Need help with my G3-build

[JoFreak]

Hey guys!
Finally had a chance to give it the beans on a football ground, veeery nice!
No balooning even when doing wheelies, seems like tapeing the tires worked.
But two questions: The motor went up to nearly 80°C (~175°F) and the ESC stayed at about 60°C (~140°F), the LiPos didn't get noticeable warm.
First question: Whats the max. temperature for an e-motor (Bigmaxximum in my case)?
Second question: Does this mean it's undergeared? If yes, that means I could/should get a bigger or smaller pinion?

Only loss was the antenna end cap that I lost doing a sort of frontflip caused by hard braking. Everything else works perfect, only thing to do is, if you guys say so, changing the pinion and, since yesterday my DX3R arrived, changing the receiver unit.

[Rivermaxx]

Although not always true, a rule of thumb is:
Hot motor, cool controller, cool batteries = undergeared (either increase pinion tooth count or decrease spur tooth count)
Cool motor, hot controller, hot batteries = overgeared (decrease pinion tooth count or increase spur tooth count)
Warm motor, warm controller, warm batteries = happy components
hot motor, hot ESC, and hot batteries = overgeared

Hot, warm, and cool vary as well, so here's another general rule:
Hot for a motor = generally over 160F (71C)
Hot for a controller = generally over 150F (66C)(or "thermal" range for the controller)
Hot for batteries = generally over 150F (66C) for nimh, 130F (54C) for lipo
Warm for a motor = generally 100F (38C) through 150F (66C)
Warm for a controller = generally 100F (38C) through 130F (54C)
Warm for batteries = generally 100F (38C) through 130F (54C) for nimh, ambient temp through 120F (49C) for lipo
Cool for all components = generally ambient temp and up to 10 degrees F (5.6C) more

The reasons the above are not always true are numerous, but may include:
Sticky drivetrain - will put un-necessary strain on electronics whether geared correctly or not.
Poor quality batteries - batteries will heat up regardless of gearing.
Wrong motor for the application - will put un-necessary strain on electronics whether geared correctly or not.
Wrong controller for the application - will put un-necessary strain on electronics whether geared correctly or not.

The list goes on, but this can give you an idea of things to watch for. btw I did not write this. The pinion needs to be bigger if you want to gear higher.

[JoFreak]

Hey guys!
I'm thinking of getting a tekno RC receiver-box and a sportBEC.
Question is: is the receiver box big enough to fit the Spektrum SR3100 receiver AND the sportBEC inside?

Other than that: the truck is running great but sadly not very often due to a lack of possibilitys, time and equipment (no 12V charger) :(

[JoFreak]

Went out for a drive today, a friend of mine filmed it. Anyone interrested in the results?

[vader2728]

Of course... Dont keep us in the dark...

[JoFreak]

Since vader was the only one interested in the video, the rest of you please do not watch it!

[JoFreak]

Hm, no one interested any more?

I'll post it anyways...
Last time I was out to drive, I crashed quite badly. First I thought it only destroyed the link between left and right steering post, but now I startet cleaning the car.
The lower hingepin was bent (AGAIN!, but no problem) and the upper a-arm was bent as well!


Now I went to check the Flextec website on terms of waranty and find this:

Dear customers,

FlexTek RC will no longer be able to manufacture titanium suspension arms due to increased manufacturing costs. Quantities of arms are limited or depleted, please call for more information.

A limited supply of arms will be held for warranty purposes.

We appreciate your support over the years.

That's just great
Hope they still have an upper arm for me...

But even if I get one, what's to do in the future? No longer drive this truck because I might get no spare parts not only for the G3-chassis but now for the suspension as well?

[suicideneil]

You said not to watch the video, so how could I/we comment on it?

Runs fine, but no wheelies? I wish we had snow so I could go drifting...

As for the Flextek issue = aw crap, not another company going down the pan. The arm doesnt look too baddly bent, may be able to straight it if you have a blow torch and anvil handy...

As for the future, I can only say to try another brand of arms & sell the Flexteks as spares (sure to make a pretty penny), or try not to crash

[JoFreak]

Originally Posted by suicideneil

You said not to watch the video, so how could I/we comment on it?

I hope you aren't serious...

Originally Posted by suicideneil

Runs fine, but no wheelies?

No, slippery ground and centerdiff worked against wheelys.

Originally Posted by suicideneil

The arm doesnt look too baddly bent, may be able to straight it if you have a blow torch and anvil handy...

I will see what flextec has to say, but if they can't or don't want to give me a replacementpart, I'll try my best on bending it back.

Originally Posted by suicideneil

...sell the Flexteks as spares (sure to make a pretty penny)

Surely not as pretty as the one I paid in the first place...

Originally Posted by suicideneil

...or try not to crash

Good one!



Anyways, goldenhorizons alu-steering is on it's way.
I'm looking for a stronger servo, because the steering feels slow and unprecise. Hitec HS 5955 TG any good? I could get one of those cheap, that's why I'm asking.
And I think I'm going to swap the Schulze 18.97KW for a mamba monster (never thought that day would come, but the long time it takes the ESC to switch to reverse is really annoying...), switch to a lower kv motor (any suggestions?) and up the cells to 6S.

And I have to change something in terms of the centerdiff, it prevents the truck from flipping on the roof under accelerating and breaking, which is fine.
But still, if I accelerate hard, the rear wheels start to drift left or right until the car spins in tiny circles. Something totally unlogical to me because I think if there is too much power going to the back, the front should lift, the power should go to the front, go wasted and the rear should stay straight...
Thinking about a gyro

edit: One of these any good?
Neu-Castle 1518 1Y 1800kv
Neu-Castle 1520 1Y 1600kv
Castle Creations 1717 1580kv

[suicideneil]

Hitec HS 5955 TG is a brilliant servo, widely used- 333in/oz of torque which is beastly.

CastleNeu 1518 1Y on 5 or 6s would be epic, or the 1515 1Y on 4 or 5s- both would be powerful and fast setups.

As for the centerdiff, perhaps some lighter fluid is all I can suggest really- squirrely handling is probably due to lack of traction more than anything- bit slippery on the ground by the looks of that last video. Maybe look at your front & rear diffs too- I run 7k front & 5k rear and no problems spinning out as such.

[JoFreak]

OK, then I'll try lighter oil in the centerdiff.
I got 7k in the front just like you but 3K in the rear.

Then I will get the 5955TG.
As for the motor: I don't want another 2200kv, so no 1515 1Y for me.
Question is, on 6S: 1800kv or 1600kv?
I'm asking for these two specificly because they are on black friday sale on castles site.

edit: since I didn't know how long the black-friday-deals would be on, I just ordered a Neu Castle 1518 1Y 1800kv with fan...
Still have to order the Mamba Max...
But spending so much money in such a short time always leave me with a not so good feeling

[suicideneil]

Its christmas- consider it a gift to yourself

The 1518 will be fine on 5 or 6s , obviously a bit faster on 6s but you will find it runs nice and cool I bet- gear it for 40mph roughly like I do and it'll get across a football pitch in seconds, with its nose in the air the whole time...

[JoFreak]

Quite a lot of christmas gifts to myself lately...

My Hitec HS-5955TG arrived today, looking forward to see if it brings an improvement to the g-maxx' steering.
The upper a-arm form flextec started it's journey on thursday. The GH alu steering should arrive on monday, the Mamba Monster was shipped on wednesday and should arrive within the next two weeks.
And I'm thinking of getting a pair of 5000mAh 3S 30/40C Turnigys from the german warehouse. The actual batteries might be more expensive, but shipping will be faster, no taxes and lower shipping costs. So in the end it'll be cheaper.
That brings me to the last item, the new motor...
Ordered last sunday, just yesterday I got a mail that they accepted my order and told me that it will ship within the next 2 weeks seriously!? sorry but what the hell? I thought they allready shipped it and just didn't notice me.
Tower needs 3 days to get sth. shipped, Castle needs 3 weeks? (adding 2 weeks for actuall shipping)

Well, I have to wait for Flextec anyways, so it's not that "tragic". But not great either...
Regarding Flextec, anyone have an idea where I can still get a set of spare arms? One upper and one lower arm or sth. like that would be nice!

[suicideneil]

Yeah, all us guys that placed orders for the new Castle motors (1518, 1520, 1717 etc) got updates saying they will be shipped out within 2 weeks. I think its because they are still on their way over from china on a barge probably, so very limited stock- there was probably alot of pre-orders from all the big shops like tower etc to fulfil before they could let us normal guys get ours. Its always a waiting game with this hobby, especially for us guys in Europe due to the longer shipping times; patience is a virtue as I always say.. :P

[JoFreak]

But I want my toys now!
Think I'm going to order 2 pairs of turnigys today, hopefully the mamba monster gets here any time soon. So I can see where it fits on the rear upper chassis plate.
I don't understand why they allways say "shipping will take 7-14 days", it allways takes 14 days, never less

As for flextec: no one here who knows a shop that still has flextec spare parts?



P.S.: Thinking about getting a slipperential