair statement to say one manufacturer's flag is inherently lighter weight than another's.

[JerseyJohn]

at that velocity ,its doubtful any guide would have survived.

[Mudhen]

 

Parma and Cahoza both make all kinds and thicknesses of flags.

So it's not a fair statement to say one manufacturer's flag is inherently lighter weight than another's.

No one is making value judgements here. In MY experience, the Parma guides that I used in ye dayes of olde, were pretty much bulletproof. The wall shot that took out the Cahoza was a total, head first million MPH smack. And the Cahoza guide was, to be honest, a really thin bladed guide. I liked it. That's why I used it. I have looked at the wrecked car, and I wonder if arcing occurred in the process of the wreck, everything, guide braid, lead wire, came together in an instant and shorted out. I agree that I have never before seen a guide with obvious scorch marks, and the leading edge of the chassis, where the guide fits through the hole, there is a roughness that is not on any of my other chassis, and suggests being burned, although there are no obvious burn marks. The violence of the wreck may have done that.

[Bill from NH]

Can you straighten & flatten that chassis out so it can be reused for another car?

[Mudhen]

Can you straighten & flatten that chassis out so it can be reused for another car?

Remarkably enough, only the tongue seems to be bent. Like I said, it was a straight on impact. 

[MG Brown]

My experience with Jim's customer service has been excellent. His company is certainly the model for how to take good care of your customers.