Has anyone had trouble with the Faast system?

I ran a brand new Futaba Faast system yesterday in practice, 3-heats and the first part of the A-main with no problems. During the main I pulled on to pit road and stopped, the car was sitting there idling; I then started to pull out and the car took off wide open uncontrollably. It was really scary. :(

Well read the manual and set the FAIL SAFE ! ! !

I remember a little bird telling you that months ago. :cool:

that could be a battery problem. i haven't heard of anyone have a problem with this system

this system rocks! ..............with electric. you need a fail-safe

In electric if you do not use a receiver pack you must trun off the throttle fail safe or the speedo will shut off unexpectedly. It is in the instructions.

Dave Irrgang

Scott this is a copy of a post I made last year. Since that post I know more people have had the same issue, the only person I no of that solved the problem used a wiring harness that bypasses the receiver battery voltage direct to the servos .Link to harness http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product1853.html Futaba finally told me there is an internal circuit breaker that is the issue.Hope this helps Bill

UPDATE
This is a copy of E-mail sent Futaba Support in June & July !! 2007

Hi Adam In reference to our phone conversation June 13, I have attached a picture of the basic radio installation in our (2) cars. The cars that we race are quarter scale. The average speed is between 35-65 mph depending on the track (asphalt oval). We have (2) completely different cars, (2) completely different 3PK radios with 4200, 5 cell, receiver battery packs. We're using high-tech, digital servos, (2) HS-5645MG for the steering and (1) HS-5745MG for throttle/brake.Initially with this set-up we would run well over a thousand laps of practice and racing (all day).The only thing we had to do was add fuel.In about August of 2005, we began to use the Spectrum 2.4 with no issues but toward the end of the 2006, race season, we discovered a flaw with the Spectrum system at 6.1 receiver pack voltage: the cars would go to about half-throttle with no steering or brakes. Not a good situation!This ugly situation was experienced by many racers, so we switched to the Futaba 2.4 in August of 2006, with one of our cars. Absolutely no problems! Then May 4th and 5th, at a race in Phoenix, we had the car go to Fail Safe several times in practice and thought it was a battery issue but about 50 laps or 10 minutes into the race it again went to Fail Safe. Our races are generally between 150-300 laps.Around 45 minutes.The air temperature was 80 degrees. Track temperature was about 125 degrees.Bringing us to this past weekend; Both cars would go to Fail Safe at about 25 or 30 laps. We also tried our complete radio system in another car with the same results. Air temperature was 95 degrees. Track temperature 145 degrees.So we switched back to the Spectrum system and completed the race with no issues. (8) of the (41) entries were running Futaba 2.4 Ghz. 6 or 7 experienced either the car going to Fail Safe or NO CONTROL. The people that experienced no control issues did not have the Fail Safe programmed. Also, it seems as if, you turned off the system for 10 minutes or so, it would work for another period of time and then "act-up" again. There were 6 or 7 Spectrum systems (not Futaba Faast)that experienced no problems. If there is anymore information from me to resolve this, please contact me. We are all very concerned about this. I should also mention that my second system (that I am having trouble with) was purchased about 3 months ago and I am going to send them both back to you for testing. These cars a very expensive-the sport is very competitive, so we try to do everything possible to prevent failures.
Thank you. Bill Scott

I Know of 9 cars with same issue , it is heat related , have two Fasst systems for sale Real Cheap !!!!!!!

Mine has never had a issue. I used it in 1/10 scale and 1/4 scale.

As 1/4 Scale mentioned, this topic has been discussed at length. Hopefully there is something to be taken from his experience.

I have not experienced anything like 1/4 Scale. I have had nothing but good luck. The only issue I have had has nothing to do with the FASST System, but rather a servo (throttle) completely dieing. I wasn't sure what happened, but when I opened the case to the servo it was very apparent the motor had fryed. It managed to stink-up my whole basement!

Good luck with solving the problem; follow Freddie's advice and set the Fail Safe every time you turn on the radio.

JB
:thumbsup:

We had a local guy have the exact same problem but was in practice going full throttle. His car hit the end of the pit wall destroyed most of the suspension, bent the chassis, and the motor shut itself off before anyone could get to it! He did some research and found the same thing that Bill did. I have seen quite a bit of problems with the system, so in the 3pk that I use occasionally, I still use pcm crystals!

Same here... PCM 3PK and crystals all the way. The PCM signal is also faster.

Tha radio Scott uses is the new 3GR-FS 3-Channel 2.4GHz System. Its a two stick radio.

I havn't had any problem with the system on my cars. This past week at Clover, a racer lost his car in turns three and four. The car came down pit road at full throttle and hit the pit wall. busted throw the 1x4 and hit a 4x4 concreted in the ground as a pit wall brace. Well he will be getting a new chassis and frontend parts.
I may be changing back to the PCM myself. The only thing about the PCM is I have had a radio turned on before thats not good either. I like the idea of the spectrum and fast systems.
This is very dangerous. They were two people on pit road when this happen. This is why we shouldn't work on cars in pit road. Keep this in mind the next time you are on pit road and you turn your back to work on your car.
Hope everyone is safe and we will see you in Ohio.

chance the problem with the Faast seems to be the heat on the receiver. last year I seen 6 1/8 truggys got out of control on idaho all with faast systems in july's heat. in fact at the 1/8 buggy nats they had cars do the same thing. I was told that the reciver go's in to a shut down from the heat and it flips out. fail safes don't help on the shut down cuz it's cuts the voltage to all the throttle is what some of the guys told me last year.
spectrum is still a better choice to me.

Well read the manual and set the FAIL SAFE ! ! !

I remember a little bird telling you that months ago. :cool:

With this radio the fail safe only works when its in “HRM” (I think) mode, but when I did that the servos became very notchy and erratic / inconsistent. Very strange….?

Well read the manual and set the FAIL SAFE ! ! !

I remember a little bird telling you that months ago. :cool:


Why would a spectrum / Faast need a fail safe?? B/c of some one on your channel. :cool: I don't think so.. I don't know............ :confused:

We had a local guy have the exact same problem but was in practice going full throttle. His car hit the end of the pit wall destroyed most of the suspension, bent the chassis, and the motor shut itself off before anyone could get to it! He did some research and found the same thing that Bill did. I have seen quite a bit of problems with the system, so in the 3pk that I use occasionally, I still use pcm crystals!


I put my pcm (crystal) receiver back into the car and it worked perfect.

I am suppose to be non partial, but there is a reason the little guy on the back of my truck is peeing on a Futaba radio. I Fly JR and drive JR which Horizon owns Spektum. Spektrum was the first to come out with the 2.4. There way of being on two differnt channels at the same time where as the Futaba way is to always scan the spectrum. It leads to problems as illistrated in this thread. Without going into detail which most people will get lost. I perfur the spektrum way.

There is nothing wrong with the Futaba way, I tell people its like Ford and Chevy both equaly as good just some people perfer one over the other.


Scott needs a stick radio and Futaba makes it if Spektrum would come out with one I will switch it just because I am a Spektrum kind of guy, But as of right now we are stuck

I am suppose to be non partial, but there is a reason the little guy on the back of my truck is peeing on a Futaba radio. I Fly JR and drive JR which Horizon owns Spektum. Spektrum was the first to come out with the 2.4. There way of being on two differnt channels at the same time where as the Futaba way is to always scan the spectrum. It leads to problems as illistrated in this thread. Without going into detail which most people will get lost. I perfur the spektrum way.

There is nothing wrong with the Futaba way, I tell people its like Ford and Chevy both equaly as good just some people perfer one over the other.


Scott needs a stick radio and Futaba makes it if Spektrum would come out with one I will switch it just because I am a Spektrum kind of guy, But as of right now we are stuck

YGM - call me plz.

YGM - call me plz.

Scott-

Shoot me an email, I have something to send to you to read regarding your radio.

JB
:thumbsup:

jbrooks39@comcast.net

Has anyone had trouble with the Faast system?

I ran a brand new Futaba Faast system yesterday in practice, 3-heats and the first part of the A-main with no problems. During the main I pulled on to pit road and stopped, the car was sitting there idling; I then started to pull out and the car took off wide open uncontrollably. It was really scary. :(

Hey Scott which system do you have?

I have been running the FASST system with no problems. I did witness the run away Chance was talking about. The problems seems to be from overheating and mine has always run cool. There are two different receivers that you can get for the FASST system. One is the 603FF which was the origianl receiver. The other is the 603FS which has the dual antenna (one internal and one external). I am running the 603FS, which receivers were used when the problems happened 603FF or 603FS or both.

Hey Scott which system do you have?


This one. http://2.4gigahertz.com/systems/futk3010.html

I have been running the FASST system with no problems. I did witness the run away Chance was talking about. The problems seems to be from overheating and mine has always run cool. There are two different receivers that you can get for the FASST system. One is the 603FF which was the origianl receiver. The other is the 603FS which has the dual antenna (one internal and one external). I am running the 603FS, which receivers were used when the problems happened 603FF or 603FS or both.

Mine is the 603ff.


Does anyone know if the 603fs fixes this problem?

Does anyone know if you can use a Futaba Faast radio with a spektrum receiver?

Does anyone know if you can use a Futaba Faast radio with a spektrum receiver?

Hi Scott
No they a completely different technologies , only similarity is they both operate at 2.4 GHz.

We had another Faast system failure at are last points race that's at least 15 !!! ( they don't like hot weather )

Bill Scott

My receiver failure my came quickly last Saturday morning and yes it was hot in Alabama. After getting the car back to the pits, the receiver temp was measured at 165 degrees, that's hot! It was hotter than any of my tires and stayed hot. I dusted the receiver with nitrogen until the temp gun reached 115 degrees and at that point the receiver light started turning green.

At the time of the failure my servos were fine, no binding and I had just run about 100 laps after a fuel stop. The battery is a 5 cell 3800mah Nicad pack and fully charged. I am looking into the full load of my servos, long servo connections and just about anything.

But before the next qualifier I drilled several holes into my receiver box for extra cooling and then ran two pieces of tubing from the receiver box to the right front door post. I fixed them in place with a wire tye and cut the ends at a acute angle to syphon air and pull it down the tube to the receiver. I made another 50 lap qualifier and the 150 lap main with out any problems.

Futaba wants to check out the servo so I guess I'll send it off to them.

I have a new Fast system I will give you Mike. I lost my car at LPR last time I was down and I switched back to my old Spectrum system. I just ran a 300 and a 500 lap race in Texas and didn't have any problems. It was HHHHOOOTTT!!! down there. I will stay with the spectrum.:thumbsup:They tried to tell me it was my Hitec servos and I said they were full of it. Why will spectrum run with it and Fast system want? They couldn't tell me why so I just eat that $200.00 My receiver failure my came quickly last Saturday morning and yes it was hot in Alabama. After getting the car back to the pits, the receiver temp was measured at 165 degrees, that's hot! It was hotter than any of my tires and stayed hot. I dusted the receiver with nitrogen until the temp gun reached 115 degrees and at that point the receiver light started turning green.

At the time of the failure my servos were fine, no binding and I had just run about 100 laps after a fuel stop. The battery is a 5 cell 3800mah Nicad pack and fully charged. I am looking into the full load of my servos, long servo connections and just about anything.

But before the next qualifier I drilled several holes into my receiver box for extra cooling and then ran two pieces of tubing from the receiver box to the right front door post. I fixed them in place with a wire tye and cut the ends at a acute angle to syphon air and pull it down the tube to the receiver. I made another 50 lap qualifier and the 150 lap main with out any problems.

Futaba wants to check out the servo so I guess I'll send it off to them.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/S3010289.JPG (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/22521) http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/S3010290.JPG (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/22520)

Mike,

You need one of these...:thumbsup:
My receiver failure my came quickly last Saturday morning and yes it was hot in Alabama. After getting the car back to the pits, the receiver temp was measured at 165 degrees, that's hot! It was hotter than any of my tires and stayed hot. I dusted the receiver with nitrogen until the temp gun reached 115 degrees and at that point the receiver light started turning green.

At the time of the failure my servos were fine, no binding and I had just run about 100 laps after a fuel stop. The battery is a 5 cell 3800mah Nicad pack and fully charged. I am looking into the full load of my servos, long servo connections and just about anything.

But before the next qualifier I drilled several holes into my receiver box for extra cooling and then ran two pieces of tubing from the receiver box to the right front door post. I fixed them in place with a wire tye and cut the ends at a acute angle to syphon air and pull it down the tube to the receiver. I made another 50 lap qualifier and the 150 lap main with out any problems.

Futaba wants to check out the servo so I guess I'll send it off to them.

In the general discussion forum on here you'll find a long thread about Spektrum. It has had it's problems too.

PCM for me. It has a faster signal than DSM too.

They definitely do not like the Heat, as Bill said out here in AZ & CA they
work fine for the 30 lap heat race ,but in the main the heat gets to them
and shuts them down.

I've sold my FASST 3PK and purchased a Spektrum DX3R. Love it and my paranoia (about the radio...) is GONE.

JB

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/S3010289.JPG (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/22521) http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/thumbs/S3010290.JPG (http://photos.hobbytalk.com/showphoto.php/photo/22520)

Mike,

You need one of these...:thumbsup:

Hey Tim where's mine?

I've sold my FASST 3PK and purchased a Spektrum DX3R. Love it and my paranoia (about the radio...) is GONE.

JB

The Spektrum is a good radio system but the 3pk is the better of the two transmitters, in my opinion. I would have gone with the Spektrum module & receiver for the futaba.

The Spektrum is a good radio system but the 3pk is the better of the two transmitters, in my opinion. I would have gone with the Spektrum module & receiver for the futaba.


The only attribute that is missing from the Spektrum DX3R is ABS. Everything else is available on the radio.

My 3PK was close to five years old. I would have wanted to update/upgrade the Futaba radio along with a Spektrum package; the DX3R filled both needs and my local HobbyTown USA had them for $275 (plus tax). Couldn't pass it up.

I still think the 3PK (and it's newer super version and the 4P?) are very good radios.

JB
:thumbsup:

I believe FASTEDDIE McCray had a FAAST failure this weekend as well. It's really amazing that Futaba has this problem throughout the country and it's still available. Why haven't they pulled them from the market? Really is damaging their reputation IMHO. Sure glad I did'nt get one!!!

Yes i had a faliure with my FASST it got hot and i lost my radio while i was runing 2nd cause me to miss geting in to the a-main.I'm going back to my old 3PJ.

Umm tha would be Not-So-Fasst? :)

I know it gets hot under these bodies, but to cause a failure? That's wild! Could you not relocate the radio closer to the front of the chassis to eliminate the heat issue? I'm curious as to how much heat is surrounding the radio box during a race?

Umm tha would be Not-So-Fasst? :)

I know it gets hot under these bodies, but to cause a failure? That's wild! Could you not relocate the radio closer to the front of the chassis to eliminate the heat issue? I'm curious as to how much heat is surrounding the radio box during a race?

On my car it push the receiver temp up to 165 degrees. I relocated my receiver box to the lower area and piped in two pressure air vents, seems to be doing the job for now. However I believe it's a combo between the Large servos, long cable lengths, higher current draw and the heat.

My rec. is located in the left front.Still had the problem.

My rec. is located in the left front.Still had the problem.

Mine was too.

Have ya'll tried it without being in a box and up front?

Have ya'll tried it without being in a box and up front?

I'm kinda gun shy now! :o

I am running the FASST system in my Nitro-Pan car. The rcvr I am runnig is the 603FS. Never had a glitch in it at all. I run it in a receiver box due to the fuel in the car. I would hate to waste a receiver due to it taking a bath.

Has anyone had the 603FS receiver fail like this?

To answer a question, the fail safe can be used in PPM mode as well as HRS. If you are running HRS, you MUST USE DIGITAL SERVOS.

The fail safe is used for low battery voltage.

Jeff -- if you want to give that FASST stuff away, I will take it!

With all this info, I will be looking into the temp issue and let you guys know what I see in my car.

As long as Futaba offers a PCM radio... I'm buying it.

Too many problems have come up with DSM. These companies should have let their team drivers test the system for no less than three years.

Just my opinion.

Hi All,
After all of the trouble, all of the testing on my own equipment with all honesty, I can say it's the Futaba RECEIVER! It does not matter if it's the R603FF or the R603FS, they will both fault out if used with the 2.4 Fasst system on a 1/4 scale car. It does not matter if it the 3PKS or 3PM!

Here are a few items that will set up the failure, some of these will accelerate the process. The 1/4 scale car's inside tempreature, the use of larger and hi torque servos, Servo sxtensions and Y cords, The overall track and the outside air tempreatures and Humidity, The length of use of the servos, Servo or steering binding.

After two weeks of testing and setups under race situations I am now able to predict when the receiver will fault, which turns the receiver led from green to red and caused a ton of problems and that's if the fail safe has not be set correctly. Read your manual on this issue.

Weekend before last I was using my ram air system to direct cool onto the external case of all of my receivers during the test, which was working real good. Well I removed the ram air system and ran three 50 lap segments. After the 50 lap segments were done, Id pull the car on to pit lane and the receiver would fault out within 6 seconds. I ran my car three times with three different receivers with the same results. The outside temp that Saturday was 96 degrees and the track temp was 121 degrees. Most of the receivers were operating well above 156 degrees. All temps were digitally recorded.

Fast forward to last Saturday, lovely day and hot as all heck. Air temp was 102 with a track temp of 125, humidity was 92%. With my ram air system attached to my best receiver the best I could get was 26 laps and then the receiver would fault. So I removed all servos and replaced them with new units. Went out and ran again 26 laps and a receiver fault.
Next I removed the cover from one receiver, drilled holes in all four sides and directly inserted my ram air tubes into the receiver housing, a 26 lap fault again. Then removed the cover alltogether suspended the receiver from a crossarm with wire ties and inserted the ram air tubes into the top & bottom PCB sections of the receiver and still a 26 lap fault. After the last 26 lap section the receiver PCB temp was 146 degrees and again that is hotter than my tires.

I believe the reason for the faster faulting problems that Saturday was due to two factors, higher air tempreature and a faster car? Sounds crazy doesn't it! Back up of information, weekend before last my car was not handling good and the best lap times were 6.5 to 6.7 which is slow.
This last weekend I got my car to handle the best it has to date low 6.0's. This means that the biggest load, the throttle servo is comming on sooner and is staying on longer. Also the steering servos are also working harder. This all means More heat in the receiver.

Since I don't have any Futaba drawings for the receiver I can only guess that it's a voltage regulator transistor and it's getting super hot for it's size.
If you don't think so, all you need to do after a fault out is hit the receiver with a little nitrogen and it will pop back green again. Sound s like a tempreature problem to me.

Now here's the killer. If you send in a receiver over a year old to Futaba and tell them you are having problems with it, it will NOT be a warranty issue and they will charge you for a new replacement. Not an upgraded unit mind you but a direct replacement, same technology same receiver! I am sure for the units that are under a year old they will replace for free + shipping but it's back to the same old faulting system.

My problems solved!
Thank Goodness for Jeff Davis. I purchased a 3PKS with the Spectrum 2.4 system for my car. I had it installed after the drivers meeting and it was running through two qualifiers and the mains NO PROBLEMS.

Suggestions
So my advise if this, if you have a Futaba transmitter and it will accept the Spektrum 2.4 modules get em fast and end your problems. If not and you are using the 3PM 2.4 Fassst system sell it to a Nitro or electric guy and buy you a 3PKS with the Spektrum system. Wow what a radio.

Good to hear you got to the end of an expensive problem. :)

Sounds like a lot of work. Good JOB Mike. Maybe this will save someones car.



Joey

Mike you need to foward that to futaba. so they can correct problem.

Mike you need to foward that to futaba. so they can correct problem.

Hey Slider,
Futaba technical support has all of my test reports to date and a few of my receivers also. Futaba does know that a problem exist. I just don't know if Futaba will jump through any hoops to make a (fassst) upgrade to their receivers because 1/4 scale racing may be the smallest part of their radio sales throughout the USA and that just may be the biggest problem of all.

Mike. I hear ya. But if i had a reputation as Futaba. I would think no matter what. it needs resolved, as word of mouth can really impact sales.

I personally like futaba radios. But only with the Spektrum module and receiver.
Heat does not affect theres. so if one company can do it. surley futaba can as well.

I will agree with ya 1/4 scale is small in sales compared to the rest. But we have alot more at stake to loose when the receiver gets retarded. Alot more money not to say damage to whatever they hit.