Other Poll ATP EPIC - either Gen 1 or HX3

[masterblaster]

I'm a glass half full kinda guy though.

take a atp ign out in big surf very often and you might be a hull half full kinda guy too,lol

 

[waxhead]

Ok now that's pretty funny

 

[OCD Solutions]

Got over 5 years on this build... Replaced an msd boot, one battery cable and 2 batteries. Epic still going strong.

 

[masterblaster]

I was just kidding..to a extint.lol I think if jim or scott owned your ski,that epic would long ago be fried. looks like ole jim in the pic flingin your ski around harder than its use to...

 

[OCD Solutions]

The HX3's seem prone to outright failure when put under heavy use for longer ride periods so that statement would be true if I had an HX3. Scott's killed two of them already and both appeared to have popped the large capacitor so we were both thinking it lacked adequate cooling.

Now the Gen1 either works or doesn't work with any particular assembly of parts so long term life expectancy is yet to be determined. I happen to have the magic combination of parts that work so it will be interesting to see if that changes as my system degrades. I have already suffered through bad coil wires, corroded "welding wire" battery cables and a weak battery and while I did experience issues with running and starting, I did not suffer any of the host of symptoms that others reported.

 

[MTRHEAD]

The HX3's seem prone to outright failure when put under heavy use for longer ride periods so that statement would be true if I had an HX3. Scott's killed two of them already and both appeared to have popped the large capacitor so we were both thinking it lacked adequate cooling.

I bought a used one from a member on here that I know and it did run in his rickter. I've been nervous to use it ever since because of what I have read and my previous memories of Vilder's and Enhancers in Yamaha's. It did come with a temp sticker on the orange billet housing, so I immediately thought of making a billet water jacket the clamp onto the existing housing.

 

[OCD Solutions]

A heat sink can't hurt. Not sure I'd go liquid cooled though. I'll snap some thermal images the next time I have one on my test bench and see if I can pinpoint a hotspot.

The other point you brought up was color. Can anyone confirm if the orange housings were specific to the beta units or was it just the color of the day?

 

[Vortex]

The HX3's seem prone to outright failure when put under heavy use for longer ride periods so that statement would be true if I had an HX3. Scott's killed two of them already and both appeared to have popped the large capacitor so we were both thinking it lacked adequate cooling.

Now the Gen1 either works or doesn't work with any particular assembly of parts so long term life expectancy is yet to be determined. I happen to have the magic combination of parts that work so it will be interesting to see if that changes as my system degrades. I have already suffered through bad coil wires, corroded "welding wire" battery cables and a weak battery and while I did experience issues with running and starting, I did not suffer any of the host of symptoms that others reported.

So doing as many laps as I can around a race course probably pushed my epic to its limit lol

 

[ScottS]

The HX3's seem prone to outright failure when put under heavy use for longer ride periods so that statement would be true if I had an HX3. Scott's killed two of them already and both appeared to have popped the large capacitor so we were both thinking it lacked adequate cooling.

Now the Gen1 either works or doesn't work with any particular assembly of parts so long term life expectancy is yet to be determined. I happen to have the magic combination of parts that work so it will be interesting to see if that changes as my system degrades. I have already suffered through bad coil wires, corroded "welding wire" battery cables and a weak battery and while I did experience issues with running and starting, I did not suffer any of the host of symptoms that others reported.

It's only fair to note that both my HX3's that failed were the gold beta test units. The first one failed within two months, the second one lasted at little over a year, which for me is around 100 to 120 hours of riding. I had one of the original Epics as well. In my ski, it would back fire and kick back while cranking and at low idle. I changed all the electrical components with other used ones, nothing changed. We put it into Jim Hill's ski, it ran great for three months, until the day he hooked the battery up backward and it fried the Epic. A word of advice, if you have a JSS ebox with the fuse removed, get the fuse holder put back in. It could save you a CDI.

 

[Quinc]

It's only fair to note that both my HX3's that failed were the gold beta test units. The first one failed within two months, the second one lasted at little over a year, which for me is around 100 to 120 hours of riding. I had one of the original Epics as well. In my ski, it would back fire and kick back while cranking and at low idle. I changed all the electrical components with other used ones, nothing changed. We put it into Jim Hill's ski, it ran great for three months, until the day he hooked the battery up backward and it fired the Epic. A word of advice, if you have a JSS ebox with the fuse removed, get the fuse holder put back in. It could save you a CDI.

Why does JSS remove the fuse?

 

[OCD Solutions]

Why does JSS remove the fuse?

IIRC, he said it was because he had found that the fuse holders caused more issues than the types of events that they were there to prevent. I would normally agree that the stock electronics are pretty robust but hook the battery up backwards once and you will wish you had kept a fuse in there.

 

[augustaf]

Reverse polarity just once- regardless of how briefly- and transistors et al will fry instantly even before the fuse might expire.

 

[masterblaster]

Lots good info in this thread. Lota trama avoided in future for many others who woulda had no idea

 

[augustaf]

I had bought seven ATP Epics (gen 1). Four are still working well in my skis, three went to friends who could not get them to work properly. I have rather aggressive curves on mine- but they don't see much wot operation. They do seem to be sensitive to low cranking speed, so..... a good battery, good cabling , good starter and a cranking pressure that's not in the stratosphere seem to be indicated. I do recall helping someone install an Epic. This particular ski had about 225 psi cranking pressure and an am alu. f/w. It would crank and start nicely on the trailer, but when in the water, you had to lift the back of the ski out of the water (like a racer start), to keep the engine from bucking while cranking. Then it would perform flawlessly.....
One of my skis (lightened 62T f/w) had 225 psi for years ( never ran wot for longer than 2 sec. on 93 octane) and cranked just fine- thank you PC625.

 

[MTRHEAD]

I still have a new one I haven’t used. Maybe this next season if I build a Lites setup