mr. ilikehelp

im new to speed boats never had one only aiboats and was wondering if this boat is better than the reefracer for things like upgrades speed handiliing ect

Reyzo14

The mini rio is better handling, and more upgrtadeable too. In my opinion, it's also cooler looking.

Schwenzo

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

I have both and the MR is the way to go without a doubt.

mr. ilikehelp

ok thanks iv just got one questio n i was wondering ho wthe surface drive on this boat makes it go faster than the reefracers underwater

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Ditto

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

That and the hull design. The rr2's design makes it suck down in the water. The MR skips across the top.

You will be seriously disappointed with the RR2. Its a real good boat for a kid or the wife/girlfriend/woman/lady friend or man thats not into RC stuff.

mr. ilikehelp

ok wel i think im gonna get the mini rio if i get a boat thanks

jherbz

OK now it doesn't work at all, I wish I could get some answers but there is no phone # available for Aquacraft and the hobby store said "you took it out of the box it's your problem now". Nice, don't think I'll be shopping there any more, I guess that's what I get for shopping at a chain store. By the way it was Hobby Town USA! Any one have the # for customer service?

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.aquacraftmodels.com/
Phone: 217-398-8970

Postal Address:
AquaCraft
3002 N. APOLLO DRIVE, SUITE #1
CHAMPAIGN, IL 61822

Reyzo14

I'm sure if you tell hobbico or aquacraft about it, they'll be happy to help you. They might even get you hooked up with a new boat if the situation is right.

Schwenzo

pocketear

hey guys i orderd a brushless 2700kv motor from hobbycity.com but i see there is a 30 amp and 40 amp speed control i orderd the 30 amp before really looking into it i will be running 11.1 lipo do you think it will work or do i need the 40 amp any way speed controls are 9.99 to 21.99 and motors are really cheap to

pocketear

hobbycity . com

Nina Roses Dad

I just read something intresting in the weekly tech tip from all-battery.com

Bear in mind that ESCs operate anywhere from about 1KHz - 20KHz (that's anywhere from 1,000 to 20,000 pulses per second (since we're talking direct current here). Batteries put out direct current, but that's not exactly what comes out the other end of your ESC.

"There are three frequency regimes to consider when dealing with batteries:

1. Ultra low frequencies. These are frequencies measured in inverse hours or days. In this regime the battery acts like you would expect it to. At low frequency a battery will act like a current source plus resistance. All of the energy transfer will be due to ion movement through the electrolyte and none will be due to surface charge or capacitive storage.

2. Medium frequencies, 1kHz to 1 Hz you are dealing in the regime of ion movement. If you are trying to pull a 10 mSec pulse out of a battery you will be accessing surface charge and capacitive storage, but also charge due to charges moving across the electrolyte. By the induced charge theorem a charged particle doesn't need to move all the way across from one electrode to another to realize this energy, an ion with a charge of one unit will induce a charge on the anode of 1/10 of a unit as it moves 1/10th of the distance from the cathode to the anode. But these ions move slowly compared to the electrons in a wire, and this shows up as an increased resistance. The shorter the pulse and the higher current drawn the more the internal resistance of the cell will show itself.

3. High frequencies for batteries are above 1kHz. In this regime impedance is a better term than resistance because capacitance and inductance come to play. Many types of batteries are spiral wound, which introduces more inductance than flat plates would, and of course all batteries are capacitors, having parallel plates separated by a distance. If the current is drawn from the battery in a series of short pulses at high frequency strange things can happen. For example you can get crazy oscillations in a feedback situation such as a switching power supply. (or a radio Rx?). In these kind of applications a capacitor across the battery lets the battery move into a lower frequency regime. "

My thoughts: So maybe the ESCs are inducing crazy oscillations in the RX circuitry in some of our boats. Better ESCs have the capacitors built into them, sticking out one end. I think the one on the Novak GTX in my Vendetta is 5900uf rated for 10 volts and it's about the size of the last bit of my little finger. Electrolytic caps get bigger at the higher voltage ratings, so the 35v ones at Radio Shack are going to be too big and we'll have to go online for these. My stock MR is ok with the radio glitching issue , but some of you might want to try this out. I'd be inclined to go with a 16v -rated cap rather than a 10v.

The other thought that comes to mind is that with the capacitor connected in parallel to the battery pack, the battery pack might have less of a tendency to overheat. The capacitor is going to smooth out the square waves of the pulsed DC that results from the FETs in the ESC switching off & on at the high frequency.

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Thanks, that was very interesting indeed[sm=49_49.gif]

Ron720

Well folks,
I have had my Mini Rio now for just under a month. I kept my boat stock I do not want to throw money into a $100 boat. I have about 15 or so runs out on the pond with it..
I posted here about some issues I was having with my boat a couple of weeks ago.
I'm very unhappy with this boat and stock setup. I have tried different battery packs moved the radio antenna etc. It's very difficult to get this boat on plane and move out. I waste a good half of my battery charge trying to get the boat to go. Also after about 5 runs my boat now leaks. It fills with water almost up to the battery pack. The leak is coming form the rubber boot on the steering arm. Also at best no matter what I try the radio glitches and my max range is about 30 ft... This is really sad for a 100 dollar boat. I think some of the boats at the big department stores that you can buy for half the price are just as good or maybe better than this one.

Also I want to say that I have called Hobbico/Aquacraft and talked to them about my issues with this boat. They were very unsupportive and told me that my 30 to 50 ft of radio range is normal. Also I was told to cycle the battery and the boat will get faster. Others here on the form also told me this. The Aquacaft tech support made be feel like a fool and was trying to get me off the phone. He just acted like everything that was going wrong with my boat was normal. In regards to the battery pack I moved it as far forward as I can. And it did help but this is still very poor the boat has a hard time getting going. It seems to work a little bit better with a 2 cell lipo pack.

So for the 100 dollars and the tech support you get from Aquacraft/ Hobbico this boat is not worth 100 dollars. The radio is POS the boat is falling apart after about 10 runs the boat seems to be a POS to. I'm really surprised Aquacraft would let something like this out on the market for this price. My other boating friends are just shocked when they see the issues I have with this boat. Now if you are going to mod this boat up it may run really good. But stock it just down right sucks.
It’s pretty bad when you have to spend another $100 into the boat just to make it run.. And I will not do that I don't want to have a Mino Rio that has cost me $200 or more there are better boats out there for that kind of money.

Over all I will say what a let down.. The boat the radio system and Aquacraft tech support has all been a let down. I feel like I have thrown my hundred dollars away.

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

Well my VR3 motor came in today. I started the process, hopefully finish it up tomorrow night/saturday morning.

Im upgrading the wires on the ESC power and motor to 14 Ga. I took the stock wires off the old motor and put them on the new.

My MR seems to be taking on water lately. I think its coming up past the prop shaft since its just steel on brass. Ive been using white lithium grease as the incompetent LHS cant get my Aquacraft grease in I ordered...

I have the .047 piano wire installed and no liner, so I know that doesnt help. I think Im going to put a dot of silicone over the top of the flex tube and then poke the .047 wire thru it to gain a water tight seal.

damfurst

Sorry to hear about your problems ron. I've had my MR since June and probably have about as many runs on mine as yours. I did have some leaks at first on mine but were coming in around the cooling tubing. Those were easy to seal up with silicon. My range on my radio is about 50 -75 feet so that's prretty similar to yours. Mine would get up on plane but not as fast as my mini v. I did buy a prop for a sw26rs and put it on my MR. It is a little larger than the stock one, but it will stay on the shaft. It comes up on plane almost immediatly, is faster , and my battery lasts longer. Everything else was still stock. I also greased the drive cable with gorilla snawt(synthetic grease). Overall I really like how this boat handles over the mini v, but there are some things that I like about the mini v better as well.

Hey Bass, was just wondering if you were putting a flat on the shaft of that vr3 motor? I know the stock motor doesn't have one but just wanted to know if it would be smart to do that when changing to a faster motor. I have had the coupling come loose on my stock motor once.

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

Ya Im sure I will grind one on quick... No reason not to.

Ron720

damfurst,

Thanks for the info I will look into the leaks from around the cooling tubing. Maybe thats where all the water is coming from with mine.
Also I will order one of those sw26rs props and try that out. I'm not ready to give up on the boat yet but I am close... If I can only get it to get up on plane and run right I would be happy with it.

hollylx88

I just got my mini rio the other day, and its time to upgrade. I was looking at the ammo 28-45-3600 to run off the great planes silver series esc, which i assume would need to be waterpoofed. I'm running an airtonics MX-A for my supervee and eventually want to use that radio for everything else, so i was planning on getting a micro recievier (if it'll work) to run mini rio. I was wondering about the wire drive and prop also, as in what i should upgrade to. I will probably be running 6 cell nimh for a little while, but will soon enough be running a 2s and 3s lipo in it. Any tips, suggestions, and/or setup changes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

dadyo39

My Feedback: (2)

Ok was a good day and a bad day. Finaly put the MR back together with the $30.00 mystery 28-40-4000 outrunner and 30a esc. ran it with the stock MR battery pack . got all the bugs out . ran the pack dead on retrive my 22yr old daughter went to get it and proceed to pull the antenna plug out and flood the inside. as being the first time out I did not seal the esc . Guess what happened. yep up in smoke

Check it out
[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zyDSKuZ18Q[/link]

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

It wasn't because you didn't water proof the esc, or because your son retrieved it. It happened because you didn't water proof the boat. Number 1 easy thing to do is tape the hatch shut. It sucks when someone says, I told you so, but if you read this thread in it's entirety you would have done it.

I am sorry for your loss, but in this hobby, it is live and learn.

dadyo39

My Feedback: (2)

The water came in tru the antenna hole the whole peice pulled out the hatchs were still sealed . also could have came up tru the stuffing tube it took some time to get it in. hey have to blame someone dads are always right also makes it easier to tell the wife I need a new one lol

Mark

Basstronics

My Feedback: (2)

Well the modified MR hit the water today.

Duratrax VR3 motor, .047 Piano Wire Drive, upgraded power wires, ultra deans connectors, only one rudder.

Im pretty impressed with this boat now.

If your like me and dont want to pay $100 for this hull and toss the electronics, upgrade like I did. Its pretty darned fast now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAvJjr9HHqQ

scardina

My Feedback: (3)

my god ammo sucks at manufacturing motors in any timely fashion...ordered one over 2-1/2 months ago and STILL nothing. i said screw it and invested in a .46 outrigger and a .21 outboard tunnel (both nitro in case you're not familiar w/them) and am just using the mini rio as a rescue boat. guy at the local boat pond has a rio 51 and my mini rio just tickles him pink every time he sees it, lol!