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New R/C Owner - Battery/Charger Query

4K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  gpipprell 
#1 ·
Just bought my son (& myself
) a Duratrax Evader ST (from Metropolitan Model & Hobby Centre - Box Hill) to replace broken $60 Toy R/C he received (and broke) on Xmas day. First ever Hobby R/C. I am amazed at the total difference in technologies between the two.

I also purchased an Ansmann ACS 67P+ Charger & two Venom 7.2V 1800Nicd battery packs.

I have to say that I am not really impressed with the life of the Venom battery.

Firstly the charger runs full charge and then completes with a trickle charge (non-selectable between full & trickle). When I first use a freshly charged battery (charged from cold, not hot) the acceleration is very good but after 5-10 minutes of running on the road and going over a few jumps the performance drops quite quickly. I am lucky to get 10 minutes of useable power before I have to run the car around for a few minutes to completely drain the battery before swapping out.

I have read on this forum about the different battery manufacturers (some are better than others) and it seems to me that the GP batteries are rather good (plus the panasonics - I think - as well).

Can I please get some comments as to what you guys & girls use and what you would recommend.

Is my charger OK, or do I need to change to a better unit which allows for full or trickle charge by the user?

I have been looking at some batteries on ebay, would these be OK or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Matched Peak GP 3300mAh NIMH 7.2V Batteries Pack 1.16V+</span>

SANYO 3300mAh NIMH 7.2V 3300 Recharge Batteries Pack</span>

The Matched Peak GP batteries are cheaper than the Sanyo's, so theoretically the Sanyo's must be better? Am I correct?

Hope someone can help because I really need to get a couple of batteries with longer life.

Cheers,

Geoff.
 
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#2 ·
Charger is fine. I got 2 of em and they do a good job.



The problem youre experiencing with battery life is just how batteries
work. they have awesome punch for the first 10 minutes or so, then the
current drops off and you start to see slower acceleration and lower
top speed.



what you want to do is find some battery packs with a high capacity
rating, such as the ones you listed. 3300-3800mah will give you plenty
of run time, but i dont think you need to go as far as running matched
cells, thats more of a competition racing thing.



more capacity means longer runtimes and longer charge times. if your motor is fairly high powered, it will shorten the run time.



anyway, a nice 3700 pack should be more than enough, but maybe get 2
for each car so one is on charge while the others get used or something.
 
#3 ·
Hi gpipprell, to say the venom packs not lasting is not entirly correct. they are only 1800mah so a 10 min run isnt that bad. Also the batteries take up to 10 cycles ( that is charge, use to flatten then charge, use etc) before they reach full capacity.I have 6 of them to run a couple of boats and i get approx 7-10 mins max


Higher capacity cells will improve your run time ie gp3700 prob get you somewhere around 20 mins ??
Not to sure on that
? New batteries are always the best choice, but if your after second hand have a look at the for sale posts. They sometimes have some near new batteries for sale only been used for a major competition.I also think Metro Hobbies have some 3000mah nimh packs there for about $45??
Their not to bad. Some of the guys over at the boat club use them no probs.


The charger you have is pretty much the basics, up a grade from what comes with most KIT CARS. Some peolpearound here have had problems with themfailing after a short amount of work, ie 20 chargers. But that been said i have one just to do the boats batteries and its working a treat.
But for my buggie in racng i use either a Supernova Competition or 3000 charger. There are other chargers around, the Swallow atsome of the online hobby shops are as low as$99.00Great value!


Anyhow hope this has been a little help.


Simon
 
#4 ·
gpipprell, you are VERY lucky to have admited you dont knowwhat your doingand posted (lots of people just open the wallet and then ask after they are broke)


the reason for the poor battery life is exactly that venoms are poor batterys yes they will get you a quick taste of RC but thye do have poor lifetime
regardless of you setup you are unlikely to get over 25-30 mins of runtime before the packs start to slow down


the best way to do batterys IMO is to get 2nd hand packs off a racer, they buy topline packs, race them for a while then sell them
for the price of the two packs you mentioned you could get very very nice matched side by side packs


two places to look for packs are
http://www.rctech.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=29
and
www.rcracer.com.au
you should be able to get some GP3300s for about 30 dollars a pack or IB3800/GP3700 for about 40-50 dollars a pack
the GP3300s are probly the best choice, 5 of these are great you will also notice a increase in speed aswell over the venoms



what plugs are you running i suggest changeing from stock plugs to "deans ultra" plugs (not generic ripp offs) because they will last foreven and not melt down you will also get a slight increase in power, also its is much easyer to get 2nd hand packs with deans plugs than it is with tamiyas and one thing you dont want to be doing is soldering battery packs (not as easy as you would think)


as for the charger yes its a fine charger it may not be a nice as a LRP pulsar compertition or CDC V6b its certainly good enough to start with


if you even want a hand with anything i am more than happy to come and give you a hand i also have a DTX evader ST amongst my collection and you have made a great choice for your first RC
 
#7 ·
Evader comes with a 20-turn motor (which is hotter than typical 27-turn Mabuchi) so it'll go faster and suck more power from the packs. Getting 5-10mins from a 1800mAh would be going well.


Does it have full ballbearings? -that helps with runtime too.


RC is very geared towards 'racing', even though its a small minority of users. Racing usually goes for 5 mins so we don't expect/need batteries to go longer than that... if you've got plenty of charge left = your car wasn't going fast enough!!


Running 3000/3300/3800+ packs will give you longer runtime but they also take longer to charge. Not uncommon to take 40-60mins to charge a 3800 even with the best charger!! NiMH also more fragile than nicad, so for kiddies its best to stick with nicad.


Buy a pack or 2 more and a 2nd charger and you'll be able to keep running continuously.


With running down to flat... its not really necessary & probably bad for the weaker cells in the pack. Run it until car slows down a bit, let it cool down then charge again.


I store my nicads uncharged; connect a 12V brakelight bulb to the pack after running and take it off when the light goes out.
 
#8 ·
zoomer said:
Evader comes with a 20-turn motor (which is hotter than typical 27-turn Mabuchi) so it'll go faster and suck more power from the packs. Getting 5-10mins from a 1800mAh would be going well.
The sales dude did say it had an upgraded [hopped or hopped up I think is the term] motor that was faster. Not sure without looking at it what it actually is.



zoomer said:
Does it have full ballbearings? -that helps with runtime too.
No idea
. What part of the r/c would these be installed into? Wheel bearings maybe?
 
#9 ·
Duratrax Evader comes in the box with a "Stinger 20t" motor (hehe, I've been studying its specs last 48hrs).


If the truck is too fast for your skills now, you can buy a "Mabuchi 540" motor from Metro which will be a little bit slower + you'll get longer run times. This'll cost you $20 or less, cheapest motor there is out there.





Ballbearings go into the wheels/axles and also for every moving part in the transmission. They reduce friction and make your car more efficient.


If you don't have ballbearings you'll have either plastic or bronze bushings. You can replace these bushings with real ballbearings.


I can't tell whether Duratrax supplies bearings or bushings.
 
#10 ·
zoomer said:
Duratrax Evader comes in the box with a "Stinger 20t" motor (hehe, I've been studying its specs last 48hrs).


If the truck is too fast for your skills now, you can buy a "Mabuchi 540" motor from Metro which will be a little bit slower + you'll get longer run times. This'll cost you $20 or less, cheapest motor there is out there.
hehe. I want it to go faster....






zoomer said:
Ballbearings go into the wheels/axles and also for every moving part in the transmission. They reduce friction and make your car more efficient.


If you don't have ballbearings you'll have either plastic or bronze bushings. You can replace these bushings with real ballbearings.


I can't tell whether Duratrax supplies bearings or bushings.
Thanks zoomer, I checked online. The ST already comes with a complete 16 piece ball bearing set.
Pretty good me thinks...
Edited by: gpipprell
 
#11 ·
faster on the stock ESC look around at www.rcracer.com.au for DnS motor sport they do some REALLY REALLY RAD 19T chamelions totaly turned and trued perfectly there 27Ts have won bassicaly eveything in the last 4 months (since they started up) and they are super cheap


the only problem with getting a rebuildable motor is brushes wear and so do comms so you will need to watch the brushes and replace them when they wear down and get teh comm cut even month or 2 (metro do it for 5 bux)
 
#12 ·
merc-blue said:
faster on the stock ESC look around at www.rcracer.com.au for DnS motor sport they do some REALLY REALLY RAD 19T chamelions totaly turned and trued perfectly there 27Ts have won bassicaly eveything in the last 4 months (since they started up) and they are super cheap


the only problem with getting a rebuildable motor is brushes wear and so do comms so you will need to watch the brushes and replace them when they wear down and get teh comm cut even month or 2 (metro do it for 5 bux)
Thanks merc-blue -
uhmmm, could I have that in english please. The only thing I understood was re the brushes wearing, the rest, nup, nada, menounderstandi...
 
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