Trying to use non Traxxas Batteries for TRX 4 Sport
 

Hi guys,

My son and I are new to this forum as well as this hobby in general. I recently pulled the trigger on a TRX 4 Sport and thought that I did enough research to not run into any hiccups along the way. However, that wasn't the case. I haven't been able to use either one of my batteries yet (e.g. ZIPPY COMPACT 3300MAH 3S 60C LIPO PACK and TURNIGY NANO-TECH 6000MAH 2S2P 65~130C HARDCASE LIPO PACK).

I bought some NHX XT60 male to TRX female connector adapters from eBay and they don't seem to want to connect to my ESC connector. It seems like the ESC is wanting a TRX male, but that seems to conflict with what I've read online about how ESC connectors are usually female connectors.

Today I purchased some XT60 connectors with 14 AWG wires from Amazon and am leaning towards just changing my TRX 4 Sport ESC connector to a male XT60. I've never soldered connectors or soldered wires together before, so I'm a little nervous. I don't plan on ever using Traxxas batteries, so I would assume this wouldn't be a huge mistake. Is this a bad idea? Have any of you guys done this before?

Re: Trying to use non Traxxas Batteries for TRX 4 Sport
 

It won't be an issue. I have a Slash and I don't have Traxxas batteries so I just snipped the ESC connector off for their battery and installed the necessary bullets for my Spektrum battery.

Re: Trying to use non Traxxas Batteries for TRX 4 Sport
 

Cutting off the connector voids the warranty on the ESC. Just an FYI. The Traxxas connector on the esc is considered male. Plenty of adapters out there.

EX: https://www.amazon.com/Pairs-No-Wire...42291170&psc=1

I used to use TRX connectors as they were super easy to solder and cheap, though they have since moved to the smart connectors. I've since converted everything to XT60's. Soldering is not my strong suit, but glad I did. They are pretty easy to solder up, though I have melted a few. :)

Re: Trying to use non Traxxas Batteries for TRX 4 Sport
 

Thanks for the info guys! I feel more comfortable with my decision now.

Any recommendations on what setup I would need for a basic soldering station? I know that I need to get a soldering gun, some solder wire, flux paste and some heat shrink tubing. Did I miss anything?

I'll probably just use a hairdryer to activate the heat-shrinking tubing. I'm thinking about buying some MAIYUM 63-37 Tin Lead Rosin Core Solder Wire for Electrical Soldering (0.8mm 50g). Would that be a good choice for my current project?

Re: Trying to use non Traxxas Batteries for TRX 4 Sport
 

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!!

For soldering wire > 14ga, recommend an iron with at least 60W, but the higher the better. Heat is not your friend, and your electronics hate it too. You want to do your best to minimize contact time between the iron and electronics. The longer they are in contact, the more needless heat you are putting into the electronics. A higher wattage iron transfers heat a lot faster, greatly reducing contact time.

Soldering is like math, it is not learned, it is practiced. Before you touch your valuable electronics with an iron, practice on like material to get the hang of it.

If you are working on batteries, cut, solder and insulate one wire at a time. Cut the red, strip, tin, put the insulation on (heat shrink or insulator (XT-60)), solder, put the insulator in place, then repeat on the other wire.

I would get a heat gun for heat shrink. It is a lot like a soldering iron, you want fast heat right were you want it so you get the job done quickly, reducing the actually heat put into the work.

Adaptors. You likely bought the wrong gender of Traxxas adaptor, its not uncommon. After verifying the XL5 works, I would snip the Traxxas connector and put on XT-60s. If the ESC gets fried, upgrade to a HW1080 ESC.

Re: Trying to use non Traxxas Batteries for TRX 4 Sport
 

soldering is easy yay but this is not the corect solution to your problem
first thing you should in my opinion do is toss that damb esc in a box and save it for a cheap go fast rig its garbage in a crawler there ok for on road or rally cars maybe even a slash but thats only if they servive the first battery pack which alot of them dont
like great scot sead upgrade to a 1080 and if you want to save a hole bunch of hassels pick up a new radio even a.cheap one is leaps and bounds better than the traxxasss tqi carp
and you might want to have a spare servo on hand and what ever you do dont buy another traxxasssss servo even a $12 ds2818 20kg servo will turn circles around the traxxassss servo and they dont hold up vary well as a steering servo so any high torque metel geared servo will be better than what the rig came with

Trying to use non Traxxas Batteries for TRX 4 Sport
 

I would solder a new connector on, don’t sweat the warranty being voided, a replacement xl5 can be had for $25 or so, and an actual good esc can be had brand new for $40 or so (Hobbywing 1080).

For soldering tips, I found the Tekin Builds series particularly helpful, along with various videos from Holmes Hobbies.

https://youtu.be/Ie9wOWn4W3g