RC cars

I finally ordered my Typhon which I hope will arrive for the weekend.

In preparation for my first outing with it I have some noob questions regarding batteries.

1) When out using the car, do I use it until the batteries die or stop using it when I feel the car is loosing power? do the cars usually just stop if there is not enough power in the batteries?
2) When I get home should I charge them to full or charge to storage levels? I have gone for the smart batteries which I understand will discharge to storage after 24 hrs by default

Any other tips and advise for a noob electric RC user?

Thanks :)
 
Jase said:
I finally ordered my Typhon which I hope will arrive for the weekend.

In preparation for my first outing with it I have some noob questions regarding batteries.

1) When out using the car, do I use it until the batteries die or stop using it when I feel the car is loosing power? do the cars usually just stop if there is not enough power in the batteries?
2) When I get home should I charge them to full or charge to storage levels? I have gone for the smart batteries which I understand will discharge to storage after 24 hrs by default

Any other tips and advise for a noob electric RC user?

Thanks :)
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Balance charge the batteries when you get them, you can typically charge at a rate of 1C. So if your batteries at 5000mah, you can charge them at 5amp.

The ESC will have a lipo cut off, so when the voltage reaches a certain point the car will automatically turn off. This may be 3.8v out of the box, but can be safely lowered to 3.2amp for longer run times. After using the batters, place them into a storage charge as this will charge each cell to 3.8v and they can be kept like that safely for some time. Never leave your Lipo's fully charged or discharged as this can cause degradation, swelling and possible fires.

As for the car, Arrma's are built toough (i have a mojave) so you should be good. Though if you're up to it I would check the differentials as mine had very little oil when new, so i re did them all.
 
So I just bought a vantage brushless and received it today, haven't had time to even take it out the box yet, if there are any vantage owners here, it would be good to hear if there are any essential or worthwhile mods to do before taking it out to improve things or if these are pretty good to go straight out of the box.

Hoping the weather will improve soon
 
The ftx vantage is pretty decent, my friends daughter has the brushed version and we are upgrading it to brushless. So far the only problems are stones jamming the drive train (need shaking/poking out), and the front bumper is quite weak so order some spares. Then the general rule of thumb, replace stuff when it breaks/wears out.
 
nutsnut said:
The ftx vantage is pretty decent, my friends daughter has the brushed version and we are upgrading it to brushless. So far the only problems are stones jamming the drive train (need shaking/poking out), and the front bumper is quite weak so order some spares. Then the general rule of thumb, replace stuff when it breaks/wears out.
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Ta very much. Which brushless combo are you going for?
 
I'm donating my spare reventon speed passion 6.5t, will probably run with a hobbywing 1060 and a 2s battery. Don't want it too be too fast whilst the kids are still learning to drive them.
 
nutsnut said:
Balance charge the batteries when you get them, you can typically charge at a rate of 1C. So if your batteries at 5000mah, you can charge them at 5amp.

The ESC will have a lipo cut off, so when the voltage reaches a certain point the car will automatically turn off. This may be 3.8v out of the box, but can be safely lowered to 3.2amp for longer run times. After using the batters, place them into a storage charge as this will charge each cell to 3.8v and they can be kept like that safely for some time. Never leave your Lipo's fully charged or discharged as this can cause degradation, swelling and possible fires.

As for the car, Arrma's are built toough (i have a mojave) so you should be good. Though if you're up to it I would check the differentials as mine had very little oil when new, so i re did them all.
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Thanks :)

The batteries I ordered are 3S 5000mah 50c with a max charge rate of 3c

Does that mean I have charge at 15amp. They are smart batteries so I hope the smart charger will do it all but just interested to know.
 
Jase said:
Thanks :)

The batteries I ordered are 3S 5000mah 50c with a max charge rate of 3c

Does that mean I have charge at 15amp. They are smart batteries so I hope the smart charger will do it all but just interested to know.
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That is correct, though I only charge higher than 1c when I'm at track side. 1c means your battery will charge in under an hour from storage mode, which is plenty quick enough for me.

Faster charge modes = more heat and stress on the battery.
 
nutsnut said:
That is correct, though I only charge higher than 1c when I'm at track side. 1c means your battery will charge in under an hour from storage mode, which is plenty quick enough for me.

Faster charge modes = more heat and stress on the battery.
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That makes sense, less than an hour is fine and I 'll do 2 at the same time so that's not bad so I'll keep to 1c which is what I think it will default to anyway.
 
Jase said:
ohh I remember one but when I checked online the other day it appeared it’s no longer there. I’ll do some research later to find them cheers
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Hello :)

Saundersfoot & District Model Car Club - look us up on FaceAche

Pre-COVID we met at Carew Market Wednesday evenings in the hall. There we race touring cars, onemake TT02 class and rally/basher cars.

We also have an outdoor track in Sageston? (other side of the Carew Market roundabout) There we race 1/10 electric. It's a bit too narrow for 1/8.

For carpet buggy racing, a few of us make the trek to Cardiff to COBRA. They had a lovely indoor venue with great facilities. They were in the process of moving just as COVID became popular but should be relocated down the docks somewhere once things reopen.
 
EddScott said:
Hello :)

Saundersfoot & District Model Car Club - look us up on FaceAche

Pre-COVID we met at Carew Market Wednesday evenings in the hall. There we race touring cars, onemake TT02 class and rally/basher cars.

We also have an outdoor track in Sageston? (other side of the Carew Market roundabout) There we race 1/10 electric. It's a bit too narrow for 1/8.

For carpet buggy racing, a few of us make the trek to Cardiff to COBRA. They had a lovely indoor venue with great facilities. They were in the process of moving just as COVID became popular but should be relocated down the docks somewhere once things reopen.
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ohh nice, I went to the Carew indoor place years ago, I think you were also using the karting track at times.

Just took the typhon out, nice car, pretty quick wasn’t sure if 3s would be enough.

Probably just me but the steering seemed very very twitchy and I struggled at first. Just seemed like the slightest turn on the controller was like full lock but wasn’t... practice I guess unless I’ve not set something right.

The smart battery charged well but it defaulted to 12amp charge rate so I knocked that down to 5 as recommended above. That took about 33-35 minutes from storage charge.

Not sure how much run time I got out of it, didn’t seem like much under 30 mins I think, I’ll have to have pay attention tomorrow. Was just doing some speed runs and messing around at withybush. I was shocked when I took the cover off afterward the chassis tray was completely full of small stones.

Good fun though.
 
Jase said:
ohh nice, I went to the Carew indoor place years ago, I think you were also using the karting track at times.

Just took the typhon out, nice car, pretty quick wasn’t sure if 3s would be enough.

Probably just me but the steering seemed very very twitchy and I struggled at first. Just seemed like the slightest turn on the controller was like full lock but wasn’t... practice I guess unless I’ve not set something right.

The smart battery charged well but it defaulted to 12amp charge rate so I knocked that down to 5 as recommended above. That took about 33-35 minutes from storage charge.

Not sure how much run time I got out of it, didn’t seem like much under 30 mins I think, I’ll have to have pay attention tomorrow. Was just doing some speed runs and messing around at withybush. I was shocked when I took the cover off afterward the chassis tray was completely full of small stones.

Good fun though.
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You can grab dust covers, worth it for arrma vehicle. For run time, check the default voltage cutt off, it might be at 3.8v and can be lowered to 3.2 safely, Giving you more run time.
 
nutsnut said:
You can grab dust covers, worth it for arrma vehicle. For run time, check the default voltage cutt off, it might be at 3.8v and can be lowered to 3.2 safely, Giving you more run time.
Click to expand...

I actually ordered a "Dusty Motors" cover for it yesterday which should be with me by Tuesday.

I took it out yesterday and used 2 batteries, think I got about 30 mins or so out of each. When I checked voltage when I got home to put into storage charge it was 3.5 so I'm guessing that is the cut off.

Now one thing I have to check is the steering, on the testing I thought it was very twitchy but I think that was just me having to get used to it. What I wasn't so sure was at a point the car seemed to do what I wanted ie I was steering right but it was going straight, or at one point I wanted to go straight but it was going in circles, even from stopped. At first I thought it had gone out of range but it was responding ok to throttle.
 
Jase said:
I actually ordered a "Dusty Motors" cover for it yesterday which should be with me by Tuesday.

I took it out yesterday and used 2 batteries, think I got about 30 mins or so out of each. When I checked voltage when I got home to put into storage charge it was 3.5 so I'm guessing that is the cut off.

Now one thing I have to check is the steering, on the testing I thought it was very twitchy but I think that was just me having to get used to it. What I wasn't so sure was at a point the car seemed to do what I wanted ie I was steering right but it was going straight, or at one point I wanted to go straight but it was going in circles, even from stopped. At first I thought it had gone out of range but it was responding ok to throttle.
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Could be a small stone caught in the steering servo/rods/ackerman, causing it to get stuck/not turn?
 
I have a 5400mAH 3-cell/3s 11.1v battery that has a split case.
Is there a site you could recommend for replacements?

Edit:
Had a quick look on rainforest and it seems they're all fairly similar. I'm looking at the following as potential additions/replacements:
  1. Zeee 11.1V 7200mAh 80C 3S
  2. FCONEGY 3S Lipo Battery 11.1V 40C 5500mAh (not sure on this one as the temp rating is lower)
  3. HRB 2Packs 3S Lipo Battery 11.1V 6000mah 50C
 
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