First upgrade.

WithinU

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Hi Guy's, been lurking a bit on the forum to see what opinions were, for different things.
As I stated in my "Hello" post, i bought my son a ECX Torment (for Christmas), and I also got a good deal on a older used ECX Torment, so my son would have someone to drive with.

First upgrade will be a new charger and new packs.
Initially I was going to go NiMH 8.4v packs, as was mentioned on this forum.
I really want to try the Lipo's though, but I am worried about access to them by him when I am not around, to oversee operations.
Now I don't think he would intentionally do anything wrong with them, but you never know, plus I like my garage, I have no desire to burn it down.....LOL

So I guess I am asking for opinions, I have a feeling I know where this will go, but you never know.

Plan is for 2x s-l500.jpg and 2x s-l1600.jpg

This should get us going quite well.
I do have plans for a brushless upgrade some time down the road.
But I have some things on the "used" one I need to upgrade as well.

So yes? no? good plan? Thoughts appreciated.
 
The IMAX B6 is a good charger to start out with IMHO if you stay with 2s and 3s batteries. If you decide to move to 4s and larger batteries look for a 100watt and up charger but for right now the IMAX B6 should be fine the larger (5000mah and up) batteries will just take longer to charge. As for the batteries get 8.4 nimh for your son (safer to use) and a 2s lipo for yourself. I like the Floureon brand of lipos for budget lipos but some have had not much luck with them personally I say give them a shot. I own quite a few Floureon lipos the 2S 5200mah I use in all my 2wd rcs for the ECX 2wd Ruckus (Torment is the same) battery strap the screws for the knobs for the battery strap need loosened some to allow knobs to raise higher so the strap can be used. I prefer hard case batteries if possible. Also brushless would be a nice upgrade if possible I have burned up too many brushed motors while using lipos they are just a lot less tolerant to heat and prolonged use than brushless.
 
Heyitsme, thanks for the feedback, it is greatly appreciated.
Todays hobby is NOTHING like I remember it being. NiCad's were the thing, NiMH were coming on the scene.
My son has a few "toy" grade cars and trucks, one in particular, moves right along, when he got it a year or two ago from Santa, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it got up and boogied, it was loosely based on a truggy design.
It's not like he needs yet another RC car, but I am hoping this "hobby" grade RC will forever replace the others.
Something to grow on and with. Santa can always bring hop-ups....LOL
When I started looking I found the short course trucks to just look cool.
And at the time I purchased his, I wasn't really thinking about brushless systems, cause I didn't want it to be "too" much for him to handle. Again something to grow into.
I have watched a plethora of videos on everything. I think that has confused me more than anything.
2S-6S, 1800mAh - 8000mAh, 20C - 100C, hard case - soft case, balancing boards, the sheer number of connectors out there now, back in the day Deans plugs were the go to, single chargers, dual chargers, quad chargers. WOW!
I really like the ISDT D2? dual charger, but for that price I can get 3 of the Imax single chargers.
I am doing this on a budget, and I have to buy 2 (or at least I think) of everything.
Then again I reeeeeeealy don't have to buy anything more, both cars came with battery packs 1800mAh 7.2v NiMH, and the wall wort chargers that don't even have a single light on them, I think the manual said 1hr - 2hr charge time?
Yikes we gotta do better than that. LOL
 
Check this link out for lipos https://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide good info here.

Decent one button 2a charger (with lights) for 4-8 cell nimh (still use this one every now and then if I use it at all) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Redcat-Hex...W062O:sc:USPSFirstClass!36109!US!-1:rk:2:pf:0

If your happy with your speed right now just get a higher mah 7.2v battery just don't let the motor get too hot longer run times lead to hotter motors. A step up in voltage will also increase heat which will lead to a fried motor.

Don't be turned away by the power and speed a brushless motor can give. There are ways to get the speed down such as using a low kv motor, turning the throttle down on the transmitter (if it has that availability), using a smaller pinion, just using 7.2v nimh and so on.
 
As an owner of both a b6ac charger and 6 Floureon lipos I would say they are perfect for these vehicles. However of the 6 lipos 2 were bad out of the box, cells became unbalanced after the first run and they do not like to balance while charging either my charger actually hit the 120 minute limit.
 
Hi Slick, thanks a bunch for the response.
I went ahead and ordered the 2 Imax B6ac chargers. I hope they are sufficient enough for now.
Battery packs I am still stumped on. Through my course of educating myself some, I have watched a lot of youtube commentators, and quite a few of them use the Floureon or Gens Ace packs. That's what has led me to look at those brands.
I am still on the fence of either Lipo's or 8.4v nimh packs. Lipo's seem to be the THING nowadays.
And whoever said nimh and nicads were cheaper, ummmm no, no they are not. At least not by much.
And to which brands you are comparing. Still looking at the pack situation.

Side hunt, for turnbuckle up grades. The used Torment is in need of some turnbuckles, the plastic bars are not straight anymore. LOL
 
Hi Slick, thanks a bunch for the response.
I went ahead and ordered the 2 Imax B6ac chargers. I hope they are sufficient enough for now.
Battery packs I am still stumped on. Through my course of educating myself some, I have watched a lot of youtube commentators, and quite a few of them use the Floureon or Gens Ace packs. That's what has led me to look at those brands.
I am still on the fence of either Lipo's or 8.4v nimh packs. Lipo's seem to be the THING nowadays.
And whoever said nimh and nicads were cheaper, ummmm no, no they are not. At least not by much.
And to which brands you are comparing. Still looking at the pack situation.

Side hunt, for turnbuckle up grades. The used Torment is in need of some turnbuckles, the plastic bars are not straight anymore. LOL
Turnigy is another brand of batteries to look at for batteries this battery come as a recommendation from @Jerry-Rigged he posted these on another forum https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-battery-5000mah-3s-25c-lipo-pack-xt-90.html?___store=en_us I currently have 4 of the smaller sized Turnigy lipos I run in my minis and so far they are great.

And as far as turnbuckles go, you can either buy some more Ecx ball studs https://www.horizonhobby.com/ball-stud-(6):-circuit--ruckus--boost-ecx1058, Rpm rod ends http://www.rpmrcproducts.com/shop/suspension-accessories/heavy-duty-rod-ends-12-4-40-black/ and the titanium turnbuckles for the Team Associated RC10T4 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Associated...701274d:g:iAQAAOSw43haBFC7:rk:2:pf:0&LH_BIN=1 or get Traxxas turnbuckles for the Stampede 2wd Vxl(i think these are the right ones but not 100% sure) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Traxxas-VX...d17424:g:JYkAAOSwFxJbvhN9:rk:40:pf:0&LH_BIN=1

-edit- updated with links
 
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Sweet! Thanks Slick!
Exactly what I was looking for, I remember reading about it in one or two of the posts on the forums, but didn't write anything down.
I do have a question, is there a benefit of using the ball stud and ball socket version over the captured ball sockets?
I was leaning more towards the captured versions. And why is it so hard to find regular silver or black upgrades, seems like all the aluminum hop ups are blue, green, red, or some variation of it. For example, Hot racing, has a few hop up parts for the Torment, and it seems like they only come in Blue...…… :unsure:
 
Ball sockets can be a safety net and they do cost less than a turnbuckle. But once they pop off they are more likely to pop off randomly.

It is very annoying that almost every hop up is blue. Boom racing used to make a bunch of stuff in different colors some of it is still available on Asia tees but don't expect to get everything in the same color.
 
You are on the right track. I would’ve suggested one charger as Lipo batteries have great run time. Two charged batteries, one for each of you is plenty for most bashing sessions.
I’d get cheap brushless combos with 4000kv or less motors. They will extend the run time as well as last longer than brushed motors.
I’ve upgraded the links on my Ruckus, but I also push it pretty hard. For general bashing I’d just get the stock set of fixed links for $10.
I use a B6 and a pair of floreon hard cased. They work great for me.
I’ve found this to be a great forum, so keep asking questions and you’ll keep getting thoughtful answers.
As far as Lipo packs. If you get hard case and handle charging yourself, I’d think your son could handle loading a charged pack just fine. The vast majority of times Lipo batteries are perfectly safe. But when it gets ugly, it gets really ugly really quick.
I also don’t worry much about leaving them charged too long. I keep them charged so I can run them when I get a chance. I probably wear them out faster, but they are so much better than nimh that who cares. If I start Racing I’ll get some batteries
 
Hi Gang,
I got the new Imax chargers the other day. I opened one up to make sure they work ok.
The used Torment I purchased(for me to run with him), came with two battery packs, I assume they are both "stock" batteries? Both are NiMH packs one is a 1800Mah, and the other is a 3300 Mah pack. I through the 3300 pack on to charge and my lord it took right at an hour to charge. I then took the 1800 and through it on the charger and it took right around 20-30 minutes which I assume is par for the course seeing how it's about half the capacity. I set the charger to the correct values, 3.3A for the 3300 pack and 1.8A for the 1800 pack.
Is this charge time normal? Maybe I was expecting too much, I did not expect it to take that long. I can only imagine how long a 2s 5000mah lipo will take........ :oops:
 
Charging at 1c always takes about an hour. If you charge at 1c that means you charge at the rate of its capacity. This is as you are currently doing. For instance, your 3300mAh nimh gets charged at 3.3A. Assuming the battery is depleted, so it may not take as long depending on how full the battery is. Most batteries can only be charged at 1c and it is usually a good rule of thumb.

Also, personally, I believe it is smart to always balance charge LiPos. Some will say it is not necessary all the time, but in my eyes it is a little good insurance for the welfare of the battery.

There are certainly batteries out there that can be charge at multiples of their capacity, but don't do it unless the manufacturer specifically calls it out.

In the end you will likely charge all of your batteries in an hour. This is why people tend to have multiple chargers or chargers with multiple ports. ;)
 
Also, personally, I believe it is smart to always balance charge LiPos. Some will say it is not necessary all the time, but in my eyes it is a little good insurance for the welfare of the battery.

I only balance if it needs it. But I always check the cell voltage to see if it needs it.
 
I only balance if it needs it. But I always check the cell voltage to see if it needs it.


Like I said, some will not say it is not necessary (you just proved my point ;)). But as you say, at the very least it is smart to check cell voltages. Truly, checking cell voltage should be done as often as possible to avoid damage.
 
Well he's talking nihm, so no balance charge option. Timing is fine like others say, but I've noticed with nihm batteries, if you charge even lower then 1c, it seems to last longer while running. I set mine at 2a for 5000mah, and it takes close to 3 hours. If the batteries sit for a few weeks I charge them at 1a to top off, as they lose capacity as time goes by. But charging at 1c is fine. And with lipos, charging less then 1c doesn't have any positive effect. Lipos seem to like a faster charge them nihm.
 
4 more days!!!!! the wait is killing me.....I want to bash them so bad, I think he is going to love this truck.
I'm not sure who's more excited me or him...…
 

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