x-5
03-30-2008, 10:05 PM
#31
Here's some pics of how I put a GTB system in last year, with NiMH cells: X - 5 with Brushless and NiMH. I'm currently running LiPo's (SMC 5000's) - have been since January - but it does take some quick dremel work to mount them. I ground the battery post bosses on the right side of the car (4 cell side) flat, lay the batter in there (it just fits), and mounted the two posts around the battery. I then dremeled up a quick hold down strap out of some scrap material, and that's worked great so far. With the LiPo in, I mounted the GTB behind the motor for better balance, right on top of where the two cells went. I really need to get some pics of this set up; I don't have a camera but I'll try to source one up.
04-02-2008, 01:58 AM
#33
Tech Rookie
my new x5 squard
I was thinking of putting in an mamba 5700, what do you guys think? also what kind of lipo packs are you guy using, would love to see some pic of all your x-5s.
thanks for the help
thanks for the help
04-02-2008, 05:36 AM
#34
Hey Paul! I'd only wish EFRA allowed LiPos as well already! 
I figured it would have to be a stick on the right side to get balance yes. But as to total weight, you could go down on the Amps. 5000 LiPo's like 7000 mAh NiMH cells!
(40% longer effective runtime).
Did you test with smaller cells for less overall weight? Or is it already on the limit as is?
As to the original question in this post I'd like to say: There are today mostly good cars to buy, they all perform great. And prices are lower than ever before. And a winner is a winner more or less with any brand in my opinion. But X-Factory stands out in the way that ALL drivers all around the globe are really part of the family. These guys actually listen to what you say, and make improvements from the input given. It's all "open source coding" with these guys! When the squared came I was like "Hey! They've actually..."
*APPLAUSE*
I figured it would have to be a stick on the right side to get balance yes. But as to total weight, you could go down on the Amps. 5000 LiPo's like 7000 mAh NiMH cells!
(40% longer effective runtime).Did you test with smaller cells for less overall weight? Or is it already on the limit as is?
As to the original question in this post I'd like to say: There are today mostly good cars to buy, they all perform great. And prices are lower than ever before. And a winner is a winner more or less with any brand in my opinion. But X-Factory stands out in the way that ALL drivers all around the globe are really part of the family. These guys actually listen to what you say, and make improvements from the input given. It's all "open source coding" with these guys! When the squared came I was like "Hey! They've actually..."
*APPLAUSE*
04-02-2008, 10:59 AM
#35
04-02-2008, 01:08 PM
#36
mnracer - like Sport10 said, the best route to an X - 5 squared is probably to find a used XX4 (usually found for ~$80) and buy the conversion kit ($229) and you have a nice mostly-new 4wheeler for just over $300. Of course there are used ones for sale around, so keep your eyes open if you don't mind used.
moptrf - I think a mamba system would fit fine, but personally have no experience with them so can't guarantee anything. That said, its not a big deal to install a Novak system, and the mambas are smaller than that, aren't they? I keep saying I'm going to get a pic of my X - 5 to post on here with the Lipos in it; I'm still working on that amongst all the other end-of-semester school stuff.
shy - Yeah, EFRA needs to catch up! But what are you going to do... I'm running the soft-case SMC 5000 22C Lipo cells, and they fit pretty snug right behind the servo to the end of the chassis. I did run the Orion hard case 4800 pack for the JConcepts Clash A main (which was 10 minutes long and I wasn't sure my IB4200's would make it), and those fit fine as well. I haven't run any other cells mostly because the SMC's are what I've got, and because yes, my X - 5 is just under the weight limit already. My X - 5 is between 21 and 61 grams under the limit, depending on which scale you use: 21 grams under at Columbus and 61 grams under at the Cactus.
And thanks for your kind words... Chazz and I (and the rest of the team) realize that there's no way we're smarter than our entire customer base put together. So many good ideas come in from the family, suggestions of better ways to do things, new suppliers, and so on... I don't understand how a company could not listen to the input. Its a great thing we've got going... open source indeed!
moptrf - I think a mamba system would fit fine, but personally have no experience with them so can't guarantee anything. That said, its not a big deal to install a Novak system, and the mambas are smaller than that, aren't they? I keep saying I'm going to get a pic of my X - 5 to post on here with the Lipos in it; I'm still working on that amongst all the other end-of-semester school stuff.
shy - Yeah, EFRA needs to catch up! But what are you going to do... I'm running the soft-case SMC 5000 22C Lipo cells, and they fit pretty snug right behind the servo to the end of the chassis. I did run the Orion hard case 4800 pack for the JConcepts Clash A main (which was 10 minutes long and I wasn't sure my IB4200's would make it), and those fit fine as well. I haven't run any other cells mostly because the SMC's are what I've got, and because yes, my X - 5 is just under the weight limit already. My X - 5 is between 21 and 61 grams under the limit, depending on which scale you use: 21 grams under at Columbus and 61 grams under at the Cactus.
And thanks for your kind words... Chazz and I (and the rest of the team) realize that there's no way we're smarter than our entire customer base put together. So many good ideas come in from the family, suggestions of better ways to do things, new suppliers, and so on... I don't understand how a company could not listen to the input. Its a great thing we've got going... open source indeed!
04-21-2008, 07:40 PM
#37
anyone looking for a xx4 WE for their x5 conversion, ive got one for sale here----> http://rctech.net/forum/showthread.php?t=218243
04-30-2008, 02:14 PM
#38
mnracer - like Sport10 said, the best route to an X - 5 squared is probably to find a used XX4 (usually found for ~$80) and buy the conversion kit ($229) and you have a nice mostly-new 4wheeler for just over $300. Of course there are used ones for sale around, so keep your eyes open if you don't mind used.
moptrf - I think a mamba system would fit fine, but personally have no experience with them so can't guarantee anything. That said, its not a big deal to install a Novak system, and the mambas are smaller than that, aren't they? I keep saying I'm going to get a pic of my X - 5 to post on here with the Lipos in it; I'm still working on that amongst all the other end-of-semester school stuff.
shy - Yeah, EFRA needs to catch up! But what are you going to do... I'm running the soft-case SMC 5000 22C Lipo cells, and they fit pretty snug right behind the servo to the end of the chassis. I did run the Orion hard case 4800 pack for the JConcepts Clash A main (which was 10 minutes long and I wasn't sure my IB4200's would make it), and those fit fine as well. I haven't run any other cells mostly because the SMC's are what I've got, and because yes, my X - 5 is just under the weight limit already. My X - 5 is between 21 and 61 grams under the limit, depending on which scale you use: 21 grams under at Columbus and 61 grams under at the Cactus.
And thanks for your kind words... Chazz and I (and the rest of the team) realize that there's no way we're smarter than our entire customer base put together. So many good ideas come in from the family, suggestions of better ways to do things, new suppliers, and so on... I don't understand how a company could not listen to the input. Its a great thing we've got going... open source indeed!
moptrf - I think a mamba system would fit fine, but personally have no experience with them so can't guarantee anything. That said, its not a big deal to install a Novak system, and the mambas are smaller than that, aren't they? I keep saying I'm going to get a pic of my X - 5 to post on here with the Lipos in it; I'm still working on that amongst all the other end-of-semester school stuff.
shy - Yeah, EFRA needs to catch up! But what are you going to do... I'm running the soft-case SMC 5000 22C Lipo cells, and they fit pretty snug right behind the servo to the end of the chassis. I did run the Orion hard case 4800 pack for the JConcepts Clash A main (which was 10 minutes long and I wasn't sure my IB4200's would make it), and those fit fine as well. I haven't run any other cells mostly because the SMC's are what I've got, and because yes, my X - 5 is just under the weight limit already. My X - 5 is between 21 and 61 grams under the limit, depending on which scale you use: 21 grams under at Columbus and 61 grams under at the Cactus.
And thanks for your kind words... Chazz and I (and the rest of the team) realize that there's no way we're smarter than our entire customer base put together. So many good ideas come in from the family, suggestions of better ways to do things, new suppliers, and so on... I don't understand how a company could not listen to the input. Its a great thing we've got going... open source indeed!
04-30-2008, 03:23 PM
#39
I have seen an X5 with Lipo. It is just as Chazz says, you dremel the rear post mount down and the chassis pretty much traps a "standard" sized Lipo in place. It is very slick considering it was just luck that the chassis allowed it to fit (correct me if thats wrong Chazz).
04-30-2008, 03:55 PM
#40
We'll admit to some blind luck here. When the X - 5 was designed (fall 2003) the hot ticket was 3300s and the new Orion/Peak Revolution motors with the slanted brushes. We thought 7 minutes was good. Seems like forever ago...
And yes, it would be very expensive to re-design the chassis for LiPo now. We put a lot of time & money into the Squared, and it's on to the 60 now.
And yes, it would be very expensive to re-design the chassis for LiPo now. We put a lot of time & money into the Squared, and it's on to the 60 now.
05-14-2008, 12:53 AM
#41
Alrighty, so I've been home for the past few days and able to borrow Chazz's camera... Here's some pretty detailed pics on how I put LiPo in my X - 5, along with some other stuff at the end.
Please, PLEASE excuse the dirty car. It needs a complete rebuild/cleaning quite a lot, and I just haven't been able to get around to it. I figured the family would like pics of a dirty car rather than no pics and a clean car... even though I wish it was clean
.
I plan on putting this on the tech page of 4wdrc pretty soon; its easier to write a post for now. Here goes:
1. My car.
2. Body off top shot. You get the idea of how it fits in pretty quickly.
3. A little closer shot. You can see where some lead weight has fallen off and the shoo-goo is still there...
4. Battery Out. I've been running a soft-case LiPo, and so wanted to protect it from things poking through the battery slots. The lexan was just from the front part of an X - 5 wing. I guess I didn't lose the weight after all!
5. Here you can see how I dremeled on the forward battery post mount and servo post mounts in the chassis. The battery post was then mounted forward and spaced up some. I located the post spot by laying the battery in the car and then putting it where it looked good, not much science to it.
6. Here's the back of the battery area, very similar. Just a touch with the dremel here and there and everything fit well.
7. The battery strap. I made mine out of some extra Carbon Fiber that Brandon Rhode actually had at the CRCRC race (when I put the Lipo's in). It was just a scrap piece of CF anyways, I just took the dremel to it and had a strap in about 5 minutes. Make sure the front of the strap doesn't rub on the body, if you're particular about it.
8. The SMC 5000 soft-case lipo's I've been running. This has been in my X - 5 since January, running nearly every weekend. I have one of these in all my cars; they provide just super power, and I've not had a problem with the soft-case yet. I'll be putting the new 4000 hard-cases in in the near future to comply with ROAR rules. The battery does rub a small bit on the servo, so I put some tape on the end just to help protect it.
9. Here's the other side of the car, showing how my electronics are mounted. The capacitor is glued down, as it likes to pop off in hard landings. There's a piece of lexan glued over the two cell slots, and the GTB is on top of that.
10. Other fun stuff: This pic shows my belt roller in front of the drive pulley. The roller's shaft is actually a XX4 CVD front axle, with the round part cut off. The axle is the perfect diameter for a drive bearing, of course, and the little lip holds it on. The two "hat" spacers are just rear axle spacers (That go between the bearings and the drive pin). I just drilled the hole in the chassis by eye and adjusted it (file in or out as needed) as needed. The large "hat" spacers cover up the slightly-oblong hole, and clamp the whole thing tight on the chassis with a regular wheel nut on the end. Probably the hardest thing about doing this is you have to shave down one of the flanges on the drive pulley - just take your time with this and it'll come out fine.
11. Picture of my double-idler pulley set-up. I just use two regular small idler pulleys (as opposed to the larger HD idler pulley that some use), and a XXXS belt. Look at the dirt! That's accumulated over the last six months or so; like I said, this car really needs a rebuild.
Hope that satisfies! Let me know if you have any questions; I'm happy to provide the best answers I can.
Please, PLEASE excuse the dirty car. It needs a complete rebuild/cleaning quite a lot, and I just haven't been able to get around to it. I figured the family would like pics of a dirty car rather than no pics and a clean car... even though I wish it was clean
.I plan on putting this on the tech page of 4wdrc pretty soon; its easier to write a post for now. Here goes:
1. My car.
2. Body off top shot. You get the idea of how it fits in pretty quickly.
3. A little closer shot. You can see where some lead weight has fallen off and the shoo-goo is still there...
4. Battery Out. I've been running a soft-case LiPo, and so wanted to protect it from things poking through the battery slots. The lexan was just from the front part of an X - 5 wing. I guess I didn't lose the weight after all!
5. Here you can see how I dremeled on the forward battery post mount and servo post mounts in the chassis. The battery post was then mounted forward and spaced up some. I located the post spot by laying the battery in the car and then putting it where it looked good, not much science to it.
6. Here's the back of the battery area, very similar. Just a touch with the dremel here and there and everything fit well.
7. The battery strap. I made mine out of some extra Carbon Fiber that Brandon Rhode actually had at the CRCRC race (when I put the Lipo's in). It was just a scrap piece of CF anyways, I just took the dremel to it and had a strap in about 5 minutes. Make sure the front of the strap doesn't rub on the body, if you're particular about it.
8. The SMC 5000 soft-case lipo's I've been running. This has been in my X - 5 since January, running nearly every weekend. I have one of these in all my cars; they provide just super power, and I've not had a problem with the soft-case yet. I'll be putting the new 4000 hard-cases in in the near future to comply with ROAR rules. The battery does rub a small bit on the servo, so I put some tape on the end just to help protect it.
9. Here's the other side of the car, showing how my electronics are mounted. The capacitor is glued down, as it likes to pop off in hard landings. There's a piece of lexan glued over the two cell slots, and the GTB is on top of that.
10. Other fun stuff: This pic shows my belt roller in front of the drive pulley. The roller's shaft is actually a XX4 CVD front axle, with the round part cut off. The axle is the perfect diameter for a drive bearing, of course, and the little lip holds it on. The two "hat" spacers are just rear axle spacers (That go between the bearings and the drive pin). I just drilled the hole in the chassis by eye and adjusted it (file in or out as needed) as needed. The large "hat" spacers cover up the slightly-oblong hole, and clamp the whole thing tight on the chassis with a regular wheel nut on the end. Probably the hardest thing about doing this is you have to shave down one of the flanges on the drive pulley - just take your time with this and it'll come out fine.
11. Picture of my double-idler pulley set-up. I just use two regular small idler pulleys (as opposed to the larger HD idler pulley that some use), and a XXXS belt. Look at the dirt! That's accumulated over the last six months or so; like I said, this car really needs a rebuild.
Hope that satisfies! Let me know if you have any questions; I'm happy to provide the best answers I can.
05-14-2008, 08:54 AM
#42
Tech Adept
That looks great Paul!!
Like I said the detail work that goes into the cars and seeing the pics of developments is what I always loved the about the X Factory family.
Looks like the cars are really coming on well with Ellis taking round two of the BRCA Nationals!!
Keep those developments coming..
Like I said the detail work that goes into the cars and seeing the pics of developments is what I always loved the about the X Factory family.
Looks like the cars are really coming on well with Ellis taking round two of the BRCA Nationals!!
Keep those developments coming..
05-14-2008, 08:56 PM
#43
Edit
Last edited by 4times; 06-09-2008 at 06:03 PM.
05-15-2008, 04:16 PM
#44
Edit
Last edited by 4times; 06-09-2008 at 06:03 PM.
05-16-2008, 03:01 PM
#45
I was in a hurry to mount a LiPo in mine, here's a shot of my solution. I used some 1 inch wide velcro and screwed it to the chassis on each end. It holds the pack (Orion 3200) in just fine.
