supamagician

yeah my firestorm is KILLED. it will not run worth poop because the wires are fried. i guess im gunna have to add however much the deans cost to the $160 i already owe my stepdad [>:] lol. how much will it cost me to get the deans plugs?

ELK

what did you do to your truck?

DriftingDragon

overcurrent maybe

DriftingDragon

will mt2 or hellfire arms/chassis fit on the efirstorm

rsr427

GOING LIPO out of the Box?

So, the HPI site says the E-Firestorm accepts most kinds of batteries, including "most Lipos". What exactly is involved with getting a new Firestorm out of the box running on Lipo batts? Connectors? New ESC?

I'd like to make the purchase of car, batts and charger in one trip, and I have no idea what is required with Lipos. I'm thinking about just getting a smaller Lipo (2s?) and not a SuperFryer9000, or some batt on steroids.

I have no NIMH batts now, so if the upgrade to Lipo is easy enough, I might as well do it now, runtime is my primary motivation (but I can't say no to the speed...).

Thanks, Ryan

Oregon mud

Has anyone tried running a modified motor with the stock ESC? I had my first race yesterday with my new Orion SV2 special edition and the motor got to 297 degrees F. on me in about 4 minutes. I had a brush stick once and that caused the motor to heat up but that wasnt the case yesterday. Aside from the blistering temps and me letting the factory installed smoke out, it appears fine. Things never run the same once you let the smoke out......

dafpnp

Stock ESC can work with LiPO batteries with an exception. By default, there is no cut off functionality available. You 'll need a LiPO cut off module like this [link]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXPGM8&P=7[/link] to protect your LiPOs from over discharging.
This one is a 2 cell module.
LiPOs won't guarantee longer run times as the that depends on your battery current carrying capacity (mAh). For longer run times, you should switch to brushless motor and esc set up as the efficiency of brushless motors is close to double of brushed motors. You'll 99% not need a cut off module with brushless set up as they have a cut off module built in for LiPOs. 1% : check technicals of the product you buy and confirm if LiPO cut off is available on the ESC.

With a charger for LiPOs, you'll need balancing too.
Some LiPO chargers come with balancers, some don't. In latter case, you'll need a separate balancer too.
If you think you'll stick to only LiPOs, a decent LiPO only changer with balancer should come at about 60-70$.
There are chargers which can charge NiCD, NiMH, LiPO, Li[XX] and also have balancers. Decent ones should cost about 125$ +. e.g. Hyperion eos0606i. [link]http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/?sid=1122512&pgid=chrg&scat=LIPO[/link]

DriftingDragon

anyone ever run a feigao xl6 on an efirestorm or any 1/10 for that matter

Oregon mud

Im looking for a stock E Firestorm motor. New preferably but with little use is OK too. I need it till I can get an ESC that can handle my mod motor. Thanks guys.

S!N!ST3R RC hObbys

Im getting the truck ordered tommoro, and im going to go ahead and get the mamba max 5700kv, do you think a 5000mah 7.4v smc 22c lipo will run over 30minutes at a time, not full throttle all the time? and how fast with stock gears will it be?

73

After I broke a brush spring in the stock HPI motor, I replaced it w a Tamiya Superstock RZ 23T. The truck was so fast I believed it has become overgeared, and I tried a 17T pinion. That bring the speed down close to the stock motor, while easing the stress on motor & esc.

DARKWAV

Hmmm, 30 minutes might be a strech for that combo. I only went LiPo recently (Reedy 5000 mAh Pro 20C) with my Sidewinder 5700 combo so don't really have a good feel for duration yet, but I'm not that confident about it making a full 30 minutes. I'm currently running stock gearing and hitting about 160-170 F on my motor. At this point I'm thinking of dropping one or two teeth down on the pinion for a little more punch and to keep temps down with the heat of summer approaching.

Eman77

Really? I'm running that motor (RZ 23T) in my DT-02 MS. I like it, but dont think it's blazing fast. I'm on 6 cells NiMh though. What batteries are you running?

DriftingDragon

how can the rz 23T be close to the 15T that comes with it

Eman77

Is the Firestorm stock 15T a 550 size can? If so, turn ratings aren't a direct comparison to 540 cans. i.e., a 12 turn Titan 550 in the Stampede isn't as fast as a 12 turn modified good quality 540 can. It's an apples to oranges comparison.

I have no idea of that stock 15T in 550 or 540 though.

73

Sorry if I've been misleading. Should have declared that I'm new, and my "fast" may be " just normal" for most other guys. [sm=red_smile.gif]
When we first purchased our E-firestorm, we had it drag-raced a Losi XXX-T on 23T motor at the parking lot, and they went on par. So my guess was the stock 15T motor's output is similar to some aftermarket 23T motor.

Regarding the Tamiya RZ 23T, when I run it with the stock 19T pinion, the truck was wheel spinning the moment the throttle was eased on. It's only more driveable after dropping to smaller pinion gear, which I can't quite explain. What I felt most was the amazing torque of the Tamiya, compared to the stock motor, which could've made the truck felt really fast.

I'm a newbie, correct me if I'm wrong.[sm=confused.gif]

Eman77

Interesting experience! I'm a fan of the Tamiya 23T RZ, so don't get me wrong. And yeah, "fast" is all relative.

I think in your case, you sort of proved that all motors aren't created equal. The 15T HPI motor isn't necessarily blazing faster than the Tamiya 23T, in fact, it's probably on par. To further the point, a crappy 15T won't hang with a solid quality 15T, even though turns are equal. Turns are a good measure of speed/performance, but the quality of the motor comes into play in a big way.

dafpnp

Torque is for acceleration ... 23T has more torque than 15T
So prabably a higher acceleration was confused with 'FAST' :-;

DriftingDragon

its a 540

grimreeper621

hey, i just got my e firestorm about a week ago. i went straight to brushless with the mamba sidewinder 4600kv motor and a 7.4v lipo. i was bashing yesterday with my friend and we were jumpin our trucks off a ledge and the firestorm can really take a beating, i nosedived a couple of times pretty hard into the ground nd didnt break anything. this truck is awsome and im glad i got this over the rusty vxl, i will get pics up as soon i find my camera

73

Thanks for all the new things I learn here. [8D]

By the way, one of the guy went to buy a stock HPI motor, the same one that came on the E-Firestorm. To our disappointment, this new motor didn't run half as well as the original one on my truck. Tried it on my truck too, and the power was soft and the car was quite slow. Maybe a case of us getting ourselves a "lemon"?
I'm going to order another of these motor, to give it a try, again.

73

I'm dropping the order for new brushed motor, and has got instead a old-school Novak ss5800 brushless system. Need some opinion here as I'm new to brushless, and still learning along the way.

Is it normal for the ss5800 esc to run hotter than a brushed motor esc?
I've dropped from a 17T pinion to a 15T on the E-Firestorm, and the Novak esc heat sink is still pretty hot after 5-10mins running (with occasional full throttle). The Novak comes with Thermal Shutdown protection, but I'm trying not to get to the shutdown. How do we know if a brushless esc is overheating?

Also, installing a fan above the heat sink might be my next project. So I gather I'll need a 5V computer fan, but have no idea how to hook up power supply for it. Any advise?

S!N!ST3R RC hObbys

I havnt really had much time to read through this posting yet, but does this hpi flux coming out, with probably the same trans metal gear, you think it will be good, my vxl had problems, bc of so much power being put down..

Eman77

I don't have an E-Firestorm, but I run a SS 5800 system in my Stampede. I've goofed with 15, 16, and 17T pinions on it. And yep, I've hit the thermal shutdown while bashing (d'oh!). But after it cooled down, it runs fine.

For me, that ESC does indeed get scorching hot. So I installed a fan above it, blowing down on it. They don't really make one (that I know of) specifically for the SS 5800, so I bought this one (see link below). I had to squeeze it around the ESC, but it works (good thing plastic is flexible), and screws into the ESC mounting place my ESC sits on. The wires from the ESC itself are kind of in the way, but you can work around it.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...6&I=LXJUR6&P=K

That's more than I wanted to pay for a fan, but oh well. Best thing is, it works great. ESC temps are way, way lower, and no thermal issues. I'm quite happy.

It has a plug on it so that it shares the wire to the Rx with the ESC itself. When you turn the ESC on, the fan turns on and runs till you turn the ESC off.

73

Thanks Eman! That's alot of help, at least put my mind at ease some bit.

I had the first run with the brushless today.
15T pinion, 6 cell GP 3300mAh @ Throttle Program 5 (2400rpm limit), and it lasted all of 15mins without any shut down.
Nevertheless, I'll be mounting a fan above the ESC soon, so it'll be happy when I run it with the 4500mAh 6 cell... and when I use the full rpm capability of the Novak system. [8D]