wyd

iTrader: (51)

It will take alot of work I'm sure but I will say it is nice to see after all these years you are sill into R/C. Lots of changes in 25 years thats for sure. Some good and some not so good.

or8ital

iTrader: (38)

Just to be fair here. Ive seen brushed motor cars catch fire and if they were "perfected" we wouldn't still be seeing all these new brushed motors coming out. The standards are lacking but I would say around the time Novak came out with their motors the technology was pretty stable.

Again, sorry for being off topic.

RCSteve93

iTrader: (11)

Look at it this way... Everybody knows Trinity. One of my local hobby shops/tracks had Putnam Propulsion and Eurotek Motorsports motors in stock. Then they started to carry Trinity. Why? Because everybody knows and some trust Trinity. So this way a newbie that comes in, doesn't know about Putnam or Eurotek, can buy the Trinity motor instead of leaving.

Francis M.

iTrader: (2)

Yes it is, you just need to learn carb and clutch settings and you should be set for the day...

Wild Cherry

You forgot ..

You still have to get it started...

Carl Giordano

iTrader: (32)

Perhaps someone from Trinity can offer an objective review of both the EP's and IB's.

Have you noticed any difference between the two brands? IMO, the lose of Sanyo as a producer of RC cells has had a negative impact on the RC community. In exchange for added capacity, we've lost reliability...my experience with IB4200's ahve been shit...and now I just switched to EP's. Glad carpet season is short lived.

So now Trinity will be importing both...well which one should an educated consumer purchase? and why?

JtDieter

Hi Carl. The production batch of IB is due in next week. My samples have been really good, but it is hard to have a correct opinion until I have several hundred to go through. So far, my sample IB cells are slightly more voltage than the EP 46, but the IR is slightly higher. They are quite close in the car. Both have more reliability than anything else I've tested, which is a relief to us and the consumer. I have EP packs we raced at Cleveland that ran all of the gate practice, all of the official practice, the entire race, and a few runs after and havent lost much. few seconds. I'll keep you post on the production IB when I get them.

punkboy

I dunno. At 301 it was common practice to make sure the one way bearing on the 2 speed was lubed, make sure you apply grease to the clutch bearing. Check belts and pulleys for wear, cut at least 2 sets of tires for the day. Of course, as tires wear in quals you need to double check your setup...same as foam carpet racing, but tire wear seems to be greater cause of the higher speeds. Also it was very important to make sure no screws backed out anywhere. Had that bight me a couple times as well. At least this is what I normally did to try to keep up with young Vincent in the half hour mains. Cleaning the car is a bit more involved too. Had to clean it right after each race before the foam/oil mix on the pipe became too stuck to get off. Of course I'm a bit of a neat freak and prefer my stuff to be very clean. I do like the serpent putty though! That stuff is nice.

I also ran a friends car most of the time, so if I didn't keep it clean and check these things often it would make both of us look bad.

Not trying to argue with anyone, just making the point that if you want to be competitive in any form of racing, you will still have the maintenance.

FrankW

iTrader: (3)

Jim, why should I trust what you have to say? This is a serious question. You're in the business to make money. You can only make money if you sell product for a higher cost than your over-head. The way you make money is by hyping your product, saying that it's better than anyone elses and hoping people buy it. Standard business practice. You <i>could</i> be selling horse manure and passing it off as chocolate. I'm not saying that you're a bad person, but Trinity's past business practices have seemed dubious. I won't trust what you have to say.

If a reputable independant 3rd party (who doesn't make money off the sale of these cells) says, "these things are the best thing since sliced bread". Then that's a real credit to the cell, and tempt me into buying these new batteries (whether it's from Trinity, or from someone else). Currently, I don't see that happening. The latest history from IB is that their cells are unstable and dangerous. I've had a few sets of IB 4200s and was extremely disappointed with them; I bought them because I was very happy with my IB 3800s and thought the 4200s could only be better, I was wrong. Add that to the reports of SMC rejecting the new 4600s because of their poor quality, and witnessing many IB 4200s blow up, I won't be buying any IBs in the near future, from anybody.

-Frank

Bobby Flack

.

billjacobs

iTrader: (65)

So there is a choice of chocolate or vanilla ice cream, two flavors of the same sub-c cells. It seems that the problems with sub-c are not nimh, but the capacity that is being jammed into them, and the processes being used to increase their voltage. I have personally seen EP4200 cells blow on a normal charge (6 amps.)

I asked this question on the ener-g cell forum and will ask it here also. What is being done about the IB4200 cells that so many people bought that proved to be unreliable at best, and that blew up at worst? When it comes to batteries, I have always felt like a lemming being led over the cliff. You buy batteries, 4-5-6 packs and run them a few times, and then you hope they don't do dead on you and last for x more runs. I understand that r/c racers are a wealthy lot who don't let things like $200 for batteries every 4 months deter them, but I'm just wondering?

And I agree, an independent test of cells for x cycles at a 5-6amp charge and then high amp discharge (40-50amps) to truly test the cells reliability is what is needed.

JtDieter

Frank
Actually, my main reason for jumping back into all this fun was to run the race team again, as well improve current and develop new items. Promotion just sort of happens if I do the first mentioned correctly. I have to back up and race what we have, which is more incentive to make sure I'm right. Nobody wants an entire team glaring at them if things arent right. As far as 4600's , smc didnt refuse any. They refused the batch of 4200 cells if I remember correctly. It's hard to predict how things may work out with the IB 46, but I expect IB to work with us on keeping the production cells as good as my samples. Stop by any of our pits at the next big race you attend. There arent any secrets.
Bill, As I stated before. Too soon to predict on the IB 4600 front, but I expect good things. Our current cells ran great in cleveland, and the same packs are still going. I may be a little more careful than most, but the rules on most cells right now are...
Never kill them all the way if want to retain capacity. This includes any tray that takes the cell below .9. I use a DPD and have it set to 1 volt.
I never get the cell too hot by overcharging, keep the peaks down to around .03 for a 6 cell pack. They seem to run flatter at the end of a run if too hot initially. (modified)
Doing this, the only pack that lost anything is one that got forgotten in a resistor tray overnight. It lost 20 seconds at 30 amps.
I dont blame anyone for being gun shy....bad joke. I expect it to take awhile to undo the past.

Korey Harbke

iTrader: (13)

And for those who don't know, Jim is a total stand up guy. The last novak race I went to I was chatting with him a bit about some mod motor stuff and is extremely helpful and knowledgable. He's been a part of the industry for many years and is always looking out for the best interest of the hobby. If you look at a lot of the wins Trinity has had in the recent years with brushed motors, Jim has been a major part of those wins being the builder/tuner.

So basically... listen to what he has to say haha.

-Korey

JtDieter

somebody said something nice ????
Thanks Korey

Korey Harbke

iTrader: (13)

HAHAHA I know crazy huh?