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- Vorteks
(Jump to the bold text if you are anxious to see the fix.)
If you were not already aware, the stock ESC (Spektrum Firma 100) that comes with the Arrma Vorteks 3s BLX has been problematic with run times. The low voltage cutoff (LVC) occurs too soon, causing the Vorteks to go into what I coined "limp mode" where it drives very slow and soon after won't move.
I've seen online some people feel the LVC is set too high by default. Others believe it's a bug in the firmware (the programming on the ESC itself). When full-throttle occurs, the initial draw from the LiPo battery will be high and causes a false read to the ESC, thus triggering the ESC's LVC.
In my own case, this issue was not at all present when I picked up my Vorteks back around March 2022. It wasn't until around May '22 and a fair amount of runs later that I began to see this issue come up and progressively became worse. Eventually, my run times with any of my batteries (1 PowerHobby 3S 5000 mAh 50C, 1 brand new Spektrum 3S 5000 mAh 50C, 2 Zeee 3S 5200 mAh 80C) dropped from 25 minutes to 5 minutes, and then to the very moment I hit full-throttle.
To try and correct the issue, I took advice from others and did the following:
I contacted Horizon Hobby and made a warranty claim. After a couple of emails, some photos, and receipts scanned, they let me know they'll be sending me a new ESC. It is, however, back ordered and expected to not arrive until July or August. (I'm in Canada, by the way. I am not clear if this adds to my wait time.) I can't say I'm surprised to hear it's back-ordered considering how many issues I've come across online regarding this problem.
Another option I knew would work - was simply replacing the ESC with something else. Well, for Father's Day, my lovely wife gifted me the Spektrum Firma 130 ESC I had been eyeing. I knew this ESC had more program options and would let me move up to a 4S battery should I choose that route one day. Along with this gift, I also bought Spektrum's Program Card. I never liked pressing a combination of buttons and counting beeps.
This led to me the part where you may have skipped ahead. When I realized I might be able to fix the original ESC. A firmware upgrade.
The Spektrum Program card comes with a USB adapter, so I knew right away I could connect this to a PC. This leads me to this YouTube video:
Low and behold, after following the steps within the video that involved updating the Program Card to the latest firmware and then connecting to my Firma 100, there was a firmware update. B1.25 to B2.06.
After updating the Firma 100's firmware, I reinstalled it into my RC on charged batteries to see if the problem was fixed.
It was!
I drove around my RC with the Firma 100 for roughly 20-25 minutes on cement and grass. Full throttle bursts. I drove it like I always do, and zero issues!
As a side note, I updated the firmware on my Firma 130. I did not own this ESC long enough to see any differences. However, I'll keep checking every few months to see if Spektrum has any new versions.
There is a prior thread I encourage you to view for more details about the Spektrum Program and connecting it to your PC: https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/spektrum-firma-esc-update-2-06-and-vorteks.39041/
If you were not already aware, the stock ESC (Spektrum Firma 100) that comes with the Arrma Vorteks 3s BLX has been problematic with run times. The low voltage cutoff (LVC) occurs too soon, causing the Vorteks to go into what I coined "limp mode" where it drives very slow and soon after won't move.
I've seen online some people feel the LVC is set too high by default. Others believe it's a bug in the firmware (the programming on the ESC itself). When full-throttle occurs, the initial draw from the LiPo battery will be high and causes a false read to the ESC, thus triggering the ESC's LVC.
In my own case, this issue was not at all present when I picked up my Vorteks back around March 2022. It wasn't until around May '22 and a fair amount of runs later that I began to see this issue come up and progressively became worse. Eventually, my run times with any of my batteries (1 PowerHobby 3S 5000 mAh 50C, 1 brand new Spektrum 3S 5000 mAh 50C, 2 Zeee 3S 5200 mAh 80C) dropped from 25 minutes to 5 minutes, and then to the very moment I hit full-throttle.
To try and correct the issue, I took advice from others and did the following:
- Swapped the pinion gear from 18T to 16T
- Lowered the punch setting to 3
- Put the ESC in my Arrma Big Rock (has a stock 15T pinion)
- I made certain all 4 batteries I own were balanced and checked their voltages per cell before and after use.
I contacted Horizon Hobby and made a warranty claim. After a couple of emails, some photos, and receipts scanned, they let me know they'll be sending me a new ESC. It is, however, back ordered and expected to not arrive until July or August. (I'm in Canada, by the way. I am not clear if this adds to my wait time.) I can't say I'm surprised to hear it's back-ordered considering how many issues I've come across online regarding this problem.
Another option I knew would work - was simply replacing the ESC with something else. Well, for Father's Day, my lovely wife gifted me the Spektrum Firma 130 ESC I had been eyeing. I knew this ESC had more program options and would let me move up to a 4S battery should I choose that route one day. Along with this gift, I also bought Spektrum's Program Card. I never liked pressing a combination of buttons and counting beeps.
This led to me the part where you may have skipped ahead. When I realized I might be able to fix the original ESC. A firmware upgrade.
The Spektrum Program card comes with a USB adapter, so I knew right away I could connect this to a PC. This leads me to this YouTube video:
Low and behold, after following the steps within the video that involved updating the Program Card to the latest firmware and then connecting to my Firma 100, there was a firmware update. B1.25 to B2.06.
After updating the Firma 100's firmware, I reinstalled it into my RC on charged batteries to see if the problem was fixed.
It was!
I drove around my RC with the Firma 100 for roughly 20-25 minutes on cement and grass. Full throttle bursts. I drove it like I always do, and zero issues!
As a side note, I updated the firmware on my Firma 130. I did not own this ESC long enough to see any differences. However, I'll keep checking every few months to see if Spektrum has any new versions.
There is a prior thread I encourage you to view for more details about the Spektrum Program and connecting it to your PC: https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/spektrum-firma-esc-update-2-06-and-vorteks.39041/
sucks though we gotta spend $ to make a stock vorteks work properly. Can we convince HH to provide these for free if we all send in our ESC for warranty claims? Gotta be cheaper for them to include one vs replacing ESCs.
But I purchased the Spektrum programmer, updated it, and then installed the latest firmware to the ESC, and voila! I'm getting full runtimes now. LVC is now at 3.6v and I couldn't be happier. I was able to get a few extra minutes of bliss. I'm about to check the latest firmware on my Infraction 3s, just to make sure I'm getting maximum fun out of that truck as well.
