Well, I went to the track with the Mayhem/Sensor today and it was just a blast. The radio functions great; no interference, great signal strength, and really good erogonmics. I'm getting used to the fit and finish and in retrospect, it's actually pretty good. The look and feel of the buttons takes getting used to and was probably why I thought at first the fit and finish wasn't that great.
Telemetry part is just fantastic; especially the temperature part. I was running a new engine and broke it in and began running it for real today. It was great having the temperature availalbe real time; gave much more confidence in running the thing and making sure that I didn't ruin it. Plus, I didn't have to worry about pulling into the pit to temp check; just run and run and run and glance at the telemetry. What rocks most is that the radio shows and maximum that was recorded to so you can have a good idea of how stressed your engine is running.
I really like the battery checks on the thing too so you get to watch your reciever battery voltage. I ran the car for 3 hours straight then say that the voltage on the reciever was beginning to sag so I brought it in for safety. It's great!
Here's some observations; the running temperature of the engine is about 10 to 15F lower than the engine of the temperature left to idle for about 20 seconds after running. For example, if your running your buggy, the head temp on the Nomadio will read say 200F; if you crash or just let the thing idle for a 10 to 15 seconds, the head temp will increase about 10 to 15F. In fact, the longer you idle the buggy after running, the higher the head temperature will get, eventually reading about 25F higher than what the running head temp is. So, for those guys running the infrared temp sensors, you'll get different readings depending on how long you wait after stopping the buggy for a temp check.
When the engine begins to lean out from lack of fuel, you'll definitely see running head temperature increase by about 15F. When the engine dies, the head temp will immediately begin dropping; and it'll drop nearly 70F in the first 1 to 2 minutes (the time it takes for you to walk to get the buggy and return to the pits).
Oh - here's a suggestions; don't mount head temperature sensors where it'll be in the air stream. The readings will come out nearly 40F lower than what the lower head that's not directly in the air streams reads at! My temp sensor was originally reading 160F and I had the buggy running really well so I knew that couldn't be a right reading. After I placed it lower on the head and away from the direct air stream, the reading came at 200F while running which made more sense.
I also have a speed/tachnometer attached and it's useful to see how the buggy is performing as you adjust the engine. Gives you a max speed, too, so you get to giggle at how fast you went on the straights.
The transciever is a bit smaller than my JR FM reciever so fitting it in both the hyper and mayhem was no problem.
I really like this radio and I'm glad I purchased the thing. It does cost a lot but hey, this hobby is all about spending money anyway. Oh - and I like that short antenna coming out of the buggy, too
And Yes - my radio system costs more than my 2 buggies put together. Sheesh....
. I keep telling myself it's the driver and not the buggy, hehe. Anyway, I'm home now and was fondling the radio late last night. I'm gonna skip out of work early today to go set up the buggies with the sensor for practice tomorrow. It's great to be a federal employee. I'll write more as I keep on going.
