I recently had to send my Novak 13.5 SS system back because it would run fine for a few laps, and then act like the battery was dead, and lose it's program, after I would reprogram it, it would run fine again for a short while, and due the same thing (the batteries were full charge), I tried several batteries. When I called and explained the problem, they said to send it back, and they are sending me a new one.
Just now a friend of mine put a 13.5 SS system in his car and is having the same problem. Now i am thinking it's a problem with programming or something.
We are both useing them for oval "sportsman" class racing which has a breakout, and we are not running full throttle, i am only running about 55%, I think he is the same. We both are useing 4200 good batteries, which work fine in our brushed set ups it's not a battery issue.
Anybody have the same problem, or any idea's?

Thanks, Jim

Are you running with a Spektrum system and 4 cell? Does the car not want to start from a standing position? Do you have to push it to get it rolling?

I am running a Spektrum system, the car will start without pushing it, my friend with the same problem is not running a Spektrum system.

Both using 4 cells......now you've got me thinking about the 4 cell, part throttle thing.

After thinking about it, that's not the problem, because he has been running a 4300 brushless system in his other car with a 4 cell, with no problems in the sportsman class.

When you are saying "losing it's program" what do you mean? Spektrum had issues with the early receivers SR3000 (the larger gray one) on 4 cell cars. Under hard acceleration the voltage would drop and put the receiver in fail safe mode. The other issue was wire routing of the anntenna wire inside the case would cause shut down too.

It sounds like the speedo may have issues but do you see any leds flashing on the speedo to idicate a fault. Overheating, locked rotor will cause the fault lights to come on and the motor sensor wires coming unplugged or loose may cause issues.

The same car, reciever, batteries, etc with a brushed motor, and different speed control is fine.
The lights on the speed control flash, then when you reprogram it, it's ok for a few laps. My buddies car is doing it too, with the same type (xbr 13.5 new also) neither one of us has put 4 minutes on our setup.
I think it's in the programming, or running 4 cells at partial throttle setting maybe.
When I called Novak about mine they said to send it back if it's losing it's programming, but now I really don't think that 2 of them (mine and my friends) are bad. I think it's something else. We have both raced for a long while. It's my first brushless set up though.
I did all of the thing like checked connections, battery charge senser wires etc., so has he.
Mine should be back this week, but without changeing anything I would bet it will do the same thing. I can run my Lipo battery in the car, and do with the brushed motor, i'll try that when I get it back.

Any chance you've got the LiPo voltage cutoff feature turned on?

This is from the owners manual for Lipo cutoff. It sounds like the lipo cutoff may be kicking in.


Li-PO cUt-OFF circUitrY
When active (see programming on reverse side to turn ON/OFF), the built-in Smart-
Stop Li-Po Cut-Off Circuitry lets you safely use Lithium Polymer batteries by
cutting off the ESC’s throttle output when a critical safety voltage is reached.
The circuitry constantly monitors the pack voltage. When it gets close to the
critical safety voltage (6.25V) it begins interrupting, or ‘blipping’ the throttle
output as an early warning that the battery’s voltage is getting low and the
throttle output will soon be completely shut off.
When the critical voltage is reached, the throttle output to the motor gets
completely shut down to keep the voltage from dropping further (Red & Green
LEDs will alternately flash & you still have steering control). Re-charge battery after
Smart-Stop circuitry shuts off throttle. Even though the pack’s voltage will
rise (after a short resting period) to a level high enough to run the motor again,
this is not good for Li-Po batteries--Reaching the critical safety voltage too
many times can damage the cells. DO NOT CONTINUE TO RUN VEHICLE AFTER
THE SMART-STOP HAS SHUT DOWN THE THROTTLE OUTPUT THE FIRST TIME.
During power-up when the ESC is switched ON, the Amber & Red
LEDs will flash together 3 times to indicate Li-Po Cut-Off is ACTIVE.
With the Li-Po Cut-Off turned ON & using Ni-Cd or Ni-MH cells, the circuitry will shut off the
ESC’s throttle output very early into the run, due to the dfiferent characteristics of these batteries.

That's exactly what's wrong


Thanks!!!