cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Well, despite a few problems, I got my brushless system installed on my MGT tonight. That 10 gauge wire on my Hobbyking 150a ESC sure is a pain to solder to Traxxas connectors. I think im going to change it around to 12 gauge since I think that will be big enough anyways. Then I had to solder the ESC wires to the motor wires which was kind of a pain too. And I just wrapped them in tape for now because I couldnt find any heatshrink big enough to fit.

I also didnt have a 5mm 32 pitch pinion gear, but i did have 4 identical 20t 32p pinion gears for a 1/8 shaft. I had been running 18t pinions on my brushed motors. So I managed to bore out a 20t pinion after about 20 mintues of drilling. I guess it was hardened steel, but I got it bored out and it seems to work really well.

So, needless to say, it looks a little hack right now because of the wiiring and tape, and I was wanting to wait on getting some better batteries before i ran it, but I decided to go ahead and try it out anyways.

The setup is a 150a hobbyking ESC, and a 3674sl hobbywing motor and fan setup.

WOW!!! I freakin love it! I couldnt help myself. After I made sure it was all working right I just gunned it. Flipped it completely over backwards on the blacktop I knew it would be stronger than the brushed setup, but I didnt think it would be that strong with the NiMh batteries.

Anyways, it is pitch dark out, but I couldnt quit running it, so I ran it in the yard some. Wheelies on demand under about 10mph in the grass, and it was pulling some pretty good speed through the grass surprisingly. What was fun was when it didnt wheelie and the thing was fighting for traction. You could hear it screaming and throwing the cut grass everywhere I tried to do a couple speed runs on the road. Acceleration is awesome and top speed is hard to say for now but it seems to move right along, and I almost think I could go up a little with the gearing.[8D] Especially after I get my new batteries. Braking is awesome, just like acceleration After the end of about a 7 minute run(when the ESC LVC cut in), I checked the motor temp just with my hand and it was no problem to keep my hand on the motor. ESC was cool as could be too, and the fan really screams on that baby Temps were great though(other than the batteries. haha) so im thinking I might could go up another 2 teeth on the pinion or so when i get my new batteries.

The only bad I have seen so far is that the run times arent good at all, which I was expecting, so no surprise there. That will be fixed with the new batteries. And its hard to take off slow because it is a little jerky down low. I wish it was a little better about that, but its not a huge deal to me, and i can live with it for sure[8D]

Anyways, im very, very glad that I converted this to brushless. Im sure ill be impressed again when I get my new batteries, and I sure am excited to get some bashing in on this rig now. Its finally how I want it to be, and its honestly even better than I had imagined.

Ill get some pictures when I get the wiring looking a little better. Hopefully I can get some video soon though Once I order my LiFe batteries, and can get over 20 minutes of run time on this thing, ill be extremely happy with it. Its yet to be seen how the transmission I have in it holds up, but so far so good

I know everyone says it, but brushless is awesome!

Eric

Brainanator

My Feedback: (1)

little bit of the "brushless grin" going on eh? You probably won't need to drop teeth with your get your batts, since it will be faster, more low end, and cog less.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yeah, I think so

I was thinking about going up 2 teeth on the pinion(faster) when i get some batteries. Is that a bad idea if its running plenty cool right now? However, after running it some more, im not so sure I want to gear it up anymore. lol

I just ran it again and I just cant get over the power it has even on NiMh. Heck, the punch isnt even all the way up since the ESC is running the stock settings, and its still just awesome I tried to do a few speed runs, and it has to be doing 35mph and it gets to that speed in no time flat. Pretty awesome to see it break the tires loose at 10mph on blacktop. haha I ran it a little easier this time though after i did a couple speed passes and the batteries stayed reasonably cool this time, and run time was longer, but i didnt remember to time it. Heck, it still had more power when i shut it off than when it had fresh batteries on the brushed system, I just decided to shut it off before i got the batteries too hot. Everything is still holding up fine and working perfectly which is a good thing.

So much for my father in law's 3905 E-Maxx being faster than my MGT

Anyways, sorry for rambling on, its just a lot better than i even expected it to be even though I have seen all kinds of the videos. Its just totally different driving it.

Eric

Slo-V Flyer

Congrats! I went through the same kind of thing, brushed twin Titans to single 3660 Feigao 9L brushless motor, with Nimh, to large 3675 7XL brushless motor AND lipo - each step was better than the previous, and it was perfect at the final stage for a while. Then of course I had the itch for more power, and so now I'm messing with a higher Kv Hacker motor for kicks and eventually I may settle with a good Medusa motor.

You said ~7 minutes of runtime on Nimh, are they 3000 mah? I imagine being Nimh you might be able to drag it out more but it would be just dead slow, as opposed to Lipo...so you should get close to 15-20 minutes out of a 3s-4s 5000 mah lipo. Let's hope you get your Life/Lipo batteries in and get a real comparison.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

I have honestly been stopping it(the 2 times I have ran it) not long after the LiPo LVC on the ESC kicks in. I just turn it off and back on and then when i notice a decent drop in power, I would bring it in and shut it off. It would have still ran a little longer for sure though because the power was still a good bit more than with fresh batteries on the brushed setup. Hopefully it doesent rain tomorrow so i can run it in the daylight I am running 3000-3800mah 7.2v batteries in it.

Im sure eventually I may want to try out 5s, but im going to go with 4s LiFe for now, and run that until I get bored with it. I feel like ill be pretty happy with it for a while anyways Thanks!

Eric

Dialed_In

Here is a long 3 part video on soldering 8 gauge wire to Traxxas connectors. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y7ryJGIe1A

In part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf6oGKdoYxA he dremels out the Traxxas connector where the wire enters the connector. It helped me when I had to solder a connector on a lipo battery that had large gauge wires. It still wasn't easy as I don't have steady hands but the video helped.

P.S. Congrats on your new found power . Can't wait to see how you like it when your other batteries get here!

Brainanator

My Feedback: (1)

i've gotten 8 gauge wires in my traxxas connectors easy enough....honestly the 10 gauge gave me more trouble, lol

Lilredmachine

Sounds excellent Eric, I doubted that you would be able to hold off sticking that system in for long.

Your jerky take off (most likely being caused by the batterys tripping the LVC on and off on the esc under take off load) and runtime issues will be solved with the LI-FE packs and you will no doubt see a serious performance increase to boot too.

The way it sounds at the moment reminds me of my fathers turbine on it's first run, we had it bolted to a stand, the proper fuel pump hadn't come yet so we were using a 2v windscreen wahers pump, and running on the wrong start up gas so it ran with a bright blue flame, but godamn we got it fired up and it was awesome just to have it running!

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yeah, i decided i might as well go ahead and try it out just to see how it all worked. haha Yes, im hoping the LiFe packs will be an improvement everywhere, and i expect that they will. The NiMh definately isnt ideal to run it on, but im still very surprised at the power that it has with the NiMh batteries. And oddly enough out of all of my batteries, the Venom's apparently hold their voltage best becaue the LVC doesent kick in nearly as often with those batteries as my other ones.

Anyways, I got some pictures today. I fixed my soldering mess and heatshrinked the motor wires, and redid my traxxas connectors. Not perfect, but im happy with it now[8D] I also made a mount for my ESC to sit up off the chassis to help keep the dirt out of it, and it is now easily removed with 2 screws instead of peeling up the double sided tape. Once again, it isnt perfect, but I like it Now that I have all the wiring fixed and my ESC mount made, I just have to pull the tranny and wait on the new gears. Just figured i would go ahead and tidy everything else up while it is down.

How does it look?

Eric

Lilredmachine

Looks like a tough home converted bashing beast. Which is what it is. Groovy.

You got anything to tie down those packs with? I take it you must use velcro straps or something.

SyCo_VeNoM

glad to see it working as you want it

IMO 6s would total that tranny though

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yes, I use velcro straps on the batteries. However, I think I may change how I mount the batteries, not for sure yet though[8D]

Yes, 6s would probably kill that transmission. However, with some work I can put all metal gears in it, and it will handle 6s forever then, so im really not too worried about it Especially since ill only be running 4s, at least for a long while.

Eric

genitor

Looks good! Let's see some vids.
I have my eyes on that esc also, how is it performing?

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Thanks! I will have some video's up hopefully soon after I get the transmission fixed.[8D]

The ESC works great so far. I want to get the programming card for it sometime, but the stock setting are pretty good, and it gets just barely warm after a run. It is also very easy to set up and there is no glitching what so ever with my standard AM radio. [8D] The fan sounds like a vaccuum cleaner too It really sucks some air.

I got the transmission apart. Only took me maybe 20 minutes to take the ESC, motor, tranny, and center driveshafts out. The bottom gear in the tranny(3 gear setup) has 3 teeth ground off. Everything else looks good though.

Eric

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Got some video today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnLrh6FRUTg

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnLrh6FRUTg[/youtube]

Eric

Brainanator

My Feedback: (1)

wow, you weren't kiddin about the vacuum fans, lol. Nice wheelies too.

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Yeah, those fans suck some crazy air! Its mainly the ESC fan that you hear though. That thing really gets with it

I am getting better with the wheelies. This is the first truck I have had that you could stand it up and ride it like that. It wouldnt even begin to pull a wheelie without backing up first with the brushed system though, so I hadnt been able to try that out until now[8D]

Its not the best video. I probably should have zoomed in some, but i didnt have a camera man, so i couldnt do too much about it. haha

Gonna go and run it some more today. Hopefully nothing breaks. haha

Thanks!

Eric

samguan

hi Eric, nice truck. You will love it even more when you get lipos.

By the way, why does that ESC say 2-4S Lipo? Shouldn't it be able to support 6s lipo?

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

From everything I have read, the ESC will handle 6s without a care, however, they only rate it at 4s for some reason. Im thinking there is a rebadged ESC that is the same thing that they rate at 6s. I wouldnt be afraid of running 6s on it, but 4s will probably be more than enough for a good long while.

I got to run it for a full set of batteries today before the rain hit, and I am really liking it. Power is awesome, and the best part was that with just some normal bashing and me going easy with the throttle and only short full throttle bursts, I got 20 minutes of run time timed on my phone

I didnt think it would do that good because I had only been getting around 10 minutes of full throttle messing around, but today with an easier trigger finger(still not driving slow by any means) it doubled that. I guess these brushless systems really are a lot more efficient, especially when you can refrain from stabbing the throttle all the time I was only getting around 15 minutes of run time on my brushed setup I had in the truck, so to have more power and better run times is great.

Very happy for sure!

Eric

STREETKING

hey..can u tell me exactly how to convert one? i have an old mgt laying around wit no engine n i wanna do it jus like yours..thanks

ScottKelly911

HOLY $#!+ that fan is awesome! Congrats on the conversion, looks like she's a screamer. Have you gotten your LiFe batts in yet? No apologies needed for any rambling, that'll happen when you're expecting a 7 or 8 and get a 10! Congrats, keep the ear to ear smiles going, that's what it's all about. Hmmm...is this what the Hokey Pokey really is? I'll have to ask my grandma...

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Thanks guys! I just got rid of all the plastic gears in the transmission and custom fitted full metal gears. I had stripped the plastic ones twice, so now I should be in good shape[8D]

I havent ordered any batteries yet. Gonna sell my stampede and a couple other things and hopefully order them soon. It really needs them, especially now that the driveline can probably handle 6s fine

Eric

cummins driver

My Feedback: (31)

Here is the build thread:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_94...tm.htm#9532305

It takes a little custom fabricating, but its really pretty straight forward.

Eric