new to rc Rock crawling

[grantt8420]

Hello, I'm new to RC rock climbing. I just purchased a rockslide rs10 and love it, loads of fun. Being as I'm a mechanic I'm already looking to upgrade lol. So i have a few questions...1) what battery upgrade options do i have if I'm looking for longer run time and keep the original stock battery location, 2) how do i know when the stock it's fully charged, 3) what are upgrade steering set up options to be able to turn the wheels better when against an obstacle. That's all i have for now and any insight will help. Thank you.

[jsowens]

By far the best battery upgrade you can do is go to lipo batteries. Practically everyone that gets into the hobby does so eventually. You can get a pretty decent setup for around $100. Here's that I recommend:

Charger - Thunder AC680 Professional Dual-Power LiPo Balance Charger/Discharger w/ AC Adapter for 1-6 Lipo/ 1-15 Nimh + USB to PC Software

Batteries - Sky Lipo 1300mAh 7.4V 30C

Lipo alarm - New on Board Lipoly LiPo Low Voltage Buzzer Alarm 2S 3S 4S 5S 6S US Seller 22 2V | eBay

I recommend smaller MAH batteries because they're easier to tuck inside of a chassis or find places to mount. You won't get the run time you'll get out of a 5000mah battery, but it's a ton smaller and you can buy multiple batteries for what a 5000mah costs.

As for your steering question. You'll want to pick up a high-torque metal geared servo. Anything above 150oz of torque will work well. Do a quick servo search in the RS10 forum and you'll find some results. Hope this helps.

[StomperCrawler]

If you have less than $100 to spend on upgrades, check the link in my sig (signature) below for more battery, charger and steering servo recommendations.

[grantt8420]

Thanks, that's definatly helpful...what is the approx run time on the battery upgrade you recommended and are those stearing servos plug and play

[infodragon]

Solar sevos are great, D772 is 300+ oz/inch for $20ish. You'll also need a BEC, I prefer this one.

Hobbyking YEP 20A HV (2~12S) SBEC w/Selectable Voltage Output (US Warehouse)

There is a lot of awesome information in this link

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/newbi...buy-guide.html

Best of luck to you and welcome to the addiction!

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by grantt8420

Thanks, that's definatly helpful...what is the approx run time on the battery upgrade you recommended and are those stearing servos plug and play

Depends on your trigger finger and the incline or mud, but I get an hour out of them in my Honcho. Yes the servos are pnp.

[grantt8420]

What brand steering servo do you suggest?

[infodragon]

I really like the Solar D772, lots of power for $20ish.

[grantt8420]

And those will bolt right up with no extra modification needed to my rs10?

[grantt8420]

So Sky LiPo 1300mah 7.4v 30c batteries are out of stock everywhere...any comparable recommendation?

[StomperCrawler]

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...arehouse_.html

[grantt8420]

Will those be able to plug into and charger with the Thunder AC680 charger?

[StomperCrawler]

Not without soldering on one of these: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...arehouse_.html That charger doesn't seem to have connections for the common battery types (dean's, xt60,etc) as far as I can tell from its pictures and description here: http://www.hobbypartz.com/73p-ac680-accharger.html check the link below in my sig for a more compatible charger.

[grantt8420]

So i would just need to solder one to the charger correct?

[grantt8420]

It's there a different charger i could get that i can just plug that battery directly into?

[infodragon]

Originally Posted by grantt8420

And those will bolt right up with no extra modification needed to my rs10?

The Solar does bolt up with no modifications.

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by grantt8420

It's there a different charger i could get that i can just plug that battery directly into?

I say again: "check the link below in my sig for a more compatible charger."

[jsowens]

Soldering battery and charger plugs is a piece of cake and something you should definitely get use to doing in this hobby. You could get the charger StomperCrawler mentioned, which has an XT60 plug and unless you find a battery that also has one, you'll have to solder one on the battery and one on your ESC so everything will match because the RS10 doesn't come with one on the ESC stock. A friend of mine uses the Thunder charger I linked and loves it. I use a very similar charger, as well.

[StomperCrawler]

Originally Posted by jsowens

Soldering battery and charger plugs is a piece of cake and something you should definitely get use to doing in this hobby. You could get the charger StomperCrawler mentioned, which has an XT60 plug and unless you find a battery that also has one, you'll have to solder one on the battery and one on your ESC so everything will match because the RS10 doesn't come with one on the ESC stock. A friend of mine uses the Thunder charger I linked and loves it. I use a very similar charger, as well.

The charger I recommend comes with a multi-option octopus charging lead plus balance board. However I do agree that basic soldering skills will save you money and headache; just Google how to solder and 18k video links will magically appear.