Need assistant on picking up a new electric rc car
 

Hi all,

I need help on picking up a new electric rc car (I had a long time ago a 2wd on-road nitro car).
I took a look on the traxxas e-revo brushless 1:10, but it's a bit expensive for me 700$.

- I would like it to have:

• 4wd
• brushless motor and ESC
• high kv and should support lipo batteries
• top speed should be at least 50 mph.
• can run on-road and off-road
• budget - around 400$

Thanks,
Alex.

Bigger rather than smaller right? 1/10 - 1/8th scale ?

Here's a ton on ebay http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trks...at=0&_from=R40

Me personally I like the off road 1/8th scale electric buggies. A new omen set up is around $ 700 without radio and batteries. But If you look hard enough, you can find one used for $350, then add batteries and radio system. Look at Losi, Mugen, Kyosho, Team Associated, xRay, Serpent for these types of models

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXBWUV&P=ML
you will need a 4S battery, and a charger

SYco, yah that ofna is a sweet deal! Good find !!!
alex, that buggy would do well on the track also. Keep in mind the KV is fine at 1900. You can't run real high KV unless you have a smaller lighter car. Somethig that's big and on 4-6S. Low KV is what You want, or your temps will be dangerous

Hi,
I'm afraid that it's a bit old and I might have problems with the parts.
what do you say about - http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCJCH

I also saw that there is a new category, "Rally" cars like the losi ten rally x or traxxas rally, what do you think about this type of cars? or should i stick to buggy?

The EB4 is a newer platform than the LX2e, but in 1/8 buggy terms both are really old. The LX2e's basic platform may be ancient but it has been updated and improved over the years and current parts are available just about everywhere so I wouldn't worry about that. I had an LX1e (body and shocks are only difference) and the only thing I didn't like about it is that it has a bit of bump steer that more modern buggies (RC8, 8ight, etc) don't. It was tough though. I did break a the front and rear hubs on one side in a single crash, but that was in freezing temperatures, never broke anything else. I have no idea about the EB4, never seen or driven one but it is closely related to the MT4 G3.

The Losi and Traxxas Rally are basically 1/8 buggy size but are built off of 1/10 Short course truck platforms. The Traxxas Rally is just a LCG Slash 4x4, while the Losi Rally is a SCTE. If you want to do 50mph or more the Losi probably has the better motor for that. Neither are as durable as a 1/8 buggy platform though, something to think about when going fast.

so your saying that it's better to go and purchase a buggy platform rather than the rally ones?
I do see that the losi rally has a 3900kv which is pretty respective, but yes I am not quite sure about it's stability to go off-road.

- I see that the ofna and thunder tiger has pretty much the same spec regarding the motor kv and Amp's, which isn't close to the losi spec.

there is also the HPI truphy which has 2000kv but can handle 14.4v battery, but it's a 100$ extra.

I agree there is a common understanding that 1/8 buggies are stronger than 1/10 SCT's
but I'm not 100% convinced to say that as a generalised fact

SCT's are tough... The body protects a lot of the suspension, the front, rear and side bumper bars do a great job aswell. Even tho I can physically see the suspension and steering is beefier on my 8ight, I'm still not 100% convinced its stronger because of the lack of bumper bars and a full fender body..

High KV does NOT mean it's a higher performance or better quality vehicle by any stretch. I'd rather run higher voltage and a lower KV if I'm not restricted to racing rules. You will get longer run times and cooler temps on the electronics. Basic electrical theory.

Ok, but isn't the ESC or motor limited to the amount of input voltage?
isn't it equivalent to run 4000kv with 7.4v and 2000kv with 14.4v ? if so it's better to less overload the motor?

You aren't over loading anything, in fact you amp draw would be approx. half running 14.4v
The motor isn't limited by voltage at all, you can run any voltage on a motor if the work load (watts) is appropriate.
Using your numbers and an arbitrary 1000watts
1000 watts / 14.4v = 69.44 amp
1000 watts / 7.4 = 135.14 amps
You can see with some basic math that they are not the same at all. And KV doesn't fit ANYWHERE in the equation.
Of course you can't over volt an esc but once again voltage rating has nothing to do with the quality or performance of the esc. I raced indoor 1/12 carpet cars for a number of years, I have escs that can't handle more than a 2s lipo but are still top of the line escs for racing. The price back then would scare the crap out of you!
Thats why there are high voltage and low voltage escs available, different requirements.
Of course your batteries have to be good enough to supply the required current or things will go south really quickly.
You're getting hung up on only ONE aspect of the entire power system, and that's what it is a system all the way from batteries to the gearing of the chosen motor and of course the esc, even the connectors you use make a difference.
All of this is pretty much basic electronics theory.
The first thing you have to do is basically decide what voltage you want to run or the car requires then base everything off that.
Of course buying a rtr car you hope the factory has done it's homework and put together a system that will work correctly as long as YOU run the proper voltage suggested and the batteries are up the the job.
I can make something run just as fast using 2s, 4s or 6s, whatever as long as I choose the right KV motor and the rest of the system is up to the task, just need more amperage the lower the voltage goes and larger capacity batteries to get the same length of runtime.
That's why I prefer lower KV with higher voltage, less amp draw required to get the same amount of work out of the motor.

Ok, thanks a lot for the explanation. I think I got it figured out. I'm currently a bit in confusion between three cars:
- Losi ten rally x - not really a off road car, but seems very nice for on & off road.
- Thunder tiger st4 g3
- Thunder tiger eb4 g3

or if you have any other suggestions i'd like to hear from you for a cars in the same category and price range.

I'm sorry, when the local club closed down a few years ago I pretty much got out of the cars, just kept a couple of my vintage cars from back in the 80's just to play with once and a while. Not really up on the current stuff available.
Still seriously into rc, I fly planes and helis, still race boats, just couldn't justify spending the money on cars when I'd have to do some traveling just to run with a group on a decent course.
I will probably end up with a crawler in the near future, something I can have fun with alone without any type of course, just need to find a pile of rocks!
I really like the Axial scale crawlers, half the fun with those looks like upgrading and adding more scale details.
I kept my Associated RC10 Gold Tub and an Associated RC12i both are from about the mid 80's sold all the new stuff while I could still get a good price. If was was to get back into racing either on or off road I'd be taking a long look at Associated products, always had very good luck with them.
About the only company I wouldn't personally pay much attention to is Traxxas, not saying all their products are bad, I just really dislike the company due to some of their marketing tactics. They have a history of making claims about performance in various products that they just can't live up to, then if you question them on the Traxxas forum they delete your post and probably suspend your account!
The Traxxas Spartan boat was plagued with problems with the V1 release, screwed a lot of people when the boats literally went up in flames due to Traxxa selecting improper components for the voltages and speeds they were claiming for the product right out of the box. A while later they came out with the V2 which came with a much better choice of components, as far as I know people who bought the V1 release just had to absorb the financial loss.

I like the cars your looking at with the exception of the rally. The fascination with the rally and scale stuff eludes me. I can see the appeal for guys new into the hobby maybe because of the more "real car" look. But they just don't perform like the rest. There's too much body in the way, not enough tire, and not enough suspension travel. When you hear an electric rally car running all you hear is the sound of the body rattling around and bottoming out on the dirt, and usually followed by the sound of it on it's back. Maybe they're fairly fun on the street, but for off road, I personally wouldn't look twice at any of them. About the traxxas thing, I do agree some of the top end claims throughout the years have been bold and practically unreachable. And the stuff about deleating comments, yah that's crap, can't believe they freeze accounts. But I've watched them come A long way, and pretty much dominate local hobby shop supplies as compared to any other manufacturer. It's a little unfair to rate performance based on the Spartan boats too, I agree, they made plenty of mistakes with that boat, and I saw my fair share burn up and split apart too, but it is a pretty awesome thing to pull of $400 RTR near 50mph on the water. Back on the model selection, you'll find out pretty quick if You like the model or not. Me, I'm so fickle, and there's so much out there, I like to buy used, that way if I'm ready to sell it in 6 months, it doesn't loose that much if any value, and I try out something else. For example, 6 months ago I added a 1/10 on road nitro, got bored, sold it and got into a nitro 1/8 buggy 3 weeks ago. And just last week got into an electric 1/8 buggy. Now I'm playing around with batteries, got 3, 4, 5, and 6S packs and having some fun !

"About the only company I wouldn't personally pay much attention to is Traxxas, not saying all their products are bad, I just really dislike the company due to some of their marketing tactics."
Need to read a little closer there, my quote from above. Please don't put words in my mouth! My point was about how badly Traxxas treated the people who bought the first generation boat that had known problems.
Car, boat, whatever who cares, it's how the company treats the customers especially if the problem IS with their product and not the end users fault. Do you really think they would have acted differently if it was a new release car that was going up in flames? Not a hope....
I know I can go get a new Traxxas car today at Future Shop from some kid who has never run an rc car and is being paid minimum wage, he will be selling a fridge to the next customer. I'll probably have absolutely no problems with the car, But do I want to give Traxxas my money? No! Just don't like the way they run their business. I know many other manufacturers who will go above and beyond to make and keep a happy customer. They will get my money.

Wasn't trying to out words in your mouth Husky, just sayin I've had 20 or so of their products through the last 15 or so years and been very happy. When I was just starting out, the 24hr customer service was key. On the V1 Spartans, there was a rep that was local and in constant contact with our boat club, and was around ALL the time so he had us handled better than most I would bet. Adding to that I'm from Texas and so is Traxxas, so admittedly, I'm super bias lol. Cheers

LOL I lived in Denton for 7 years, it's where I got into the rc hobby.

Umm Like this ;-)http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1973735

Hi can you recommend me on a electric RC that will perform well both on-road and off-road ?

Anything that's low slung and off road will handle just fine on road. And the off road stuff can go just as fast. Stick to that and your options are wide open

Sorry to jump in... Can't argue the way Traxxas handled some of the Spartan issues....
its was what I call a lemon. Traxxas are not the first to release a lemon and they won't be the last. Version one of any new product can be touch and go.

is it worth wrighting off traxxas because they released a lemon or there speed claims are aledgley wrong?... I don't think so.
To me its not about what's written on the box it's how it performs. And when comparing the land vehicles to other manufactures like HPI and Tamiya they are just as good if not better

Delete

Must of been a good one to delete :)