Chris_B

That's really good to hear @andrey. Might be worth having this post as a sticky thread as it's so common in the Ares EFCS. When mine failed, I only used 7.4V 2600mAh LiPo. The first replacement mosfet I got from Ares was the updated longer type that you have there @andrey and the back of the EFCS board started smoking and a copper track broke. Don't know why as I put a new insulating pad that came with it behind the EFCS board. The other two after that had the same issues as you've had, blown Schottky diodes. As I said in my post above, it was a standard gearbox but with a warhead base motor. Time will tell with this but at least we know what to look out for in the future. But if this keeps happening again and others that read this want to steer clear of the Ares EFCS, it might be worth modifying the gearbox to take a Perun V3 hybrid. I've successfully installed a V3 hybrid into the standard Ares G36 non-EFCS gearbox with a bit of milling by the micro switch and it's working perfectly. Chris

Hi, have you made any progress with this? Chris

Are you talking about the G36 variant or just Maxx hop units in general? All of the Maxx G36 hop units I've purchased up until recently have been amazing, can't fault them, but it's more of a simplistic design that of the M4 variants. @Aj698: if you have the two part hop nub tensioner under the hop wheel, I have a selection of 3D printed nub tensioners if you wanted to try that? Chris

Ares sent me some replacement EFCS boards but there are two flavours of board design.... My original is the bigger 'L' shaped PCB while the one Ares sent is a more updated version that's rectangular shape but overall it was longer... I had problems fitting the back plate with the dust cover spring/ guide in because the EFCS mosfet overhung the gearbox when it was screwed on. Let us know how you get on with the repair, as it'll be good to document it to help others that'll stumble across this thread. I'm sure the Amoeba EFCS has the same PCB schematic so maybe this would be of use with that community. All the best, Chris

Hi Aj, I have the Maxx Begadi G36 hop units fitted in several of my G36's and I can say that hands down its the best hop unit for this. As long as you stick with the standard nozzle length, it'll work fine with the maple leaf and Begadi buckings (I can confirm this). No UK supplier as it's a Begadi exclusive so you'd have to order from them in Germany... Ordered from them many times and always been great. Hope this helps. Chris

Hi Andrey, Yes I did get that the bottom of it, after a bit of bench testing and probing, I found that a 3.3V SMD regulator wasn't getting power directly from the battery, this 3.3V SMD regulator powers the hall sensors for the selector and magnet in the sector gear, and following this back, I had found a blown Schottky diode, with the letters 'SL' printed on it (circled in the picture). Seems like it's a common fault in these, as two separate EFCS boards had the same one blown. I ordered some new ones from RS components and it's been running beautifully ever since (touch wood). I haven't had any experiences with the trigger micro switch failing... I see lots of comments online pointing to this, but a simple continuity test with a DVM can quickly tell you this. Probably a bit easier for me to diagnose and repair as I'm an electrical techie by trade, but can always offer a hand if anyone experiences the same EFCS failures. All the best. Chris

UPDATE: So this is the response from Ares technical help... See what you think; 'Our technician said our gearbox cannot support the brushless motor because of the gear ratio. Also, the brushless motor doesn't have enough torque to hold the spring causing the voltage rise. Please try to use the factory motor and see if the issue can be solved, thank you.' The gearbox configuration is as follows; • Standard Ares 18:1 gears with magnet • Standard Ares piston. (Piston rack chamfered on the edges) • Standard Ares piston head (with nylon spacers for AoE correction & new O-ring) • ZCI 4/5 ported stainless cylinder • Ultimate G36 nozzle w/o-ring • Warhead Base 35k brushless motor • Guarder M110 spring (1.2J) • ZCI V3 quick change bearing spring guide Also got a response from Luke at Warhead industries; 'Any aeg that has active break that you cannot turn off may have side effects on the Warhead motor. I know some people have claimed that they have fitted a warhead motor to an ARES however it's not something that I have done as I personally don't think that an ARES can handle it & this email kinda proves my point, sadly.' Luke's response to Ares technical help email to me; 'Basically, they're talking nonsense as an excuse - saying that the brushless motor doesn't have enough torque is absolutely false, I have placed a video on our youtube channel showing a full stroke piston & 18:1 gears pulling an m160 on a 7.4v lipo better than most standard motors pull an m160 on 11.1v's. I have a very good reason as to why the ARES EFCS keeps dying, but I can't discuss it here. With an EFCS from ARES you may cause your (may) cause your motors ESC to burn out. You've already seen the results first hand of which normally wins the battle between the ESC & the EFCS should one product be not up to task, however.' So it seems that there is an incompatibility issue between Ares E.F.C.S. mosfets and warhead motors, strange as I have another G36E with the exact same gearbox E.F.C.S. unit and an Ares L85A3 with a slightly different E.F.C.S. unit, but this one is programmable using their programmer, and these are still working fine. The only thing that's different with these is I've soldered new 16AWG silicone wiring to the boards. I think moving forward on this issue; upon researching online for the same issue, other people have had their E.F.C.S. burn out on their Amoeba M4's, G36's etc but on standard motors. But I haven't found evidence of anyone actually finding the root cause or repairing their E.F.C.S. boards, they either buy new ones or their topic thread goes cold. What I will try and do is source new but better rated N-Channel FET's and replace the burnt out ones and hope the rest of the circuit components are still intact. Chris