CRT.5 - My first conversion
 

Greetings all... I am happy to have found this home of nitro to brushless conversions. I have recently returned to RC after a little layoff (work, family, other hobbies, etc.) Anyway, I am back. I used to run electric 1/10 scale back in the day and have a NOVAK SS5800 still almost brand new (10 runs). I have picked up the CRT.5 and am anticipating Mike's conversion.... waiting is not fun. I want to run the NOVAK for a while until I decide what to get next.... (more power in the future). For batts, I have a couple options in my existing stuff. 3300 6 cell racing packs (still good). (2) 2S lipo 1320 Thunderpower cells (12C cont., 17 max) from my planes, (2) 3S lipo 1320 Thunderpower cells (12C cont., 17 max) again from my planes. I have the Great Planes PolyCharge4 charger, max charge rate 3 amps (nice for my planes, should have bought the ICE).

Now... my first of a series of questions to the mass knowledge base:
Batteries... should I stick with the 3300 cells for now, can I use the 2S cell lipo 1320 Thunderpower cells wired in parallel (with an adapter) with the NOVAK SS5800? Another option I found a sale on Polyquest cells 2S 3600mah cells (12C) for $28.95 each or Polyquest cells 2S 4000mah cells (10C) for $29.95 each. I am leaning toward Maxamps.com for my good packs but the Polyquest deal seems really good.... I am confident with the seller. Qtys are limited so I want to order the Polyquests if you think I should at that price.... I could always parallel them later to power my next project (Jammin buggy, currently nitro (Booooooo! :020: ).

Fundage is not great at the moment.... wife is watching me pretty close. I can swing the polyquest batts because "They were on sale.... ", afterall what is good for the goose is good for me! :005:

What do you all think???? Am I nuts with my plans to run what I have (Novak) and what should I do for batts?

I will be posting pictures as soon as I have something interesting to post... a nude CRT.5 is pretty boring... don't want to waste the bandwidth.

Thanks!
Jon (nice user name, :002: very original)

I dont think running a novak would be crazy. you already own it and they do have enough power to be fun. I actually am planning on running a novak 7.5 with an lrp comp when mike finishes the conversions. The only problem I see is that you probably have a SS or SS+ esc since you have the 5800 motor. Neither one of these esc's have a lipo cutoff.

as for batteries, I would try to get something that would handle more amps. I think the maxamps 2s 5000 would be a good fit but will run you about $90.

Why not run the novak and at least see how it runs. You might be surprised. I remeber my old novak system used to rip pretty good. As far as the lipos you have.... I dont think thats gonna do it. Even parallel you are gonna toast those things. They are only good for 34 amps. You would be surprised how many amps one of those novak systems can pull. I ran a GTR 6.5 in a XXXt-4G+ for a while and that thing would spike to 75 amps on 2s. and that was with a WAY lighter buggy than the CRT.5.

IMO stick with the 6 cell packs you have now untill you can do it right. Stick $10 a week into the finger holles of your bowling ball untill you have the cash and then get some decent lipos. Take the $40 you were going to spend on those other lipos and start the saving with that.

Another option might be to sell that Novak on Ebay. Looks like they are getting anywhere from $120 - $155 depending on condition. Take that with the money you were going to spend on the dicount lipos and buy a MM 5700 (almost enough) and run it on the 6 cell packs you have. Then save up for your lipos.

And BTW.... Welcome to the forums.

I was thinking about the lipo cutoff issue.... will pick up the cutoff that Novak makes (notice the orange theme). That way I'll be safe no matter what.

Still trying to wrap my brain around the cells...
Polyquest cells 2S 4000mah cells (10C) for $29.95 each... if I buy 2 and parallel them, that is 80 amps continuous, 96 amps burst. And... only $60 bucks. The Maxamps 5000mah pack is obviously better with regards to specs (100 amps cont, 250 burst) but is $90, and I'll need another charger. Maybe I'll just save the pennies or skim some fundage from my wife (she's an accountant so it is really hard to embezzle money from her).

I waited for the Novak brushless for sooo long... remember all the hype, 2 years of marketing ads in the mags prior to actually having a product on the shelves? All the RCX demos, nothing for me. Then the happy day when I got my little package from UPS, I felt like a kid again. Loved the power, could not use it all on the track. It should be a good fit for the CRT.5 I hope. Afterall, I already have it.

Thanks for the welcome...
Jon

One thing to think aqbout is weight. A single 5Ah 2s or 3s pack will probably weigh less than paralleling cells and you get a solid 100A. And the 5Ah cells fit perfectly standing on their side on the CRT.5. With tall gearing and hard running, I was getting ~25-30 minutes of runtime.

As far as the BL system is concerned, anything on the smaller side should work well. A larger motor will weight more, but you'll have more torque for higher speeds.

The Novak will do fine... although the orginal SS is a big fat speedo for a little truck :)

Mike's conversion will be ready very soon I think ;)

And the gears too right? :dft012:

I think so :005:

Okay... you can't do this to me.... help a guy out. 1-2 weeks? more? Any insight when we can buy one of these babies?

And yeah... the SS spedo is a big mamba jamba.

Alright... the 5Ah 2s it is then. More money flowing out the pockets. Like old times again. I like the new Checkpoint charger (ICE juiced up, 10 amps) I'll buy them after Mike's conversion. For now, I'll rock the 6 cell 3300s (maybe break them up and do 7).

I plan on racing this thing here in Scottsdale AZ, SRS home of the Cactus Classic. So no huge motors needed, contollable acceleration is the key. I'll probably run out to the new Nitro Pit (huge 1/8th scale track) and throw it down when I run the Jammin.

Later,
Jon
Please tell me to have my credit card handy soon for Mike's conversion (with plastic 32p spur?)

I'm hoping it's done soon as well. I asked Mike about it on an e-mail to him recently, but he avoided the question. :D

All I know is that when it's done, it'll be done right and we'll have yet another awesome piece of hardware manufactured by the monster.

I got basically the same thing. he did say the mounts would be available shortly but didn't say anything about the spur issue.

The spur is also being worked on as we speak.

brian, do you know if it is going to be a mod1 spur or 32p? thanks

I think it will be 32p, but not quite sure. I believe Mike is working on a bolt-on Mod1 solution, but I think someone else is closer to a 32p solution. You might want to wait before you pick up a ton of pinions.

I know, there's a lot of "I thinks" there, but all I can say is that the solution is almost there...

no problem. I already have 32p pinions left over from my emaxx. so I will just hold off on picking up any 1/8 mod 1 pinions then.

now if they just get the 8ight mounts done I will be all set