R/C Cars

**Dfhaii** · 19-11-2003, 10:14 PM

Dunno if this is the right forum, but it made sense, basically i am hoping to get a r/c car for a bit of fun, but know very little. have so far decided to get electric as it is more noob friendly etc, but that is all. if any 1 has advice/reccomendations please share them

. hoping to pay <200 all in (controller, batterys etc...)

Cheers
Col

**Howard** · 19-11-2003, 10:32 PM

Erm buy some high powered batteries for it. Battery powered cars eat ridiculous amounts of juice.
Mine does, anyway.

Get a quick charger as well if you want. But don't use it EVERY time. 16 hours might be a bit painful compared to 40 minutes (mine), but the batteries will last longer in the long run.

**Knoxville** · 19-11-2003, 10:34 PM

You might wanna look at some hpi cars, damn nice, not sure if they're in your price range though

**Ant** · 20-11-2003, 12:19 AM

If you're looking at a budget of about 200, I would definately recommend one of Tamiya's lower end kits. Not the ready built ones you can buy in halfords or such places, but a proper build it yourself kit (pretty much all proper good ones are self build anyway) They're very easy to build and modify.

Most model shops stock them. I used to have one (before it caught fire) lotsa fun and pretty quick.

But like Howard said, they eat batteries, buy a couple or more as they only last about 15 minutes before they need charging again!

And when you get bored with that one, you should get yourself a nitro kit

**Nemeliza** · 20-11-2003, 11:57 PM

i also recommend HPI.
piece of advice - stay away of water

...guess who learned that the hard way!
I deffinatelyr ecommend getting an electronic speed controller them mechanical thingys are doo-doo

**Big RICHARD** · 21-11-2003, 10:13 AM

We have just finished remote controlling a HMMWV! A real one! The next project is an M1A1 variant!

**Angus** · 22-11-2003, 01:00 PM

The Tamiyas are good solid starter kits and if you start racing at any local clubs you shouldn't have any problem finding help with any problems.

**Zak33** · 22-11-2003, 03:51 PM

I go with Tamiya too.....

you should LEARN with a mechanical speed controller before you move upto an electronic one, cos its good to know how bad stuff can be

**berger** · 22-11-2003, 10:11 PM

Originally posted by Howard
Erm buy some high powered batteries for it. Battery powered cars eat ridiculous amounts of juice.
Mine does, anyway.

Get a quick charger as well if you want. But don't use it EVERY time. 16 hours might be a bit painful compared to 40 minutes (mine), but the batteries will last longer in the long run.

Thats false! Fast charge your cells every time, but discharge them down to 0.90V per cell or 5.4V for the whole pack of 6 after use otherwise nicads develop memory, the newer nimh dont though and dont need discharging.

**Howard** · 22-11-2003, 10:18 PM

Originally posted by berger
Thats false!

Actually no, it's not.

I've been told by numerous people that fast charging many many times can eventually shorten the life of the batteries.

**TeePee** · 22-11-2003, 10:21 PM

Nicads have a problem caused by fully discharging the pack. This is caused because some of the cells last longer than others, and if one cell discharges before the others it reverses polarity and starts charging. Running a pack to completely empty means the cells will all change polarity back and forth many times, and this is what causes the problem.

**berger** · 22-11-2003, 10:41 PM

Thats why nicads are generally bought matched, and then once discharged to 0.9V "trayed" so all the cells are equalised, placed in a tray with an LED and resistor that brings each cell individually down to 0.9V.

As for fast charging, more damage is done from overheating, overuse in one day, and trickle charging. The majority of trickle chargers are cheap, with no delta peak cutoff, and even the ones that have the delta cutoff do not have a variable delta peak, Nicads at 2400 and 2000 need different peaks, and nimh need much lower, using nicad delta peak values would overheat them causing venting and major cell damage.
Sources Team Orion
Fukuyama Racing

**Ant** · 23-11-2003, 01:18 AM

Okay, there's been a lot of stuff said about batteries, but to be honest, if you just want one to muck about with, I wouldn't worry tooooo much about what to and what not to do with them... Just get a couple of batteries and a fast charger and have fun mucking about.

Personally I would only start getting critical about batteries if it becomes an extreme hobby or you start competing! But until then I reckon just get a cheap tamiya (or similar) kit and play around a bit.

Just my 2 cents worth.

**berger** · 23-11-2003, 01:22 AM

Yeah, i started out with a couple of 1400 battery packs and a tamiya. Tamiya arent that great, but for a first car, they are fairly cheap and are allmost invincible, compared to the more competative cars that are fairly fragile and run into the hundreds. For a beginner i would say get a tamiya car, try and get a ballraced one so it has ballbearings instead of metal shims, makes a lot of difference, a stock 27T motor, an electronic speed control, about £40ish, so you can use a faster motor if you want to. Couple of packs of batterys and a cheapish charger.
I dont want to count how much i have spent on my car on spares and batterys and upgrades as i know its going to come to at least more than a grand

I enjoy the racing though. See if you have a local club or something to join, there will allways be people there to help you out and give advice.

**Dfhaii** · 23-11-2003, 02:42 AM

i think im gunna buy a tamiya ta04 varient, with esc and some high powered batts, i alredy ahve a 20minute fast charger, is it worth gettin a trickle also to extend battery life?

Cheers
Col

**Nemeliza** · 23-11-2003, 03:55 AM

Do you have 14hrs to spare between each run?

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