jcjrogers

I got my first RC car, a Caldera 10e. I'm new to cars, but not to RC (have two helis and a boat). Programming the ESC is new to me, and I think I understand everything but the timing. The instructions state that timing is variable and that there is a default setting at 15. I don't know if the type of battery matters, but I'm using stock battery until Hobby King gets around to shipping my lipo, which is a 2S 5000 mAh lipo pack. Where should I set the timing?Unfortunately, the Thunder A6 charger I just received has nothing but boxes across the LED. Until Hobbypartz sends me an RMA and I get a new charger, I'm stuck with the stock charger. The instructions that came with the car said nothing about the stock charger/battery. My question is, how do you know that the battery is charged? My boat has a cheap charger/battery, and the instructions say that when the battery is hot, it is done charging... seems pretty unsophisticated to me. The charger that came with the Caldera has a red light, but I doubt it has the ability to change colors when the charge is done. Do I just wait until the battery is hot?

nitrosportsandrunner

I think the the stock charger takes 4-6 hours. Its a trickle charger (charges at very low amps) and the battery will likely not even get warm.
when your new charger comes and you charge the battery at 3 amps, it will get warm but only take 30min-1hour to charge.

as for the timeing....

brushless motors have KV ratings...which refers to the number or revs the motor does per volt. EI: 3500kv means 3,500 revolutions per 1 volt of power (this is with no load on the motor)
The "timing" is a function of the esc with augments the KV rating of the motor by chaning the timing of the power pulses to the motor. This can effectively alter the KV rating of the motor...to give it higher rpms (but less torque) or less rpms (but more torque)
Honestly, changing that setting doesnt result in much noticable difference (Ive tried each setting myself)
Uping the timing can technically increase top speed by increasing the top rpms of the motor....but at the sacrafice of torque and can also increase heat of the motor.
My advice, just leave it stock.

There are 2 settings on the ESC I do reccomend changing tho....punch control and braking force. They are both setup from the factory well for the stock nimh battery. But a 2s or 3s lipo has much more power....so I like to turn up the punch control and turn down the brake force. Doing so makes the truck easier to drive with the extra power and eases the loads on the driveline.

jcjrogers

Great info, Nitro.

Regarding the battery, is there any indication of a full-charge or do you just leave on for 4-6 hours and hope for the best?

The default punch control is "aggressive" with only one option above that, "very aggressive". Would you set to "very aggressive" with the lipo? Also, when you mention the brake force, there are two different variables, one for the brake drag and one for the regular brake. I understand the difference (I think). The default brake is like 50% and the default drag is like 10%. Are you saying to reduce one of those or both of those?

nitrosportsandrunner

pretty sure the stock charger does not indicate when the battery is full. but leaving it on the charger after it is full will not hurt it.

punch control at aggressive is fine. very agressive will ramp up the power to the motor even slower and ease strain on the driveline that much more. whether or not you do that is up to preference, but when I run lipos I usually put the punch control at max.
I dont like to run drag brake myself. when jumping, you should be letting off the throttle. you can give it some throttle or brake while in the air to adjust the attitude of the truck to help it land on all 4 wheels. but with drag brake on when you jump and let of the throttle the motor will brake and cause the nose to drop right away. It also adds a touch of heat as the motor brakes some every time you let of the throttle (instead of coasting)

Brake @ 50% is good. I thought stock setting was 75%...which will be too strong with a lipo battery. You would be locking up the wheels every time you hit the brake if the setting were higher than 50%.

jcjrogers

Thanks for the info. You were correct that the brake default wasn't 50%, it was 100%. I changed to 50%. I'll start with some drag and will likely eliminate once I get used to driving the truck. On a different note, I thought the ESC programming was pretty easy without the card. My problem was that I removed the ESC trying to figure out where the LED lights were (I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to see them). The lights were tucked away such that it was hard to find them even when removing, and it didn't matter anyway, as they were bright enough to see. Next time, I'll just remove the ESC cover, which you really have to do to access the 'Set' button anyway.