Just got my mini!

[Austin2048]

I just got my little RC18 MT in the mail, my dad mailed it up to me from North Carolina. I haven't seen this thing in about 2 years and I forgot how small it is. My T Maxx crushes it lol. I got it when I wasn't very into rc but now that I'm a big rc fan I want to know a few things I should upgrade on this little truck. I don't know much about electric trucks but this truck is all stock except for an Orion Baja motor which from what I remember kicks ass on the stock battery. Since I have a pretty fast motor in there I don't know if I should upgrade to a brushless system or just get a lipo battery. What are your thoughts on that? Price is my main issue and I don't really need my truck to be able to hit 70 MPH... yet. What are some things I should upgrade on this little guy?

Thanks,
Austin

 

[alpinehyperlite]

With out trying to offend, from your profile i wouldn't recommend throwing a lipo onto the rig, with your experience. If you are going to want to run lipo, i would either go with a setup with an auto cutoff for it, such as a mamba micro sidewinder, or to purchase a external shut off. because without knowing about voltages and such, you could really hurt yourself with an exploding lipo, or ruin very expensive lipo packs due to wearing down too low.

 

[Austin2048]

Oh yea I'd NEVER run a lipo without a cut off. I was planning on getting a cut off if I got lipos, specially cuz I'm a noob to electric but I'd probly figure it out quickly, I'm a very fast learner.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

well, thats y we are here. to answer questions, and educate anyone interested. i ran a micro sidewinder bl setup in mine, and freaking LOVED it. it was by far my favorite rig I've ever run. only reason i got rid of it, is I'm only running scaler/crawler now.

 

[Austin2048]

Ok so does lipo batteries with a cut off and my Baja motor sounds good? And I just saw how freaking cheap RMP parts are for this thing. I'm gonna go the full 9 yards with RPMing this truck up. Bumpers, arms, shock towers, wheels. Sound good? Anything I should do to my drive train? Steel spur? Hardeneed pinion? Beefier drive shafts? Stronger diffs? Or is stock good?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

With sticking with the stock ESC and just upgrading the motor, i would not upgrade much of the driveline. The only thing i would change would be the front and rear diffs. MIP Super-diff's are the best you can get for it. I can gurantee that. I was running a 5700 kv brushless setup with 3s lipo, doing close to 50mph, and never hurt ANYTHING but the diffs. Well with the exception of killing tires.

 

[Austin2048]

I was thinkin of just throwing a lipo in it with the Baja motor and upgrade to brushless when the Baja wears out. I'll check out those diffs. What kind of lipos should I get? What kind of charger should I get? I don't really mind if it takes a few hours to charge a battery, just wanna keep the price down as much as possible. What cut off should I get?

 

[hamz9561]

Another worthwhile and relatively inexpensive upgrade is CVDs for the RC18. I got tired of chasing dogbones. Again MIP makes the best for the Associated trucks. I run a 2s Flight Power 1250 mAH LiPo that cost me about $20 at my LHS. I just had to change the plug on it to a Dean's connector.

 

[Austin2048]

Alright then. I'll take my truck to my LHS today after school and pick up lipos and a cut off then dump the rest of my hard earned money on rpm parts and diffs =]

 

[Austin2048]

Ok well I bought a 2s Duratrax lipo battery and a lipo chrger at hobby town yesterday. They didn't have a 2s cut off so I ordered a novak 2s cut off from tower hobbies. The lipo and charger cost me 130 bucks. All I have to do now is solder a traxxas male connector on the battery wire on my truck and on to the one charger wire thing and when I get the cut off I have to solder that in too. The battery is 1600 mah so it's a good step up from the stock 1100 battery.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

and its lipo, so itll last MUCH longer

 

[Austin2048]

What's an average run time on a lipo? And could I solder traxxas connectors on my stock battery and charger? If I change to traxxas connectors on my truck I won't be able to use my stock battery

 

[alpinehyperlite]

u can put any high current connectors on any battery

 

[Austin2048]

Ok sweet. I'll order some traxxas connectors and I'll have to have hobby town solder em on cuz I don't have a soldering iron. You didn't answer my question about the average run time on a 2s lipo.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

too many variables, (motor, temps, driver, esc, driving style, bashing/racing/speedruns) it all affects the driving time. Basicly take your driving time with the nimh, and you will get close to double it with a good lipo pack.

 

[Austin2048]

Oh geez. I'll get a long run time off this battery. Is it possible to solder without a soldering iron? Like heating up the tip of needle nose pliers with a blow torch or a kitchen stove? I don't have a soldring iron and I don't really wanna take everything to hobby town and pay for them to do it cuz I just spent 130 bucks there last night

 

[alpinehyperlite]

you can get a cheap soldering iron from radio shack or hobbytown for like 20 bucks, and as you do it more, you can get a better one. if you dont know how to solder, there are tutorials on youtube.

 

[hamz9561]

Make sure to cut only one battery lead at a time. Otherwise, you will short the battery and ruin it at the very least or even cause a fire.

 

[Austin2048]

Ok, I'll keep that in mind hamz.

I was just out running my truck and after running it for awhile it wouldn't go anymore. When I hit the throttle the green and red led on the esc just flashed but my steering worked fine. Is that just some low battery thing? I haven't driven this truck in about 2 years so I don't remember >.<

I was on the stock battery btw