RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Never heard of "Traditional scales".Who made up the guidelines for that??:) Your going from 1/18th to 1/18th, wheres the others?The Losi micros(1/36th to 1/24th for their crawler) are VERY popular, as are 1/5th scales.Why dont those fit into "Traditional scales"? I think its a little mis leading to inform someone that batteries cant go below 2s or 6c,and HAVE to be above that...

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

It's not misleading, it's helpful. Otherwise, someone is likely to buy a 1/10 car (what most people start out with) and think that a 1s battery is sufficient.

There are no commercially available 1/5 electric vehicles, and mini/micro vehicles are different enough that they have their own forum, and should have their own beginner's guide. Which, as it turns out, [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4353446/tm.htm]they do[/link]. No guide can be all things to all people. There is just too much information, and if it were all put into one place, it would be too confusing. Instead, this is intended to be most things to most people who are just starting out in electric RC.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Ok than.I just think people deserve to know that batteries arent limited to one size or above...But its not m guide, so i guess i have no right trying to help and make it better.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Thank you for the write up. That answered some of the questions I had

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">Great write up Candre! Could of used this a few months ago...

There seems to be a new class of Desert / Pre Runner Trucks coming out that's a little smaller than the SC trucks - Closer to 1/12th scale and more attention to scale details. I'm referring to the new Duratrax and HPI models..

<a href="http://www.bigsquidrc.com/duratrax-evader-dt-review-desert-truck-goodness/">http://www.bigsquidrc.com/duratrax-e...ruck-goodness/
</a><a href="http://www.bigsquidrc.com/hpi-racing-mini-trophy-truck/">http://www.bigsquidrc.com/hpi-racing-mini-trophy-truck/
</a>
Might be worth mentionning since they do not meet ROAR specifications for SC trucks and would not qualify to race...</div>

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

OK, I wasn't aware HPI had a DT as well. Added a bit about them to the SC section. Also added a note about hardcase packs to the lipo battery section.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Yeah but who goes by ROAR anyway?:)

Just like the sc, after a few pop up, Dt's will have their own class...

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Didn't really consider any of that since I have no interest in organized racing myself. Added a bit to the general info section about checking out your local track before buying if you want to get into racing.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Good thing to add.Ive only been to a track once or twice, and didnt race, it was a practice day.They go by ROAR, but arent real strict on ROAR rules, they let alot slide.And there isnt many people there,(You have to sign up, its a club type thing) so they try to get people in by being lax on the rules.They just let you run whatever you brought, if theres 2 or 3 in the same class theyll race.If not, theyll put you in another class so you can race.

Sorry for the slightly off topicness.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Damn. I can no longer edit the initial post. I wanted to fix the broken images.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Candre...can you link ThunderbirdJunkie to a video of a lithium polymer battery exploding without having somebody intentionally damage it?
Not hard to look at the package, bro.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

More importantly, can you give us an actual explosion and not a small fire?

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

That would require someone to have been recording video of their battery when it just happened to blow. Pretty unlikely.

You don't get to look at the packaging when buying online. Even some hobby shops repackage connectors in individual bags, so it's not that cut and dry. Lots of shops sell "deans" connectors that aren't the original thing. They're deans style, but (potentially) lower quality: http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7690

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

uh, Deans connectors are available in bags of 5 female, bags of 5 male, or bags of one female and one male. Deans sells them like that. A main, Tower, Horizon, etc all sell real Deans connectors.

If they don't come in Deans packaging they are NOT REAL DEANS PLUGS.

Also, LiPo batteries do not EXPLODE. Before you tell people these things, you should back up your facts.

On a lighter note, it is extremely good of you to have taken your time to make this guide. There are a few holes in it, but the effort is what matters.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Are you really going to be so pedantic as to argue the difference between "explosion" and "rapid combustion"? Fine, lipos don't explode. They heat up to a couple hundred degrees fahrenheit, generate hydrogen gas which swells up the sealed cells, burst when the container can no longer contain the pressure, ignite (usually), and burn at high temperature with large jets of flaming gass erupting from one or more sides. There is quite a bit of flame, and it is certainly enough to damage your vehicle, injure you, and ignite anything flammable nearby.

Don't think it happens without intentionally damaging the battery? Here's a list compiled on another forum of almost 200 incidents of lipo outgassing/fire/explosion/whatever you want to call it: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...hreadid=209187

Lipos can be very dangerous. If you handle them properly, the risk is minimal. If you don't, it's only a matter of time before you have some sort of catastrophic failure. If you're lucky, you just lose the battery. If not, you could lose your car, or even [link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1201043]your house[/link]. It is important that these dangers are impressed upon new users so they can make the decision whether or not they are willing to take the necessary precautions to run lipos, or if they should stick with NiMH. If using colorful language such as "explode" helps drive home the point, then so be it.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Ni-MH is worse. Not to mention it's VERY hard to cause a LiPo fire.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

Igniting and exploding is a HUGE difference.

ThunderbirdJunkie saw a brand-new RC10T3 EXPLODE on a guy's pit table.

He saw a B2 explode too.

Never seen a B4/T4 explode.

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

That is a great guide!!!

RE: Electric RC Cars & Trucks - A Guide for Beginners
 

thanks for information