Scale RC/ RC crawlers (1 Viewer)

[jfz80]

4 days for a diesel drivetrain swap and 1.5 yrs for an rc build

Dx3 is perfect. Shouldn't need 4 channel for lights unless you want to turn em on and off

I still have some portal knuckles here

Ill have to look at charger when I get back home or I think I posted on MUDs rc section a good option.

 

[stevezero]

I use an IMAX B6 (bought in 2011 or so, I'm sure they have a newer model). It does Nicd, Nimh, Lion, Lipo, Life, and lead acid. It has a built in balance port setup, can fast charge, storage, and discharge all with balance capability. It also does manual charging, and has the ability to load and store programs for frequent charging types. It has a 12volt input, and mine came with an HP 1Amp 120v monitor power supply that gives it AC wall capability. There are tons of clones of them.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Thanks guys! Back to Amazon

As to the length of build, I figured I'd see if there was something to all of these long term cruiser builds I'm ready to drive this thing now!

 

[roadstr6]

We have two Ax10's, an Scx10, a Wraith and an ExoTerra. One of the best little secrets of the crawler community is a radio called the Flysky GT3B. Look it up. It is dirt cheap but the one we have has been through hell and still works great. I think I paid $45 for it new. It's a 3 channel programmable deal that can work multiple machines (you will have to get more receivers tho) and it does just about anything the more expensive ones do. Save your money on the radio and spend it on a good servo or upgrade the driveshafts if they haven't been already. Those are the weak links in the Ax10 IMO.

 

[roadstr6]

We have the lights plugged into our receiver to always run when the machine is powered up. The little LED's don't pull much and I have seen no real difference in battery life with them on vs. off. We use our third channels to power the scale winches in ours. We run all ours on 2s lipos. I think they are 5200 mah and 30c burst. Hobby King has the cheapest lipos. We use cheapo $50 chargers. Had all different ones. After a while they die and I go get another one. I really should get a nice one but damn they're expensive!

 

[roadstr6]

Some of our junk: Wraith is down waiting for steel gearset for the transmission.

...and that Flysky radio:

 

[little_joe]

Johnny, look up HeliosRC.com - this is my friend Nick, he is a degreed engineer, and can hook you up with a flashed FlySky GT3C which is almost infinitely customizable. He's local too so you can stop by his house in Apex, or meet up with us (we go out trailing/crawling 2-3 weekends a month).

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Johnny, look up HeliosRC.com - this is my friend Nick, he is a degreed engineer, and can hook you up with a flashed FlySky GT3C which is almost infinitely customizable. He's local too so you can stop by his house in Apex, or meet up with us (we go out trailing/crawling 2-3 weekends a month).

Thanks Joe! Ordered the radio from him. Big feature I liked about the GT3C Nick sells versus the GT3B I picked out on amazon is that this GT3C has a rechargable LiPo battery. Big bonus over AA batteries.

 

[roadstr6]

Thanks Joe! Ordered the radio from him. Big feature I liked about the GT3C Nick sells versus the GT3B I picked out on amazon is that this GT3C has a rechargable LiPo battery. Big bonus over AA batteries.

I don't have any experience with the GT3C but I'm sure it's great. FWIW the AA's last about 6 months in our GT3B (of course that depends on usage too) so it's not a huge issue. I do keep the backlight on the display turned off to save the batteries. If you get more RC's and want to run them with the Flysky, the receivers are $7...and FWIW I have not had a single receiver issue and our stuff gets wet and muddy (as pics clearly show). Congrats on buying the one Chinese product that I know of that I can feel confident in recommending. It's a quality product and a great value. You'll love it. I'm sure the re-flash will add some great features as well.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I don't have any experience with the GT3C but I'm sure it's great. FWIW the AA's last about 6 months in our GT3B (of course that depends on usage too) so it's not a huge issue. I do keep the backlight on the display turned off to save the batteries. If you get more RC's and want to run them with the Flysky, the receivers are $7...and FWIW I have not had a single receiver issue and our stuff gets wet and muddy (as pics clearly show). Congrats on buying the one Chinese product that I know of that I can feel confident in recommending. It's a quality product and a great value. You'll love it. I'm sure the re-flash will add some great features as well.

This is the first radio I've heard of that can control multiple RCs without changing anything out, but it's also been a long time, 10 years or more, since I've been into the RC hobby. I don't even know what I'm going to do with 8 channels!

 

[NCFJ]

This all brings back fond memories. I was into RC cars back in the mid to late 80s. I got into out door off road racing as well as indoor carpet racing. One winter we raced at a closed roller rink on the hard wood. We soon found out that steering with the throttle was the way to stay out front. I went on to RC helicopters and planes from there and wound up earning a living manufacturing RC helicopter equipment and building custom RC airplanes, mostly for competition. I still have my antique drafting table which became a building table for the planes because it is still dead straight.

There were 4WD cars back then but they were road racing cars and generally nitro fuel powered. Hugely expensive to race.

 

[roadstr6]

This is the first radio I've heard of that can control multiple RCs without changing anything out, but it's also been a long time, 10 years or more, since I've been into the RC hobby. I don't even know what I'm going to do with 8 channels!

You know the old saying that if you move into a bigger house, you end up just filling it with more junk? Rear steer, front dig, switchable lights and scale winch should pretty much cover the eight channels. You might end up with one spare if you're lucky. Hehe! Have fun..............

 

[little_joe]

This is the first radio I've heard of that can control multiple RCs without changing anything out, but it's also been a long time, 10 years or more, since I've been into the RC hobby. I don't even know what I'm going to do with 8 channels!

Between the rechargeable lipo (I also got a larger capacity battery for a few bucks), the ability to control multiple rigs each with their own tuning, and the endless customizations makes this radio a star. Right now I have my SCX10 beater on it, and Nick helped me set up my TrailFinder2 - getting the 2-speed tranny set just the way I wanted was over my head. I hope you enjoy it Johnny, and you need to come out with us one weekend! (+ I have some small stuff for you)

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Between the rechargeable lipo (I also got a larger capacity battery for a few bucks), the ability to control multiple rigs each with their own tuning, and the endless customizations makes this radio a star. Right now I have my SCX10 beater on it, and Nick helped me set up my TrailFinder2 - getting the 2-speed tranny set just the way I wanted was over my head. I hope you enjoy it Johnny, and you need to come out with us one weekend! (+ I have some small stuff for you)

Yes! Once I get it running I am totally down for a rc wheeling day.

 

[CharlestonG8R]

So, I have an attic full of Losi, Tamiya, and Team Associated cars and trucks from my racing days back in the 80's and 90's. I think I have (2) Yokomo YZ-10's - or at least I did... At the time, Tamiya made very good entry level stuff that didn't compete well on the off-road track. This new rock crawling stuff is foreign territory to me and I'm not familiar with the new brushless motors. That being said, does anyone have an opinion of the Tamiya FJ40 CR-01? http://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-10-Toy...m_sbs_t_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=02R1GYWSYAJAHHRJZNXG

 

[uzj100]

Do u have a tamiya Porsche 959 in that attic?

 

[little_joe]

@CharlestonG8R that CR-01 is a great rig, and supremely capable! It's quite a bit diffferent than the newer designs from Axial, Vaterra, etc and it's not really "scale" if that matters to you. But the cantilever suspension works very well, plenty of flex, and it's a tough platform. The aftermarket isn't as broad for it, but then again you don't have to really upgrade/replace much of anything on it. A friend brings his on the nastiest trail/crawl we run around here, and that thing just goes - it's like a billygoat and fun to watch.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Jeremy, that CR-01 is badass! Bring it out to the next event!!

My Flysky radio came in over the weekend, so I wired up the electronics. Steering servo works great, but the motor won't turn. I'm speculating that there isn't enough charge to turn it, but to make sure, do I have the motor wires hooked up correctly?

 

[roadstr6]

It's hard to hook the motor up wrong. You can reverse the polarity in which case forward is backward. To fix this you can either reverse the wires or there should be a switch on the radio. If it's not moving you either have low battery or possibly recheck the connections at the ESC.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

It's hard to hook the motor up wrong. You can reverse the polarity in which case forward is backward. To fix this you can either reverse the wires or there should be a switch on the radio. If it's not moving you either have low battery or possibly recheck the connections at the ESC.

That's what I figured. Simple brushless DC motor, right?

I'll go through and double-check everything. Thanks Dave!

EDIT:
Reading the programming manual for my ESC says that the low-voltage detection will shut off all motor control if voltage is low enough. Charger will be here tomorrow, so I'll just wait till then.
https://traxxas.com/support/Programming-Your-Traxxas-Electronic-Speed-Control