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Question:
Hiya Doctor-
I bought a brand new Maisto Rock Crawler not to long ago. I wired a 9.6v battery to it (like everyone is doing) and it worked fine right up to the point where I put it all back together; then it stopped working. If I hook the battery directly to the motors, they work fine. Please help Doc! This is the 2nd one I’ve done this too and they just quit working before I even get to try them out. Is it possible that a positive wire is touching another wire after putting it back together and causing the ESC to short out? Thanks!
Chris
Answer:
Hi Chris,
The Maisto is actually a pretty fun little rig for the price. It’s not going to blast through the big stuff like a typical crawler, but it will help you get your feet wet, so to speak.
I did a little research on the 9.6v conversion and, while people are doing it, most of them have been switching out the electronics as well. The stock ESC may handle 9.6v for a short time, but the moment you give it any input it’s probably frying the board. Hooking the battery to the motor will of course cause them to work since you are bypassing the stock ESC.
If you’re set on converting this crawler to a fun, 9.6v beast, I would suggest picking up a hobby-grade ESC for it. A few people have dropped in Tamiya TEU-series ESCs. They will easily handle the power and can be picked up for about $30 for a new one, much cheaper for a used one. Along with that, I would pull the stock 130-size motor and drop in a 180-size can; same size, more power and torque!
Good luck!
The Doc
