Electric 1/8th Scale conversion kits.

[happywing]

Hey guys,

Had an interesting day yesterday. I went to a race that was categorized as a "nitro-only" race. I asked the race director to run and he said "as long as your quiet about it." I said, "of course, it's electric!" I knew what he really meant, but it's not like it's going to be a secret for long. Most didn't care, but this is the first race where I've been verbally assaulted. Let's see: I was told to "get a real buggy." During a tie-up in a race, a person (a great driver who I used to respect) told me to "get your piece-of-shit-electric off the track." I was also called "cheater," but I'll take that as a compliment. What's strange about this is the "piece-of-shit" comment was the only one from someone I know. The other comments came from strangers...I replied to none of them.

The racing was great. I Qualified 7th in a large field for the 30 minute A-main. It was my first 30 minute race and thought the 8000mah MaxAmps packs would do the trick. In 3rd place with 3 minutes to go, I ran out of juice. Many in the nitro crowd were thrilled with this development. Despite this, I was very happy with the run. 27 minutes straight with no issues. It took a minute or two to get my buggy, but when I did, motor temp was 160 and ESC temp was 144.

[RURC]

We better start getting used to it. I have been hearing it for years. The nitro nazis are out and they have a big attitude. On a better note I have been gettign 40 and better runs on the 10k Max Amps batteries without that much added weight. But they will not fit in an 8k battery tray. But things are in the works for that.

[Cain]

I'll have to take another look again. How snug should the 8000mah pack be in the tray?

I'll have to give your settings a try badassrevo. What I have is really nice though. Cogging really is non-existant unless I make it do it basically. I also pulled my throttle curve down a bit (making a curve) at the 40 point. I also have software version 1.09, anyone noticing a difference with this versus version 1.07?

For the capacitor mod, what is the Voltage on the cap (ie- 1000mf 16V , etc). I may give that I shot.

I wonder if Castle Creations Mamba Monster Max will be a similar speedo with venting, an attached fan, and extra caps over the current setup installed with optional external BEC? Anyone heard anymore on the Speedo?

[DJ1978]

Originally Posted by lbz34

Had the first outing on the Brusless lipo EL8 today. Did ok in the 5 min mains, motor temps of about 140 ish, speedo about the same. Had a bit of cogging, nothing I couldnt deal with. Car is insane. Smokes the Nitros with ease. Its not even funny how fast this thing comes on. Rode the wing all the way down the straight a few times, way over jumped the big double waaayyy too often. At least the small crowd was cheering.

Now the bad. The speedo is done for. It popped out of the plastic case on the main. When you plug it in now it just lights up all 3 lights and makes a horrible noise. No throttle at all. no blinking lights just all 3 lights lit and a squeal sound.

RC products motor mount had some issues. Bottom mount holes were not deep enough on one hole and the threads were not very clean even with anti sieze, had to cut one screw about half way down to get it in all the way. Top of the mount only caught about two threads and both those holes are stripped now.

Front of battery tray is no longer there. Busted it off on a lawn dart landing.

Phillips motor screws come loose, replaced with allen heads still loosening up on me.

Everything is loctited or super glued, many many times to try and keep things tight for 2 5 min quals and a 15 min main.

I love the conversion but I definitely have some problems with a few of the parts.


Any suggestions on getting this thing repaired back together for next weekend?

Lots of local guys are asking about the conversion. Easy stuff to sell when you can outrun a nitro that has half a straight on you while you are on the bumper!!!!


Heres the setup

Losi 8
Neu 1.5 d/f
11T pinion
Mamba max
Novak BEC
Maxamps 4s 6k MaH


Heres the Max settings

Brake 25%
Punch control 80%
Timing Lowest
Start Low
Throttle pulled all the way down 0-30% then linear up to 100%

I ended backing a bunch of EPA out of the throttle in the main to help get this thing tamed a bit.


For anybody that is on the fence about this I would say jump in, Its hard to describe the power of these things. You nail it it squats balloons the front tires and puts the buggy on the bumper at the same time wooping the nitros.

Please send your Motor mount back and will check it out and either fix or replace it right away.
As far as the battery tray.. I can't say much. the force we are seeing when you lawn dart your vehicle or run head on into some solid object is obviously too much for the tray as the battery rams the front of the box.
I have changed the design to hopefully eliminate the problem.
I ran my car into a concrete stop sign base. We looked at the damage and estimated it with a computer program at 18 tons of pressure.

I am constantly refining the kits based on feed back I have been recieving. We all are in uncharted territory with the speed and power we are seeing with these vehicles.
Dan

[badassrevo]

Velcro on the battery and in the tray will eliminate the battery tray breakage.

[lbz34]

Thanks Dan I will get it sent in to you sometime this week. I ordered some gorilla straps and I am going to get some velcro. I have the battery zip tied in the front now since the front side is gone lol. It is working rather well.

This morning I pluged in the battery and got a blinking green light on the mamba for about 5 secs. I was hopeful but then all three lights came on and the squeal sound was back. Its comming from the motor, but I think it is the speedo freaking out. Ordered a new speedo so I can run while this one goes back to get fixed. Can't wait to get this thing dialed, it is sure nice to be back on electric.

[badassrevo]

I am sending in two Mamba's today. I hope they come back soon.

[Cain]

Mine setup came with foam padding around the inside of the tray to snug things up nicely. I think this basically will do the same thing as the velcro other than giving another ancor point. I may go with another velcro strap overtop to be extra snug, but I am very happy so far.

The buggy was setup with a nice fan blowing into the ESC from the rear (ESC is mounted on the mud guard). Is, it better to have it blowing going from front to back instead of back to front or does it even matter since the body is pretty sealed up at that location?

I got my balancer in, liposack should be here any day now. Will see how it goes.

I got a second mamba max here from my T4, was planning to sell it but I may hold on to it just in case.

[lbz34]

castle's site is saying 4-6 weeks for repairs.

[plumslow]

In my 8ight T the 1515 2.5D/F runs well with 4S. I am running ~ 13-14 and with the 13 I am as fast as the Nitros. I have run a 17 but it is too hard to shut down at the end of the straight. It will really haul with the 17. I like the Neu very well but it does still cog some.

The Cap I am running is a 35 volt 1000uF from Radio Shack.

[Bobby Gately]

Just to give you guys an update on my RC8 conversion. I finished my engineering drawings for the motor mount plate and the center diff stiffening plate for the RC8 I will drop them off at the machine shop in the morning and I should have prototypes to test with on wednesday afternoon. I will be working on the battery mounting system this evening and tomorrow. If I give them the go on production parts and finalise the battery mounts, I will be able to ship RC8 conversions very soon. Let me know if you guys are interested.

[IR13]

Better send some spare parts with the RC8 conversion hearing people are breaking and loosing hinge pins like crazy.

[lbz34]

I was going to buy the rc8 but after looking at some of the components i decided to stay with the losi. Some of the rc8 stuff looked like it might be vulnerable to everything. The losi is a tank.

[air8]

Is it better to throw the juice at the motors with a 4s battery, or use a 3s and make up for the punch with gearing? I'm trying to learn all I can before making the switch. Thanx guys.

[level-4]

Originally Posted by air8

Is it better to throw the juice at the motors with a 4s battery, or use a 3s and make up for the punch with gearing? I'm trying to learn all I can before making the switch. Thanx guys.

everyone i race with runs 4cell.