IOwnCalculus posted:Don't do anything monumentally stupid and you'll be fine. Make sure your low voltage cutoff is properly set up, go conservative if you can. Unless you bought a tiny battery and a huge charger, there's a good chance you can't charge it fast enough to hurt it. The super common chargers top out at 5A or 50W, so any battery with at least 5000mAh can't be charged too fast for safety. Balance it regularly - I balance charge mine almost every time because I'm rarely in that much of a rush. I got a 6A 80W charger and a 30C 2S 7.4v 5000mAh Reaction battery. I doubt I'll ever go over the 1C charge rate so that should do the trick. How much longer does it take to balance charge? If I read right a normal charge should take an hour at 5A with the 5000mAh right? screech on the beach fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Oct 10, 2015 |
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Oct 10, 2015 16:19
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Yeah, there's pretty much no good reason to charge faster than 1C, so don't bother setting it above 5A. Balance charging adds more time at the end since it is selectively charging / discharging each cell to get them as close to each other as possible. In theory, a fully drained battery in a regular charge mode would take an hour to charge, but if you want the battery to last longer, avoid running it all the way down.
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Oct 10, 2015 16:59
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Oh yeah, I forgot the battery would never be empty. I just ordered a low voltage alarm off Amazon too. I can't wait to drive this thing.
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Oct 10, 2015 17:26
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/161853472808?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Let's just dive into the deep end.
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Oct 11, 2015 17:51
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I love how the main picture makes you think you get just a few plastic parts, and there's no wide view of everything you get in one photo. You just see the tube chassis in a bunch of different pictures, there's no 'overall' picture.
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Oct 12, 2015 13:20
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krushgroove posted:I love how the main picture makes you think you get just a few plastic parts, and there's no wide view of everything you get in one photo. You just see the tube chassis in a bunch of different pictures, there's no 'overall' picture. It's probably why i got it for a little over a hundred.
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Oct 12, 2015 13:40
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The owner of a local motocross track saw us tooling around the parking lot and said we should come pay him a visit some time. How can you say no to an offer like that?         
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Oct 19, 2015 02:42
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My Losi XXX-SCT finally got here last night so I was going through the manual and the stock setting for the low voltage cutoff is set to 2.6V/Cell. That's way too low right? Shouldn't I change that to 3.4V? That's the max it seems.
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Oct 22, 2015 20:41
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this is awesome and should I ever get one of these I will have to copy LoG posted:My Losi XXX-SCT finally got here last night so I was going through the manual and the stock setting for the low voltage cutoff is set to 2.6V/Cell. That's way too low right? Shouldn't I change that to 3.4V? That's the max it seems. 2.6V per cell is low. 3.4V per cell would be good, 3.3V is about as low as is recommended. In large scale news, I will need to buy a Losi Mini WRC because they are dropping the price to an obscenely low price. Seriously if anyone is considering a large scale you will want to get in on one of these. Apparently the Mini body car didn't sell that well in the USDM so they are having a fire sale. New MAP will be announced on Monday.
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Oct 22, 2015 22:18
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So I have a bunch of NiMh batteries that I haven't used in about 2 years. They were left in a good condition, and some of them had hardly been used in the first place. They all seemed to be dead upon trying in an R/C, but putting them into a charger, the charger reported them as charged fairly quickly. (Maybe 10/20 minutes on 2amp for a 2200 mah battery for example.) Are my batteries lifetimes going to be shot to hell? Do I need to replace these? Or can I restore these if I give them full charge discharge cycles? (N.B. I do not have a charger with a discharge feature, so the best I can do is run them till they die.)
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Oct 30, 2015 15:49
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Probably shot, but a few charge/discharge cycles might breathe some life into them. If you can adjust the charge rate, I'd slow it down to super-super-slow (aka trickle charge it), as that gives you the best shot at them coming back to life.
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Oct 30, 2015 16:16
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mehall posted:So I have a bunch of NiMh batteries that I haven't used in about 2 years. They were left in a good condition, and some of them had hardly been used in the first place. They will be dead as hell. NIMH batteries aren't great for holding charge over a long period of time. Buy some Lipos. If you aren't going to use the Lipos for a while, put them into storage mode
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Oct 31, 2015 14:05
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"Discharged" is not "dead." They'll still work. Cycle them and enjoy.
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Oct 31, 2015 23:39
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Yeah, give them a few cycles and try to bring them back to life, but I'd say the odds are good you'll lose at least some of them.
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Nov 1, 2015 02:05
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Built my first RC. It's not complete trash (yet)! 
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Nov 4, 2015 22:28
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Finally got some time to run my Losi sct today and holy hell what a blast. The thing goes so fast the front wheels barely touch the ground. Is that a learn to drive thing or do I need to add some weight to the front?
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Nov 5, 2015 22:00
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been waiting for a company to step up and make a real scale trophy truck. Other than 4x4, but that could be disabled easily enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG4ZsU08uXU Before they launched this, they actually contacted this kid about a year ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McPaKD7GSws Custom welded tube chassis from scratch
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Nov 7, 2015 07:02
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Allow me to show you something that I have been excited about while having to keep my mouth shut on for a long time. I saw the first CAD drawings over a year ago. In July I was able to hold the first prototype and wring it out. It was publicly announced this week and now I just have to wait a few more months until it is mine! https://youtu.be/YLOj43IjvAI
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Nov 7, 2015 07:24
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Have I mentioned I hate messing with shock oil? Rebuilt the front end of the TC3 - new arms, steering blocks, bushings, hinge pins, ball studs, screws, and a VCS2 upgrade for the shocks since one was leaking anyway. Gonna see how it does tomorrow. I also need to sit down and do an effort post on the Flysky GT3B. Really a screaming deal on a radio, especially once you modify it a bit.
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Nov 7, 2015 09:19
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jonathan posted:been waiting for a company to step up and make a real scale trophy truck. Other than 4x4, but that could be disabled easily enough. Holy poo poo I need that Axial trophy truck in my life. NEED. Not even upset about the 4wd, because I can just pretend it's a Pro 4 short course truck 
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Nov 7, 2015 19:50
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 RC wheeling is pretty awesome guys.
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Nov 7, 2015 22:58
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So many awesome new products coming out. It's a good time to be in RC. Here's a happy little accident of a shot from this weekend. Before raking (ok, mowing) the leaves in the backyard, I decided to rip through them for a bit with the Savage Flux HP.   Ozmiander posted:
Yeah it is! That looks like Minnewaska. Were you at Minnewaska?
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Nov 8, 2015 18:36
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Shelving Rock up near Fort Ann/Lake George.
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Nov 8, 2015 20:21
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Somewhat Heroic posted:Allow me to show you something that I have been excited about while having to keep my mouth shut on for a long time. I saw the first CAD drawings over a year ago. In July I was able to hold the first prototype and wring it out. It was publicly announced this week and now I just have to wait a few more months until it is mine! This is really cool. I am really digging the release of scale competition desert vehicles.
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Nov 17, 2015 07:18
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jonathan posted:This is really cool. I am really digging the release of scale competition desert vehicles. Yeah the truck is pretty bonkers overbuilt. Now that we are able to get it out in the open since they have announced it have a look at some of these detailed photos:  Me holding the rear axle housing. CNC'd from aluminum and a work of art  All metal center transmission. The transmission plates are machined aluminum/anodized black, gears are all metal. 4WD, and it has a massive adjustable slipper clutch, steel telescoping universal center drive to the rear axle  If you have ever seen a Losi 5IVE you know how huge they are. These are the shocks for the KrakenRC VEKTA.5 The shock shafts are 8mm. Hinge pins for the suspension arms are also 8mm and captured with machined aluminum hinge pin blocks  Me looking goofy the first time we went to go drive it.
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Nov 17, 2015 21:38
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Christ. I need another expensive hobby like I need a hole in the head but now I want to get into RC crawling too
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Nov 17, 2015 21:52
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IOwnCalculus posted:Christ. I need another expensive hobby like I need a hole in the head but now I want to get into RC crawling too You and me both. I reallyyy want a nice Axial rig 
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Nov 17, 2015 22:09
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The new Bomber RR10 is a masterpiece and they are going to sell those things like crack at a whorehouse. If I wasn't already eyeing a Losi Mini WRC (which I will definitely be buying) and getting this Kraken VEKTA.5 it would be on my list. I will just have to make do with my EXO Terra buggy, YetiXL, and SCX10
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Nov 17, 2015 22:18
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IOwnCalculus posted:Christ. I need another expensive hobby like I need a hole in the head but now I want to get into RC crawling too Doo eet doo eet. Seriously, best hobby.
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Nov 17, 2015 22:21
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Somewhat Heroic posted:Yeah the truck is pretty bonkers overbuilt. Now that we are able to get it out in the open since they have announced it have a look at some of these detailed photos: You, sir, are a terrible man, and will be the cause of my wife either leaving me or beating me to death. But at least I'll have a sweet R/C :P I kid, but those are seriously awesome pics. And I really do want an Axial Bomber.
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Nov 17, 2015 22:38
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IOwnCalculus posted:Christ. I need another expensive hobby like I need a hole in the head but now I want to get into RC crawling too I had the same thoughts. But instead I brought a second hand Stadium Truck
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Nov 17, 2015 22:41
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You Am I posted:I had the same thoughts. Just get enough speed before you hit the rock, it'll go over.
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Nov 17, 2015 22:43
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Siochain posted:Doo eet doo eet. I've even got a well-suited transmitter for it. Which reminds me... Now that I've had a lot more time with it (and flashed the firmware) I'm a big fan of the Flysky GT3B. The build quality is much better than I expected from a $35 transmitter - it won't fool you and make you think it cost $200, but it's certainly good enough. This video is the best one I've found as far as performing the firmware hack, which is just about a must-have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M-rQ7lkWMg The factory firmware has some flaws in it. Biggest one that I know of is that the steering exponential is completely broken - it adds in one direction and removes in the other. The aftermarket firmware fixes all of them, and greatly expands the functionality / capabilities of the radio (2-8 channels per model, up to 63 models). It adds an inactivity alarm, which is good because it doesn't have any sort of power LED built in. It also simplifies the user interface into being nearly 100% operated by the chrome wheel on the top, along with either short or long presses on it. The manual someone else wrote does a much better job of explaining it than the documentation from the original author of the firmware. All of the tutorials out there have you use the more fully-featured ST8 Discovery board to reprogram the radio, but I had no problems with using this much cheaper programmer. If nothing else, it's easier because you don't need to worry about breaking and/or desoldering anything like on the discovery board. When connecting it, you just need to match +5V to +5V, GND to GND, and SWIM to SWIM. Programming it is pretty straightforward; try to read the firmware first. If you're getting connection errors, it's probably just your soldering job. Once you've got it right, programming is super quick. The transmitter will actually power up on just the STM programmer connection alone, but until you flash the firmware the first time it will continually bitch about low battery. Swapping to a 3S lipo is as simple as removing the battery tray (which you can do when you split the radio as shown in the video above) and adding your desired wiring connector. You can do a 2S lipo instead if you replace the voltage regulator with a more efficient one. I haven't done it and probably never will. I already had a 3S transmitter lipo laying around, and I only run for five to six minutes at a time so it's not like I ever dip into the battery big time. The only two mods left to do that I plan on doing are installing a bearing for the steering wheel, and maybe adding a power LED anyway. I want to pick up a body hole reamer anyway and by most accounts that seems to be the best tool for getting the hole for the steering bearing just right. When new it's fine without the bearing but most people report that the factory plastic-on-plastic gets worn after a while.
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Nov 17, 2015 22:46
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so, i guess you all have been waiting for a fjelltorsk megathread, No? i dont care, youre getting one anyway.. The outdoor and with that the 1:8 scale season is over for this year, id say it ended on a high note even though our season finale and club championship race was ran in so rainy conditions it should have been cancelled, i mangaged to claw out a 3.rd in nitro due to my car being the one that lasted the 3.rd longest. Seriously, we had 20cm of standing water on the end of the home back straight.  after the race both the servos and rx was soaking wet, clutch bearings was shot and my piston shattered  this meant i had to dry out and pray and the servos and for engine.... i did this  Wintertime means onroad and 1:10 buggies, i formerly raced a 4wd hotbodies, but could never get to grips with it, the car was just to aggresive and twitchy for my driving style, so i had more or less given it up, i sold it as a roller to a club buddy and had decided to chill out with regards to 1:10 4wd. since im a man of principle that lasted about a week before i picked up a used schumacher K1 Aero from a buddy, he races for schumacher and the car came with a huge parts lot and was cheap due to the relase of the latest gen schumacher 4wd. i donīt care about having the most updated car, so i ran with it. mostly because it shares alot of part with my 2wd buggy from the same brand.  as you can tell, they share the same rear parts, and most of the front.  i serviced and dusted of my KF 2wd  Installed some shiny option parts on the new (old) hotness  stole the servo mounts out of my touring car.  shimmed like a madman to get the steering link as straight as possible, came pretty close  there she sits, all pretty and poo poo, i still need to paint the body (one is sent off to a more pro painter than me) and route wires and stuff, but our new indoor track does not open until january so i have loads of time..
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Dec 6, 2015 17:45
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Not sure where to post this but I recently went down the slippery slope of getting involved with slot car racing. I decided I want to open a track in my basement for a fun beer league and poo poo has gotten out of control. Seriously though, if I'm doing it....I'm doing it right. After a trade of r/c goods for extra track and plunking down a good wad of cash I have an 8 x 12 table (i made it for 100 in materials) with a 2 lane, fully digital 1:32 track with timing tower for racing Vintage Trans Am and F1. I'm finishing it up this week and will post pics. These modern digital tracks are nothing like my old HO sets back in the day. You can run up to 6 cars on two lanes of track with full ability to swap lanes and have working fuel/pit stops.
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Dec 7, 2015 17:09
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ColonelJohnMatrix posted:Not sure where to post this but I recently went down the slippery slope of getting involved with slot car racing. I decided I want to open a track in my basement for a fun beer league and poo poo has gotten out of control. Seriously though, if I'm doing it....I'm doing it right. At 16 years old I worked at a hobby shop that had a 120" 8 lane Hill Climb brand slot car track that was pretty awesome. I always wanted to get into them but I just always considered it money that I could spend on more RC Cars instead. We had "rental" workhorse slots that were made by Parma that were tanks and we could get them going at a decent clip. The guys that had the full on race slots were insanely quick. People started running the SCX/Scalextric 1/32 cars and those looked cool. Have some pics of the more final production version of the VEKTA.5    Remember the shocks have an 8mm diameter shaft. Hinge pins are also 8mm. At full extension the shocks are almost 12" long in the back. Height of those Trencher tires are over 7 1/2 inches.
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Dec 11, 2015 22:18
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Looks amazing...when is it due for release?
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Dec 11, 2015 23:05
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I'm dipping my toes back into the RC world after selling everything off 15 years ago when I went to college. Got a Redcat blackout RTR as an early christmas present and even that lowend truck is faster/more fun than what I sold off. Since LiPo RC is completely new to me, I looked it up - I definitely need a real charger & bag, but I don't know what brands are good (or what review sites should be trusted). Those of you with younger kids - I've got a 12 year old who really likes my new toy. What scale do you have your kids running?
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Dec 19, 2015 16:23
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Harik posted:I'm dipping my toes back into the RC world after selling everything off 15 years ago when I went to college. Got a Redcat blackout RTR as an early christmas present and even that lowend truck is faster/more fun than what I sold off. As to the bags, I grabbed a Traxxas one off Amazon. $20'ish bucks, and its definitely better than the $5 ebay cheapo I bought first. Both are likely fine, but I only use the super-cheap one for my smaller cells. For the kids thing, albeit I don't have kids of my own, I've had friends kids as young as 8 all the way up to my 16-year old nephew really enjoying my 1/10th stuff. Its small enough to not be heavy if they need to haul it around, but its big enough for them to enjoy (and tough enough not to break). I've got an SCX10 Honcho that a bunch of kids have tried their best to wreck and not succeeded, so I can highly recommend it. Axial also has their new "Bomber" r/c which looks great, with a ton of aftermarket parts already since its based on a couple of proven platforms.
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Dec 19, 2015 16:56
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Harik posted:I'm dipping my toes back into the RC world after selling everything off 15 years ago when I went to college. Got a Redcat blackout RTR as an early christmas present and even that lowend truck is faster/more fun than what I sold off. Put a 55t motor in a Slash. I dare a kid to kill that.
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Dec 19, 2015 20:46
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