ST setup...

[___rollin___]

Hi everyone,
I have been out of the hobby for a while, so I figured id give it another go!
Well I have donesome dum things with rc for many years. Since I was around 7 or 8, now im almost 14. I have the 5th fastest Rusty in the world currently, as of when I last checked. With a Lehner Basic 5300 running on a Schulze 18.61k. I could have been damn near the record byut i didnt have enough money for a 10 cell pack of matched cells so I used what I had. The stupid charger kept false peaking, so I didnt charge very good, and I still managed to hit just shy of 50 mph.

But,
Anyway I'd like to get back with the BL scene, with the old gone through hell rusty. I have been considering getting another ST but what for , I aint a racer. So I could somehow revive my rusty. I have no clue what kinda new controllers there are now. So what do you guys suggest. Preferably cheap( under 200 maybe ) has a BEC, and supports a rather large amount f cells to destroy my lehner. Maybe li-po compatible to.

Thanky

[tcolesen]

Hey ___rollin___, welcome to the forums!
How fast did your Rustler go? Mine has gone 56.5mph with a motor spinning at only 40,000RPM (or less) in a distance of only about 200ft. for acceleration and braking. I use this Rustler for bashing all the time, and it is pretty much no longer stock, except for the tranny, and it takes a huge beating!

So, you are looking for a new controller, huh? One of the newer and better controllers is the Mtroniks Pro:
http://www.starluckrc.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=135
It is very cheap (comparatively). This is waterproof, can handle any 1/10 motor, accepts 6-12 cells or 2s-4s Lipo, is very smooth, and has decent programmability. Mtroniks supposedly has great customer support, except that it is located in England (longer time to get it repaired from U.S.). I have been using the Pro's bigger brother, the Truck, in my Rustler, and it doesn't even break a sweat.

Hope this helps :).

[___rollin___]

thanks man,
That pro would be smoked in a day with me i bet, i kinda have run 12 cells on my 5300, lol and 8 cell limit wouldnt like that I bet. But the truck is very cheap, so that might be "the one". My rusty hit 47.8 gps verified, but tires were spinning like mad and was only on about 2 wheels the whole time when there was even a little bit of traction. Was hot that day, charger didnt work lol, ect. I think if all of that was eliminated then I could have esily broken 55. One guy, Aken77, he hit 66.6mph in a lehner powered rusty, 10 cells, and 28/82 gearing. I ran like a 24/82 I think, but i could have easily geared up for more speed.

I think also I might do very stupid things also.Like strapping in a b50 or an equivalent insane in the rusty. Which has the current record, ProMod, he has hit 70.9 in a rusty. b50 and 15 cells. But I just need a durable controller above all.

lastly, ok me and my old man are going to selll all of the rc stuff we got , and just get two of the same cars. So I think the rusty is it. Then ill have some moneyto get a whole bl getup. And guys please dont think im a spoiled brat that gets a rc car everyday.My dad lives in the hood, and mom is struggling with bills.

[Rtsbasic]

The controller will easily handle a 5300 on 12 cells. The question is will the motor handle it or not. The 8 cell bit is because when you buy it from Mtroniks it comes bundled with a motor that cannot handle more than 8 cells, and Starluckrc just "borrowed" Mtroniks description. Rest assured it will do 12 NIMH/4s lipo no problem. Mtroniks support is great as well (I'm in England so get turnarounds that average 3-4 days), I've returned a couple of damaged ESC's to them in the past and they're always sent new ones out for free (even when the damage was not a fault of the unit).

If your planning on overgearing your car, running motors up to their RPM limit etc you may find the Mtroniks Truck ESC better suited. Handles a few more amps, runs cooler (massive heatsink on the bottom of it), only catch is its 2x the size and weight due to the heatsink. If your on a limited budget you shouldn't run your equipment right to the limit as sooner or later somethings gonna go. You could get a Feigao 540 12s to run on 12 cells with the Pro or Truck controller, and it will likely generate MORE power than your Basic 5300, but only be hitting around 40K RPM. I believe this is the motor tcolesen uses in his Rustler.

I've gone a different route and am using a Feigao 8L (sorta similar to a B50 I think?). But its in a slightly bigger car thats pretty heavy as its all lexan/nylon etc (custom chassis RC10 T2), and only for bashing so I wanted insane power thats easy to gear for. I'm also running oversize tyres which eat a fair bit of the power.

[___rollin___]

Well, you are right with the motor but from what I'V heard too much voltage only fries the bearings, so if I am suddenly rich ill do like 15 cells or something.
tcolesen,
Where do you mount your Truck on your Rusty becuase that seems like the way to go. But heres the thing if my Lehneris uncontrolable on 10 crap cells than than how do you control basically a 550 can sized motor. Do you run like high voltages or just a few cells. But I probably have edged out in rpm's.

[ElectricThunder]

Too much voltage will burn out a phase probably. At the very least, it'll grenade your rotor due to the high RPMS....:D Bearings in the lehners are good to around 65,000 RPM also (wanderer series motor bearings are good to around 80k). After that, things probably start to get hairy.

Tcoleson runs a 3 or 4 (so anywhere from 11.1 to 14.8 volts) cell lipo battery in his rusty, with a 540 sized feigao motor (12s). That's about all I know of his crazy escapades. I myself run an HV Maxx in my Rusty. I've yet to find out its true limits as far as speed runs. I run two 6 cell GP3300 packs right now. Plenty fast for me.....for now...:D

[tcolesen]

I run a custom chassis on my Rustler, and made a custom mount plate for the Truck. If you are using the stock chassis you should be able to mount it on the esc plate above the rear-most part of the battery compartment.

The Feigao 12s (540 can) has a kv of about 2900. Your Lehner 5300 has 5300. This means that my motor will only spin about as fast as your motor on the same battery. On 12 cells or 4s Lipo, my motor will spin at about 40,000RPMs (which is under the bearings' limit). Your Lehner 5300 will spin at 40,000RPM with only 7 cells.

[___rollin___]

tcolesen,
what kind of gearing do you usually run with that setup? I start having severe problems with overheating when I use 26/82 or anything abover that and that Aken77 guys used 28/82, so the only difference in my setup is I had crappier batteries, he ran 10 gp3300's, but I cant remember the voltage or if they were matched or not. And my batteris are about to you know catch on fire they are so hot from being ovedrawn ( if anyone even uses that term anymore ) it means that the motor is taking more than the batts can supply so it kinda boggs down. Then a few fractions of a second later it speeds back up. Also do you have any problems with your tranny or diff. Mine has help up strong. I destroyed one idler before though.

One last thing,
I'd like to know what kind of battereies to use and wht charger to get for this setup. I dont have the mony for any kind of lithium packs, so a charger that might be compatible with li-pos and at least 10 regular cells, thats not a fortune and preferbly is ac/dc. Batts I imagine a 6 cell and a 10 cell gp3300, would worrk quite well, I dont need that new 3800 stuff.And with all that 60 will be a sinch...

[tcolesen]

I run my Rustler with 3s Lipo now, since I no longer have any 4s Lipo packs. That keeps the motor spinning at about 30,000RPM max. It is geared 22/90 right now, but I am thinking of dropping to 20/90.
Overall durability has been good. Haven't shredded a diff in quite a while, and I use steel dogbones instead of sliders (one of them is bent, though). The aluminum idler and steel top gear have held up just fine.

Some of the best cells out there right now are IB3800s. These will provide higher voltage than GP3300, and could lead to an increase of up to 2mph. Not to mention that they will provide better runtime.
The charger you use to charge these with depends on how much you are willing to spend. There is the Multiplex LN-5014 that can charge up to 14 NiMh and 5s Lipo cells at up to 5amps, and it only costs $80. The Duratrax ICE (what I use) can do up to 10 NiMh/4s Lipo, and has a variable voltage feature (for breaking in brushed motors) that can be used as a variable voltage power supply up to 10amps. It also has a large screen and a graphical display. The ICE costs $120.
Both of these chargers need a power supply. The one I am using right now is very inexpensive for what it does:
http://www.emtel.com/search/product_detail.asp?desc=150W+12VDC+Power+Supply&product_id=EMV15012V

[___rollin___]

tcolesen,
that power supply looks like a real good dead. I mean 12.5 amps for 30 bucks! But I think that some GP3300's non matched from Promatch would be good for bashing.Here they are
http://www.promatchracing.com/gp3300.htm
They are the GP331706A 6 cell.

But for speed runs I think that li-po or a 10 cell matched will be needed.
I dont know a whole lot about li-po's though. ( all I really know is that one cell is 3.7 volts. and C is the discharge rate.) So i think that I would be a good idea to just stick with Ni-Mh cells but I dont know. I cant soldier any packs so it would be kinda hard to get a 10 cell pack too... I ( as in me and my old man) have tried to soldier a 6 cell pack together before and it didnt work out. I think I can get one guy at my lhs to do it but I dont know If i trust him with 60 bucks for of batteries. And I dont just want to connect 2 packs with a y-harness like I did before. So what do I do?I am prettty sure I can fit a 7 cell pack in my rusty because I modified the battery tray a bit. My lhs has some Thunder powers but I dont know if its what I would need. I really dont want to blow up any 100 plus dollar batteries. And those li-po's mightover heat the motor...

I DUNNO

[tcolesen]

Those Promatch batteries would work just fine.

What would be so bad about using a y-harness to connect up a 6 cell and 4 cell pack in series?

If you don't know much about Lipos, I would not recommend them to you.

[___rollin___]

I dont really want to run a 6 and a 4 cell pack in a y-harness because, from experience with my old setup wires are absolutely everywhere dragging on the ground and tires. And would prefer if there is the absolute least amount of wires. Thats why I wanted a controller with a BEC. Less complications really. Ill call promatch and see if they can make a custom pack I guess, but it will probably be a rip-off, ill see...

[___rollin___]

I just called promatch, for a 10 cell matched gp3300 itll cost 76bucks, I think thats a little high, looks like im going to call the lhs with nothing there.