zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

Hi,

I bought a Savage Flux on ebay yesterday and it ll be delivered sometime next week. I use to own SAvage 25, X, X4.6 before since it was a hassle tuning and cleaning nitros i hardly used to run, so sold them and got a Traxxas Slash VXL to just bash around my back yard.

Is Savage Flux worth its price? Its approximtely double the price of a Slash VXL. I like the Slash VXL, but have to let it go to afford Savage Flux. Did i take the right decison? Is Savage Flux double the fun compared to slas vxl? I will be just bashing it in my back yard (not a huge one) and in the alley.

I have five Thunder Power 3S 25C 2200mah lipos that i use to fly my RC heli. I am planning to run the savage with 2 lipos connected in parallel so that i get 3S 4400mah 25C. HPI is recommending 2S lipos or 7 cell nimh for optimum control and speed. What do you guys recommend? and also when i spoke with HPI representative, he said not to use soft case lipos as they may explode. I am leaning towards Side by Side Energ-G 7 cell Nimhs if my 3S lipos doesnt work.

Please let me know if i need anything else or any tips for Savage Flux.

black mamba

It's worth the money. As soon as you stab the throttle, it will make it all worth it. Seriously, the Flux is NIGHT AND DAY from any nitro Savage. To compare the performance of them to each other, is like comparing a Cavalier to a Corvette.

I wouldn't worry about using soft lipos....HPI puts foam strips in the kit to make the batteries all nice and snug in the boxes. Make sure you tighten your slipper nut as they come from HPI very loose. Mine took like 2 turns until it got tight. Other than that, make sure you setup the ESC as shown in the book and if you run lipos, make sure you do the Auto Lipo setup. Enjoy that truck and have fun keeping it right side up. LOL.

edit-for middle of the road performance, run 8 cell nimh, for a step up from that run 2S, and for all out performance, run 3S. I personally wouldn't run less than 4000mah each in a Flux, but that's just me. And make sure you run at least 25C packs. On 3S, the Flux is a missle, so make sure you have plenty of space to let it do its thing.

zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

How big are the battery boxes? can i fit 2 X 3S 2200mah 25C packs (H 25mm x W 33mm x L 107mm) on each side? If i stack one on top of other it ll be H 50mm X W 33mm X L 107mm


Thanks

Flux Driver

Those lipo packs will fit as long as the dimensions are the same as all Lipo packs that are made for RC cars and trucks. The FLUX comes with four foam blocks and a strip of foam to use to fit in so the battery pack doesn't move around too much. I use 7 cell NIMH for now so I didn't need much to pack in there. But when I go with Lipo packs, I'll need more and will try small bubble-bubble wrap or some kind of memory foam material a LHS person told me about.

black mamba

3S 5000 is what they were designed for lipo-wise. They'll hold a 8 cell stick pack nihm-wise. Any pack that fits those width and length measurements will fit.

black mamba

HPI put a big hunk of gray foam in the kit for this purpose.

Flux Driver

They did and I only need one block of that foam for a 7cell NIMH pack. I put the foam in so the length of it is used. But with a Lipo pack, using all 4 blocks(2 on each side) may or may not suffice. I'm not sure. And I didn't peel back the adhesive paper on the strip of foam because if I stick it like a sticker on one of the inner walls, the sticky side will be exposed through the windows. That will obviously get dirty and yucky. So I just place it in there like the blocks. I'd rather experiment with some other materials that will cushion the nimh or lipo packs so it has some play, but won't have any blunt impacts in there. Or if it's tight enough to not move at all, I suppose that would be fine too.

transam388

One of my FLUX tips would actually be not to use LIPO to soon and stick with a 7 or 8 cell NiMH for a little while. The FLUX is insane with LIPO and really does take some getting used to and learning its driving characteristics. This truck handles pretty darn well but once those LIPOs go in there this thing is as someone else said...a missle! [8D] The sidewalls on the stock tires are pretty big and have quite a bit of flex so offroad is great but tight turns can be tricky. Also, any MT going as fast as this FLUX can is going to require some driving when getting after it.

As previously mentioned the slipper does come pretty loose so make sure to tighten that.

Another one is to get some extra body mounts as you are going to scrape those down from your high speed roll overs on the street. I hate it when I do that! Not a major thing but trust me you WILL scrape those tips down!

Also saw the last post mention not putting the sticky little foam thing on the outer edge of the battery box. since there is nothing behind those openings it really will not provide any support anyhow so you may as well just XActo the foam from those openings thus still leaving protection on the inner wall. Might be worth trying to leave a small amount out from the edges just to give a little border protection but then you will not have a bunch of dirt stuck to that foam. Just an idea.

Radom

It didn't take me long to get over using the 8 cell nimh's. 2s 30c 6500 Maxamps lipo's are great and last long enough that I'm ready for a break when I hit lipo shutdown. Flux doesn't corner like a racer, but better than I expected. I've tried real hard, but have not broken anything, yet. So far, I'm still trying to decide if my second pair of lipo's should 11.1v. I'm pretty much thinking I'll stick with 7.4v. Can't use all the 7.4v power for more than about 1.5 seconds! Only 'tech' suggestion I have is, get a bunch of zipties & use 1-2 to hold each battery box lid closed, just in case...

Flux Driver

You went from 8cell nimh's to 2s Lipos? Which of those two have more power?

I strongly suggest using two zip ties on each box. I made the mistake of using a zip tie on one side, but not the side where the wires come out. The untied side actually opened at some point during bashing and closed with the lid tab going over the insert on the box, rather than in it. The bad part is that the lid must have closed onto the wires because one of them was chewed down to the wire. Fortunately the wire itself was okay, all the strands intact. I used duct tape to seal it up. And I kid you not, this actually happened to both boxes. A red wire was chewed on one battery pack, and a black wire and a bit of the red on the other. Remember, four zipties to save your battery packs.

zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

Radom,

2S lipo over 8 cell nimh gave you more power or runtime? Isn't 7 cell nimh more powerful than 2S lipo as 2S is only 7.4V and 7 Cell Nimh 8.4V? coming to runtimes yes 2S will last longer than 7 cell nimh.

Please comment.

Thanks

Radom

It's worse than that. These Nimh's:
http://www.maxamps.com/proddetail.ph...2-Pair&cat=214
Gave me literally half the power & less than half the run time of these lipo's:
http://www.maxamps.com/proddetail.ph...E-Pair&cat=214

I feel I literally wasted the money on the nimh's. Now, I only used them twice. Used the Hyperion EOS0606i AC/DC Balance Charger I got at the same time. The difference in power AND run time is absolutely huge. Perhaps the nimh's would improve with use?? But, would they DOUBLE, or even close to it?? The very least run time out of the 7.4 lipo's is 23 minutes. The nimh's was 7 minutes & a ton less power from the very start.

black mamba

Make sure you check your wheel nuts from time to time.............they loosen.......................especially the rear wheels.

Radom

I will check my wheels, Mamba! Also, I will make a more concerted effort to run the 8 cell nimh batteries several more times & see if I get any improvement in performance. I'll point out, I'm just doing that for you guys. I think it is a much better idea to use the lipo's. Warranty, or not.

zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

Radom,

There are couple of videos on youtube, people running 6 cell nimh and they seems to have good power with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2VbnpnGSLU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGjXR1cuxT0


thanks

Tmaxx2323

I also just got a FLUX off of ebay for $550! Haven't ran it yet, I'm waiting on my zippy 3s 30c lipos.

Do I need to buy the HPI castle 100573 USB Programming Kit.

Should I install the 25T pinion?

zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

Can you please let me know the inner measurements of the battery box?

Thanks

SSOOCH

I bought the Programming kit just because I thought you needed it to set the lipo battery cutoff, but it's set from factory at 3.0v.

But if you want to dick around with the throttle band and such then yes. You can download the software for free but you'll need the connector to hook it up to the ESC.

zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

SSOOCH ,

What batteries are you using with your flux?

Tmaxx2323

The inner box is 8 3/16"

zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

How about the inner height and width?

Thanks

black mamba

Good score man...I saw those going for $550.

You don't *need* the Castle Link. The truck runs and operates without it. The Link is just for fine tuning the ESC.

Get used to the truck with the 20T pinion before you step up to the 25T. And I wouldn't use the 25T unless I was running 3S. You could leave the 20T on and just run taller tires. They'll give you more top end just like going to a larger pinion.

Flux Driver

True about taller tires. But getting a set of wheels and tires and glueing them may be more work and money than changing pinion gears. But if it was me, I'd probably do tires cause I love seeing big tires grind up the dirt.

Also the Castle USB thing may be good if the truck is hard to control with 3S. You could slow down the throttle and work your way up if you need. If I were to have started with 3S lipos, I'd probably have done that just to make sure I get a good number of runs before any major repairs. It's a tough truck and I've seen that already with mine but with the power of 3S Lipo, damage could happen to any RC out there.

usmc_VTOL_mech

Well for me the zip-tie idea was a PITA
I used velcro straps.....much easier and worked very well on holding the boxes closed
And a nice medium sized zip tie holding the two bumper braces together kept the upper hinge pins from working themselves out
I only run at the track and I use 2 3300 mah 2 cells. More than enough power on 4 cells....I tried 6 cells just for kicks and was way to much
I didn't even have to adjust my slipper at all. I have well over 15 hours on the truck now
Diffs are holding well, transmission is showing slight wear on the upper gears but that's normal with this amount of power

zsultan

My Feedback: (35)

usmc_VTOL_mech,

Any experience with Nimhs on this truck?

Thanks