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-   -   An idea for a line of awesome LiPos. (https://www.rctech.net/forum/radio-electronics/1069000-idea-line-awesome-lipos.html)

waitwhat 07-12-2020 06:33 AM


Originally Posted by gigaplex (Post 15663613)
I wasn't aware you were the reigning world champion. There are some bold claims in that comment.

That aside, I did say I can't speak for off road, and I run the heaviest I can get away with. That doesn't mean the heaviest on the market. If your car genuinely does work better with the lighter pack and the weight moved elsewhere, that still fits under "what you can get away with".

Show me anyone else who can turn their cooling fans on and off from their transmitter, or have the fans come on automatically if a set temp has been reached. Show me anyone else who car has an Adafruit Trinket, position transmitters on the suspension, and the associated computer code I've written to make my car into a driving suspension dyno. How about the multitude of one off hand made parts on my cars that literally only exist on my cars?

Do you run a shorty pack in your TC?

Roelof 07-12-2020 07:27 AM


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15663637)
Show me anyone else who can turn their cooling fans on and off from their transmitter, or have the fans come on automatically if a set temp has been reached. Show me anyone else who car has an Adafruit Trinket, position transmitters on the suspension, and the associated computer code I've written to make my car into a driving suspension dyno. How about the multitude of one off hand made parts on my cars that literally only exist on my cars?

Do you run a shorty pack in your TC?

Why would you switch on/off the fans? To save capacity? The fans do not even draw 1% of the total average current draw.
Advanced telemetry is nice, I have a system as wel. It helps to understand the car and helps with some devellopments but for sure not alowed with official races so I asume you are no racer?
I also have own made parts but does that make my car bettr than others? The stock MRX6X with some options was able to win the worlds so no need to design parts different from the kit.
Shorty pack in a TC, it is an idea but it will make the car far under the weight limits so why would you choose a battery with a faster dropping voltage over a battery that fits the weight and will have a higer voltage at the end of the race?

But you did not react on the remark that you must be a world champion claiming to have a better car than everyone else.

waitwhat 07-12-2020 08:53 AM


Originally Posted by Roelof (Post 15663651)
Why would you switch on/off the fans? To save capacity? The fans do not even draw 1% of the total average current draw.
Advanced telemetry is nice, I have a system as wel. It helps to understand the car and helps with some devellopments but for sure not alowed with official races so I asume you are no racer?
I also have own made parts but does that make my car bettr than others? The stock MRX6X with some options was able to win the worlds so no need to design parts different from the kit.
Shorty pack in a TC, it is an idea but it will make the car far under the weight limits so why would you choose a battery with a faster dropping voltage over a battery that fits the weight and will have a higer voltage at the end of the race?

But you did not react on the remark that you must be a world champion claiming to have a better car than everyone else.

The ability to control the fan is so while everyone else is running laps in the warm up before the races start my car isn't draining energy unnecessarily while I wait for the race to start. I do 1 lap to check in before the race starts, then pull off to the side to wait for everyone else to run their multiple pre-race warm up laps. The discharge curve of a lipo means the capacity is tied most directly to the length of time spent at nominal voltage. Pack capacity does have a bit to do with the amount of time above nominal voltage, so I do things to minimize unnecessary energy use to give me more time.

The shorty in a tc let's you reconfigure the electronics layout to decrease moment of inertia and have more weight to use as a tuning aid. F1 teams make their cars as light as they can so they can have more ballast to use as tuning.

Passive data acquisition is legal, you are not allowed to use telemetry to make changes to the car during a race.

If the parts you make yourself give you additional adjustments or other advantages on track, then yes your car is more advanced than one without your parts.

Nobody else has has an rc car with suspension telemetry, not even the world champions. Still, drivers are what wins world championships, and I haven't been to the worlds yet.

wallacengineeri 07-12-2020 09:44 AM


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15663678)
The ability to control the fan is so while everyone else is running laps in the warm up before the races start my car isn't draining energy unnecessarily while I wait for the race to start. I do 1 lap to check in before the race starts, then pull off to the side to wait for everyone else to run their multiple pre-race warm up laps. The discharge curve of a lipo means the capacity is tied most directly to the length of time spent at nominal voltage. Pack capacity does have a bit to do with the amount of time above nominal voltage, so I do things to minimize unnecessary energy use to give me more time.

The shorty in a tc let's you reconfigure the electronics layout to decrease moment of inertia and have more weight to use as a tuning aid. F1 teams make their cars as light as they can so they can have more ballast to use as tuning.

Passive data acquisition is legal, you are not allowed to use telemetry to make changes to the car during a race.

If the parts you make yourself give you additional adjustments or other advantages on track, then yes your car is more advanced than one without your parts.

Nobody else has has an rc car with suspension telemetry, not even the world champions. Still, drivers are what wins world championships, and I haven't been to the worlds yet.

Well you guys are certainly much more serious racers than I am. Although Ive never had an issue with being underweight. I like to get the top half of my trucks done up with titanium screw kits but I leave the bottom half stock to pull the CG lower, these days Im running SMC's new LCG Extreme Graphine 6000mAH packs, definately a decent choice.

From there I like to upgrade certain things such as aluminum diff cups to reduce heat and improve overall durability of the gears. I mean Ive won races at the tracks I have raced but have never participated in anything serious. We do it for fun only.

Bry195 07-12-2020 09:15 PM


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15663637)
Show me anyone else who can turn their cooling fans on and off from their transmitter, or have the fans come on automatically if a set temp has been reached. Show me anyone else who car has an Adafruit Trinket, position transmitters on the suspension, and the associated computer code I've written to make my car into a driving suspension dyno. How about the multitude of one off hand made parts on my cars that literally only exist on my cars?

Do you run a shorty pack in your TC?

I took a PWM fan and built a board to run it from a PIC. it takes temp directly from the motor and adjusts fan speed from 0-100 percent. its a cool idea and I never knew anyone else did something similar. it will also alarm if the fan is not rotating. for example debris. I took it off though because it didnt save enough power and I wanted a fan that put out allot more flow. cool idea though. I have come up with another design that should run the high powered fans at 8+ volts.

I also have the eagle tree telemetry with a custom built string pot to measure suspension angle and accelerometer logging. another cool idea. good to hear someone else does some crazy stuff. I dont race with it though. its setup stuff.

I also setup traction using thermal cameras. I dont know why you give me a hard time. im just as crazy as you! im kidding a little. I dont race with any of that stuff because practice is what makes me better. its cool to mess with but at my level I know what I need to do.

waitwhat 07-13-2020 12:13 AM


Originally Posted by Bry195 (Post 15663963)
I took a PWM fan and built a board to run it from a PIC. it takes temp directly from the motor and adjusts fan speed from 0-100 percent. its a cool idea and I never knew anyone else did something similar. it will also alarm if the fan is not rotating. for example debris. I took it off though because it didnt save enough power and I wanted a fan that put out allot more flow. cool idea though. I have come up with another design that should run the high powered fans at 8+ volts.

I also have the eagle tree telemetry with a custom built string pot to measure suspension angle and accelerometer logging. another cool idea. good to hear someone else does some crazy stuff. I dont race with it though. its setup stuff.

I also setup traction using thermal cameras. I dont know why you give me a hard time. im just as crazy as you! im kidding a little. I dont race with any of that stuff because practice is what makes me better. its cool to mess with but at my level I know what I need to do.

My next project is to create a telemetry system that transmits telemetry data over wifi to my cloud storage for analysis just like an F1 car. The main sensor is going to be a 9DoF IMU that combines an accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer to provide a high degree of 3d orientation. With the data I can calculate Angular Velocity, Acceleration, Linear Acceleration, and Gravitational vectors. With the ability to track the car so accurately in space I hope to be able to use telemetry data to extrapolate lap times and best lap delta calculation. The IMU also has an ambient air temp sensor so the cooling fan will turn on once the motor is x% over ambient instead of turning on at a set temp. Additionally, I might experiment with air pressure sensors to start doing some aero analysis too.

I also want to develop front brakes for my 2wd buggy that only actuate when the wheels are on the ground. That way I can still steer the car in the roll dimension while airborne. Please think about what I just said and realize that in onroad you only steer the car in the yaw dimension. Off-Road racers have a control in a dimension that On-Road racers don't.

I've had data logging on my rc cars since 2005. I prefer stand alone systems as they tend to be much more open source than the stuff integrated into the TX/RX.

Bry195 07-13-2020 10:00 AM


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15663994)
My next project is to create a telemetry system that transmits telemetry data over wifi to my cloud storage for analysis just like an F1 car. The main sensor is going to be a 9DoF IMU that combines an accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer to provide a high degree of 3d orientation. With the data I can calculate Angular Velocity, Acceleration, Linear Acceleration, and Gravitational vectors. With the ability to track the car so accurately in space I hope to be able to use telemetry data to extrapolate lap times and best lap delta calculation. The IMU also has an ambient air temp sensor so the cooling fan will turn on once the motor is x% over ambient instead of turning on at a set temp. Additionally, I might experiment with air pressure sensors to start doing some aero analysis too.

I also want to develop front brakes for my 2wd buggy that only actuate when the wheels are on the ground. That way I can still steer the car in the roll dimension while airborne. Please think about what I just said and realize that in onroad you only steer the car in the yaw dimension. Off-Road racers have a control in a dimension that On-Road racers don't.

I've had data logging on my rc cars since 2005. I prefer stand alone systems as they tend to be much more open source than the stuff integrated into the TX/RX.

if you can find an appliance to connect your data to ifttt or stringify you can interconnect most softwares and hardwares to viewing and making decisions in the cloud.

even voice control through Alexa.

gigaplex 07-13-2020 11:20 PM


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15663637)
Show me anyone else who can turn their cooling fans on and off from their transmitter, or have the fans come on automatically if a set temp has been reached. Show me anyone else who car has an Adafruit Trinket, position transmitters on the suspension, and the associated computer code I've written to make my car into a driving suspension dyno. How about the multitude of one off hand made parts on my cars that literally only exist on my cars?

That makes it unique. It doesn't mean others can't compete against it.


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15663637)
Do you run a shorty pack in your TC?

No, I run a 6300 full size pack, and I still have to add weight. A shorty would be horribly unbalanced and would require even more weight.

waitwhat 07-14-2020 12:07 AM


Originally Posted by gigaplex (Post 15664420)
That makes it unique. It doesn't mean others can't compete against it.


No, I run a 6300 full size pack, and I still have to add weight. A shorty would be horribly unbalanced and would require even more weight.

You seem to have missed the part about rearranging the components to balance everything and having more ballast to tune the cars weight distribution. A regular pack means the weight of the components is spread further between the axles. Concentrating the weight and moving it forward means the car will change directions more quickly and take less to get the car to stop changing direction. It makes it so it takes less steering input to get the car to change direction, which means it scrubs less speed to corner.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...494da99df5.jpg

gigaplex 07-14-2020 02:16 AM


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15664429)
You seem to have missed the part about rearranging the components to balance everything and having more ballast to tune the cars weight distribution. A regular pack means the weight of the components is spread further between the axles. Concentrating the weight and moving it forward means the car will change directions more quickly and take less to get the car to stop changing direction. It makes it so it takes less steering input to get the car to change direction, which means it scrubs less speed to corner.

The weight distribution is already roughly where I want it and I have a slight forward bias. I'd just be removing battery weight and replacing it with lead. I don't have enough room in the chassis centreline to add ~100g of weight, and I'd lose more voltage over the run with a smaller battery. The only room I have to add weight is in the rear of the chassis, where I don't want it.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...aa780f765e.jpg

waitwhat 07-14-2020 05:48 AM


Originally Posted by gigaplex (Post 15664453)
The weight distribution is already roughly where I want it and I have a slight forward bias. I'd just be removing battery weight and replacing it with lead. I don't have enough room in the chassis centreline to add ~100g of weight, and I'd lose more voltage over the run with a smaller battery. The only room I have to add weight is in the rear of the chassis, where I don't want it.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...aa780f765e.jpg

I promise the 6100mah shorty I run in my 4x4 SCT and Sprint Car would hold voltage just as well as your 6300mah long pack. How many mah do you use in a race? You don't even have an HV pack so my shorty would hold higher voltage from that alone. Do you high current cycle your packs?

Do they tech for weight at all of your races?

If you don't have room for lead use tungsten instead. It is 1.7 times as dense as lead so it takes up way less space. Currently you're adding weight to the opposite side of the battery to balance your car.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rct...f867a70f0d.jpg

As battery technology advances the packs are going to continue to get smaller. Just a matter of time before long packs go the way of NiMH.

gigaplex 07-14-2020 06:10 AM


Originally Posted by waitwhat (Post 15664500)
I promise the 6100mah shorty I run in my 4x4 SCT and Sprint Car would hold voltage just as well as your 6300mah long pack. How many mah do you use in a race? You don't even have an HV pack so my shorty would hold higher voltage from that alone. Do you high current cycle your packs?

If you don't have room for lead use tungsten instead. It is 1.7 times as dense as lead so it takes up way less space.

An HV pack won't hold voltage any longer than a regular pack when charged to 8.4V. Our sanctioning body limits charging to 8.4V at 10A. I think I use somewhere in the ballpark of 2500 during a run, though it has been a while since I've checked (yay COVID). I do have some HV packs but there's no advantage to them with our rules.

Using a shorter battery (mounted at the rear of the car) and swapping the servo to the other side of the chassis will only move the CG towards the rear of the car, as it's removing battery weight from the front of the car. The servo stays in the same plane, and my ESC is already mounted in front of the motor. The only advantage I'd gain is mounting the lightweight receiver down low instead of on top of the servo. I've not seen any tungsten weights that would fit in the centreline of my car, since there's very little space between the servo mount and the motor mount. Certainly not 50+g worth, and not at a reasonable price.

Edit: I quoted your original post before your edits. I'm the president of my club, I'm not going to intentionally run underweight just because I was too lazy to tech everyone else. That would set a bad example. And I've only got about 20g of counterweight on the opposite side of the battery. Without that counterweight, I'm 15g underweight. If I put my shorty in, I need about 100g on the battery side instead to balance it. If I move the servo to the battery side, I still need weight on the battery side and I have to move the battery to the rear of the chassis, moving the bias towards the rear. And then I'd need to add a bunch more weight to be legal. I'm faster when I run with this larger battery configuration and less added weights.

waitwhat 07-14-2020 10:17 AM


Originally Posted by gigaplex (Post 15664510)
An HV pack won't hold voltage any longer than a regular pack when charged to 8.4V. Our sanctioning body limits charging to 8.4V at 10A. I think I use somewhere in the ballpark of 2500 during a run, though it has been a while since I've checked (yay COVID). I do have some HV packs but there's no advantage to them with our rules.

Using a shorter battery (mounted at the rear of the car) and swapping the servo to the other side of the chassis will only move the CG towards the rear of the car, as it's removing battery weight from the front of the car. The servo stays in the same plane, and my ESC is already mounted in front of the motor. The only advantage I'd gain is mounting the lightweight receiver down low instead of on top of the servo. I've not seen any tungsten weights that would fit in the centreline of my car, since there's very little space between the servo mount and the motor mount. Certainly not 50+g worth, and not at a reasonable price.

Edit: I quoted your original post before your edits. I'm the president of my club, I'm not going to intentionally run underweight just because I was too lazy to tech everyone else. That would set a bad example. And I've only got about 20g of counterweight on the opposite side of the battery. Without that counterweight, I'm 15g underweight. If I put my shorty in, I need about 100g on the battery side instead to balance it. If I move the servo to the battery side, I still need weight on the battery side and I have to move the battery to the rear of the chassis, moving the bias towards the rear. And then I'd need to add a bunch more weight to be legal. I'm faster when I run with this larger battery configuration and less added weights.

The nominal voltage of an HV pack is 7.6v even if you still only charge it to 8.4v, so yes HV packs hold a higher voltage through the whole run.

Looks like there is plenty of space for weight next to the diff pulley underneath the left outdrive.

If you move the servo to the battery side you can move your receiver to the chassis, move the esc forward, and put your fan on the front of the motor instead. All of this moves net weight forward. Plus you still have to make up the weight difference of the smaller pack which allows you to be more selective where you put the weight. If you like your current weight balance you can replicate it with a shorty, but have the mass closer to center. The shorty I run is 46.4 W/H.

JJ100179 07-14-2020 10:43 AM

I think it is very easy...Gigaplex is doing his thing and does not want to use shorties for good reason.
​​​​

Bry195 07-14-2020 08:36 PM

there are allot of great points in both perspectives no doubt. I like these kind of answers. you never really get a definitive answer but thats ok. you get to see allot of good answers and rarely is their one definitive.

I still wonder why everyone is always trying to get more front grip (I always have way too much) but I’m still learning. I have way too much front grip and moving mass has nominal if any real benefit on my chassis. but a little droop and ride height really changes everything. putting a 100 grams on the rear has very little effect for me.


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