first time questions

[freshman]

hello all,

as some of you may know, i'm as green in this hobby as you can be and in the process of putting together my first car. i have a tc3 racer kit, super rooster esc, jr2 radio, p2k2 pro motor and sanyo 2400's. i am about to start on the motor but the instructions say to solder two of the three capacitors to the "ground tab" or motor can.

does the p2k2 pro have a ground tab?

also, should i solder the esc directly to the motor, or install dean's plugs and connect them that way? (i am going to use dean's plugs to connect the esc and the battery pack)

lastly (for now), i already mounted the receiver on top of the servo cuz the super rooster is a mammoth and that was the only way it would fit. several people have told me this would be ok, but what do you all think? the esc instructions say not to, but its too late now.

i hope these questions aren't too stupid, i don't really know what i'm doing. thanks in advance.

cheers!

[Notnerb]

you've got some pretty nice electronics for being new to this hobby. as for your questions, i'll answer them the best i can.

i'm pretty sure all motors have a ground tab, and if you look at the picture i posted, i circled them. i know that motor isn't a P2K2 Pro, but all motors llok the same. the ground tabs on the p2k2 pro should be in the same place as on the motor in the picture.

if your gonna solder the motor directly to your esc, your not gonna be able to swap motor without un-soldering your other one. i would just buy some bullet connectors and solder those.

and finally, as for mounting the ESC on your servo, it should be fine. the only problem i can think of is if the ESC starts to over heat and melt your servo casing, but that would only happen under extreme circumstances.

good luck on your new hobby!
-brenton

[freshman]

Notnerb, thanks for your help! by the way, i mounted the receiver on top of the servo, not the esc. i doubled up on the servo tape to create a little more space in between the two.

i do see the ground tabs on my motor, that picture you attached was very illustrative.

i am not familiar with bullet connectors, how are those different from dean's plugs?

cheers!

[tadium54]

actually, the deans plugs are better than the bullets because they have less IR. so id stick with the deans

[danielst]

1) If your not going to solder the motor direct, then definately use deans.

2) You do not need to solder additional capacitors to your P2K2. They already have internal capacitors and do not require additional ones. As an aside, I believe that the new Speedgems Pro mod motors will also have caps already installed as well.

Good Luck!

[freshman]

danielst,

i didn't know the p2k2 pro had capacitors already. i've soldered one capacitor between the + and - tabs, should i remove it or will it not effect anything if i leave it?

[IR8ape]

Almost all the newer motors will have built in capacitors. Also any motor with built in capacitors will NOT have ground tabs (there is no need), what Notnerb posted was not a pic of ground tabs, those are the + and - motor terminals, a ground tab would be found directly in between them. The P2k2 Pro doesn't have a ground tab. Also, the P2K2 Pro is one of the fastest factory stock motors out at the moment.

I've never run a newer motor with extra capacitors soldered to it, however everything I have read on it says it WILL affect performance in a negative way, at the very least removing the caps you soldered on to the motor will give you one less thing to worry about.

Untill you get into serious racing, using deans plugs on the motor will be very convenient when it comes time to clean the motor and you will not notice a performance difference if you are just putting around with it.

Several people mount their receivers where you have, if your car glitches while running you will more than likely have to remount the receiver elsewhere.

Also don't forget to oil the 2 motor bushings.

[danielst]

What IR8ape said... I've read the same, that using additional capacitors on the P2K2 will negatively affect performance. So, yes, I would remove the extra caps that you have soldered on.

[freshman]

thanks to all who responded! your help was greatly needed and appreciated. i removed the capacitor from the motor, soldered deans plugs between the esc and motor as well as between the battrey pack and motor. every component is wired and mounted, all i need to et is a chrager (thinking about the novak ionic). but i have another questions:

my radio (jr xr2) came with a 4 AA battery plastic casing with a wire which i believe inputs into the receiver. is this needed? i've seen pictures of other cars but never noticed this? if i do need it, where the heck do i mount it cuz i have no room left at all?

thanks for your help.

cheers!

[XXX/TC3 Racer]

Hey freshman, Since Nitro cars don't need an ESC, then the only electrinic they need is a servo, and a reciever. That battery you speak of is for the servo. You do plug it into the reciever, and that battery give you the electricity to power the servo, while the engine runs off of fuel. You can just put it back in the box, but don't throw it away. If you ever sell the radio, you'll need the battery to power a servo, incase a nitro guy is buying it. I say for your application, since it is electronic-don't worry about it!:)