Snakp4k

Hi, i'm new to the RC world just got my first car today. But anyways my question is on a 8.4v 3000 mAh Ni-Mh how long should it last mine only lasted 10min off the first charge im running the 2.4ghz brushless drift star from Exceed. I would post a link but this is my first post and it will not let me and yes i know exceed was a poor choice but i wanted something cheap enough where if if i didnt like it i would not be out big bucks. and help would be very much appreciated.

housey

iTrader: (1)

That run time doesn't sound too disastrous, although with it being a drift car the loads are quite low so I guess you could expect it to last longer than that.

But like I say, its not drasticly bad or anything. Not sure there is too much for you to worry about. Seen as the battery pack came with the kit you can be pretty sure its low quality. I'm sure if you buy a cheap LIPO you would see much improved runtime.

Also, lower quality drivetrain and brushless systems are bound to not be as efficient as more expensive units, so that won't be helping the issue either.

If you've got any buddies with a LIPO see if you can give it a try. The only way too see if something is faulty is to test it against something else you know works (your mates LIPO for example).

Hope that helps.

clittle

You might find that after a few cycles of charge and run you might get a bit more time out of the battery.

When you charged the battery, what was the mah reading?

Snakp4k

I was told that i could not use LIPO that it would Smoke my ESC.?

housey

iTrader: (1)

Hhhmmm I wait to be corrected but not sure how it would smoke your ESC. Nominal voltage is only 0.2V higher. You might smoke the LIPO as I'm guessing the ESC won't have a low voltage cut off. But I would have thought the ESC would be fine to run a LIPO without it going boom boom.

Snakp4k

All i have is the stock wall charger (that will be replace tomorrow 4hours to charge a battery is to long) so it does not give any readings

CobraRman

You can always by a lipo low voltage cut off circuit http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_kw=nova...rusck=1&_sop=1 for your ESC so you can run lipo batteries. I'll probably do just that so I can now run my new lipo's in my Clodbuster.
Lynn

Snakp4k

From what the people at nitrorcx told me is that i would have to upgrade the ESC,and motor to be able to run lipo. they said if you put in a lipo that it would cause the ESC to get to hot even with the cooling fan runing and that it would cause the motor to run hot and melt things. Im a Noob at this stuff so i don't know if im getting the shaft or if they are telling me the truth.

defcone

iTrader: (15)

I tried drifting once with a 5.5t motor and nothing got even remotely hot or warm for that matter. I was using a 5200mah lipo which was a year old and still got around 40-50mins worth of runtime.

housey

iTrader: (1)

From what defcone says, sounds like a shaft to me, to make you pay more to upgrade everything. How hot did it get running with your current battery?

Snakp4k

I just got done with the 5th charge of the battery, and it ran for about 20min but the battery was so hot you could not touch it for a bit but the motor and Esc where cool to the touch.

clittle

That sounds like the motor and Esc are going great and the battery seems to be getting better.

housey

iTrader: (1)

20 mins sounds like a fair run time to me. But if the motor/esc isn't hot yet the batt is, I'd say the batt is a bit dodgy. Is it running tamiya bullet connectors? If yes then get those changed out straight away because they will be a major cause of heat and run time loss.

Flying Monkey

iTrader: (54)

Great investment for running a lipo with a esc without a voltage cut off. Has a low voltage warning light and then starts to cog/ surge the vehicle once its hit the 6v mark. have run them on many cars.

Snakp4k

Yes i have the bullet connectors. What would you suggest that i get?