Sobie2

I just ordered an Aquacraft Minimono and it will be here this week. What should Ineed to keep mindful of? What are people doing with these to modify them for more speed? Ihave two 3s 1600mah batteries on the way. What charger should Ibuy that will allow me to grow into the sport if Iget other boats like the Revolt 30 or Spartan? Iam buying from my local hobby shop here in Alaska.

What are people doing to the minimono in terms of an upgraded prop?

Does just buying a larger ESC improve my speed with the stock brushelss motor? The stocker is a 20amp unit. How large an esc can the stock motor take? What is recommended for a larger motor?

Ihave been out of the RC thing for over 15 years. It is completely amazing to me that an esc is $35-100! Ican remember (and still have) two orange Novak ESCs from the early 1990s, I ditched the cars long ago but thought the ESCs were worth saving

Sobie2

yellow-bird

Hello Sobie

The Minimono is not a big boat, and will probably get a bit out of hand and difficult to control if overpowered. In stock form, it is somewhat limited in terms of upgrades - it has an "outrunner" motor with very limited water cooling which will prevent you going too wild in terms of more cells or bigger props, along with a very basic/ low cost ESC and a thin "wire drive" prop shaft. Therefore you should really treat it as a "training" boat and not sink too much money into it - save that for your "next" boat.

The first upgrade option would be to look for a prop upgrade. The original prop is 30mm diameter and plastic, and could be replaced with a slightly larger plastic prop like the Octura:
X431: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=oct-x431
or Y531: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=oct-y531

Alternatively you could try a balanced and sharpened metal prop like theOctura:
X430: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=oct-x430
or X432: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=oct-x432
or X632: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=oct-x632.

These props are all in order of "upgrade" from smallest to biggest.

For a "better" ESC you should look for something small with water cooling, like the Seaking 35A:
http://www.hobbywing.com/product_show.asp?id=224.

You can Google for USA or China-based suppliers. This would allow you to upgrade to another motor for more power, or at least increase the headroom if you are fitting bigger props on the original motor. Just changing the ESC will probably not improve performance - the motor will draw as much current as it needs, which will depend on the prop size and pitch. You could put a 120A ESC into it and not affect speed at all.

To upgrade the motor you should look for something brushless in the 380 size (28mm diameter) that can be water cooled using a "proper" water cooling jacket. There are a variety of options available, depending on your budget and how comfortable you are ordering from China or Hong Kong.

In terms of chargers, you need a lipo balancing charger, and ideally something that can charge two batteries at once if you want to be ready for a larger boat like the Revolt or Spartan which usually take two battery packs at a time.

-yellow-bird

yellow-bird

diy-pro

Dude. Alaska?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont wanna know the price of a spartan up there even compared to my San Antonio hobby town. For the price of a spartan you could get a killer genesis setup from hobbyking.com with hardware and a stock motor to sell on ebay or keep as a spare. just pay attention to reviews i dont buy anything with less than 4 stars. In my opinion learn as much as you can online and assemble it yourself youll get WAY MORE bang for your buck and a little bit of pain from trial and error.

Listen to yellow bird when he says dont sink money into it a prop upgrade is as far as I would go. And an esc upgrade before a motor upgrade is kinda unnecessary in my opinion unless your about to blow the stock one or you think the motor can be propped up and take more amperage.

And lastly get a watt meter and ALWAYS check your temps if even if everything was cool on the last pack you ran through. So many people blow motors and ruin precious lipo batteries by guessing what there setup is pulling. Watt meters can tell you if a product is up to par with advertised specs and that your not about to blow anything.

Oh and Google is your friend

siberianhusky

Stay far far away from the Spartan if you consider moving up. Look around the forums for the endless list of problems and how Traxxas has treated their customers who bought one!
Any charger can charge multiple batteries, the amp rating is what determines how fast it will do it, I always suggest buying as high a power charger as you can afford. Otherwise you will find yourself spending far more time charging than running your boats. 10 amps and 6s are about the minimum I would suggest, quite a few available from Hobbypartz that fit the bill for 30-40$. Most of the quality batteries out there can be charged at higher rates than a couple years ago.
Enjoy the mini mono more of less how it is, when you want more speed pick up a bigger boat unless you like retrieving a flipped boat more than running it, all boats have a top speed where they will run properly, it's a factor of hull design and length, trying to go faster just ends up with a barely controllable boat that end up upside down more often than not.

Sobie2

Alright thanks for the great replies! The two battery charging at once thing has come up a lot so I will move ahead with that. I will work on the prop side of things as well. An ESC shouldresult in faster speed and accelerationif Ihave a larger prop because the motor will need to be pulling more correct? Ihave seen some 30-40A ESCs for less than $40, seems cheap. I will let you all know how it goes, it should be here today or Thursday.


Sobie2

diy-pro

Yes an esc matched with a motor and prop that has an amperage draw within the esc's limits preferably at maximum efficiency(Largest prop the motor may turn w/o overheating and blowing the winds) will have more speed/acceleration. And do stay away from the spartan! 50mph on 6s is asking for failure like Husky said!

And if you want to see the best out of your mini mono w/o having plans to buy another boat soon get the esc either as a failsafe for when the stock blows or just sell the stock on ebay. Than you can prop up the motor with no worries besides motor max amp draw i.e. Always check temps!!!

Research as much as you can getting it running and having fun is great but understanding the variables and getting the best bang for your buck rules. Its better to learn from someone elses mistakes unless your like me running a 6s motor on 8s just because i plan to rewind it lol. Someone suggested to me buy 180$ charger for my genisis to save charging times. I charge all four of my 5000mah 4s packs with 2 $8.99 chargers from hobbyking takes maybe 3 hours so i play go home and charge and maybe go back that day but ive started flying its way funner, more technical and easier to find places to fly.

Also if your like me and hate your fun running short unexpectedly and ruining your whole day to where you cut everybody off with your finger out the window keep some spares handy for int the field repairs

Sobie2

Great info thanks.

I have a guy here in town who has a 6s Spartan (factory Castle electronics) and two 3s packs for $450 with about 12 runs plus 4 different props... sounds like Ishould stay away.

He also has a ProBoat Stiletto with controller and 2 2s packs for $350 with 3 props and about 8 runs.

The local hobby dealer also can sell me an Aquacraft Revolt 30 with controller for $300 (was $369 at his shop), but Ineed batteries.

Thoughts?

Sobie2

yellow-bird

Hello Sobie

- The Spartan is a "cheap" ABS hull regardless of what goes in it, but the ABSmakes it durable if the boat might bump into things (e.g rocks)

- The Stiletto is apparently a good boat but tunnel hulls need more driver skill - with a high center of gravity due to the outboard they are easier to flip over on corners.

- The Revolt is probably the best option for a "general purpose" boat without knowing where you will run it. Lipos will be different to the minimono though if you were thinking of having both.

-yellow-bird

supersoaker548

My Feedback: (1)

i have a revolt 30 and it is a blast to run handles great