Gold pan running gear recommendations (ESC & motor)

[flipwils11]

Hi, the gold pan RC10 I bought used should be coming in the mail soon and since I've been out of the hobby for so long, I'm not sure what is up and down anymore. Brushless? Battery technology? ESC's still the same (I see that the brands I remember are still around, Tekin and Novak --- I had a Tekin!).

So what should I get? I read some cautions about the power of brushless motors in these old cars and our gearboxes. What speed control should I get? I'd probably stick with my old brand loyalty to Tekin unless there's advice out there to do something else.

The car will be used for knocking around most likely and getting used to driving an RC car again (parking lots and playing in the dirt).

Oh, one last question, are the newer speed controls compatible with old radio receivers? It is coming with an old Futaba Magnum Jr that still works so I was going to use that.

Adam

[jwscab]

you can use the newer esc's with the standard radios.

you can still buy brushed motors and speed controllers. If you want to do it cheap for a bash around car, you can buy an LRP or Novak speed controller and a cheap 17 or 19 turn brushed motor, and away you go.

you can also look into lrp, or novak, or traxxas brushless systems, there are tons others as well, but these seem to be the most available and decently priced. all this boils down to is that the speed controller needs to be able to control a brushless motor. There are 2 types, sensored, and unsensored, the sensored motors have smoother control because the sensors provide feedback. Tekin is a bit of a hit and miss story. they kind of went under, and then have since reintroduced some stuff, they do offer brushless systems, and a bit pricey.

the turns on a brushless are not the same as a brushed motor, look around, you can find rough equivalents for say, a stock motor, or like a 19 turn class brushed in a brushless wind. the numbers are lower.

where you are probably going to deviate the most from where you were years ago, is in battery technology. If you have nothing to start with, a decent LiPo battery is the way to go. a couple packs, and a dedicated charger will provide you with lots of run time. lipo has some pretty serious cautions, so please make sure you get to know how to handle them. For off-road, you would want to get a hard-cased pack, to help prevent damage to the cells. lipo cells are approx 3.7v per cell, so you would use a 2 cell pack, and they typically charge higher than this voltage, so you get extra performance out of them.

lipo is a little different than nicd, or nimh, you typically don't run them till they dump, which will damage the cells. you would you use a cutoff voltage alarm, and alot of speed controllers today have them built in, or you can buy a cheap one from say, hobby city or something equivalent. Novak makes one, that is about 5 times the price of one of the cheap ones available.

the last thing to mention is that since the batteries run so long and powerful, you need to make sure you don't overheat the motor and speed controller.

[flipwils11]

Reread your post a few times, great info. Especially the info about the batteries and the cautions. I guess I would lean towards buying a speed controller that can do brushless, but for my purposes start with a brushed motor and take your advice on the batteries. Who knows, maybe I'll get one of each and try all this out.

Time passes....

I just went to Novak's website and looked at the brushless and ESC systems, ouch, some are $$. But there are so many combos, I'm overwhelmed!

[civilguy]

Is it a 6-gear or a stealth tranny? If it is 6-gear make sure you get the newer black idler gears... the original white ones won't last regardless of your motor choice. The stealth can handle most reasonable brushless setups (read: no 14.8volt madness ).
Currently I have a 13turn Venom Fireball brushed motor (cheap) with a Futaba MC800 ESC (discontinued I think) in my 6-gear. I only run nimhs in it as that's all the power I need. It flies with that setup.
I have a couple Mamba Max setups and have tried a 4600 (too much power- I think that's close to a 10.5) as well as a Hacker 17.5 (the brushless 'stock' equivalent) but I couldn't get enough gear on the 17.5 to make it work. I'm still running all 32pitch gears.
You'll find that you can pick up used brushed ESCs and motors really cheap now as more and more people go brushless. If you don't mind the occasional maintenance with the brushed motors and budget is important, I'd suggest trying that route first.

Lipo is definitely the way to go, but if you want to stick with nimh or nicd technology at least do yourself a favor and spring for a charger that will charge all types of batteries. There's a ton of choices out there, but if you have a local track or hobby shop just hang out for a while and you'll likely get some good input.

[soniccj5]

If you plan to buying an ESC that is brushless capable, I would recommend purchasing a complete brushless system instead. You will save money in the long run.

example:

Novak Havoc ESC 99.00
Trinity C027 brushed 27.00
-----------------------------
126.00

Novak Havoc spec system 17.5 149.00


ED

[badhoopty]

get a 17.5 brushless system with a lipo pack and be done with it.

better performance, much longer runtimes, much less maintenance.

and if you blow up the 6gear trans, update that pig with a stealth.

[Jeep-Power]

brushless is awesome-- The torque & speed just bring smiles!
Here's mine

[flipwils11]

Thanks guys, I also corresponded with a helpful tech/customer service rep from Novak for some ideas. I agree on the brushless system. The car I got comes complete with some vintage gear in it already including an old Novak speed control, so when I get a chance to sort through it and hopefully everything still works, I'll run it as-is and then look to upgrade battery, motor, and speed control all at once.

[flipwils11]

Here's an update. Got the gold pan runner and was pretty disappointed. The motor seems shorted out, and the radio, receiver, and steering servo are in-op (corrosion from old batteries in the radio, and I plugged in another receiver/radio combo and the servo is in-op). Working with the seller from another rc board on some money back.

On the other radio/receiver combo that I got (ebay transaction), it's an old Futaba pcm1024 which is what I used to have. Unfortunately this thing looks like it was left outside for a few years and the battery pack compartment is epoxied shut. It powers up, but it will truly be a one-time use radio! It didn't come with the dc adaptor. I'm asking the ebay seller for a refund which I hate to do (don't want to be a whiner, but come on! I wasn't thinking it would be even close to perfect or great condition, but this thing has been through hell).

So it looks like I'll end up with a gold pan roller and really have to start from scratch on motor, receiver/radio, and esc (and steering servo!).

[CamplinP]

All good advice IMO. I also used Novak and Tekin back in the day and are still great choices. Don't overlook Castle though. They have the new Mamba Max Pro out and it can do brushed, brushless both sensored and sensorless, and is ROAR approved. The USB connection to your comouter is awesome. You can tweak everything. If you plan on getting back into RC it might pay to get a good speed controller like this. Use good velcro and you can qiuckly switch it between vehicles quickly. Have fun with your Gold Pan.

[flipwils11]

Also one more addition to the saga that I forgot to mention. Fried the speed controller in my son's new RC18T that we got him for his b-day 2 weeks ago. We were driving it in a parking lot and it went through some puddles from melting snow. I thought it would be ok, but I guess not. Went to run it last weekend and after plugging in the battery pack, it poured out smoke from the ESC!! ARgggh.

It's on its way back to Associated now for repair. I'm sure it won't be cheap. I thought I learned my lesson about running RC cars in puddles after I fried some electronics when I was a kid? I guess I needed the reminder!

[MOmo]

I am still a fan of Brushed motors, and I have a box of brushed ESCs. Many of them are older vintage Novaks and a couple Tekins. Most of them will probably just sit in the cars (once i get around to finishing them) but as far as running.... I don't want to fry old ESCs, so I'll stick to more modern equipment.

For a runner, brushed ESCs aren't too expensive, esp. if you can find stuff used (but that can always be hit or miss).

An LRP Runner is a good choice, esp. w/ its fwd/rev. capability. Many came in the RTR versions of the RC10B4 and T4s.
http://67.199.85.166/main/productdetails.php?text=LRP83060
http://67.199.85.166/main/productdetails.php?text=LRP8325&category=6005exxxxx


I also like the Dynamite ones as well.
12t motor limit: http://www.dynamiterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=DYN4927
10t motor limit: http://www.dynamiterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=DYN4928

If waterproof is a concern, you might consider Traxxas units, and i believe some of the LRP are waterproof as well.

As was mentioned above, I think a decent motor in the 17- 19t range should be fine. I've even found the silver 540 can motor to be quite quick. I have one in my son's Tamiya mini cooper and it hauls!



MOmo

[flipwils11]

Thanks to civilguy (we made up over pm after our row) for the great deal on some gear to get my car going. Now I'm just missing a pinion gear with the right pitch. Maybe this weekend I can get to the hobby store and they will have a gear with the right pitch.