new to electric. traxxas rustler?

[rckid91]

i have had nitro cars for some time but now found a great deal on a traxaxs rustler are they any good? also he says it has a 12 turn brushed motor how fast will it go??

and what kind of brushless systems can i get to put in it that arnt like 300 bucks?

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I just bought two traxxas rustlers last week. They are a lot of fun, and there are lots of parts out there for them. For brushless, you can buy the complete sidewinder brushless setup which will be A LOT of power for about $130 shipped to your door. If you're getting a really good deal, you will have the opportunity to build a great basher or racer for not much money. You can also go with the traxxas valineon brushless sytem for about $140 or $150 I believe, and they get above the 70 mph mark. Of course your speed and acceleration can vary depending on gearing, but with brushless you can have wheelie pulling power and high top speeds. PM me if you have any questions, as I'm tearing into a rusty as we speak. They are SOOOOO easy to work on compared to my nitros. I also have an Associated RC10T4 stadium truck to race with.

If you don't want to go brushless you can also get some really fast brushed motors that will work with the XL-5 speed control that's in the rustler for 20 to 40 bucks. They just require maintenance sometimes where as brushless is basically maintenance free except for the occasional bearing change and stuff like that.

 

[rckid91]

so is the sidewinder a good system and wat is the speed on it vs the traxxas system which is better??

 

[CharliesTheMan]

It tough to compare because there is so much tuning ability and speed difference with different batteries, including different cell configuration, nimh, or lipo, that kinda stuff. As far as one against the other, the sidewinder system is offered with two motors. The system uses the same ESC, so you can buy one and if it's too powerful or two weak, you can just switch out the motor, and have a 5700 for bashing or a 4600 for racing, or vice versa. Both of the sidewinder motors (4600 kv and 5700 kv) are bigger than the traxxas (3500 kv) which means that if you ran the same batteries in both systems, in theory the sidewinder motors should produce much more RPM therefore much more topspeed. Veterans, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[rckid91]

ok so where can i find these sidewinder systems and i have heard there are tunable esc any info on these?? sorry for the noobie questions tis is my first electric

 

[CharliesTheMan]

no it's ok, I just got into electric as well so I've been asking tons of questions. The Sidewinder ESC's are completely tunable with a PC, you just plug them into a USB port and you can tune the acceleration and braking curves, brake drag, power output, all that kinda stuff so if your racing on a loose track you can tune it so it doesn't lose traction as much, etc...

Sidewinder 5700 http://cgi.ebay.com/SIDEWINDER-5700...ryZ44028QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

CC sidewinder website http://www.castlecreations.com/products/sidewinder.html

Castle link programming kit http://cgi.ebay.com/Castle-Link-Pro...ryZ44028QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I went with the 4600 because there's so much you can do to gain power with lipo batteries and stuff like that, and the 4600 has more finesse and fine throttle control for the track. And if I ever wanted to, I could buy a 5700 kv motor fairly reasonable and already have the programmable ESC.

 

[rckid91]

yeah lipos are a pretty penny though i think i will probably go with the 4600 system after my nitro mt sells what kind nicd or nimp is better?? also what is a good mah rating i have 3000mah batteries

 

[CharliesTheMan]

well with the brushless you will get way more out of the 3000 than with brushed. I have some 3300s and some 5000, once I install my system I'll let you know what the run time is.

 

[rckid91]

yeah thanx man just pm me

 

[Brushlessboy]

Charlies numbers are correct Bob, but the Velenion numbers are feathered. The Velenion motor is a good one and WILL outrun 5000-6000kv system. I have 7 Velenion powered rides, along with an 8.5 turn (5000kv) Novak and a 3.5turn (10500kv) Novak! (jaw dropping power) I speak from experience, but to confuse you more the manufacturer of the motor makes a BIG difference.
But once you go brushless you just HAVE to go Lipo, but once you do you need to start putting fans on your motors and speedies to keep them cool.
Running a brushless with NiMh, no matter how big, will not see overheating issues. This is because the brushless systems can easily handle the current draw from NiMh.


LESSEN / MONKEY WRENCH - Note the speak and spelling........ Heh Heh Heh.

 

[rckid91]

ok so which is better nimh or nicd until i decide to get lipo if i ever do

 

[CharliesTheMan]

nimh for sure. nimh drains more in a straight line, whereas nicd drains diagonally, so it starts out fast, but as the battery drains the speed and power will decrease. The nimh tends to keep the motor at the same power level until right before it dies. Once you see a power decrese, it wont be long before the thing is dead. Also, nimh don't tend to have memory like the nicd. They do have some memory, but not nearly like the nicd. Much easier to charge and use in my opinion. Veterans, you know more about this than I do so please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[rckid91]

ok thanx i think once my mt sells i will invest in either the vahalian system or a sidewinder and a couple good hardy nimh batterys prolly should be able to make my little rusty pretty nice if i can sell my mt thank you guys

any other need to knows about electric would be greatly appriciated..

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I bought some 3300 nimh batteries on ebay for 20 bucks. I thought it was a great deal. They're Venom. I just ordered some Venom 5000 batteries for me and the guy that owns the hobby shop. They're cheaper through ebay than his cost with the hobby shop. Gave about 50 bucks for them with shipping.

Well you will probably want to install your stuff with Deans Ultra connectors or something similar. The tamaya plugs that are common can't handle the power of the brushless systems and will melt eventually. If you go to Deans plugs, once you order your lipo, which I figure in the next few months will be available for starting for $60 or so, you can get them built with the deans plugs.

Just make sure that the female end of the plug is attached to teh battery, that way the metal prongs don't touch metal and short the battery out.

I ordered some of these after being referred to them by another member. You can get them from Hong Kong for a lil cheaper, but I like to buy stuff in the US and it comes faster as well
http://cgi.ebay.com/10x-T-Connector...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

 

[rckid91]

i can't stand those things there annoying

so your saying that just like standard traxxas plugs wont work??

how do i chose lipos what am i looking for ??

and can you link me stuff for a lipo charger all i ahve right now is a nimh micd charger

 

[CharliesTheMan]

you could use the new traxxas high current plugs I suppose, but they're probably about the same as the deans as far as the annoying factor.

 

[abadk9420]

The new traxxas plugs are not to bad but deans plugs offer the best conection with the least resistance also I believe that the reason the traxxas brushless systems make there cars and trucks so fast is because they are using a 11.1 volt lipo pack and correct me if I am wrong but I believe that the sidewinder is limited to a 7.4 volt lipo or a 7.2 volt nimh or nicd also if you want a charger that will charge all of the above as well as tx & rx packs among other things I use an Intellipeak Ice and it is a great charger for the money here is a link to it on Towers site http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHDJ1&P=ML you will also need a 12 volt power supply or a good 12v car battery, good luck and have fun I love my electrics but my nitros are fun to..

 

[SMaxxin]

If your going to use nimh batteries with a brushless system I would recommend going with a sensored system...Novak or Traxxas. With nimh batteries an un sensored system is vulnerable to cogging, a sensored system will not cog.

A brushless system can overheat on nimh batteries!

 

[CharliesTheMan]

The sidewinder setup will handle up to 3S lipo and 12 cell nimh with the 4600 kv motor, with the 5700 kv it will only handle 2S lipo and 8 cell nimh.

 

[SMaxxin]

For a long time I have read that some people don't like deans plugs because they are hard to pull apart. I have used them for a long time and I had one that was hard to pull apart and it was because I did a half ass job soldering it....overheated it, the plastic gave a little and the tabs were not lined up perfect anymore.

The sidewinder setup will handle up to 3S lipo and 12 cell nimh with the 4600 kv motor, with the 5700 kv it will only handle 2S lipo and 8 cell nimh.

Thats why I keep going back and forth on which one to buy. I'm going to run 2s for now that way I can run them in all of my rc's but later I might pick up a couple of 3s packs. The 4600 on 3s is faster than the 5700 on 2s......More Power (insert manly grunt here)

I'm guessing that with the way I drive slower will be better LOL