wildrupp

Today i bought the new brushless evader 1/10 scale truck. Love the thing, just wondering a few things.

1) i want to get a good baterry/ charger. The LHS gave me a free battery and its the onyx 1500 from duratrax. Its cool but doesnt last long. Im looking for something with some battery life but not gunna break the bank and i need a good charger to go with it. What would yall recomend? LiPo is what i am leaning towards.

2) What should some upgrades be to it?

3) Anything i need to know with electric cars? I had a couple of nitro trucks back a few years ago, but sold those and started electric.

I have some experience and want to get this thing going fast.

Links are always nice, and thanks guys

dragnse7en

Going with lipos can be expensive, and if you don't have the right charger, things can get expensive quick.

You will need an esc that is lipo-friendly for starters. Browse around for escs that can handle the type of lipo battery that you want.

Second, you'll need a charger that can balance and properly charge the battery.

In the end, buying those 3 things could possibly be more expensive than your entire Evader kit.

I could post links, but I'll leave that up to others to do that; it's all a matter of preference for brand names.

One thing important though - I would recommend not buying a hobbywing esc. They are super cheap, but seem to be unreliable from what I have read over and over again here.

Good luck!

wildrupp

Alright, now how do i test the compatability?

dragnse7en

I'm not familiar at all with your kit. Take a look at the instructions that came with your esc, and check to see if it can handle a lipo battery.

Chances are, if your kit came with a brushless motor, then it should be lipo ready - but check the manual to be sure. Also, you may need to program the esc for lipo use; again, programming it should be in the manual.

Lipos get permanently damaged if their voltage drops below 3 volts per cell. Make sure that your esc is set for lipo use, and then it will use a low voltage detector to shut the car down, so that the battery won't be damaged.

I use a Triton Eq charger from Electrifly. It charges everything from real-size 12 volt car batteries to old skool NiCDs

if your esc can't handle a lipo pack, try browsing Tower Hobbies' web site for brushless escs. They have good, understandable tech notes near the bottom of the pages of their items, under the description and specs. The notes almost always let you know what you can use for battery packs.

Hope this helps!

wildrupp

Thanks man, all that helped me out and the battery i found is compatible with the esc and it is already ready for a lipo.

Thanks for the help.

Haddi Taha

checkout hobbyking, they have really good lipos. I don't know about the hobbyking chargers, I haven't tried them. But the Thunder Power AC6 from Hobbyparts is pretty good. Both won't break the bank.

thehuntingterminator

i would recommend the Thunder AC6 from hobbypartz.com as a charger and Gen's Ace 2s 5000mah 40c lipos. the charger is like $45 and the lipo is around $30. this setup should let you wheely on command and give you around 40 minutes of runtime depending on gearing. good luck, and have fun.

dms888

My Feedback: (2)

+1 on the thunder ac6 charger and gens ace lipo's from hobbypartz.com

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

OK, ThunderbirdJunkie is probably going to piss you off with this post, but he doesn't intend any offense.

First, HobbyKing has cheap LiPos, and good prices on decent LiPos. They don't have really good LiPos. ITBJHO the only really good LiPos are ThunderPower and Orion. Anything else, including the higher priced name brands, might as well come with their hardcases packed with poop, but outside of TP and Orion, HK is one of the only companies that make a LiPo battery that is worth the money for which they sell it, and they have really good batteries if you're on a budget.

Second, there is now ThunderPower AC6...there's a Thunder AC6, but Thunder AC6 and ThunderPower TP610AC are two totally, wholly different battery chargers. ThunderbirdJunkie had a Turnigy Accucel 6 and a Thunder AC6 that both crapped the bed within 6 months of owning them. ITBJHO, that was $75 (total, between the two) that was WASTED that could have been better spent on a Hyperion (the company that has the best chargers, ITBJHO), Dynamite Passport Ultra, or ThunderPower TP610AC charger. The Dynamite would have only been an additional $55 over the Accucel6 and AC6 that ThunderbirdJunkie purchased and had lost bowel control all over themselves, and it would have cost him $65 less if he would have just bought a Passport Ultra in the first place (he wound up with a Hyperion charger that was about $120).

Furthermore, the 5000mah/40C GensAce LiPos and 5000mah/30C Turnigy LiPos ThunderbirdJunkie ran all got killed in a run or two each in his SC10 4x4, however, mysteriously, his Venom 5000/30C survived, as did his 25c/6000mah Orions.

Just some food for thought, guys. Sure it's tough to stomach $130 for a charger or $90-130 for a battery (ThunderbirdJunkie was there back in the mid 90s with his Tekin BC112C charger and 100 bucks for a 2400mah matched 6 cell pack) but you truly do get what you pay for.

TheKennyKiller

I like MaxAmps

dragnse7en

Hobbypartz dot com does have insanely low prices, and I've only read the complaints about the hobbywing escs. I never bothered buying any lipos there, because I don't get anything lower than 40C, and they're always sold out. I didn't know that some of their lipos were unstable as you described TBJ - thx

BTW - what does ITBJHO stand for TBJ?

Link119

My Feedback: (1)

Get an i charger, from what ive heard, its solid and in the end when you are parallel charging it pays off. Right now i have a supermate dc6, its around $25 and you need to get a 11-18v 5a(above 5a is fine)  dc power supply. A 12v lead-acid battery would work as long as you have a charger for it other than your lawnmower or car. The charger does the job for someone on a strict budget, but in the end a better one pays off as i said before.

Foxy

I've got 12 hobbyking batteries, every one of them absolutely outstanding, many of them taking more charge than their rating. All have taken a 2c charge without a hiccup, all have sat charged and discharged for as much as three weeks without puffing. I have nothing but praise for HK batteries. Probably orth mentioning, I've only tried the Zippy Flightmax ones.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Pretty obvious that their QC isn't all that great if they're letting packs out the door that take more than their rated capacity.

Just sayin'.

rclugnut10

My Feedback: (1)

gotta love when people post answers that don't actually answer the question then get into a flame war...

lipo's EVERY single one can go boom, hobbyking/hobbypartz are cheap and generally are pretty decent and are the best bang for your buck, not the best thing under the sun... lets move on people not that difficult...

as far as lipo's and the ESC, it IS lipo ready out of the box, it's a rebagged castle sidewinder unit, i've had a lot of good luck with these esc's and can't fault them... as far as batteries... big names are... orion, assocaited, trinity, protek, maxamps, thunder power, SPC racing all of these are good quality packs that run you $50-$80 per generally for a 2s 5000mha 25ishC battery...

now hobbypartz.com and hobbyking.com of the two i prefere hobbyparts shipping takes like a week vs 3 weeks... a similar lipo from them... will be about $20-25

as far as chargers you're not going to find much outside of hobbypartz/hobbyking thats under $100 to properly charge your batts effectively, lots of people have luck with the cheaper untils mentioned above from these places i have an AC6 and it's nice a little confusing at times but a good charger, i also have a great planes electrifly triton eq retails for about 2x the $ does the same stuff, a bit more user friendly but no huge differance and i can't fault either one....

the lug

Foxy

You should have seen the mugen truggy on two 40C flightmax 3s packs. It was jaw dropping. Batteries barely got warm. I've got 6 of those batts and they all perform identically. That's what counts, bottom line. As long as the C is there or thereabouts, I don't care if the cap is slightly higher or lower. I'm just sayin'. No other battery could have performed better in terms of power delivery, the motor was getting exactly what it asked for, therefore any further money spent on 'higher quality' (whatever that means, can someone quantify that for me?) batteries is wasted.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

The flip side of that is, when ThunderbirdJunkie built his SC10 (his first brushless electric car ever), it was brutally fast and awesome on a 6 cell GP 3300 NiMh pack. Had ThunderbirdJunkie just said "Ha, no need for LiPos, it's plenty awesome on some 7 year old NiMh batteries", people would have said "You're an idiot, what's wrong with you?" while ThunderbirdJunkie would think they were wrong, because he hadn't used LiPos.

If you haven't used more expensive batteries in the same exact car as you're talking about, please refrain from telling people that more expensive batteries do not perform better. That is exactly like the above situation.

A 30C 5000mah Venom provides a lot more power than a Turnigy or Gens Ace 40C 5000 in ThunderbirdJunkie's race truck, and is significantly lighter, and a ThunderPower 3400/40C performs SIGNIFICANTLY better than the same Turnigy or Gens Ace packs. Let's not even get into how much more rip Orion Carbons or ThunderPower's newish 65C batteries provide over the same Turnigy or GensAce batteries.

Mind you, in these situations, ThunderbirdJunkie is specifically discussing how much better they work in a 14x2-powered brushed FT B4.1 and a Trinity 10.5 XXX-SCT because that is where his experience lies. A higher power higher draw system like what's in a Flux HP or your truggy would see even larger gains with better batteries.

ThunderbirdJunkie isn't saying that the Turnigy, Gens Ace, Zippy, etc batteries can't provide decent performance and value, he's saying that to say there isn't better out there is just inane, just like back when he himself thought non-matched NiMh packs offered the same performance as a matched pack.

dragnse7en

How passionate!

Please - pump the brakes - it's a HOBBY that grown-ups like myself enjoy, playing with high end toy cars.

I know that it's common sense to all of us to shop for good lipos. We all do our homework, ask around, and then make a decision based off of that. In the end, it's a matter of preference between affordabilty and quality.

I read a lot here about people bashing Venom; yet I have two hardcases from them that are flawless. One's a 40C and the other's a 45C, both are at least 5000mAh. Although the 40C is two years old, it holds well over 90% of its intended capacity. Venom happens to be my personal preference, again, a compromise between how good I think it is, and what I think is a fair enough price to pay for them.

Happy new year everyone

xerxes

xerxes has had a grand total of 8 gens ace batts go bad. all less den 4mo old. 2s & 4s only.

oddly enuff, my venom 4000 20c hrdcase has provn 2 b damost durable reliable batt evr.

xerxes also luvs venom 5000 30c batts. but da 5000 40c batts dont cut da musterd. ovr rated, capacity wise, & way ovr priced.

collector1231

My Feedback: (1)

get some decent 2s LiPos rated at 5000 MaH.

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

The Evader Brushless is LiPo-ready right outta the box!! How TBJ killed his inexpensive LiPos in two runs is inconceivable. Probably charging at too high a rate. (LiPos should never be charged at higher than a 1C rate. A 4000mAh Lipo will charge safely at 4 amps, a 5000mAh at 5 Amps.)

I've got four Gens Ace 4000mAh 30C LiPos Igot from HobbyPartz for $20ea, and I've run the crap out of them (Irun at least two every day) for six months and have never had a problem. Ialso got a Dynam charger from HobbyPartz for about $80 Ithink. My buddy got the Thunder AC6 charger and Iprefer that one (no fan). Mine has a fan that is kinda noisey. But it works just fine! Now if you're politically motivated not to buy stuff from China, then by all means, go ahead and buy LiPos that cost twice as much for a "name brand". HobbyPartz has a decent reputation, stuff gets here quick, returns are easy and customer service is good. But here's the caveat: when stuff is in stock. When they run out of something, like the EZrun motor systems, they can take like 6mon to get new stock. Whatever you order, get cells with a hard case.
This one fits perfectly in the Evader battery tray http://www.hobbypartz.com/98p-30c-40...se-direct.html and for $23!! Same thing in a name brand will cost you $50!

One more note: LiPo "C" rating. This battery has a 30C rating witch is an indicator of how much current the cell can dump in a given time. A battery with a 40C rating will put out current at a higher rate than a 30C. (This "C" thing can be confusing at first. The C-rating of a battery is not the same thing as the charging rate C-rating.)

Oh, and get some decent tires, the stock ones, tho they do have foam inserts now, are not very grippy on dirt. They're ok for pavement. And be careful of your slipper setting. Properly set, the gears in the drivetrain should last a good long time, providing you open the tranny and grease it up. In fact, do it NOW. They come from the factory pretty light on grease. TrakPower blue grease is good stuff. The diff uses 20,000wt diff oil, that should minimize wear of the spyder gears, but inspect them too every so often.

Welcome to Evader-land!
Happy New Year!

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

Idon't understand the negative comments about the Hobbywing EZrun systems. I've got a Castle Sidewinder Sv2 60A 5700kv in "my" Evader and an EZrun 35A 4600kv system in "my wife's" Evader. My buddy has 2 'Vaders, one with Castle, one with EZrun, and we're both impressed as hell with the EZrun! It even come with a programming card! For $70! Ibought my Casle system for $100 and they're selling for $150 now. And any programming tools cost you extra! Now I'm not saying EZrun is better than Castle. Castle is certainly more sophisticated, and can handle more power. But as a brushless upgrade for an original Evader that isn't going to be used as often (i.e. "a second car") they're a good buy. And perfom magnificently. These guys who diss the EZruns have never owned one.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Those batteries were eaten alive by a power-hungry SC10 4x4 with a Castle 1410 and a Mamba Max with muddy track conditions. Same conditions, lower rated more expensive batteries survived. ThunderbirdJunkie treats all his LiPos the same regardless of origin.

Haddi Taha

No offence taken (my signiture will remain the same)

I don't have any problems with my hobbyking batteries and thunder ac6 (my bad, I always accidently call it thunder power ac6) so I have no need to get a name brand pack yet. I admit that I am using a 120amp rated pack with a 60 amp esc and only charge at 1C but the pack only cost $22 and it doesn't even get warm, runtimes are amazing and I have no shortage of power (more power than needed for bashing). Now if I was to getting into racing, it will be well worth it to spend $80 more for a pack because when racing, it better to pay $120 for a very good pack the get 5 good packs.I don't mean that hk packs are the only option, but its worth considering them.

I have owned my thunder ac6 for 6 months, no problems yet, but if it craps out, I probally will get a high end charger

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

Well there you go! The guy is tryin to suck the guts out of the batt! The problem is obvious. He should be running minimum 40C batts with a system like that.

And what's with these guys refering to themselves in the third person............??