petitgars

Hi !

I have a new VOLCANOEPXand the original battery lasts only 7 to 8 minutes !

The original battery is a 1800mAh 7.2v ni-mh

I want to know what I can buy if I want to have more fun !!!

li-po or ni-mh ??


Thank you for your help!


Sorry for my English ...

micah11

Im not sure if the ESCis Lipo-ready, but you can just get a higher Mah Ni-Mh battery for longer runtimes. A 3800 Mah Battery came with my Caldera 10E, and I get about 15 minutes of runtime. That would cost about $35.00 for the battery. It charges in about 8 hours.

nitrosportsandrunner

Welcome to the world of electric RC.
The runtimes you are getting are correct. Thats normal for the included battery.

The 1800mah is a figure that shows the batteries capacity. You can buy nimh batteries with upto 5000mah. This will give you more like 20 minute runtimes.
However, You will also want to upgrade the battery charger. The stock one wasnt meant to charge batteries other than the stock one.

take a battery like this one: http://www.hobbypartz.com/98p-5000-7...flat-pack.html

and a charger like this one: http://www.hobbypartz.com/thac6smbachw.html

That battery will double your runtimes, and that charger will only take 1 hour to charge the battery.

That charger will also let you upgrade to Lipo batteries someday, as it can charge those as well. I would not run lipo on a stock EPX. The speed control was not meant to handle the extra power, nor does it have Low Voltage Detection....which is something that protects a Lipo battery from being Over-drained.

But If some day you upgrade to a brushless system, you will have a charger and truck that are ready for lipo batteries.

petitgars

OK ! Now I understand !

I have a sticker on the box that says: "The electronic speed controller (ESC) on this model is Designed to operate-with 7.2v 1800 mAh - 3600 mAh Ni-MH battery only."
If I put a battery 7.2v 5000 mAh Ni-MH, I could damage it or not ?

And if I want to use Li-Po ... I need to change what parts?

I have a charger "Duratrax ONYX 100". Is itgood for a 5000 mAh ? And for a Li-Po ?

Dads like rc too

I wouldn't run anything bigger. My daughters EPX burned up after a few packs. Redcat warrantied the motor but also sent me an email telling me to keep the run time to 6-7 minutes because their brushed motors get so hot. I would have never bought it if I knew this ahead of time.

nitrosportsandrunner

It is true that longer runtimes can mean shortening the life of the motor or the speed control
But if you get a 5000mah battery, you can simply run the truck for 10 minutes, then give it a 5 minutes to cool down and then run another 10 minutes on the same battery.

The exp volcano is a decent truck, but the ESC and motor are just OK. To add runtime and power you will want to upgrade down the road.
You can find traxxas xl-5 speed controls on ebay for $25-$30 used all the time. That ESC can run 7.2-8.4v and handle longer runtimes. The motor can be upgraded to a traxxas titan 12t, or a losi 12t, or a ecx 20t motor.

If you want to run lipo (and you dont with the stock motor and esc) You need to upgrade the motor and esc.
There are brushed esc's that you can safetly use a lipo with.
But if you upgrade, it makes sence to spend a few extra bucks and go brushless.
A ezrun 35amp brushless system (basically what you get in the brushless volcano epx pro) is $75-$80.

Also, you can ad a fan to the esc, and a heat sink to the motor. these can keep temps down by 10-20 degrees. That will make it safer to use a battery with longer runtimes.

The onyx 100 charger is certainly better than the stock wall charger that came with your volcano.
But it can only charge @ 2 amps (when powered by AC, house plug)
The amount at which you can charge a battery depends on the capacity.
A 2000mah should be charged at 2amps (you can charge at less, but it will take longer.) Any more, and it can damage the battery.
A 5000mah battery can be charged at 5amps. This will give you about a 1 hour charge time. 2amps will give you a 2-3 hour charge time.

So, you certainly can charge a 5000mah battery with your onyx.

But a thunder ac6, onyx 230, onyx 235 will work better and faster.

petitgars

WOW !

 I keep this informations !

Thank you very much !   

AJK350Z

reviving this thread but anyone know website to buy all said items above to upgrade my epx for cheap?

nitrosportsandrunner

I buy my batteries and charger off hobbypartz.com

Dirtslingerss38

The esc on the volcano brushed has a jumper where you can switch it to lipo. I contacted RC and they sent me the inf on it I am unsure how to upload the picture and info by let me know if you need assistance and I will email it to u