hovermale9

As subject line says, we have just purchased our 13yr son a Tornado Brushless EPX 1/10 Buggy. This is his first RC vehicle!!! We would like to know if anyone has any information on how to minimize the speed for the buggy while he is learning how to drive and navigate it? We have upgraded the batteries to a Venom 3600 7.2volt. Could that have any bearing on the performance. We don't want him to dislike it or break it because he can't make it go straightor avoid hitting everything. Any ideas or suggestion would be greatly appreciated...

john01374

The better the battery the faster the car will run. To slow it down you a little you can buy a smaller Pinion gear but that car will still be a little much for a 13 yr old. You can always swap in a standard 540 sized Brushed motor. The ESC will run both and you can get a stocker for $15 or so.

TornadoGuy

As John said, you could limit the speed by putting a standard brushed motor into it. The pinion gear thing works two ways: smaller pinion gear, faster acceleration, but less top speed, while a bigger pinion gear gives you slower acceleration, more top speed.

Another foot note to know is more voltage equals more speed, while milliamps equals more run-times, and slightly more speed. So the battery you got him will give him slightly more speed, but better run-times.

Good choice though for a first car. I am sure even with the brushless motor, he can handle it. Tell him not to jump on the throttle right off the bat, but to ease into it and get the feeling for the car. In fact a Tornado EPX was my first car too. Only it was the standard brushed motor.

Anyway good luck, and have fun with the car.

Joe

Mickstix

Also, someesc's comewith a "training" mode.. It limits the voltage to 50%, so you only have half the power until your skills are ready to step up to full speed.. I think Traxxas offers it on there esc's.. Here's one for example: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXXSC8&P=7
Note:I dont believe this esc is for brushless motors though!!

hovermale9

We want to Thank you guys for the great comments. We are looking into all the suggestion. But any more comments will be appreciated. :-)

RCToysNh

Simple throttle stop.

We have set some radios with stop behind the trigger for training. The easiest way is to tape pennies staked, to what ever speed you want.
Tape the pennies between the pistol grip and the trigger. the more pennies you use the lower the top end. Use electrical tape.

hovermale9

Thanks for all the suggestions. Ithoughtthere might be some way to program the ESC without replacing anything. I think the easiest thing is to limit the movement of the trigger as suggested.This thing is wicked fast and uncontrolable in small area's so I'm sure it'll be fine once we get it in an open area. Thanks again everyone.

cockerpunk

depending on the number of amps the thing pulls you could stick a diode or two in series with the motor to drop the voltage.

BADASSPONY

We have used a small piece of wood and hot glue to make a limiter.