I agree that all cars have their pros and cons. Just have fun with what you have and enjoy it. I see people with all sorts of cars at my local track, even the hobby shop owner says they are all competitive, its all personal preference. Reason I bought a Serpent was #1 the car was just released and I know a new one wont be out anytime soon. #2 I always owned japanese made cars so I wanted to try something different The fastest lap record at my local track in Taiwan is a Serpent 710

Yes Iam talking about the 5 AAA batteries. How long does it take to charge it completely? I charged it at .8 amp and it took well over 40 minutes using the Tekin BC112. Actually it was more time but I just stopped it because I needed to test the servos.
I want to charge my transmitter batteries as well, should that also abe charged at under 1amp?

Another question Do you guys use the transmitter to cut off the engine or do you manually cut it off by squeezing the fuel line? Which is better and why?

For those want to see the OPTIONS coming from Serpent, here is the pictures......

I like the idea of front Ball diff (for tight small track, that is a must)...then for those VDS lover........low front shock towers along with front bumper and mounting plate.

Not to mention, this ia a must for me..........lightweight Centax 3 housing...

I've been charging AAA or AA by using 1 amps since Impulse PRO and without getting any problem like dropped power or overheat the batteries...........I found 1 amps is very safe to charge AAA and AA, as long as you have a decent peak charger (Tekin WAS a good brand but I believed they are out of business now...)I think the batteries are fine....

for 5 cells AAA with 1 Amps charge and 3V delta peak.....it usually take me 35-40 minutes to FULLY charge them from zero, I usually don't drain the batteries before charge, but I occasionly CYCTLE the pack several times to peak the batteries, when I finish the race, leave the car on the bench, then charge the pack for the upcoming race, usually will take me 25-30 minutes to peak the pack depends on how much MAH left on the packs.

Yes, charge your AA with 1amps is fine too, but for AA, you can go up to 1.2 but defintiely no more then 1.5amps if you don't have 1 hours to charge your pack.

hope they release the ball diff already. been waiting too long. got two of them ordered already and still waiting.

its a must for our local track!

any idea... or does anyone know when these items will be available?

Transmitter cannot cut off engine....even when you are in FULL brake positive unless you set your idle spacing incorrectly, but if you do that, your engine should not be started at the beginning.

Several ways to shut off your engine after race...

(1) Ppl like to push the thumb onto your intake (foam filter usually) so no fresh air going toward the engine chamber and the engine will shut down......however, ppl also say doing that will PUSH all the garbage that the foam filler collecting INTO the carb, and that is NOT the best thing to do for your MAX enigne (If I remember correctly, you said you just got a mod engine - MAX right....? )

(2) I do that myself, get yourself a race mechanic glove and jam your thumb to the flywheel..........it is NOT that scary then what you thing....as long as you hit it FAST and HARD, .12 engine are easy to stop..........ppl do that on .21 engine all the time.

(3)....squeeze the fuel line.........no fuel, no power.

(4).......put your thumb (with gloove of course) to the exhaust tip, back pressure will shut down the engine in several seconds UNLESS your engine running extreme lean.

I called Serpent USA....... from the above picture, those posted as a real pictures (like disk brake, brake pad, shock bodies, centax housing and front shaft lock set - solid front diff)are coming soon, and those computer generated pictures (diffs, solid rear and al lthose LOLA stuff) will be availble later....(within a month or so)

That list was posted by Serpent HQ (Europe).......so Serpent USA will get the 2nd shippment.......of course.

For those who want to see what 3Racing (from HK) will do for Serpent 710......take a look here.

http://www.3racing.com.hk/3racing/op...kit=SERPENT710

To be honest, a car like 710..........I don't see too many rooms for OPTIONS.........alum pulleys, alum arms, alum uprights.....those are for HPI RS4, and I don't know why ppl will need those on 710....but for those SSG lover, 3Racing does have a lot of carbon fiber replacement if you like different color SSG fiber on your 710....but I heard SSG does have more flex then typical woven carbon fiber.......again, why SSG?

Just the stuff I'm waiting for!

Pinching the fuel line is my method of choice.

Setting the transmitter to close off your carb is ok but you have to be careful not to cut your engine off accidentally. I know a near foolproof way can be done with the upmarket radio systems but why risk it?

Rookie, I've seen a guy do it. If I'm not mistaken he was using a futaba 3pdf and had it set to close off his carb completely using one of the knobs on top of the transmitter. The thing is if you forget to set the knob to have the carb in the idle position before starting your engine, you'd be cranking your engine for hours on end and still can't start it! Anyway, I think he has given up on this method now

Right ... will definitely PUSH all the junk in and over time it adds up!


I prefer to use this method in emergencies ... like stopping a runaway car!

Like I said ... my prefered method.

Not a bad way except when you have junk in your pipe ... might just have enough back-pressure to push some back into the engine.

rookie ... thanks for the link! Serpent needs to move fast 'cos I prefer to get their hop-ups rather than 3rd party ones!

Agree with you there ... the titanium shafts and pivot balls would be ok. The rest .... hmmmm !

Just finished my new 710. I put my alum. shocks from the 705 just for the pics.Yes, cvd's and alum. shock bodies is really all you'll need.

with the receiver left and some lightweight servo's everything is in balance.

:-)