Novak BL Now or wait?

[Freder]

I have an RC10 T4 that I would like to put a brushless system in. I know that the Novak system has had it's problems in the past, and I really would like the system to be as problem free as possible. So has Novak fixed all of the problems? Should I buy a Novak now or should I wait for the Castle Creations or Ready\LRP system? I am not necessarly looking for the fastest system, I just want something that will be realiable and be in the ~$250 price range.

[ElectricThunder]

My novak has been problem free ever since I have gotten it. I would say it's safe to buy a novak and not have to worry about problems. And even if you do get a lemon, Novak is super good on customer service. I would say if you don't want to wait (castle creations can take forever to release their new stuff, and reedy probably won't come out with a system for at least another year or two), go with the novak. They're pretty decent and pretty powerful for their cost, plus the fact that there's hardly any maintenance involved is just great! If you want a stronger, more powerful system though, then wait for the castle creations 1/10 mamba to come out. Hope this post helped you! :cool:

[oohjamez]

I say buy a new Novak, if you like it, then buy a more expensive setup down the line for ridiculous speed and hand down the Novak to any other cars you have. For 200 bucks, it is a cheap initiation into the brushless concept. My experiences with the SS5800 since May have been great and I haven't read any more complaints about them on this board in a while.

My screwups include... Right out of the box I plugged my battery with Powerpole connectors in wrong and nothing happened. If a battery pack is too low on power or if the car's wheels are obstructed, the ESC sense that and won't even let the car move. I've even ran it through shallow puddles about 5 times during 2 packs with a touring car without any problems. I've never used a motor with less than 21 turns and the amount of speed & torque u get is simply uncomparable.

Is that Castle system coming out anytime soon? I keep reading soon, but I never see anything available on online stores.

[ElectricThunder]

I keep reading soon too on the Castle Creations stuff. Only thing to do is just sit back and wait. I'm sure it'll be a good affordable system, so i suppose it's worth the wait. It'd be sweet if it was the cost of a novak... :eek: :D

[05h3t5ky]

Yea man, I wouldn't bother waiting to get started in BL unless A.) You have a little while before you get the $$$ for it, B.) You want to wait and save a little longer to avoid wanting an insane-power $375+ system in the future on top of the $250 Novak and just start out with a top-o-the-line setup and save $$$, or C.) You like cutting comms, replacing brushes, balancing armatures, applying comm-drops, cutting brushes, choosing springs, soldering capacitors, spending un-needed amounts of $$$ on maintennance, etc, etc, etc, etc :D :p

But if I were in your position, I would get the Novak...it has the best customer support of all BL systems currently out (the only other good ones currently on the market are originally manufactured in Germany, which, as you can imagine, causes some Customer support problems), is durable, and because of its sensored design, it'll feel exactly like you're running a brushed motor, making the switch as smooth as possible. It also has some relatively serious spunk for an entry-level system.

[Cain]

Brushless is pretty popular at my track especially for mod. I think you will be happy wit h the unit, just make sure and buy a new one.

[wothrottle]

I´m wondering if the novak isn´t too powerful to control it in an offroad car on the track,it has no current limiter.I surely can adjust this on my helios,but in an 2wd there is already less traction.

[ElectricThunder]

It's all in the throttle finger. Any other brushless system would tear up the track twice as bad compared to a novak due to the sheer amounts of power. There's also a limited setting on the novak which may help, but slows the motor to a limited 24000 rpm limit.

[AlexV2024]

wotthrottle- the novak is only the equivilent to about a 14-15t motor, nothing too special.its only an upgrade in speed if you usually use a 19t or stock motor. also the big gain with the novak system is runtime. also in the $300 range you could get a really killer system and when your at the track you can limit the topend for racing.

~Alex

[SS Pede]

I'm pretty sure the Novak is faster/more powerful than a 14-15 turn motor. Novak says 12 turn I think. "Special" enough for me! At least torque-wise, it is awesome.

[wothrottle]

with a brushes stock motor I can gear it not to be too punchy in the low end,but that seems not to work with the novak system.Would the competition system have a current limiter,or throttle programs(soft,medium,hard)?that would be great.
maybe I should wait for that,but when will it be released?
greets,
ludwig

[ElectricThunder]

The novak has limited acceleration, but unfortuneately to use it, you have to put it on the setting that limits RPM as well. With the novak, you can gear up higher than you normally would with a brushed motor due to the slight amount of more torque on tap, but as you go higher, "punch" will become less. Novak is supposedly working on a "pro" version as well which will probably be more adjustable, but that's not coming out any time soon.

[jdgee]

Hello,
I got my Novak SS5800 a few months ago. Use it in a Stampede. I've been beating the dog-doo out of it and had no problems... except for occasional transmission gear rebuilds !

Depending on the radio (computer), you could adjust the throttle sensitivity which limits that sudden burst of torque when starting out. Does not effect full throttle.
Futaba calls this feature " Exponential ". On my Airtronics MX3 it's called "ARC".

I really think you'd have a lot of fun with the Novak. No doubt, you'll develop a sensitive trigger finger. Later, jdgee