Electric buggy questions

[AC48]

Hey all,

Been a while since I've posted here, somewhat getting back into the hobby. Just got the ol' Savage running great. My LHS jsut put in a track and I'm looking to get something to have some fun on the track, as the Savage just kept rolling over haha.

Used to be huge in to the 1/8th buggy scene for bashing, looking to do some casual track time with one. I'd like to give electric a shot, so I don't have to deal with tuning/stalling/etc that comes with a nitro when on a track (I have the savage for my nitro fix). Now I know a lot and am very experienced with nitro, but know very little when it comes to the electric world. I am looking at two main options:

XTM XT2e - This is the budget option, to get my feet wet in the electric world, would be great for bashing, and would probably be fun on the track too. Comes with a nice radio too.

HPI Vorza Flux - Not sure I want to drop the coin for it, but this buggy looks fantastic. I understand it has a rebranded Castle ESC/Motor, which is pretty awesome. Watched some videos and this thing flys.

My research would indicate that with the XT2e I would be limited to 4S LiPo battery packs, but the Vorza I can go for the 6S.

What I am mainly asking, is for each of the two buggies, what would be my best bet for battery pack set up? What brand? The more mah the better I assume? Does 4S vs 6S simply mean more cells, producing the higher voltage? The higher the C rating (dischage rating it seems?), the longer they last?

Once I get the battery situation figured out, next is the charger. Would be awesome to be able to charge two packs at once, though I understand that may require a more powerful charger. What brand seems to be the best value? I have a portable jump start battery pack for my car, can I run a charger with that as my powersource, as well as using the 110V AC from the wall without having to do any rewiring every time I switch?

Was hoping to keep it $100 or less for the charger, and for the batteries obviously it depends on whether I go 4S or 6S.

Lots of questions, would love any answers I can get, thanks guys.

 

[Greywolf74]

I dont know anything about the XTM buggy. The Vorza is a good basher but not race worthy. 4S or 6S just depends on the motor. The kit that takes a 4S probably has i higher KV motor in it which probably means it gonna have a higher top speed and the one that runs on 6S probably has a lower kv motor and probably has more acceleration and a lower top speed although thats not always true. Multiply the voltage of the pack by the kv to get the maximum RPMs of that combo...then you can kind of get an idea of which one will ultimately be faster but on a track although depending on the track acceleration maybe more important than top speed.

As for batteries.....Id look at gensacearespammers, Sky, or Zippy packs.
for a charger look at hobbyking, they have a wide range of chargers. Id either get two 200W chargers or one 400W 2 channel charger. In alot of cases the lipo chargers are DC only and have no AC wall power cable. Those kind of chargers you're either gonna need an DC power source. you can either buy one or you can take an ATX PC power supply and convert it. Heres a video link on how to convert one if you choose to go that route.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzyXQX9WA1U"]ATX PSU to DC Power for lipo chargers - YouTube[/ame]

Hope this helps

 

[Pope]

The vorza is based on a HB D8 not a bad buggy over all. It's not a race buggy but is based on one and can hold its own in a track. I have heard decent things about xtm but no personal experience with them.

As for chargers I recommend hitec or hyperion They make some really nice chargers. You will pay a little more for them but the quality is there. Hyperion makes a fuel charger and hitec makes a duel and quad charger. Hitec is available as both a DC only and an AC/DC charger. Spend a little more now and save a lot later that has always been my way of thinking.

For batteries I like Hyperion or team check point. Same thing applies. Spend a few dollars more and get high quality. Make sure you check with your track to see if they require hard case lipo's or not before you buy.

 

[trax de max]

a little of topic but ATX PSU's are cheaper than the psu's we need. But it's not just ATX that you could mod there is xbox 360,playstation 3 power supplies that can be easy to mod.
A PS3 size comaprasing next to IQ605

The two wires that short together i added led to these, the other ones are 5v for fan maybe.

and had to buy a switched power inlet, which i bolted to case. the back of the socket clips off.

This one is 12V 23.5A and already has 4mm female banana plugs for output.
A Vid of it. sorry about split screen was trying out diff things with software.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJQjc7mcrUY&list=UUADIoM6zmmL-pRNTlAsVKDQ&index=2&feature=plcp"]led psu - YouTube[/ame]

 

[AC48]

Thanks for the help guys.

Seems like theres not a consensus on the batteries/chargers. Also I didn't realize some chargers are DC input only, that seems like a pain, hopefully I can find a decent one with AC or DC input.

Also greywolf I would think 6s would almost always be faster than 4s due to the extra voltage, unless of course the 6s system had a much lowerer kv motor, no?

 

[Greywolf74]

It depends but a tekin 2650kv on 4S is gonna have higher RPMs than a 1550kv on 6S. (1550kv is the highest kv motor that Tekin makes that will handle 6S. Which one youd want greatly depends on your track. Alot of people will probably bring up the Castle 2200kv on 6S.....personally I wont race on anything thats not sensored. If you want to then that is entirely up to you

Heres a good video that explains why the Vorza is not a race quality buggy. Skip to 10:35
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP2_VmolvRs"]Squirrel TV 15 RC HELP; Vorza review, LST conversion, Rust Protection Updates - YouTube[/ame]

As for the lipos. Hyperions, Thunderpower, and TCP are all great lipos. they are also highly over priced for what you get. If your a serious hard core push everything to the limit racer then Sure go for the high dollar stuff. But Gens is a great more budget friendly lipo. I have a TCP lipo and its great but I dont see much difference between it and my gensacearespammers lipos. then again I'm not a hard core racer either.

Chargers are the same as the lipos, the high dollar ones are gonna have a few more features and probably higher wattages but for me a 200W Lipo charger for 43 bucks works just fine since I never charge my lipos over 2C anyway. The only place I run into problems is I should have used an ATX power supply with more than 500W because if I try to charge two 6S 5000mah lipos both at 10As The voltage on my PSU with sag below the chargers cut off point. I can charge two 6S lipos at 7A each and it will work just fine.....One of these days when this PSU gives up the ghost I'll use a bigger probably 750W PSu but for now I'm ok with it as I'm not much for fast charging Lipos anyway.

In terms of longevity I've had both of these chargers for at least a year...one slightly longer than the other. and I've owned my gensacearespammers Lipos for over a year also and they are all going strong so in terms of quality they are fine. In terms of performance you will get a little bit more out of the high dollar stuff but in my personal opinion not enough to make it worthwhile for me. If I was a serious racer Id probably reconsider or at least explore the higher end gear more but I'm not.

 

[AC48]

Thanks for all the info greywolf, I was definitely thinking of the 2200kv castle setup, the one that comes in the Vorza. Can you explain what you mean by sensored? Sorry for the noob question.

I have decided to go with the Vorza...I'm aware that its not a race quality buggy, but as I said I'm just looking to do some casual track time with it, not planning to compete at a high level. It will spend a good protion of time being a bashing rig. To put it another way, I was cruising around the track last weekend with my Savage lol. As you can imagine thats a pain in the ass, wanting to get something that can be fun on a track, as well as off. As a package the Vorza seemed to be the best fit. For serious racing, I can borrow my father's Inferno MP777

 

[bgbdwlf2500]

Thunder AC 6 for a charger. They're inexpensive and get the job done and come set up to use AC or DC power. The vorza will be fun, 4s is the sweet spot 6s is insane.