Newbie help with best battery and charger setup

[Jeepinjason]

Buying a rtr setup to take with me on my full size crawling trips to Moab. My last RCC venture was 10 years ago with nitro rigs so batteries are new to me. I tried searching this thread but that brought up a million threads that just included the word battery.

I need to get a couple of batteries that will fit and a decent charger. I am starting fresh so if I should get a relocation tray I can do that as well. I have read a couple of threads cautioning against too powerful of a battery. I am not looking for a speed demon, just something powerful enough to crawl without breaking drivetrain all the time.

Thanks for the help!

[Jboucher]

Choose your speed target
2s is slow walking
3s is more of a speedy walk
4s is no no
I would get a 3s (12v) and the biggest motor you can get like a 550 21T (faster) or 27T (slower).
The new Holmes crawlmaster are good too but Im not the expert on 5slot turns ..
Get a Holmes sealed can to start and upgrade after you know what you want

Choose the gearing of the motor and transmission to adjust speed.
Small pinion on the motor will give you better low speed control.

Then it's pretty much getting a good ESC like the hobbywing 1080 to program drag brake and other settings.

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[Jeepinjason]

I am going to stick with the stock motor to begin with. Are the Venom batteries any good? I found a few brands with deans plugs but they vary in size.

[Jboucher]

Originally Posted by Jeepinjason

I am going to stick with the stock motor to begin with. Are the Venom batteries any good? I found a few brands with deans plugs but they vary in size.

Yeah it's a good brand but not the cheapest.
I use venom 3s 35c 3300mah hardcase in my Bomber. Very good runtime and the internal resistance has barely moved in 2years

You may want to move all your battery and ESC plugs to XT60.
It's becoming the most common plug and it's easy to use and solder

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[lonleycreeper]

Most of my batteries are Venom. Been running some for 6 years and are starting to show their age. Couldn't ask for more. I run between 5000, and 2200 Mah 3s batteries depending on what I am doing. Long trail runs run the larger 5000's shorter crawling trips run the small packs.

[dirtman71]

I have always ran 2s. Never felt the need for 3s. I have always ran brushless until a few weeks ago. Got 1st brushed system in crawler
Just picked up these. Got a few runs on them and they do fine. 2 hours + with a 6.5 pound rig and a Holmes crawlmaster 550 12t. I have had luck with amazon/eBay batteries. I would not trust the specs they state. I would not put them in any high powered race vehicle and race with them. But to go run a crawler around they work great

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A better battery would be SMC. I used these for racing years ago. I still use a shorty pack and it’s 8 years old. And they are affordable

https://www.smc-racing.net/index.php...product_id=126

As for chargers I am a cheap bastard. I still run a turnigy 200w 10a dc charger I paid $28 back in 2005. But it will still charge up a 5000mAh in under 30 min. But it’s dc so I have to have a power supply. Hard to charge up in a hotel room. Have been looking at new chargers. Brand names are very expensive and most only charge at 2-4a. And now most are set up to charge 2 or more at a time. Which is great if your at the track and racing a few classes. And if it’s a 5a charger it will take an hour to charge

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R18YNZQ...v_ov_lig_dp_it

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-...r-us-plug.html

If your in no rush to get your batteries charged and you only plan on using it at home....no dc so you can’t connect it to a car battery. And you want to save a few bucks

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/accuell-...r-us-plug.html

[LincolnofDeath]

5000Mah will get you the better part of an hour, 3000 probably above half an hour. If you think you might break your truck because it’s too powerful, but are coming from a nitro point of reference, well, these little guys are going to be a refreshing experience. Knock on wood, but unless you wedge a wheel somewhere it can’t be reasonably expect to lift out of without twisting itself to pieces, there aren’t a whole lot of situations a stock SCX10 won’t survive.

I’ll go out on a limb and say my brief experience says for basic 2 and 3s batteries, top dollar may not make much difference. The really awesome SMC high C batteries I have left over from Short Course Trucks seem to work in my crawlers pretty much the same as the craptastic Floureon and GoldBat examples that go in the same trucks. I could be totally off here, but for basic crawlers, it’s almost like the converted diesel trucks you heard about running on leftover donut oil. To me it seems like they almost don’t care where they get their power, the just chug along.

Spun wheels/hexes? Not one after maybe 150 packs. I have some worn out parts, for sure, but nothing has actually broken as yet. The impacts and things that make sad children on Christmas really aren’t a thing with crawlers if you keep your brain attached to the throttle. I’m new to crawlers, for sure, and so are you. My two cents says buy a 2S and a 3S and see what you think of both. It didn’t take me ten minutes to feel like 3S was totally manageable, especially if your controller has any kind of throttle adjustment. You may choose to put that 2S battery back in when you hand the rig over to your nephews. But if you’re that nephew, like my co-worker yesterday, you can probably dim the power for technical proficiency. Then turn it back up for a three mile fast walk, with a stop to pose your rig up for photos to show us with the Colorado as a backdrop.

Stoked for you. I miss Moab.

[LincolnofDeath]

@Dirtman, lol, I took so long to write basically the same thing that you wrote that by the time I finished and I went back to proof what I wrote....well, I just laughed my ass off to read like pretty much the same things I was trying to get down.
It’s a funny world.

[lonleycreeper]

My stock honcho gets aprox 1 mile of trail distance per 1000 mah... stock 35t motor and electronics. Lower turn motors will be faster, but use more power. Higher turn motors are slower but go further. For long distance trail runs I pack 4 5000 mah batteries and have not been left carrying my rig out yet.

[dirtman71]

@lincolnofdeath. Lol our experience runs the same. That is funny

@jeepin. I see many high powered rigs out there burning up tires rock bouncing just driving crazy. That’s fine. To each his own. It’s called a crawler and they work very well as such. I like a nice slow smooth controlled climb. 2s gives me plenty of torque and punch when I need it. Excessive wheel spin and speed is fun but all it takes is one wheel to get into a bind and there goes a axle or diff or trans. What I am trying to say is your driving style will make or break you. It sounds like you want to be the take it easy guy and not break stuff

But it is a good idea to try a 3s. You might like it

[Jeepinjason]

Thanks guys and I appreciate the links as I will probably get them off amazon as that is where I hide my fun money from the wife. I consult on the side and have them pay me in amazon gift cards lol. I will get a 2s and a 3s as suggested. I like crawling, just put an Atlas in my full size crawler.