RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (Full Version)

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kchobbies -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/10/2012 10:10 PM)

totally understood and very welcome for the info i know we get a lot of spare parts at times laying around so if ever need anything and on super tight budget be glad to work with you but totally understand the wife and baby part lol my life revolves the same way but get to justify business wise lol 
quote:

ORIGINAL: kashjeff

Thanks again for all the info from everybody. Looks like it's not difficult to keep a post alive here.
I've been watching this post and continuously reading through the forum. Learned A LOT so far.
Unfortunatly My truck has been and is still down since my first post. Payday is tomorow. I'll be ordering a 10kgs metal gear servo, extra spur and pinion gears, and battery. Also looking into alumnm steering linkage and knuckles. Some of the stuff i read about batteries was i bit over my head and now is not a good time for me to be spending $100+ on a lipo and charger upgrade (3 month old daughter and DISGRUNTLED WIFE). Dealer  who sold me the truck sells a 7.2v 5000mah battery with the stock plug so I'm gonna keep it simple for now. I don't wanna complicate things and cause myself more problems.
There's a nice pile of gravel and dirt in the parking lot next to my house. truck goes airborn and lands in a soft patch of tall grass. I can hardly wait to get back to it.
This forum has been a goldmine so far. You'll be hearing from me as soon as I break this thing again.

More (endless) questions to follow.
Thanks
Jeff





Dads like rc too -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/10/2012 10:50 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: kashjeff

Thanks again for all the info from everybody. Looks like it's not difficult to keep a post alive here.
I've been watching this post and continuously reading through the forum. Learned A LOT so far.
Unfortunatly My truck has been and is still down since my first post. Payday is tomorow. I'll be ordering a 10kgs metal gear servo, extra spur and pinion gears, and battery. Also looking into alumnm steering linkage and knuckles. Some of the stuff i read about batteries was i bit over my head and now is not a good time for me to be spending $100+ on a lipo and charger upgrade (3 month old daughter and DISGRUNTLED WIFE). Dealer  who sold me the truck sells a 7.2v 5000mah battery with the stock plug so I'm gonna keep it simple for now. I don't wanna complicate things and cause myself more problems.
There's a nice pile of gravel and dirt in the parking lot next to my house. truck goes airborn and lands in a soft patch of tall grass. I can hardly wait to get back to it.
This forum has been a goldmine so far. You'll be hearing from me as soon as I break this thing again.

More (endless) questions to follow.
Thanks
Jeff

I'm kind of like you.  I'm a dad, and on a budget so sometimes this hobby can get overwhelming.  I will say that we all know Lipo is the way to go but I still run Nihm batteries.  My son and daughter just don't need the output of a Lipo right now.  If you pick up another battery for your Caldera, consider a 8.4v Nihm pack.  You won't believe the power difference.  You can just drop it right in, you don't need to reprogram your ESC or anything like that.  I picked up a few from RC planet, they were around $30 a piece for a racers edge 3000 mah pack.  It'll give you about 18 min run time on it.  Whats nice is you don't need a fancy charger for these either, almost anything will do.  Before I bought a 4 bay charger I used to just use a Traxxas charger and charge 3 batteries at night when we were done playing.



xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/11/2012 4:56 AM)

Could anyone measure the battery compartment so I can know what size lipos to buy?

Seems like it would be important info for redcat to publsh,.



PetRock -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/11/2012 12:22 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx
Could anyone measure the battery compartment so I can know what size lipos to buy?


Mine is 136mm long, 27mm wide, and about 45mm deep. For the "deep" measurement (up/down) that's with the battery holddowns in their smallest/tightest position. You can get another 5mm (or maybe a couple more) out of them by mounting them in their in their second higher position. For higher-capacity drives the width is probably going to be the problem, you can't fit some of the more popular thick models in the Caldera when you mount the battery sideways like that.

I just took a quick look, and it sounds like one of these from HobbyKing would be a perfect fit! (but that's the international warehouse: probably 1-2 weeks for shipping)

Let us know what you bought and how it fit!

   








xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/11/2012 4:07 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: PetRock

quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx
Could anyone measure the battery compartment so I can know what size lipos to buy?


Mine is 136mm long, 27mm wide, and about 45mm deep. For the ''deep'' measurement (up/down) that's with the battery holddowns in their smallest/tightest position. You can get another 5mm (or maybe a couple more) out of them by mounting them in their in their second higher position. For higher-capacity drives the width is probably going to be the problem, you can't fit some of the more popular thick models in the Caldera when you mount the battery sideways like that.

I just took a quick look, and it sounds like one of these from HobbyKing would be a perfect fit! (but that's the international warehouse: probably 1-2 weeks for shipping)

Let us know what you bought and how it fit!

   







Thanks will report back once I get one.. urc went on back order while I was making up my mind,

I decided on 2s but curious about top speed because there aren't many videos out there.

How fast is it with 2s? I know my mini revo is pretty slow with 2s( just under 30mph) and Im looking for closer to 40-45.



PetRock -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/11/2012 5:05 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx
Thanks will report back once I get one.. urc went on back order while I was making up my mind,


Oops - I just noticed that my HobbyKing link was broken and pointed back to this thread - fixed now.

quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx
I decided on 2s but curious about top speed because there aren't many videos out there.
How fast is it with 2s? I know my mini revo is pretty slow with 2s( just under 30mph) and Im looking for closer to 40-45.


I have the SC version - the MT might be a bit faster (larger tires, same gearing?) but I honestly don't know the number. Even when I'm bashing I'm not really going straight for more than 2-3 seconds, so I rarely even use full throttle. I could probably tape my GPS to the truck and run it in a parking lot to get a number, but I'm more worried about trashing the GPS than knowing the speed :)




jaihenwood -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/11/2012 10:44 PM)

my main gear and my pinon gear got all messed up so i was going to buy this as a replacement ( The stock pinion gear is really soft and only 13T )

Traxxas Pinion Gear 15T 32P
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O5L36/ref=oh_o04_s00_i00_details

Traxxas Pinion Gear 17T 32P
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O5L4K/ref=oh_o04_s00_i01_details

17T should give me about 30% more top speed

How do i re wire my heat sink fan so i can run 3s batteries? 

I've heard people re mounting their ESC higher to get more air flow has anyone done this? pics? 





PetRock -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/11/2012 10:55 PM)

The motor mount won't let you move the motor far enough away from the spur gear to fit a 17t pinion. I barely fit a 16t in there and if my spur gear isn't perfectly straight the mesh is a bit too tight (but I'm running it like that until a 15t arrives).






PetRock -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/11/2012 10:59 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: jaihenwood
How do i re wire my heat sink fan so i can run 3s batteries? 


You don't have to do anything to the fan to run 3s: it will just spin faster/louder. To make it quieter and perhaps extend the life of the fan people do this.










xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/12/2012 3:08 PM)

I ended up with 2 2s sky lipo 4400 batteries because I wanted a light kit from hobbypartz and they were only $18 and I have a couple sky lipos that I am very happy with. I've had good luck with soft packs that I run harder than I will in this truck.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/77p-sl4400-2s1p-20c-2222.html

This one looked good and comes from the us warehouse.. I just can't stand the lack of customer support from hobby king so I avoid them if I can.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/%5F%5F14976%5F%5FTurnigy%5F5000mAh%5F2S1P%5F20C%5Fhardcase%5Fpack%5FUSA%5FWarehouse%5F.html

Caldera is in its way from URC with. Few spare parts

I plan on recording it on 2s and one of my smaller 3s batts for some speed run videos.. I scoured the internet for a Caldera on 3s and found nothing so maybe I'll help with a batt comparison from nimh to 2s to 3s.



kashjeff -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/18/2012 1:00 PM)

Ok Guys I'm back with more questions.....Need more Advice.
Batteries.
I've been looking all over the web and found 2s lipo packs everywhere. Some are outrageously expensive, others, not so bad.  I am quite comfortable dropping 45 to 65 dollars on a 5000 or 5800mah lipo pack.
Chargers.
Whole new ball game. I've surfed for hours on ebay and amazon and every hobby site on google's database and found some CRAZY PRICES.... $65 ~ 100+, $169 just for a charger!!??!!?!? WOW. Still in shock. Why does the charger cost as much or more than the battery? I do not need a charger with all the bells and whistles.  I'm still very new to this. I've found chargers on ebay for less than $50 but none have the stock 4mm banana plug. I want to plug my battery into the charger and then into the car. simple. Website that i purchased the truck from has lipos with the stock plug but no chargers. (jnjhobbies.net) I've found a couple chargers with what looked like alligator clips, is this a good way to charge or a fire waiting to happen? (remember I have a 4 month old baby so fire hazzards are a no no.)
Questions.
Do I have no choice but to change the connections on the car and current batteries to accommodate a lipo/charger?
What brand chargers do you guys use, how much did you pay and where did you get it?
Does anyone know of a good battery and charger combo? At some point I'd like to go up to 8.4v if possible.
Please feel free to list any advice/opinions/knowledge/experience.

Thanks again for any responses and the patience to help an amateur.
Jeff
Wooster, Ohio

 



xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/18/2012 5:14 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: kashjeff

Ok Guys I'm back with more questions.....Need more Advice.
Batteries.
I've been looking all over the web and found 2s lipo packs everywhere. Some are outrageously expensive, others, not so bad.  I am quite comfortable dropping 45 to 65 dollars on a 5000 or 5800mah lipo pack.
Chargers.
Whole new ball game. I've surfed for hours on ebay and amazon and every hobby site on google's database and found some CRAZY PRICES.... $65 ~ 100+, $169 just for a charger!!??!!?!? WOW. Still in shock. Why does the charger cost as much or more than the battery? I do not need a charger with all the bells and whistles.  I'm still very new to this. I've found chargers on ebay for less than $50 but none have the stock 4mm banana plug. I want to plug my battery into the charger and then into the car. simple. Website that i purchased the truck from has lipos with the stock plug but no chargers. (jnjhobbies.net) I've found a couple chargers with what looked like alligator clips, is this a good way to charge or a fire waiting to happen? (remember I have a 4 month old baby so fire hazzards are a no no.)
Questions.
Do I have no choice but to change the connections on the car and current batteries to accommodate a lipo/charger?
What brand chargers do you guys use, how much did you pay and where did you get it?
Does anyone know of a good battery and charger combo? At some point I'd like to go up to 8.4v if possible.
Please feel free to list any advice/opinions/knowledge/experience.

Thanks again for any responses and the patience to help an amateur.
Jeff
Wooster, Ohio

 


Batteries... I use batteries from either hobby parts or hobbyking .. you can get a 2s 4400mah battery for around 25.

Charger... had great luck with my fake b6 charger from amazon for $25-30. I use traxxas connectors with alligator clips to charge
(i solder them to all my cars).
I don't really understand the question about changing connectors on the car.




kashjeff -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/18/2012 9:16 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx


Charger... had great luck with my fake b6 charger from amazon for $25-30. I use traxxas connectors with alligator clips to charge
(i solder them to all my cars).
I don't really understand the question about changing connectors on the car.


What I'm saying is that redcat racing uses 4mm banana plug from battery to esc.
I can find 2s lipos with the stock plug. same as the two nimh I already have. Can't find a charger with the right plug. Thinking about possibly changing all connections to common ones like deans or traxxas.




kchobbies -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/18/2012 9:19 PM)



gonna have to convert to deans.... :/ beacue all the chargers are not gonna have the banana plugs they consider them chinese connectors in industry and fyi 10 bucks shipping to wooster their kash
quote:

ORIGINAL: kashjeff


quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx


Charger... had great luck with my fake b6 charger from amazon for $25-30. I use traxxas connectors with alligator clips to charge
(i solder them to all my cars).
I don't really understand the question about changing connectors on the car.


What I'm saying is that redcat racing uses 4mm banana plug from battery to esc.
I can find 2s lipos with the stock plug. same as the two nimh I already have. Can't find a charger with the right plug. Thinking about possibly changing all connections to common ones like deans or traxxas.






xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/18/2012 9:58 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: kashjeff


quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx


Charger... had great luck with my fake b6 charger from amazon for $25-30. I use traxxas connectors with alligator clips to charge
(i solder them to all my cars).
I don't really understand the question about changing connectors on the car.


What I'm saying is that redcat racing uses 4mm banana plug from battery to esc.
I can find 2s lipos with the stock plug. same as the two nimh I already have. Can't find a charger with the right plug. Thinking about possibly changing all connections to common ones like deans or traxxas.



You can use alligator connectors that come with all chargers to charge bananna style but like you said unless you put bananna plugs on your batteries it won't matter. I would convert to deans s traxxxas connectors are more expensive and not needed.

I'd buy sky or turnigy lipos, not spend more than 40-50 on a charger and call it a day..also invest in a soldering iron and learn to use it(a must have in this hobby)



Dads like rc too -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/18/2012 11:26 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: kashjeff


quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx


Charger... had great luck with my fake b6 charger from amazon for $25-30. I use traxxas connectors with alligator clips to charge
(i solder them to all my cars).
I don't really understand the question about changing connectors on the car.


What I'm saying is that redcat racing uses 4mm banana plug from battery to esc.
I can find 2s lipos with the stock plug. same as the two nimh I already have. Can't find a charger with the right plug. Thinking about possibly changing all connections to common ones like deans or traxxas.


 What I would do is cut the Redcat connector off the stock battery.  Solder a Traxxas connector to it,  Now plug that into the Redcat ESC.  Buy spare Traxxas connectors for your batteries and solder them on.  Now if you fry an ESC, they won't deny it because you altered the factory wiring. 

Also, I know I'm gonna get jumped for saying this but if you want to keep it cheap just stick with a nihm battery.  I run 8.4v nihms in my son's Caldera and it fly's with the extra cell.  You won't need a balancing charger or balancing plugs or any of that other crap.  I know Lipo is the battery of choice, and I realize they are better for the highest speeds, but you can pick up a racers edge 8.4v nihm 3300 mah for around $32 and use any old charger you want.  There will also be a very noticible difference in speed, and you won't have to reprogram anything on your ESC, just plug and play.




PetRock -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/19/2012 3:48 AM)

For $5 you can have a 10-pack (5 pairs) of Deans-compatible connectors mailed to you from Ebay (or just go order a 20-pack/10-pair set since they're cheap and you'll eventually use them). For batteries buy one or two of these: they're high-capacity and have a C-rating that matches the motor+ESC in your Caldera. For a charger, like others said: any B6'ish charger is fine, but if it's your first quick-charger make sure to get one that runs on AC power as well (many require an external DC power supply: which you only really need for very high charge rates). Something like this this this or this.



xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/19/2012 4:12 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dads like rc too


quote:

ORIGINAL: kashjeff


quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx


Charger... had great luck with my fake b6 charger from amazon for $25-30. I use traxxas connectors with alligator clips to charge
(i solder them to all my cars).
I don't really understand the question about changing connectors on the car.


What I'm saying is that redcat racing uses 4mm banana plug from battery to esc.
I can find 2s lipos with the stock plug. same as the two nimh I already have. Can't find a charger with the right plug. Thinking about possibly changing all connections to common ones like deans or traxxas.


 What I would do is cut the Redcat connector off the stock battery.  Solder a Traxxas connector to it,  Now plug that into the Redcat ESC.  Buy spare Traxxas connectors for your batteries and solder them on.  Now if you fry an ESC, they won't deny it because you altered the factory wiring. 
Also, I know I'm gonna get jumped for saying this but if you want to keep it cheap just stick with a nihm battery.  I run 8.4v nihms in my son's Caldera and it fly's with the extra cell.  You won't need a balancing charger or balancing plugs or any of that other crap.  I know Lipo is the battery of choice, and I realize they are better for the highest speeds, but you can pick up a racers edge 8.4v nihm 3300 mah for around $32 and use any old charger you want.  There will also be a very noticible difference in speed, and you won't have to reprogram anything on your ESC, just plug and play.




I don't think everyone buys lipos for speed.. I get almost twice the runtime from my 2s...extra speed is just a bonus.

Also the warranty seems silly..$40 to replace the esc that costs $29 lol personally I'll cut wires as much ad I feel like.

EDIT I feel I should clarify that while that was a fair shot at redcat I do like their products and am a fan.



kashjeff -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/20/2012 12:53 PM)

Many thanks for all the input from everyone.
I'll be buying a battery and charger here in about another week or so.

Took my truck down to the county fairgrounds yesterday. long stretches of paved paths and kicked up some serious dust on the horse track. Strapped the gps to the back and it tops at 28mph with the 7.2 5000mah battery. I was pretty happy with it. Anyone wanna share your top speeds and setups/batteries? I'm still trying to sponge info and it's convenient to hear from people with the same model as mine. 

Thanks
Jeff



xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/20/2012 4:04 PM)

not sure on top speed with 2s but 35 seems close. The biggest thing you can do is program the esc punch control from 3 to 7(factory default).. makes it come alive.

The diffs ship open/empty which makes handling/crawling painful..I'm going to put 40k in mine and see how that does.

I tried 3s for a few min and it books pretty fast but seems quite slower than my mini revo on 3s but it may have been the golf course grass causing a loss of traction.

Servo went out Ike I expected but it went out in about 4 min(didn't expect that) after some investigation it turns out some of the CA glue I used as loctite worked into the servo saver..




Dads like rc too -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/20/2012 10:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx

I don't think everyone buys lipos for speed.. I get almost twice the runtime from my 2s...extra speed is just a bonus.

Also the warranty seems silly..$40 to replace the esc that costs $29 lol personally I'll cut wires as much ad I feel like.

EDIT I feel I should clarify that while that was a fair shot at redcat I do like their products and am a fan.
 Well I was just trying to give the other side of the battery story.  Some people just aren't ready to dive into Lipo's be it they don't want to deal with the fire hazzard of the batteries themselves or they might just be a bit intimidated by the balancing and just over all understanding of the Lipo technology itself.  I agree that Lipo in itself is the best way to get the most from your electric RC's.  Personaly I still use nihm batteries on my kids trucks because really my daughter who is 7 can barely handle her Volcano with the 7.2v nihm in it.  My son is 9 and I run a 8.4v nihm in his Caldera 10e and believe me, thats as fast as it needs to go.  As far as run time his 8.4v 3300 mah goes for 18 min.

The other issue is it seems like only the guys running Lipo's have problems with their ESC'c cooking.  I've had 1 bad ESC out of the box which of course Redcat warrantied but other than that I've never had those kind of issues with the nihm batteries.  Just seems like when you push the envelope with these high output batteries is when you start spending a lot more money.




xxturbowesxx -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/21/2012 4:49 AM)

I bought 2 2s batts and a little disappointed with the top speed.. has anyone tried changing the pinion?




Bluetheron -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/21/2012 4:07 PM)

Has anyone tried the Proline Dirt Hawg series or tires yet? They look promising and i have a pair on the way for my RC10 that I sometimes take to the track but mostly bash around the house.



PetRock -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/21/2012 5:19 PM)

Dirt Hawgs on an RC10 = sexy! This was my RC10 Graphite:



But back on-topic: no I haven't tried them on my Caldera. They should work well enough: with 4wd almost any tire will do, but I like something a little spikier for bashing. I had Pro-Line Badlands on my old Stampede, so I think I'll try them again. I have tried the Pro-Line Street Fighter SC tires, and was not super impressed: yeah they save you from wearing down your dirt tires when you're on the street... but they slid around a bit more than I was expecting.



PetRock -> RE: *Official* Caldera 10E Video, Picture And Discussion Thread (4/21/2012 5:23 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: xxturbowesxx
I bought 2 2s batts and a little disappointed with the top speed.. has anyone tried changing the pinion?


Up to a 15t pinion will fit easily (stock is 13), and if your spur gear is straight maybe a 16t. (my spur had a bit of a wobble to it, that made it feel like the 16t was a bit too tight, but I could drive on it). For speed slap in a 3s battery and call it a day :)




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