New to the ERBE, Christmas came a couple days early!

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olds97_lss

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Dekalb, IL
RC Driving Style
  1. Bashing
A new ERBE with a traxxas 2 port 8A charger. YAY! This is my first electric anything that is bigger than my hand. I have a couple micro's (losi micro-t/high roller, losi micro sct), but my other 4 RC's are nitro (1 BB revo, 1 OS21TM revo, SavageX and a jato). Been in the hobby nearly 20 years and never bought an electric that I could run outside.

Spent 4-5 hours wrenching on it this morning. Plugged the packs into the charger... read the manual for the charger after having it blink at me like an idiot for 10 minutes... charged the 9000mah 2S SMC Racing packs. Put in my orange $8 receiver for spektrum, removed the dual steering servos and put in the k2-3620 servo for steering and HD steering spring. Also installed the HPP motor brace and a set of old Losi zombie maxx 3.2" tires on a new set of RPM revolver 17mm rims I glued up last night. Figured they would do ok in the cold. Reset my gear mesh to what felt right, spent 20 minutes trying to get the stupid receiver to bind (dead receiver pack). I didn't know if I could bind it and get the ESC calibrated at the same time, so I plugged in the K2-3620 and one of the 2075's along with a receiver pack to bind it to get the steering servo at "home" for the failsafe, and to get it centered so I could hook up the linkage. Then I put in a heavy duty LST turnbuckle from the HPP motor brace the rear body mount to add some rigidity (similar to what I have on my nitro revo's).

After all that, I finally took it out. I ran it for just over an hour. Was pretty easy on it the first 10 minutes or so, slipper slipped badly, got that tightened up a bit, then got wheelies.

I have no idea what the voltage in the batteries are after running. The Traxxas ID 2 port 8A charger just has little led's that light up. I've read that the ESC is set to do something when the packs get to 3.2V per cell, which to many, is too low. I have a castle link card coming Tuesday to adjust it to 3.5V. I know I spent 27 minutes at one park, running in a large parking lot with snow and getting stuck constantly, then spent 35 minutes in another place that wasn't as big, but much more fun with small piles of snow that I could walk behind without stepping through a 4 foot berm. I kept a stopwatch running in each place so I could get an idea as to how long the packs last.

From what I could tell, at the end of 62 minutes, it still pulled hard and ran fast. I dried the packs off and put them on the charger. Been an hour and 20 minutes at 4A and both still show just one led let up, so guessing they were pretty low.

Now, I need to replace the KS-3620 servo I put in for steering because it's way too slow (got a spare hitech 985MG to throw in), then redo a spare set of new TiNi shocks with the variable shock kit, 40 weight oil and stiffer springs to have it setup like my 21TM revo.

So far, really pleased with this thing. Now I just need to wait for my b-day to get RPM arms/carriers/tru-track and then I should be done for a while. Perhaps another set of SMC packs... and maybe a smaller spur to pick up some speed... and maybe one of those chassis screens to keep dirt/water off stuff... This is a sickness!!!

With the next week off... guessing I'll be getting some more wheel time with this thing!
2016-1223-ERBE_Body_and_ZombieMaxx_Tires.jpg

2016-1223-ERBE-HPPMotorBrace-RearChassisBrace.jpg
 
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is the chassis aluminum or plastic ?? looks plastic ...they sure do look good when new ;)
Plastic. Pretty sure all the e-revo's are plastic. Not real sure why they did that. Cheaper way to make battery trays? I mean... from what I've read so far, 6S in a brushless revo crushes torque output of any big block revo, just destroys a 3.3 revo... so, why the composite chassis deck... would think they would err on the side of rigidity is better.

Pretty sure the new X-Maxx is also all plastic. Probably just cheaper by a few bucks.
 
Glad to hear you are pleased! That would have really sucked to have waited so long to get at it for a let down! I don't think I've read anywhere that anyone was let down by those rigs! :thumbs-up:
 
Glad to hear you are pleased! That would have really sucked to have waited so long to get at it for a let down! I don't think I've read anywhere that anyone was let down by those rigs! :thumbs-up:

Yeah, I expected I'd like it. I had 2 gas versions and enjoyed making them nearly tanks. Granted, it's got a few of the revo quirks, in addition to a few directly caused by the high torque of brushless. I'm not sure if I'll try to bulletproof the drivetrain, more than likely, will just see how it does running 4S. As it is, it's pretty quick. Could maybe gear it up a bit to lose a little snap off the line while increasing it's overall speed. I'll have to read to see what gearing people run without overheating it or frying motor's/ESC.

The torque is just stupid. Sure, my LRP28 revo is torquey, but this is such explosive power anywhere from neutral to 3/4 throttle. I'm sure this is old news to anyone with a brushless anything. Me personally, I've never seen it myself, let alone drove it. At this point, pretty sure the snow is saving my driveline.
 
I haven't had the pleasure personally Either. I have seen some videos tho and omg!!! :eek: Utter stupidity while they are running high cell counts and full throttle!!!!!! Just insanity! I'm sure you'll have a BLAST with it! Building that to bulletproof would really be something I think! Have fun with it and DEF post a vid or 2 if you get a chance!!!:thumbs-up:
 
I run its little brother (the 1/16 Revo VXL) on 3s and it's a beast. I ended up going up 2 teeth on the pinion (it had the "speed pinion" pre-installed and was having thermal issues on 3s) which fixed my thermal issues. I get about 15-20 minutes on the smaller Venom 1600 mAH 3s packs. I would also recommend the RPM parts with the addition of their bumpers (I run them on both the Revo 3.3 and mERV).
 
Yeah, I'll get the tru-track for the rear and RPM arms/carriers for the front soon. Still working out the kinks with the charger though. I don't think the traxxas charger is handling my 9000mah packs properly. One seems to top off way faster than the other and when I check the voltages after balancing, they come out a few hundredths different. Not sure how normal that is, but would really like a charger that gives me more info than a couple flashing lights. Also, not having to wait 3+ hours for a charge would be nice.

I just ordered a dynamite 4x100W/10A charger today that should do what I'd need. More info and a little better than 1C charge rate on 4 packs concurrently. I'll be buying more packs soon as well since after yesterday's bash session, I got only 40 minutes out of them. Going to need more than that when it warms up outside.
 
Traxxas stuff isn't gonna provide you (as a more experienced rc operator) with the performance you are looking for IMO. A 9000 Is a big capacity battery. It will run longer and should give you all the poop you're gonna want to Get out of that rig but it's also gonna cost you time in the charging end. The dynamite charger looks to have the options you're going to want/need. It looks like you've bought the right charger (on paper anyways)
 
Traxxas stuff isn't gonna provide you (as a more experienced rc operator) with the performance you are looking for IMO. A 9000 Is a big capacity battery. It will run longer and should give you all the poop you're gonna want to Get out of that rig but it's also gonna cost you time in the charging end. The dynamite charger looks to have the options you're going to want/need. It looks like you've bought the right charger (on paper anyways)
Yeah. Hopefully. I just figured with the x-maxx and the 10000mah battery that traxxas offers that they would have a charger a bit more capable. Seems electric is a pretty harsh/costly learning curve. Next, my issue will be overheating the esc or motor and having to shell out for that because I geared it stupid or something. However, I think I've geared it pretty safe and it's plenty fast for me. It's hard to tell about the gearing now though since it's < 40F outside. Things stay cool regardless of being pushed a bit hard.

The only thing I know for sure is that after a full balance charge from my charger to 2 packs, neither pack warms more than a couple degrees over ambient. So far, that's the only temp I can check. Then I manually check each cells voltage using a volt meter to find that they differ, which is what I thought a "balance" charge was supposed to not do. Then again, .02V is probably within a margin of safety somewhere. I have one pack that came off the charger with one cell at 4.20V and the other at 4.18V. Whereas my second pack, both cells at 4.20V immediately after the charge.

I have no idea how many MAH are going into the packs or where the voltage is as it charges or anything as the TRX charger doesn't tell you anything. At the very least, the new charger will make me more informed.
 
Yes. As I understand it is supposed to balance the cells so each is equal. It is supposed to reach a balance after a couple cycles but I am also not sure if the true definition of 'balanced' is. What percentage of difference is acceptable, if any. You definitely want a charger that is accurate and has Good info available to you. It seems the dynamite will provide. :thumbs-up:
 
Nice ride, congrats!

You'll need that Castle link if you go 6s with it! There's a reason why I refer to mine as "stupid". I highly recommend a set of traxxas chevrons on geodes also....I can't keep anything else from shaking too much or simply just blowing apart.
 
Nice ride, congrats!

You'll need that Castle link if you go 6s with it! There's a reason why I refer to mine as "stupid". I highly recommend a set of traxxas chevrons on geodes also....I can't keep anything else from shaking too much or simply just blowing apart.

One of my remounted losi zombie max tires was out of balance... I really should have marked it so I could have tried disassembling and reglueing it. I threw my set of 3.8" chevrons on geodes off my savage on it today. Had a good time jumping the snow pile along the edge of a parking lot. Was intending on running in a skate park, but kids were there. Was out for probably an hour. I forgot to time the run this time, so not sure how long I was out.

I used the castle link to reset the LVC to 3.5V per cell and I run into that, then limp back to my car and call it a day. Of course, it was literally just as I was driving it to the skate park after the kids left that the LVC kicked in. In hind sight, probably saved me from breaking something. :)

With my current setup, the rear end still bottoms out pretty harshly. May go through my oils and see if I can put something a bit thicker that 60W in it. I have blue springs with 60 weight and the traxxas variable shock kit with #3 pistons on all 4 shocks. Well, blue springs rear, silver front. Otherwise, the same oil/disks inside. The front seems ok, but the back slaps the ground pretty good off a 3 foot landing.
 
I had a similar problem with my BB Revo. I went up to blues and 80 wt in it.
 
What is an ERBE?
Short hand for "e-revo brushless edition".

I have RPM arms/carriers/true-track in the mail. Couldn't wait for my b-day. Shattered an arm and axle a couple days ago 5 minutes into my run. Also busted a carrier a couple days before that on a not so smooth landing. The carrier just shattered into pieces like the arm and axle did the other day.

Carnage:
2016-1226-ERBE_BrokenCarrier.jpg

2016-1230-ERBE-CarnageArmAxleRod.jpg
 
I had a similar problem with my BB Revo. I went up to blues and 80 wt in it.
I put purple on the rear of my BB revo... it's really bouncy now. Think I'll just try a bit heavier oil in the ERBE and see how that works. It's not awful, but it does hit pretty good. With the motor towards the rear, it's a bit ass heavy like a nitro rig would be. A BB revo is a bit more so.
 
I was worried about the springiness which was why I was running 80 wt. It helped the rebound quite a bit. I didn't mind the bottoming as I am running titanium skid plates...
 

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