New to Crawling - New XR10 owner needs some advice please.

[Ol'Baditude]

Howdy all,

A bit of a long winded question post, but I'm sure most of you can make fairly short work of these questions. I'd really appreciate your input.
I debated whether to post this in the XR10 forum or the complete newb forum, so I posted in both, I hope that's ok.

So anyhow, I picked up an XR10 (along with most of the associated gear) a few days ago, and I am up there with the newest of the newbs when it comes to crawling. Actually this is my first RC kit EVER!
As you can see by the picture below it's almost complete, but I still need to wire in the battery and BEC, as well as connect the motors to the ESC's.
I also need to perforate the tires and a few other things.

Before anyone asks, I've pulled the pins on the red ESC leads, and wired the rear motor in reverse order as per the the video in this thread. Great thread and video IMO.


Anyhow, to the point of this thread.

So far, I've built everything myself, and when I did have questions, most of them were answered with some research online (mostly from here), but there are a few still outstanding so if you have some suggestions, please let me know.

Questions as follows:

1. I picked up a Futaba 3PL 2.4G, I'm wondering if it's necessary to extend the antenna from the receiver, or can I leave it bunched up in the receiver compartment without fear of bad reception? It seems to me that 2.4Ghz systems don't rely so much on antennas as a traditional radio. I'd really rather keep the antenna out of the way if possible.

2. It's proven quite difficult to find pictures of stock XR10's with the body off and battery mounted. How on earth is the battery supposed to be mounted in these things? I mean, there's a part called a battery tray, but it really doesn't seem to serve as much of a tray as far as I can see.
I'm was just going to mount the battery on top of the ESC's till I find a better solution. I'll be using a Hyperion 1300mah 25C 3S LiPo to start (best solution available locally, but as I've read I'll likely want a higher C battery).

3. I need to make some quick connects between the motors and ESC's. What is the best connection to use? I was thinking of just using a Dean's or maybe some sort of low profile banana pin setup.

4. With regards to the the thumbnail directly below, I see this person has wired the battery to the Rear ESC, then wired the Rear ESC directly to the Front ESC for power.

I was thinking about doing the same thing to keep wiring down to a minimum. Does anyone have a problem with doing the battery wiring this way?

5.Are BEC's always required, or just in the case where you are running a high torque servo? Just wondering what the considerations are here, as although I would much rather not have to wire it in, I think I'm likely not going to have much choice.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
PS: If you see anything in the pictures below that should be corrected, or if you just have suggestions, please let me know.

Here's some pictures of my progress so far:

[Krawler Kev]

Congrats on the new XR10.

If you have any issues check out calgaryrc.com and look under the crawler section. You should come out to Teds one Friday night and check out the fun comps.

[winkscrawler]

Nice start. Your chassis plates are backwards. It is easy to do.

[TC09mini]

2. It's proven quite difficult to find pictures of stock XR10's with the body off and battery mounted. How on earth is the battery supposed to be mounted in these things? I mean, there's a part called a battery tray, but it really doesn't seem to serve as much of a tray as far as I can see.
I'm was just going to mount the battery on top of the ESC's till I find a better solution. I'll be using a Hyperion 1300mah 25C 3S LiPo to start (best solution available locally, but as I've read I'll likely want a higher C battery).

The stock battery tray suspends the battery below it with some Velcro. Get you a nice piece and bring it all the way around the battery.


3. I need to make some quick connects between the motors and ESC's. What is the best connection to use? I was thinking of just using a Dean's or maybe some sort of low profile banana pin setup.

Micro Deans.

4. With regards to the the thumbnail directly below, I see this person has wired the battery to the Rear ESC, then wired the Rear ESC directly to the Front ESC for power.

I was thinking about doing the same thing to keep wiring down to a minimum. Does anyone have a problem with doing the battery wiring this way?

Look here: Best XR10 Wiring Jobs...
5.Are BEC's always required, or just in the case where you are running a high torque servo? Just wondering what the considerations are here, as although I would much rather not have to wire it in, I think I'm likely not going to have much choice.

I would say you will need a high torque servo and if you are running one, yes, you need a BEC. You are robbed of all that torque without the BEC.

[ittybitty]

I wouldn't run the battery on top of the ESC's like that...it'd be rough on the solder posts and could possibly break them off of the circuit board...that'd be bad.

The kit should have come with a velcro strap. Loop it through the two holes and then around the battery to hold it to the battery tray.

[articzap]

I know you can't see it, but its in there.

[ittybitty]

These are from Badgers build thread:









Check this post out...

Badger's XR10 build

[Ol'Baditude]

Originally Posted by Krawler Kev

Congrats on the new XR10.

If you have any issues check out calgaryrc.com and look under the crawler section. You should come out to Teds one Friday night and check out the fun comps.

I have no idea what Teds is, but it sounds like fun. I'll try and look it up, thx!

Originally Posted by winkscrawler

Nice start. Your chassis plates are backwards. It is easy to do.

Can you elaborate please? Everything looks fine on this end. Not to say that it isn't totally wrong :p

EDIT: :facepalm: nvm I see it. That's a damn good eye man, thank you for catching that, I never would have.

Originally Posted by TC09mini

2. It's proven quite difficult to find pictures of stock XR10's with the body off and battery mounted. How on earth is the battery supposed to be mounted in these things? I mean, there's a part called a battery tray, but it really doesn't seem to serve as much of a tray as far as I can see.
I'm was just going to mount the battery on top of the ESC's till I find a better solution. I'll be using a Hyperion 1300mah 25C 3S LiPo to start (best solution available locally, but as I've read I'll likely want a higher C battery).

The stock battery tray suspends the battery below it with some Velcro. Get you a nice piece and bring it all the way around the battery.


3. I need to make some quick connects between the motors and ESC's. What is the best connection to use? I was thinking of just using a Dean's or maybe some sort of low profile banana pin setup.

Micro Deans.

4. With regards to the the thumbnail directly below, I see this person has wired the battery to the Rear ESC, then wired the Rear ESC directly to the Front ESC for power.

I was thinking about doing the same thing to keep wiring down to a minimum. Does anyone have a problem with doing the battery wiring this way?

Look here: Best XR10 Wiring Jobs...
5.Are BEC's always required, or just in the case where you are running a high torque servo? Just wondering what the considerations are here, as although I would much rather not have to wire it in, I think I'm likely not going to have much choice.

I would say you will need a high torque servo and if you are running one, yes, you need a BEC. You are robbed of all that torque without the BEC.

Thanks alot, things are definitely clearer now.

And thank you to everyone else who has posted so far. This is a very helpful forum.

[rcjackson0926]

Keep an eye on this thread as well:

Del Monte's XR10 Build #1

He is an excellent driver and it will be interesting to see what he does with his XR10.

[Harley]

Perhaps I am misunderstanding but are you planning on running dual ESC's with your 3PL?

[crawler pilot]

i run my chassie plates backwards and the thing just works im afraid to change it and lose what i got took first the last 2 comps i ran

[Ol'Baditude]

Originally Posted by Harley

Perhaps I am misunderstanding but are you planning on running dual ESC's with your 3PL?

Yes. 4 channels on the receiver plus a battery input. I was under the impression that you could run dual ESC setups with any 3 or 4 channel radio.
It's no 4PK, and I know I won't get the most from my crawler, but I am just starting out.
From the sounds of your post, the 3PL might not be a good idea?

[Harley]

Originally Posted by Ol'Baditude

Yes. 4 channels on the receiver plus a battery input. I was under the impression that you could run dual ESC setups with any 3 or 4 channel radio.
It's no 4PK, and I know I won't get the most from my crawler, but I am just starting out.
From the sounds of your post, the 3PL might not be a good idea?

Not just any 3 or 4 channel will work. You will have to get some sort of module to run them with that radio which isn't as nice as having it built in. The 4PL would be the radio to get on a budget.

[Ol'Baditude]

Originally Posted by Harley

Not just any 3 or 4 channel will work. You will have to get some sort of module to run them with that radio which isn't as nice as having it built in. The 4PL would be the radio to get on a budget.

Well first off, thank you for your input. I was sold a bunch of stuff that wasn't going to work with this crawler, that I had to return and replace with gear recommended on sites like this. You can certainly tell that the guys that I dealt with at the shop were not crawler experts in any way shape or form.

So I'm SOL with this radio/receiver then? I was just kind of going by what you said in your programing and wiring video ("any Futaba 3 or 4 channel receiver"). Excellent vid btw.
So I'm guessing it's the radio that is the limiting factor then? The receiver is a R2004GF with the 4 channels slots and a battery slot.


The 4PL is not available locally to my knowledge. The 3PL is the only radio they had in the store that wasn't $300+ so I picked it up.
The 4PK is not available either or I likely would have shelled out for it just so I could get a left hand steerable alone.

[articzap]

Any hobby shop should be able to order the radio in!

[Ol'Baditude]

Originally Posted by articzap

Any hobby shop should be able to order the radio in!

True enough. I was just really hoping to get this thing running by the weekend. That, and I'm sick and tired of this build being delayed by returning stuff I can't use. Oh well.

Thx again for all the responses guys. Keep em coming.

EDIT: Ok, got everything wired in. Just have to wait till tomorrow to get a new radio so I can get the receiver wired in and all the telemetry wires tucked and tied. I'll see about getting the store to order me a 4PL, or a 4PK. If not I'll just have to go with their Airtronics 4 channel M11 since that's all they really have in a 4 channel pistol grip radio.

Here's a pic of my progress so far.



I tied both ESC's together and then spliced the battery leads and the BEC leads right to the rear ESC battery solder posts along with the crossover leads to the front ESC.
Forgive the horrendous soldering job, it's my first time with any of this and my soldering equipment is archaic to say the least.
If you can see anything that stands out as blatantly wrong or you think could use some work, please let me know.

PS: I got a spark when I tried to connect my Lipo. I immediately got online to see if this was normal, and it appears that it's a fairly common occurrence. Is this the case?
Thx again.

[Ol'Baditude]

Bump for post above.

[Jeepkid]

Yes sometimes a lipo will do that.

[Ol'Baditude]

Ok, I picked up the 4PL. Turns out they had one in the back.
Now to get this thing rolling. So far the back wheels spin and the steering servo works. I guess that's a start.

[Wasp26Jim]

great choice on 4pl vs the m11. making the right choices the first time will save you big in the long run.