Trakpower engine preheater
 

Picked up one today, does anyone use a preheater with your bumpbump 4s battery?

I use a 3s Lipo I don't think you can use a 4s lipo

seriously, use google before you melt all of your equipment..clearly says use a 3s.

http://www.trakpowerusa.com/accessories/

The voltage limit of the heating element is about 13-13.5V. A fully charged 3s is 12.6 and a 4s is 16.8. I have seen 4 or 5 heater go up in smoke plugged into a 14.4V power supply:lol: Wasn't right away, but did release the magic smoke in about 5 minutes!


The way I see it, you have 2 options...use a half charged 4s or pick up a decent 3s for somewhere like SMC or Gens Ace for less than $50.

Yeah I'll most likely just use this 12v lead acid, it's brand new. Thanks

I picked up a brand new 12v lead acid yesterday and hooked it up to the preheater while on the engine. It had abit of smoke coming off the heater for first few mins of being on, but no melting or anything. Hottest it got was 160f just under the cooling fins. Let it cool off for cpl hrs and tried again. Worked fine, no more smoke.

That's happens with just about all heaters...nothing to fear unless it flames:eek:

Good to know, thanks! So I picked up a new bump box last week for my buggy. My buggy has got a RC concept MC3. My old bump box would barely turn over a dynamite .24 XP, and I'm getting anxious to see if those new box will work out for my new setup. I'd really like to fire it up and see how this box works for this engine but it's -20c here. Would it be a bad idea to give it a nice preheat and see if the box spins the engine over without starting it? The engine is lubed up inside, broken in and all. Thanks guys!

As long as you heat the engine up. Maybe 2-3 good cycles before you attempt to fire it, you should be ok.

Sooooo, are these really necessary for Nitro or just in colder climates and to break in an engine if you heat cycle it?

"Necessary" would be a subjective thing. It definitely prolongs the life of the engine since there's less wear on the internals when the engine runs at operating temperature. It's also easier (sometimes much easier depending on engine and temperature) to start it.

So it's not necessary per se to use a heater to start or run your nitro engines, but with the heater your engine will most likely run right off the bat and will also most likely last longer.

At least that's how I see it.

:sigh: add another thing to the list :lol: