Novak Kinetic
09-19-2010, 11:10 AM
#871
I have had mixed results with Win 7and 64 bit.
If you have problems the first thing to try is updating the .net framework from Microsoft's website. That's what it took for me.
I'm still having problems updating the ESC firmware on my 64 bit machine but the main software/settings part seems fine.
If you have problems the first thing to try is updating the .net framework from Microsoft's website. That's what it took for me.
I'm still having problems updating the ESC firmware on my 64 bit machine but the main software/settings part seems fine.
09-19-2010, 12:40 PM
#872
Tech Adept
Adnan
09-19-2010, 12:48 PM
#873
Tech Adept
I have had mixed results with Win 7and 64 bit.
If you have problems the first thing to try is updating the .net framework from Microsoft's website. That's what it took for me.
I'm still having problems updating the ESC firmware on my 64 bit machine but the main software/settings part seems fine.
If you have problems the first thing to try is updating the .net framework from Microsoft's website. That's what it took for me.
I'm still having problems updating the ESC firmware on my 64 bit machine but the main software/settings part seems fine.
Plug the esc into the Nova Link and when the updater software prompts you to plug the esc into the Nova Link the just short the red wire together and hold them until the updater process is complete
Hopefully this will work for you.
Call our cs department and they will send you a replacement input harness.
We are working on updating our Novak link firmware and the updater software to work with 64 bit systems.
Adnan
09-20-2010, 01:25 AM
#875
Tech Regular
I ran with my TC5R and Kinetic with 17.5 indoors at the weekend. A lot of the settings I used where based on ed517's recommendations so thanks for that.
I ended up with the following settings (from memory and will check later);
FDR; 6.97 (on a Ballistic 17.5)
Drag brake; 3
Min Drive; 15
Timing; 55 with boost on
Start; 6000 end 12000
Current limiter; 1
The car was quick but moving the physical motor timing to 32.5(1/2 way to first line) made all the difference. Although temps did get to 74 degrees C
It was agreed that my car was the fastest in 17.5 and my timings would have put me 5th in the A final for 10.5!!
The speedo was a joy to program during the day - I now have complete confidence in the Novalink applying my changes and while others around me struggled with programming their GM120's (as they don't have a rocket science degree!!) the Kinetic and Novalink were great.
Planning on playing with the current limiter and a few other things next time as I do believe there is more speed in it yet!!
I ended up with the following settings (from memory and will check later);
FDR; 6.97 (on a Ballistic 17.5)
Drag brake; 3
Min Drive; 15
Timing; 55 with boost on
Start; 6000 end 12000
Current limiter; 1
The car was quick but moving the physical motor timing to 32.5(1/2 way to first line) made all the difference. Although temps did get to 74 degrees C
It was agreed that my car was the fastest in 17.5 and my timings would have put me 5th in the A final for 10.5!!
The speedo was a joy to program during the day - I now have complete confidence in the Novalink applying my changes and while others around me struggled with programming their GM120's (as they don't have a rocket science degree!!) the Kinetic and Novalink were great.
Planning on playing with the current limiter and a few other things next time as I do believe there is more speed in it yet!!
09-20-2010, 12:39 PM
#876
I ran with my TC5R and Kinetic with 17.5 indoors at the weekend. A lot of the settings I used where based on ed517's recommendations so thanks for that.
I ended up with the following settings (from memory and will check later);
FDR; 6.97 (on a Ballistic 17.5)
Drag brake; 3
Min Drive; 15
Timing; 55 with boost on
Start; 6000 end 12000
Current limiter; 1
The car was quick but moving the physical motor timing to 32.5(1/2 way to first line) made all the difference. Although temps did get to 74 degrees C
It was agreed that my car was the fastest in 17.5 and my timings would have put me 5th in the A final for 10.5!!
The speedo was a joy to program during the day - I now have complete confidence in the Novalink applying my changes and while others around me struggled with programming their GM120's (as they don't have a rocket science degree!!) the Kinetic and Novalink were great.
Planning on playing with the current limiter and a few other things next time as I do believe there is more speed in it yet!!
I ended up with the following settings (from memory and will check later);
FDR; 6.97 (on a Ballistic 17.5)
Drag brake; 3
Min Drive; 15
Timing; 55 with boost on
Start; 6000 end 12000
Current limiter; 1
The car was quick but moving the physical motor timing to 32.5(1/2 way to first line) made all the difference. Although temps did get to 74 degrees C
It was agreed that my car was the fastest in 17.5 and my timings would have put me 5th in the A final for 10.5!!
The speedo was a joy to program during the day - I now have complete confidence in the Novalink applying my changes and while others around me struggled with programming their GM120's (as they don't have a rocket science degree!!) the Kinetic and Novalink were great.
Planning on playing with the current limiter and a few other things next time as I do believe there is more speed in it yet!!
glad we got u in the ball park. try raising the end rpm a tiny bit to help with temps. also if you havent dne it yet,wire your fan to the battery +and-. you may also be under geared as well, but you know ur track better than i do.its just a thought? i assume u got the win in 17.5?good stuff. i cant wait till carpet season starts around here.....
09-20-2010, 03:58 PM
#877
Novak Kinetic...one racers review.
I was given the opportunity at the 2010 IIC race to take a Novak Kinetic for a test drive for the entire weekend. This presented itself when I simply went over to the Novak booth where both Charlie and Bob Novak had been sitting and asked a few questions about what makes their speed control better or worse compared to the others out in the general race population.
I have been fortunate enough to know Bob Novak since he used to haul that big spectrum analyzer around to races to check for incorrect transmitter signals, although I never really have forgiven him for taking me out in front of the drivers stand at the 1988 US Indoor Championships at Cleveland...........in the F main...........but that’s another story, lol.
After a little more small talk, such as, if my T1 was still covered under warranty? What’s Tyree Phillips doing now? They finally got tired of me and Charlie said the best way to see what the Kinetic is all about is give one a try. So we went over to his pit, he took one out of the box, flashed the software, loaded my notebook with the operating program, gave me a NovaLink and said "give this a try, if you have any questions ask, and whatever you do...NEVER HAVE THE BATTERY PLUGGED INTO THE SPEED CONTROL WHEN YOU DO ANY PROGRAMING!"
I installed the Kinetic into my car in short order, but first had to check a few things out such as weight balance, positioning, wire routing, switch location, things that you would normally do to your car to try for best performance.
My first observation was, as my friends like to call it, the beer can sized capacitor is still present, which posses a few challenges on where to mount this unusually large item. For the short term I re-routed the wires and mounted it on top of the heat sink since I would not be using the fan for the classes that I would be running. The good news is that due to new technology Novak now offers a better capacitor which is about one third the size of the original unit. I think that all the newest units will come with this now.
My second observation was when I went to balance the car for left/right and total weight, the Kinetic as it turns out came in lighter over my previous speed control, so a lot of weight re-distribution was required, a nice surprise and worth the effort.
Another difference is the switch and receiver wiring is not a permanent item as in so many of the other speed controls. It came with a couple of different length receiver wires so one doesn't have to content with large coils of excess wires to make the install look half decent. One nice thing about this option is when you have to connect to the NovaLink you no longer have to pull the plug out of the receiver but can remove the plug at the speed control instead, which has a better feel for removal and re-install.
Although there is a terminal for power for the fan when on board the speed control, for stock class we usually have a fan mounted blowing towards the motor instead and decided that connecting to the capacitor leads made for a clean install that also kept the fan running after speed runs, while sitting in tech. Although we never really got outrages motor temps, this method made the motor cool to the touch by the time we got back to the pits.
Setup to the transmitter was pretty straight forward as long as you read the instructions, take note that the set button is pushed the first and only time after power up, unlike other speed controls that require the set button pushed after each stage of the throttle setup. (Neutral, full throttle, full brake) Another thing to note is that its recommended that the transmitter high and low end point be set at 100% of 100% and not 150% if your transmitter is capable of that. Charlie said that going past the 100% has been known to cause issues with this speed control.
First time on the track for the initial shake down run, get a feel on what the response is like, brakes, does it cog? Does it have too much punch? Since my initial speed control had a few problems that I was trying to drive around I was less than prepared for the responsiveness of the Kinetic. Basically over shooting corners and thinking I required more drag brakes than the basic setup, and then thinking I required more punch coming out of the corners.
Now was the time to adjust the Kinetic. Talk to Charlie to see what some of the changes do. Try to modify the throttle curve to better suit the track layout, get smoother on the trigger.
How does this Nova Link work, can I do this with the One-touch programming? One question quickly came to mind when I talked to Charlie about the whole one-touch system, that was, "when do you get too many options via a switch?" The Kinetic is capable of access to 17 different options, almost too many. I have used other speed controls that usually give you a very basic ability to change options via the on board button and then a link is required to your notebook to get more in depth changes. Not the Kinetic, either method gives you access to full programming. Myself, I found it a lot easier to use the NovaLink and notebook to see what I was doing, rather than counting LEDs. A nice option though as I believe another Kinetic user at the race required a track side change and used the One-touch method.
I use a small notebook for programming and the first thing I noticed was when I fired up the NovaLink was that the front page was extremely larger than the screen I have and a key instruction for the interface appears at the very bottom of the screen shot. Not a big deal, and once you get used to that part of the software it becomes automatic on what steps you need to do to get to the next screen for more in depth programming.
Once you get into the programming mode a lot of it is personal preference for whatever track you’re running on, but one nice option is on the advanced page, the “Timing rpm Defaults” when selected to what your motor and power source you are using takes some of the guessing out of the equation.
Another nice option is, as you drag over the different option boxes, to the right a very good description of what those options do, pops up and really takes some of the guess work out of making those adjustments.
When you go to the “modified throttle curve” it brings up a graph which initially is a linear line, but the points on the graph can be grabbed and moved up and down to customize your throttle feel. Above the line would produce more punch, below softens the bottom end. The brake curve can be manipulated the same way, but at this point I haven’t changed this from a linear setting, but I can see how this could be beneficial for off road.
If you feel like you have to make adjustments over the recommended values, the adjustments can be changed by 0.1 increments which is really fine tuning over others that use coarser adjustments.
In order to get a good feel you have to adjust a couple of different items that all seem to work in conjunction with each other, when combined make for a really smooth feel. Although it feels slow in reality the lap times are better as you don’t feel like your rushed in the corners so you can concentrate on a tighter consistent line.
The items that affect the car the most are as follow;
Minimum Drive – the bigger the number the more punch the car has. (As soon as trigger is pulled.)
Custom Throttle Curve – above more punch, below less punch. (As the car is rolling.)
RPM select/Timing set point – this RPM number really helps bring on the dynamic timing sooner that moves the car on exit out of corners.
Boost Delay – this in combination with the timing set point when combined correctly smoothes the car coming out of the corner, so it’s not violent or uncontrollable but a really smooth transition to a hard acceleration.
All of the custom settings can be saved so you can switch back and forth between settings and quickly load the one that works the best at the end of the day.
Setting “Timing Level” to 0 takes you to the new ROAR stock setting, but unlike many of the other speed controls out there, this one has no flashing LED.
Overall the combination of the Kinetic and the NovaLink seems to be as capable and tunable as any of other brands that are out there but Novak has simplified a bit of the black magic of tuning speed controls.
2010 IIC setups
Both on EPIC DUO2 motor.
Motor timing 28*
Stock FDR 3.95 final temp 130*
Super Stock 5.49 final temp 171*
The final test was going back to my home track, having many hours of track time, and knowing a good working FDR, the usual final motor temp in stock would come off at about 160*. To date my FDR has decreased by several points and the temp has stayed at 130*with competitive lap times. More testing to be done, but all in all this looks very promising.
Thanks to Novak, Bob and Charlie for giving me the chance to try this outstanding product.
Gary Lanzer
I have been fortunate enough to know Bob Novak since he used to haul that big spectrum analyzer around to races to check for incorrect transmitter signals, although I never really have forgiven him for taking me out in front of the drivers stand at the 1988 US Indoor Championships at Cleveland...........in the F main...........but that’s another story, lol.
After a little more small talk, such as, if my T1 was still covered under warranty? What’s Tyree Phillips doing now? They finally got tired of me and Charlie said the best way to see what the Kinetic is all about is give one a try. So we went over to his pit, he took one out of the box, flashed the software, loaded my notebook with the operating program, gave me a NovaLink and said "give this a try, if you have any questions ask, and whatever you do...NEVER HAVE THE BATTERY PLUGGED INTO THE SPEED CONTROL WHEN YOU DO ANY PROGRAMING!"
I installed the Kinetic into my car in short order, but first had to check a few things out such as weight balance, positioning, wire routing, switch location, things that you would normally do to your car to try for best performance.
My first observation was, as my friends like to call it, the beer can sized capacitor is still present, which posses a few challenges on where to mount this unusually large item. For the short term I re-routed the wires and mounted it on top of the heat sink since I would not be using the fan for the classes that I would be running. The good news is that due to new technology Novak now offers a better capacitor which is about one third the size of the original unit. I think that all the newest units will come with this now.
My second observation was when I went to balance the car for left/right and total weight, the Kinetic as it turns out came in lighter over my previous speed control, so a lot of weight re-distribution was required, a nice surprise and worth the effort.
Another difference is the switch and receiver wiring is not a permanent item as in so many of the other speed controls. It came with a couple of different length receiver wires so one doesn't have to content with large coils of excess wires to make the install look half decent. One nice thing about this option is when you have to connect to the NovaLink you no longer have to pull the plug out of the receiver but can remove the plug at the speed control instead, which has a better feel for removal and re-install.
Although there is a terminal for power for the fan when on board the speed control, for stock class we usually have a fan mounted blowing towards the motor instead and decided that connecting to the capacitor leads made for a clean install that also kept the fan running after speed runs, while sitting in tech. Although we never really got outrages motor temps, this method made the motor cool to the touch by the time we got back to the pits.
Setup to the transmitter was pretty straight forward as long as you read the instructions, take note that the set button is pushed the first and only time after power up, unlike other speed controls that require the set button pushed after each stage of the throttle setup. (Neutral, full throttle, full brake) Another thing to note is that its recommended that the transmitter high and low end point be set at 100% of 100% and not 150% if your transmitter is capable of that. Charlie said that going past the 100% has been known to cause issues with this speed control.
First time on the track for the initial shake down run, get a feel on what the response is like, brakes, does it cog? Does it have too much punch? Since my initial speed control had a few problems that I was trying to drive around I was less than prepared for the responsiveness of the Kinetic. Basically over shooting corners and thinking I required more drag brakes than the basic setup, and then thinking I required more punch coming out of the corners.
Now was the time to adjust the Kinetic. Talk to Charlie to see what some of the changes do. Try to modify the throttle curve to better suit the track layout, get smoother on the trigger.
How does this Nova Link work, can I do this with the One-touch programming? One question quickly came to mind when I talked to Charlie about the whole one-touch system, that was, "when do you get too many options via a switch?" The Kinetic is capable of access to 17 different options, almost too many. I have used other speed controls that usually give you a very basic ability to change options via the on board button and then a link is required to your notebook to get more in depth changes. Not the Kinetic, either method gives you access to full programming. Myself, I found it a lot easier to use the NovaLink and notebook to see what I was doing, rather than counting LEDs. A nice option though as I believe another Kinetic user at the race required a track side change and used the One-touch method.
I use a small notebook for programming and the first thing I noticed was when I fired up the NovaLink was that the front page was extremely larger than the screen I have and a key instruction for the interface appears at the very bottom of the screen shot. Not a big deal, and once you get used to that part of the software it becomes automatic on what steps you need to do to get to the next screen for more in depth programming.
Once you get into the programming mode a lot of it is personal preference for whatever track you’re running on, but one nice option is on the advanced page, the “Timing rpm Defaults” when selected to what your motor and power source you are using takes some of the guessing out of the equation.
Another nice option is, as you drag over the different option boxes, to the right a very good description of what those options do, pops up and really takes some of the guess work out of making those adjustments.
When you go to the “modified throttle curve” it brings up a graph which initially is a linear line, but the points on the graph can be grabbed and moved up and down to customize your throttle feel. Above the line would produce more punch, below softens the bottom end. The brake curve can be manipulated the same way, but at this point I haven’t changed this from a linear setting, but I can see how this could be beneficial for off road.
If you feel like you have to make adjustments over the recommended values, the adjustments can be changed by 0.1 increments which is really fine tuning over others that use coarser adjustments.
In order to get a good feel you have to adjust a couple of different items that all seem to work in conjunction with each other, when combined make for a really smooth feel. Although it feels slow in reality the lap times are better as you don’t feel like your rushed in the corners so you can concentrate on a tighter consistent line.
The items that affect the car the most are as follow;
Minimum Drive – the bigger the number the more punch the car has. (As soon as trigger is pulled.)
Custom Throttle Curve – above more punch, below less punch. (As the car is rolling.)
RPM select/Timing set point – this RPM number really helps bring on the dynamic timing sooner that moves the car on exit out of corners.
Boost Delay – this in combination with the timing set point when combined correctly smoothes the car coming out of the corner, so it’s not violent or uncontrollable but a really smooth transition to a hard acceleration.
All of the custom settings can be saved so you can switch back and forth between settings and quickly load the one that works the best at the end of the day.
Setting “Timing Level” to 0 takes you to the new ROAR stock setting, but unlike many of the other speed controls out there, this one has no flashing LED.
Overall the combination of the Kinetic and the NovaLink seems to be as capable and tunable as any of other brands that are out there but Novak has simplified a bit of the black magic of tuning speed controls.
2010 IIC setups
Both on EPIC DUO2 motor.
Motor timing 28*
Stock FDR 3.95 final temp 130*
Super Stock 5.49 final temp 171*
The final test was going back to my home track, having many hours of track time, and knowing a good working FDR, the usual final motor temp in stock would come off at about 160*. To date my FDR has decreased by several points and the temp has stayed at 130*with competitive lap times. More testing to be done, but all in all this looks very promising.
Thanks to Novak, Bob and Charlie for giving me the chance to try this outstanding product.
Gary Lanzer
09-20-2010, 06:33 PM
#878
very informative post Gary. welcome to the club.......
09-21-2010, 01:14 AM
#879
Tech Regular
glad we got u in the ball park. try raising the end rpm a tiny bit to help with temps. also if you havent dne it yet,wire your fan to the battery +and-. you may also be under geared as well, but you know ur track better than i do.its just a thought? i assume u got the win in 17.5?good stuff. i cant wait till carpet season starts around here.....
Agree that my gearing was not spot on as I was playing about with the gearing and the minimum drive all day. It is very tempting to put the min drive up to 15 and use a bigger pinion when I think I could go down on min drive and use a smaller pinion.
But definitely very happy with the first outing in 17.5!
09-21-2010, 07:32 AM
#880
Won the first final, second in the second. 17.5 is good close racing I have to say and I clipped a few corners in the second final - can't blame that on the Kinetic! The thing that I liked was how smooth the Kinetic was with the timing at 55 and boost on the car just kept getting faster - totally different to some of the speedos the other guys were using which had a noticable turbo kick and seemed harder to drive.
Agree that my gearing was not spot on as I was playing about with the gearing and the minimum drive all day. It is very tempting to put the min drive up to 15 and use a bigger pinion when I think I could go down on min drive and use a smaller pinion.
But definitely very happy with the first outing in 17.5!
Agree that my gearing was not spot on as I was playing about with the gearing and the minimum drive all day. It is very tempting to put the min drive up to 15 and use a bigger pinion when I think I could go down on min drive and use a smaller pinion.
But definitely very happy with the first outing in 17.5!
09-21-2010, 05:29 PM
#881
2010 IIC setups
Both on EPIC DUO2 motor.
Motor timing 28*
Stock FDR 3.95 final temp 130*
Super Stock 5.49 final temp 171*
The final test was going back to my home track, having many hours of track time, and knowing a good working FDR, the usual final motor temp in stock would come off at about 160*. To date my FDR has decreased by several points and the temp has stayed at 130*with competitive lap times. More testing to be done, but all in all this looks very promising.
Thanks to Novak, Bob and Charlie for giving me the chance to try this outstanding product.
Gary Lanzer
Both on EPIC DUO2 motor.
Motor timing 28*
Stock FDR 3.95 final temp 130*
Super Stock 5.49 final temp 171*
The final test was going back to my home track, having many hours of track time, and knowing a good working FDR, the usual final motor temp in stock would come off at about 160*. To date my FDR has decreased by several points and the temp has stayed at 130*with competitive lap times. More testing to be done, but all in all this looks very promising.
Thanks to Novak, Bob and Charlie for giving me the chance to try this outstanding product.
Gary Lanzer
I find that having such a low 'ceiling' stresses me out, as I reach those temps quickly. My FDR is around 5.0 on RCGT and I would like to add two more cogs to get me around 4.7 or so. I am not as fast as others due to the smaller pinion. I cannot get there due to temps.
09-21-2010, 06:54 PM
#882
Very nice write-up Gary. My observation is the Super Stock temps. Novak says via their web site to keep it below 165 or so (maybe it is 175). That is really close to DAMAGE to internals.
I find that having such a low 'ceiling' stresses me out, as I reach those temps quickly. My FDR is around 5.0 on RCGT and I would like to add two more cogs to get me around 4.7 or so. I am not as fast as others due to the smaller pinion. I cannot get there due to temps.
I find that having such a low 'ceiling' stresses me out, as I reach those temps quickly. My FDR is around 5.0 on RCGT and I would like to add two more cogs to get me around 4.7 or so. I am not as fast as others due to the smaller pinion. I cannot get there due to temps.
You should easily be able to get to 4.7 with 17.5 ballistic. There are a couple of guys running 4.5FDR with a havoc pro and temps in the 130's after 10+ minutes. I am assuming RCGT is no timing in the speedo?
09-21-2010, 07:17 PM
#883
Get an X12 motor from LRP. They are running 212F with no problems.
You should easily be able to get to 4.7 with 17.5 ballistic. There are a couple of guys running 4.5FDR with a havoc pro and temps in the 130's after 10+ minutes. I am assuming RCGT is no timing in the speedo?
You should easily be able to get to 4.7 with 17.5 ballistic. There are a couple of guys running 4.5FDR with a havoc pro and temps in the 130's after 10+ minutes. I am assuming RCGT is no timing in the speedo?
Don't know what the issue was, but we run on asphalt outside. Large track with lots of motor revving on long straight and shicanes. I think the 'on the throttle' most of the time puts that extra load on the motors. We all are experiencing higher temps on hotter days.
I was handicapped due to the internal temp limits of Havoc. Now that I have moved over to LRP with a higher temp ceiling, I can move to that larger pinion.
Last edited by oldpugva; 09-22-2010 at 02:43 PM.
09-22-2010, 05:03 PM
#884
Anyone do much testing without the big cap on there? I'm considering trying the little Tekin ones or just going completely without it, I think my cars would be fine, the hottest motor I run is a 7.5. I know when I used to run Tekin stuff I had mine break off and went the whole night without it and experienced no negative side effects.
09-22-2010, 07:33 PM
#885
Anyone do much testing without the big cap on there? I'm considering trying the little Tekin ones or just going completely without it, I think my cars would be fine, the hottest motor I run is a 7.5. I know when I used to run Tekin stuff I had mine break off and went the whole night without it and experienced no negative side effects.