GoldPan buggy with new electronics ?

[rc10reborn]

Hey guys This is my dads old race buggy which he had given me about 7 years ago the car is almost as old as me now 27. I love driving the little buggy and I have enough spare parts to keep it going for quite some time.I had rebuilt most of it when he gave it to me plus I have a lot of extras. But sadly the electronics are getting old and low drive times from Nicd batteries makes me jealous. Its getting to the point where i charge 3 batterys 45 min total and get to drive it for 7-8 mins total between the 3. hardly worth getting everything out to play with it. I was toying with the idea of a brushless system and possibly a lipo and charger was thinking of spending around 250-300 I don't need the best of the best just something maybe middle of the road to keep it going. Is this even possible on my budget ?

[joel45acp]

I doubt you have to spend anywhere near that to get decent gear. Visit www.hobbyparz.com. They have great deals on what you're looking for. Also, visit your local hobby shop for some bargains.

[madweazl]

I was running the 5000mah, 40c, 2s Gensace LiPos from the HobbyPartz and they were great. On track I could got at least 25 minutes on a single charge with a 7.5t Tekin and RS Pro in my TRF 201 and Losi 22. They are a great buy at about $33. 2-3 of those would keep you running all day long if you wanted to; I charge at 1c so it takes roughly an hour to charge a battery. Plenty of chargers out there that will stay well within your budget. One thing to keep in mind, measure the battery compartments and find a LiPo that fits. Generally, the higher the capacity (ie mah), the larger the physical size of the battery. That same website also carries the EZrun stuff; for $300, you could pull off a speed control, motor, batteries, and a charger. If by chance you're active military, Tekin will provide you with a discount that is pretty much impossible to pass up.

[RC104ever]

I have a GensAce 5000 mah lipo as well, and its awesome. I get enough run time driving around my street with my kids using full throttle blasts for longer than we have attention spans. Its easily 30 mins.

I also have bought a Toro micro ESC for the RC18 and I was surprised that it actually worked very well. I then decided to 'upgrade' to a Castle system for the RC18 and bought one new and found it didn't give me any kind of real performance advantage, other than being able to use the Castle link.

I've personally got the Castle Mamba Max Pro system with a 4600 kv motor and its very potent. I used a GPS to verify top speed at 48 mph with that setup (and a 78 tooth spur / 23 tooth pinion, 2.2" wheels on dirt hawg tires). If I were to do it again, I might opt for the slightly cheaper Sidewinder Sv2 instead. I did just buy another Castle MMP system with a 5700 kv motor used so that might be a route to go too.

Keep in mind with a lipo that you will need lipo specific charger and it would be a good idea to get a lipo safe bag to store and charge the batteries. Again, as already mentioned, Hobbypartz.com is very cheap for that stuff.

Finally, if you can swing it in the budget, you might want to consider the Fly Sky GT3B radio. The 2.4 ghz systems out today are light years ahead of the old AM radios. There is so much adjustability and RANGE with the new radios! The Fly Sky system is a mere $35 dollars and would make a terrific basher radio and allow you to have fun with the car, while not spending a lot. The receiver that comes with it is also ridiculously small.

Good luck!

[rc10reborn]

Thanks guys for your replies. I'm still a little lost as only really have experience with brushed motors and the more I read the more I am confused just wanna get this straight. I should look for a 1/10 scale motor find an esc that fits its requirements probably around 12T or more ? I have the 6 gear trans and don't want to end up needing to replace idle gears or getting a stealth trans later. As far as the lipo's and charger go I'm gonna need some help on picking that out I have no idea what 1s 2s or 20c 40c is then the fact there is 2 or 3 cell ? Is there a good page someone could direct me. So i can read up on them

Thanks in advance

[sgirouard]

I'd get a 17.5 turn system for the 6 gear. It can probably handle a hotter motor, but I wouldn't push it past say a 13.5. If you get a sensorless system, you're looking at 2000KV-3000KV. I will also vouch for Hobbypartz. You can't buy used gear for less than what you'll pay there. Added bonus is if you spend $50 or more, shipping is free and quick.

[RC104ever]

Thanks guys for your replies. I'm still a little lost as only really have experience with brushed motors and the more I read the more I am confused just wanna get this straight. I should look for a 1/10 scale motor find an esc that fits its requirements probably around 12T or more ? I have the 6 gear trans and don't want to end up needing to replace idle gears or getting a stealth trans later. As far as the lipo's and charger go I'm gonna need some help on picking that out I have no idea what 1s 2s or 20c 40c is then the fact there is 2 or 3 cell ? Is there a good page someone could direct me. So i can read up on them

Thanks in advance

I have a 12T Titan Brushed motor in my sons RC10 and even that quickly grenaded the stock 6 gear tranny. Realistically, if you want to keep it running you need to get a stealth. They are far more robust and you can still get the idler gear, and the diff gear is rebuildable using (if I recall) a TC3 diff kit. The top shaft you can swap out for a B4 one and voila! New tranny which you can get the newer style spur gears and slipper pads.

As for lipos, the '1s' and '2s' refers to the number of cells. Back in the Nicd / Nimh days, most batteries were 6 or 7 cells and they together made up about 7.2V of total power. Today, the equivalent lipo is a 2s (2 cell) which is 7.4v. The 'c' rating refers to the amount of current draw. I read here that the way to think of it is like a bucket with a hole in it. A bigger 'c' rating, will have a bigger hole, but possibly less run time (which I will get to in a minute). So in theory a 40c battery should be able to give more current draw than a 20c, but less run time, all else being equal.

The run time possible depends on many factors but one of them is the capacity of a battery in mah (milliamp hours). Again, back to your original batteries, those were probably in the 1500 mah range I'm guessing whereas today, an equivalent sized battery could be as much as 5000 mah, or more.

To give you an idea, I have a 5000 mah, 40c battery in my car. With that battery, I can easily get 30 min run times with a consistent power band throughout the run (something that you couldn't say about nicd). I've also clocked the car at 48 mph with a GPS (with other mods besides the battery obviously). Its easily the single best thing you can do to upgrade BUT you will need a speed controller (ESC) that has a lipo cutoff, and a lipo capable charger. So swapping one thing will cause a chain reaction of things you will need to change. In my case, I've almost completely rebuilt the entire car with newer, stronger parts that can standup to the punishment.

[rc10reborn]

Been doing some research and decided to get the stealth trans already ordered b4 top shaft and a metal idle gear. I am gonna have to drill my chassis for it but no big deal I think ill be better off this way. So i've been looking at esc's and motors and was wondering if this was a good fit for my needs I have no idea if that esc is any good or not ? But am i in the right direction ?

Motor- http://www.hobbypartz.com/96m26-car-3650-2950.html

esc- http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__14634__Turnigy_TrackStar_1_10th_Scale_60A_Car_ESC.html

charger - http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__15437__B6_AC_Plus_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells_Dual_Power_COPY_.html

batteries x3 - http://www.hobbypartz.com/77p-sl4000-2s1p-40c-2222-hardcase.html



total came to 138.00 should i opt out for something different ? Edit: maybe a esc with a lipo cutoff nvr mind there is a 5.00 part that lets me program that specific esc Edit:

Thanks

[RC104ever]

For the battery, I would recommend the Gens ace simply because it has a better discharge curve. There is a link on the site comparing batteries.

As for motor, I think that one might be too small physically but I'm not sure.

ESC, i personally would get one with lipo cutoff but that's just what I'm used to

Charger just make sure it as lipo balancing and can take different battery sizes, capacities etc

[madweazl]

You just cant beat those Gensace batteries. Another plus is the bullet connectors usually come out the top of the pack so they're easy to wire up in car (many batteries dont fit well because the wires exit the front of the pack).

[rc10reborn]

I'm more the willing to go with the gensace batteries but they are too big thats why i went with the 4000mah the rear bulkhead is not tall enough. Unless you guys have any tips on making it fit. As for the motor i'll have to look into that it said for 1/10 scale so I'll have to double check. The esc has a 5.00 program card for lipo cutoff. The reviews seemed decent and I have changed my choice of charger

Charger- http://www.hobbypartz.com/73p-ac680-accharger.html

[RC104ever]

The gens ace does fit but it's tight. I have the hard case one and it will stretch the rear bulkhead a bit. Also, you will need to either cut the battery tray or take it out and use something else to hold it like B44 posts.

[dangermouse]

I wouldn't worry about the C rating too much. I think a lot of it is simply overinflated to pull in more customers.

If you think about it a battery with a 20C rating should be able to be discharged in 1/20 of an hour, which is 3 minutes. Realistically you never want to discharge past 80 percent of a packs rated capacity, otherwise you start heating it which can lead to puffing or at least a shortened lifespan. So you end up with a pack that should give 80% discharge in 2.4 minutes.

There is no way you will do that with a buggy and a mild brushless motor. A 30 minute run time equates to an average discharge of around 2C.

[madweazl]

I wouldnt worry about the C rating either. I run the Gensace 4800mah 25c saddles in my my DEX410 with a 5.5t Tekin and they have never gone above 99 degrees on track. The 40c 5000s I ran in the 22 had noticably more punch than the 60c Pro Match shorties I'm running now.

[rc10reborn]

Well I have a couple questions guys. First off since i have a b4 stealth trans coming I'm curious what turn/kv motor I should really put in there. I don't wanna be borderline where i need to worry about running it to hard and risk breaking something. But still be happy regardless I'm sure i will. My second question is which I'm assuming I need different spur gears and what ratio I should be using for bashing ? Btw this bug is hitting me kinda hard I keep waiting for parts to show. Decided to rebuild shocks,New trans,Electronics,Paint new body,Possibly new rims and rubber. We will see how long what I have lasts lol.