Thanks for the video - and it's great to see that you're keeping the brushless 1/8th scale project and initiative alive. Your timing is great because I haven't done anything with this project since my last post. On Monday I received a KD36-60-08L 3000kv brushless inrunner. Wow, life is good I didn't do a speed test, but it's (obviously) a LOT faster and cooler than then Align 600L (1620kV) motor I had in it for the last few months.

With 3S2p 4400mAh available (2x3S1P 2200mAh), I only drew 1200mAh in 7minutes of run-time. This means I theoretically should be able to run for 15 minutes - but I do have to take into account that the batteries and motor will get hotter over time (and my tests were done during a cool evening in San Diego). After 7min the temps were checked and they were:

[ul][*] batts 98deg F[*] motor 119deg F[*] ESC 129 deg F (CC Sidewinder) - awaiting Mamba Monster
[/ul]

Btw, I used an eagletree datalogger to see my voltage, amp draw and cumulative mAh. My maximum amp draw was 36A - I could hardly believe it. I ran her hard, did a little bashing and a lot of dirt track + grass and street (speed) runs. I checked and re-checked the numbers and it was, indeed, a 36A maximum draw. I'm feeling very groovy about this...

After these great numbers and temperatures, I decided to hit up RC-Monster and ordered 15T and 17T hardened pinion gears (currently using 11T) Iit will be ~interesting~ to see what the current draw and relative speeds are like with the larger gears. I didn't realize the conversion could be THIS much fun - that 600L motor was definitely killing my speed (and fun). The steering servo arm stripped on me last night and ended my testing @ 7 min. I would have been pushing a bit longer than 7 min if I didn't have steering issues. Found a much faster and stronger metal-geared servo just sitting in my parts box (from a previous 600-class heli tail). Wow, she now steers strong and fast!

I should be getting my (10) A123 LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries next week: 3S2P delivering 10.8v 4600mAh (or 3S3P delivering 10.8V @ 6900mAh). With the appropriate gearing and the fact that these batts can sustain 70A and peak at 120A (for 10 seconds), things should get REAL interesting REAL fast Last bit of info on these batts - they can safely be charged @ 10A, I've watched them charge @ rates as high as 22A. The 15-20 minute charge times are awesome... They don't puff or explode, they just get ruined if you do something you shouldn't have done. They also don't get out of balance very easily so balancing is good for them, of course, but not as critical as with LiPo's.

Jeff

p.s. I put a CC 10A BEC in case I overdraw the Sidewinder ESC's capabilities. My 5700kV HPI E-Firestorm on 3S LiPo absolutely requires the BEC or else the ESC will begin to exhibit thermals.