Some electric RC car advice

Lord Pablo · 4 Aug 2006 at 00:46

I own a Tamiya Baja King and at the mo its all stock stuff.

Im looking into getting some hop up items to help get longer runsand a bit more speed.

Can anyone suggest where to start? i.e. the cheapest hop-ups for price ratio.

Some links to good online shops and even items on the 'Bay are welcome (e-mail if ebay links arent allowed)

laiman · 4 Aug 2006 at 00:50

Not particularily knowledgeable but iirc a racing motor should give better speed and different batteries can also give either speed or runtime.

You may want to look into different gearing if thats available for your model.

ball bearings etc help but can be expensive for what you get.

found model shops are often happy to advise you got one locally?

just checked, its based on the TLO1 isin't it? which I have as a subaru, different gearing is available as are different shocks and bearings.

wiggy · 4 Aug 2006 at 00:53

Well i have a vintage Thundershot (in sig) and use these sites for spares:

http://www.goldstarstockists.com/playtime/tamiya.htm
http://www.modelsinmotion.co.uk/index.asp
Modelsport
The bottom two do next day delivery to boot!

Hope this helps

saitrix · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:00

Also use www.microtechracing.com

In my opinion you can't beat some good ol' cells first to help the performance. Get a pack of IB3800 for a good performance to price ratio. Goto the custom packs page, go for a 6 cell IB3800 pack in the correct shape you need. Then pick a decent size wire like 14AWG. I recommend you swap your battery connectors over to Deans Ultras as they are much better, a lot less resistence and can take very high amps. Get battery bars too, helps keep the resistence low and all.

wiggy · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:02

Ball race it, get a lower turn motor and speed controller to match and it should fly! Its what i did to mine.

laiman · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:05

now these are some guys who know what they are talkin about its years since i did anything with my old kit.

wiggy · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:07

laiman said:
now these are some guys who know what they are talkin about its years since i did anything with my old kit.

Hehe, i got bored of the car though, then bought an r/c heli! Much more fun.

Lord Pablo · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:13

saitrix said:
Also use www.microtechracing.com

In my opinion you can't beat some good ol' cells first to help the performance. Get a pack of IB3800 for a good performance to price ratio. Goto the custom packs page, go for a 6 cell IB3800 pack in the correct shape you need. Then pick a decent size wire like 14AWG. I recommend you swap your battery connectors over to Deans Ultras as they are much better, a lot less resistence and can take very high amps. Get battery bars too, helps keep the resistence low and all.

it may me being blind, but i cant find the custom pack page on that website

laiman · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:22

wiggy said:
Hehe, i got bored of the car though, then bought an r/c heli! Much more fun.

bows to your superior wallet and manual dexterity/coordination

wiggy · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:25

laiman said:
bows to your superior wallet and manual dexterity/coordination

No need to bow, coz i cant fly the damn thing lol. Wish i used the money to upgrade the pc instead!

laiman · 4 Aug 2006 at 01:28

lol, got a few mates crashed theirs! nightmare! thinkin about gettin back into it after i buy a car(real), bike , camera, pay of uni, get a job, upgrade pc etc, its on my list!

saitrix · 4 Aug 2006 at 09:29

Lord Pablo said:
it may me being blind, but i cant find the custom pack page on that website

Thats because it isn't on that link sorry!

Use that site for all my planes and cars.

www.cheapbatterypacks.com

Lord Pablo · 5 Aug 2006 at 01:20

http://www.goldstarstockists.com/tamiyaparts/tpx/batteries.htm

can you tell me if any of these are decent? im not sure what numbers i should be looking at so if you could explain

wiggy · 5 Aug 2006 at 01:23

Ok the higher the number in mah means the longer the charge will last, ie running time.
Does this help, lord pablo

Lord Pablo · 5 Aug 2006 at 01:29

yea, thanks!

wiggy · 5 Aug 2006 at 01:32

No problem, now enjoy. :cool:

Lord Pablo · 5 Aug 2006 at 01:36

they do 4300 mah cells for $6 a go on that custom battery pack website! why are they cheaper then the 3800 ones? :confused:

wiggy · 5 Aug 2006 at 01:40

Thats because they are unbranded, cheap cells. The best you can get are sanyo or panasonic cells. Unbranded packs have a problem with being heavily unmatched, which means some of the cells discharge quicker than others, even though they are in the same pack. Bet i have confused you know lol

Berger · 5 Aug 2006 at 02:23

wiggy said:
Thats because they are unbranded, cheap cells. The best you can get are sanyo or panasonic cells. Unbranded packs have a problem with being heavily unmatched, which means some of the cells discharge quicker than others, even though they are in the same pack. Bet i have confused you know lol

Best cells on the market are either Intellects (IB's) or Gold Peaks (GP's), see below for pictures of each. I wouldnt worry about buying matched packs of cells if your just bashing about, unmatched ones should do you fine. They are rated in mah, with larger giving you more runtime, but obviously taking longer to charge.

Gold peaks are a little more "hardy" when it comes to storing them and charging them, the intellects are a bit more fussy and can lose runtime and voltage (power) if your not careful with them.

Intellect Cell

Gold Peak cell, these are either this colour, or a green/orange split.

saitrix · 5 Aug 2006 at 10:34

Also if you use lipos a bit more, or just want some sub-c GP's then look at www.maxamps.com Make sure you sign up there as you instantly get 5% off all prices that way.