A decent charger for my EZ start battery?

[IKoRyan]

Sorry for the noob-ish questions, but I'm looking for a better charger for my 6-cell battery for the traxxas ez starter. I only received a 2-amp car charger for it and I want something a little better. I'm also looking to get the rechargeable receiver battery so I don't have to keep forking out 4 AA's every time the batteries die. Any recommendations would be fantastic! I want to try to keep around a $50 budget because I still want to buy a couple upgrades.

 

[cbaker65]

I have this one ,I think that I only paid 15 bucks for it used on ebay.
Every now & then I see them pop up on there at 10 bucks.
I use it to charge my receiver batts ,they are one touch charger ac/dc.

 

[Rooky78]

Not the fastest or fanciest but I had one of these I have to my brother. Has a port on the front for a receiver pack and the proper connector for your ez start battery. $25 at Tower I know you can find it cheaper.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXECDZ&P=7

 

[IKoRyan]

I'll give them a look. Thanks.

On a different note, I'm trying to find alloy rockers for my slayer instead of the plastic ones that come with it. I want front and rear but I can't seem to find the ones this guy had anywhere. He gives the part info but I can't seem to find it. This is what he's got: F/R RCDamper P2 6061 Alloy rockers

Here's the video I'm referring to:

 

[ninnon]

I've always had this one for about £10, it works quite well and seems to do what I want. Get what other people use, since it's most likely to work for them.

 

[Rooky78]

6061 is the alloy grade not a part number. Strc makes some or used to. I can't find them tho.

Honestly, the stock rockers are decent tho. I'd look at alloy shock mounts, as they're more likely to give than the rockers.

 

[IKoRyan]

Would you mind linking me to that part? I'm still trying to learn all the terms and what each part does.

 

[Rooky78]

Shock mounts
http://www.hot-racing.com/index.cgi?partnumber=RVO2808;c=445
Front silver
http://www.hot-racing.com/index.cgi?partnumber=RVO3008;c=445
Rear silver
Rockers
http://www.hot-racing.com/index.cgi?partnumber=RVO27TF08;c=205
Front silver
http://www.hot-racing.com/index.cgi?partnumber=RVO27TR08;c=205
Rear silver.

 

[IKoRyan]

Will the Revo parts work on the Slayer?

 

[Rooky78]

Most of them. There's a few differences. If you go to the Traxxas website and open the Revo and the Slayer you can look at part numbers side by side.

To be brutally honest, tho... I would get it broke in good, then upgrade parts as they break. There's some things that are always a good idea, like RPM A-arms, Lunsford hinge pins, a receiver pack over the 4 AA pack... but all in all, I run my trucks till they break and go from there. And if I'm thinking correctly the Slayer PRO comes fairly well equipped.

 

[IKoRyan]

I'm just gonna ask here because I don't wanna spam up new threads. But I broke in my slayer and I've noticed something. When running from start to 5 mins everything is fine during idle. After about 1/4 tank, during idle the car continuously creeps forward. Is that normal/ok or do I need to adjust the idle screw? If so how do I dial it in correctly.

 

[Rooky78]

Quite possibly. But check your idle gap first. Might be the low speed needle. IIRC the manual says you may have to back the idle off late in the break in process.

 

[IKoRyan]

Ok, I'll read up on the manual a bit more. As far as tuning goes, when I throttle 1/4 of the way I see a faint smoke trail as long as I hold the throttle down. When I hit it all the way I see a much bigger trail of smoke. This is during ~60 degree weather. I haven't adjusted either the HSN or the LSN yet since I've stopped once step 5 of the break in was completed. Does that seem okay? Or should I tweak it a bit?

 

[Rooky78]

Try reading thru this. I found it extremely helpful.
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/threads/rc-nitro-engine-performance-tuning.102688/

Also there's a few stickies in the "nitro" forum that helps a bunch too.

 

[IKoRyan]

Sure thing! Thanks for the help bud.

 

[olds97_lss]

This charger is a bit more than you wanted to spend, but it will also handle 2/3C lipo to future proof you a bit:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCYJH&P=7

I have an older version of it that doesn't do lipo and I use it to charge my glow heater 1,2,4,8 x AA packs, receiver packs, 8 cells in my transmitter (with a proper plug) and even at one point in time, my dewalt screwdriver and B&D drill (which were both replaced with lipo version so I have to use the device specific charger now). Mine is supposed to do .2-5A, but on AC, it only goes up to 4.5A. The newer one says it will do 6A, so maybe it will at least do up to 5A which should be plenty to charge your stick pack. I used mine for that as well when I used the ez-start and roto-start. I eventually just converted everything to pull-start so I didn't have to carry a starter around. Anyway, the MRC charger does a nice job topping the batteries off without cooking them. And, if your not pressed for time, you can always drop the current so it doesn't strain the packs. Only downside is I have to adjust the current every time I turn it on. Once on, it retains the setting after adjusting it so I don't have to switch again when charging another pack.

As for your upgrading the rockers, it's not a bad idea. I've broken 5 or 6 over the years, front and rear. However, I never broke one when I had a slayer, only on my revos. I upgraded to aluminum, but it was a total pain in the ass. All I could find the last time I bought were integy and when I bought for my other revo, I also bought integy. In both cases, the recess for the bearings isn't deep enough and causes it to bind when you tighten down the screw. I spent over an hour on each stupid pivot with my dremel trying my best to carefully deepen the bearing seat. By the time I was done, my hands were shot and I swore to never again buy integy when fitment may be an issue.

However, if you can find some 4x6mm shims... and your only option is integy, get the shims so you can effectively make the post taller and not have to grind anything like I did. May not be a bad idea regardless what brand you buy to get some shims.

 

[IKoRyan]

I'm not too sure yet what all I want to do. I've just been looking at so many different parts/upgrades I could put onto my car. It seems there is a lot of hate on Integy parts, may I ask why people knock their parts so often? Are they poor quality? I've never ordered from them but they do seem to have some nice looking parts.

 

[hamz9561]

They look nice but have inferior materials.

 

[olds97_lss]

It seems there is a lot of hate on Integy parts, may I ask why people knock their parts so often? Are they poor quality? I've never ordered from them but they do seem to have some nice looking parts.

They look nice but have inferior materials.

Also, as noted in my post, their fitment isn't that great. Anything that is threaded for a screw is loosely threaded so there is very little material for the screw to hold on to as well. Integy doesn't make many good parts. Most of them look really nice, but the metal is shoddy as is the fitment. I have bought few things from integy that I didn't wish I spent a little more for it elsewhere. The issue with my rockers was I couldn't find any double capture rockers that were in stock at the time. So integy was my last resort.

The one thing I did buy from integy that worked out really well was a 4 point steel roll cage/bar for my 3.3 revo. It's fitment was crap, but after a bit of bending and raising it 3/4" with stand offs, it does the job well without being a full roll cage that is in the way to work on things.

Unfortunately, some of the companies that were well priced with nice quality parts no longer exist. Golden Horizon was my go to place for years. Nice fit and finish and quality of alloy. ACNCM was another for the basher crowd. They tended to be more brute strength than nice looking, but their parts were tough and held up well. From what I've read, STRC isn't a bad one. I was trying to buy their rockers, but couldn't find any on ebay when I was in need.