wildbills rc

My Feedback: (1)

I understand all the new traxxas vxl are waterproof but how does water not get in the battery connectors? I mean, where the battery and the ecs plus connect together....Does the traxas connector have a special seal of some sort? Whats if I wanted to change my traxxas vxl to a 4.0 banana from the ecs because all my batteries are banana? Would it still be waterproff? Thanks guys

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

Water still gets into the connectors, motor and other cracks and crevices. The concept isn't foolproof. What they really mean by "waterproof" is that you can get your ESC, receiver and servo wet without them shorting out and dying. Water still causes corrosion so, all the steel components or anything that will oxidize will corrode if you don't thoroughly clean it afterwards. Moisture will still find it's way into the battery pack which I'm sure isn't good.

From personal experience, my brother and I tortured his 1/16 Slash VXL by driving it into puddles deep enough to cover the body. It was more submarine than SC truck. To my amazement, it did drive out under it's own power and keep going. So, Iguess the claim of "waterproof" is true. But, there was a lot of dirt and debris that made it's way into the drive train, suspension, steering bell-cranks, drive shafts and the battery compartments. It was a mess. Just remember that you'll need to do some post-run maintenance, like blowing out your rig with an aircompressor to prevent it from rotting out.

robwiljas

Yeah they're not really waterproof, just water resistant. Water does get into the connectors, but it doesn't short it out. Contrary to popular belief water is not a very good conductor. It's actually the impurities in water that conducts electricity, pure H20 will not.

LaTuFu

My Feedback: (1)

Water getting into the connectors of the battery lead is not the issue that "waterproof" generally refers to when the term is applied to RC vehicles.

The ESC is the weak link in the chain. It is a small computer processor, and like any electronic component, it does not like water. Some ESC cases are more water resistant than others. Others are not water resistant at all.

Water can come in contact with battery leads, wires, motors, etc. all day long and it will not cause any issues. Its whether or not water gets into the ESC that you need to be worried.

You will definitely want to dry the vehicle as much as possible after a wet run.

Ducat1

the esc is "waterproof" because they put a type of silicone on both sides of the "computer" inside the esc so no water can get in, im not saying that water cant get in but it helps it alot. i dont know how the motor is waterproof but it must be. i drounded my rustler vxl and nothing happened to it. if you have a lipo i dont think they get ruined becuase i submerged mine and its still running. if you get the vxl system and a lipo you shouldnt have to worry to much about it. just clean up afterwards like grease the bearings, put a type of wd40 on anything metal to prevent rusting and you should be good to go

wildbills rc

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks guys!

Foxy

This is true, but there isn't much pure water on the ground. If you live in an area where they salt the roads once a year in winter (for example) or the puddle has been stagnant for many weeks, you will have quite conductive water, due as you correctly pointed out, to the impurities in the water. Sodium (salt) is a very effective conducter, even suspended in water at low concentrations.

Having said all that, the reason water doesn't short connectors is because it does. It depends on the water once again, but if the water is very conductive, it still won't cause you a problem at the plug. This is because the very second the circuit is shorted by the water, electricity arcs through the water and vaporises it instantly due to the heat. The damage that water does to your ESC, etc, is caused by water allowing current to flow along an arbitrary path and hit something it shouldn't. This is what the internal ESC coatings mentioned are for.

DaveG55

Wasn't there a method of breaking-in brushed motors that actually had them running in a glass of water?

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

What I was getting at regarding the battery packs becoming an issue wasn't so much that they could short but, rather that any moisture that gets into it can cause corrosion which at some point will cause a problem and potentially render the pack useless. Splashes from damp grass for example I think would be ok but, fully submerging a battery in dirty puddle water I believe is not a good idea because of corrosion concerns.

SyCo_VeNoM

pretty much 2 years ago one of my packs I used my RC hit a pothole that I thought was solid frozen ice, and completely submerged. few weeks later the pack stopped holding a charge opened it up half the cells were corroded, and the tabs were corroded off even.