Newbie Clod Project

[Gumbo]

Hi there,

I am new to the forum and to RC/Crawling.

I have recently purchased a ClodBuster and I am in the process of turning it into a crawler.
I have locked (hot glued) both diffs and I received my new M & L Art Budget four link chassis http://www.mnlart.com/Z-Crawler.html

Now I am in the process of ordering the rest of the parts required to put it together, and although I read carefully the sticky How-To (great post) would still like to receive some feedback about the necessary parts, since I am on a budget and for this reason I'd rather split the project in two steps.

In the first step I am planning to order what is strictly necessary to run the truck as a crawler, and later on I may get the parts to make it more performing.

So from my understanding what I absolutely need (beside the chassis which I already purchased) is:

- ESC, I am planning on a Tekin Rebel 2
- Servos (Hi-Tek 645) (so they can be harnessed to the ESC without any voltage regulator right ?)
- 8 or 9 tooth 32p pinion (anything required to swap them in ??)
- Shocks - In the sticky how-to thread shocks are not even mentioned... I am oriented toward a set of Integy Piggyback for the E/T Maxx what do you think about it ? And what spring color (firmness) should I pick ?
- Battery - here's a question about the battery.. is a LIPO really worth it or should I just purchase one or two 4500-5000 mAh NiMh ?? LIPO's are much more expensive and I am not sure they are really worth it...at least at this stage...
- Charger

Is there anything else I am missing ?
Can I run the stock motors with new electronics or should I just purchase new engines right now as well ?

In a later time I am planning to add better Engines (Integy ?), Tyres and wheels, although I am not sure the stock engines would be good enough even for starting out, there is no mention about this option in the sticky How-To...

Well, sorry about the long post and MANY newbie question...I hope I won't get flamed...

[CD13]

The stock motors will be worthless for crawling and with a small pinion you will need ajustable motor mounts,As for batteries you can go with the 4500-5000 mAh NiMh to save ya some money.I would deffenly get some motors now.After a few posts you will be able to see the for sale section and you should be able to find motors and batteries to your liking.55 or 65 would be the motor.good luck

[PONYBOY87LX]

there is a super duty in the for sale section for not a bad price that is what i run and i run 14.4 volts ( two 3600 mah Venom) through it plenty of power. I also have a BEC just in case. In the motor dept i am with CD13 you will need to replace the motors but i suppose you could run the stockers for now lol. i run integy 55t rock crawlers motors with 9 t pinions. Use your own judgement and build it like you wanna and learn for all the things you do. Nice lookin rig by the way and welcome to the site

[Gumbo]

Thanks a lot guys, I will start looking for the adjustable engine mounts right away....what about the Integy Piggybacks ? Are they Ok ? Or I should I be planning on someother shocks ?

[CD13]

The Integy shocks do look good but to help with COG you should mount your shocks upside down and that defeats the perpose of piggy back shocks.The traxxas big bores are better for a super and you can get all kinds of rated springs.

[DaViolentOne]

I started my Clod out with stock motors and 8t pinions... Wheelspeed was great.. But torque sucked... Upgraded to 35t Integy's and I seen the light... Wheelspeed was a bit slower but torque was off the chart in comparision and I had to learn to drive it all over again...

As for batteries, if you buy one high capacity LiPo, it'll more than likely cost less than 2 5000's but you'll have full power punch right thru the whole pack... Just get a low voltage cut-off if yer ESC's not LiPo ready... My 6300 2C pack lasts longer than our group crawls for a day... I've never put more than 4000MaH back into it...

[Gumbo]

Here I am again with a few more questions about electronics.

First off what is exaclty a BEC and what's its purpose ?
I seen some ESC that include a BEC are they worth purchasing ?

Regarding LIPO's I understand there are more factors involved then just volts and mAh, i see some of you mention S's and C's and I don't know what else, so how do I exactly evaluate a LIPO ? And do I ALWAYS need a balancer ?

Regarding Engine the higher the T's the better ?
I see the Integy motors all come for the same price no matter if they are 55, 65 or 75...
Integy's or Novak ?

With a little help I will hopefully put together my first order and start the buildup...:-P

[JeremyH]

This should answer your first question:
http://www.castlecreations.com/products/cc_bec.html

[CD13]

Originally Posted by Gumbo

Here I am again with a few more questions about electronics.

First off what is exaclty a BEC and what's its purpose ?
I seen some ESC that include a BEC are they worth purchasing ?

Regarding LIPO's I understand there are more factors involved then just volts and mAh, i see some of you mention S's and C's and I don't know what else, so how do I exactly evaluate a LIPO ? And do I ALWAYS need a balancer ?

Regarding Engine the higher the T's the better ?
I see the Integy motors all come for the same price no matter if they are 55, 65 or 75...
Integy's or Novak ?

With a little help I will hopefully put together my first order and start the buildup...:-P

Yes the esc's have voltage to supply voltage for the sevo;s but most don't supply enough to power good servo's that will turn your tires in a bind and when running 2 sevo's they will overdraw the esc power and in most cases cause gliching.The cc bec is able to be ajusted to put out more volts.If your only running one servo then thats something you can wait on.
Lipo batteries are c rated,with the c meaning amps it will but out under power.you need a good c rating for crawlers cause of the amps the motors will draw under power.
Integy's are the cheapest way to go and are a decent motor that will last a long time.The turns are kind of a torque rating,The more turns a motor has the better torque it will have,on the other hand the less windings the faster the motor will run.Most crawlers will run a 55 or 65 with some going as high as 85.The scale rigs like a little speed so they will run the 35 or 45 motors.I'm not sure what your wanting to do but you did say your wanting to have a scale body so I'm guessing your not wanting to compete.If thats the case I would go with a 45 or 55 motor and a decent esc with a Lipo with a 15 or 20 c rating and make sure you get the voltage your esc can handle.The norvak will handle 4-7 NiCd/NiMH cells /2 LiPo cells where the mamba max can go 14.4 3 cell lipo's.You will need a battery charger for lipo's and should use a balancer,Just make sure whatever esc you deside on can handle the lipo.If your wanting to save money I would just use NiMh batteries.Its all in how much you want to spend.

[DaViolentOne]

To elaborate some more on the LiPo's...

I'm not ENTIRELY sure how everything works, but, I have a 2S LiPo pack.. 2 cells in series for 7.4V... I have a feeling it's a 2S2P tho'.. 2 series, 2 parallel, to make the 6300 MaH it has...

C rating is the continuous amps rating... IE if you have a 5000 MaH pack with a 20C rating, it can output 100 amps of continuous power with a burst rating that's always higher but limited for time... The higher the C, the more juice it can supply when needed to... A 5C pack would only be good if it was like a 10k or 20k MaH pack...

As for balancing a LiPo pack? I balance mine everytime I charge it... I'm still kinda new to LiPo and want to be 100% sure they get properly charged... Some ppl balance them once in a while, some all the time... It's a good idea to keep them balanced so you KNOW all the cells have a good and equal charge... There's a LOT of chargers out there for LiPo's and some are balance chargers... My CX2.0 has one but it'd take forever and a week to charge my 6300 on that... I bought a Blinky Balancer and adapter so I can charge up to a 6S pack with the balancer but my 989 will do 8S...

BEC means Battery Eliminator Circuit... They put them in some RX's and in ESC's so you don't need to do the oldschool thing and run an RX pack to the RX to power servo's like in a nitro RC... Altho', some of us do/did run RX packs 'cos the BEC in the ESC wasn't up to the task for the servo's... Not many ESC's have a high enuff rated BEC to power a servo, let alone 2, with the full power they like and that we need and that's why a lot of us run an external BEC to the RX or direct to the servo's...

Motors? I run Integy 35's myself... Altho' I have a friend with a CF NN that runs a Novak 55 up front and an Integy 55 in back... No difference in performance he says... Motors really are a personal preference.. I chose the 35's 'cos I didn't want to lose much wheelspeed when I upgraded from the silver Mabuchi's... 8 turn difference don't sound like much, but, the torque increase was night and day... Altho', I have read some say that the difference in torque from a 35 to a 55 is negligible and the only REAL difference is wheelspeed... Not runnin anything BUT 35's in my Clod and a 55 in my TA-02, I can't say yes or no to that one...

Hope my rambling babble there gave you or at least SOMEONE SOME kinda insight... I was just pullin' stuff outta my head that remained stuck in there relating to the subject at hand...;)