Electric 1/8th Buggies
 

What do we all think of these then?

And what do we know? anyone with much experience of them...what are the current limitations?

I like the idea a lot - convenience of electric; no need for pit men, very strong and can handle large jumps..

James

I have no experience so far but I've been reading and participating in rctech forum about this.

My view:

Pros:
- very strong cars
- quite large autonomy (around 20 minutes with 6000mAh packs)
- smoke the nitros :cool:

Cons:
- no esc designed for this purpose; most guys are using a MambaMax above it's specs (4s while it's aimed to handle 2s, meaning 14.8v instead of 7.4) with holes and fans; Tekin and Castle should have a specific in coming months
- cost (conversion kit + 1 battery + esc + motor + ubec > $800 USD); then you add the car, servo, battery charger,...
- not much available in Europe so import taxes :(

Tekin are working on a unit right now.

Converting a chassis normaly is just the centre mount and removing breaks. Big cost is the motor and cells.

Yes, but I quote a Tekin employee (posted yesterday):
Don't get too far ahead of yourself, these are still in the first stages of development. We're working like crazy to get all the FX and R1 series out as it is.
This ESC is announced for months now...

Anyway, to put numbers on my previous post, conversion is about $135, battery $250, motor $250, ESC tbd

:)I've haven't had anything to do with them although I have read several posts on different forums about them. I started racing 1/10 electric TC, bought myself a 1/8 nitro buggy just to bash with. When our club built a track for 1/10 electric off road I sold the nitro and bought an electric 1/10.
I just found it too sterile and sold it and went and bought a 1/8 nitro truggy which I now race.
I just love the sound and the smell, even though my brushless 1/10 could keep with the nitro it just wasn't the same to me.
There are pro's & con's for both but being a big kid I'd rather sacrifice the speed and cleanliness of an electric for the good old sound and smell of a nitro in off road.:)

You can't beat that ;)

I think that when the esc's will be there, the electric version will save all the engine setup trouble. I don't run nitro but this seems to be the biggest frustration of the guys that do. I come and run pack after pack in 1/10 while they have sometimes trouble to run 5 minutes in a row (or even at all). Anyway, currently 1/8 brushless is as much trouble as the hardware is not ready yet...

After 10years of going home smelling of nitro with a head ache, sore eyes the 1/8th bug wore off:rolleyes:.

Why spend time and money trying to put a motor were the engine should be?:eh?: I'm now off to the shed to strap my RB C6 into my B4:D:D

Take a picture before it blows ;);)

some of your figures are a bit out, the mamba max esc can handle 12cells/3s lipo, but people have run it on 4/5s with ubec's

esc- the BK Electronics 12020 Warrior Car Controller handles 20cells and it $195,
the prefered choice is Quark Monster Pro 125B Brushless Sensorless Speed Controller which is $275, that is a good esc. which can take 6cell lipo.

motor- the Feigao/Nemesis/Wanderer "XL" brushless motors in usually 7xl form are fine for it, thats $92 from rcmonster

battery is dependant on what you go for, maxamps and flightpower are the best
quick prices
Lipo 6300HV 4S3P 14.8V Pack $280
Lipo 6300HV 18.5V Pack $320
Lipo 10000mah 4S 14.8V Pack $250
Lipo 10000mah 5S 18.5V Pack $300
Lipo 10000mah 6S 22.2V Pack $350

for conversion take out any nitro bits so all that should be left is the steering servo and a receiver. mock up where everything will go, then get hold of some aluminum and make a motor mount. secure everything else, jobs a good 'un

You're correct about MambaMax, it's 3s. Thanks for mentionning the others.

The prices I gave were relative to what I understood to be the standard racing package from rctech.
1. 4s batteries (and ok the Mamba can take it with mods but you can also read that quite a few fried nevertheless...)
2. NeuMotor type 1512 http://www.neumotors.com/20061222/15...es%20data.html
3. A manufactured conversion kit like this http://www.rcproductdesigns.com/OneEigthScalekits.htm

Now you can always to cheaper... and maybe not worse after all!

Why do you need such big motors and so much voltage? :confused:

G

Once again, I only read rctech, so...

It seems that it is the necessary power to compete with nitro's as they share same races in US (in clubs at least).

the weight of the cars ad the energy needed to spool up the tyres/wheels/drivetrain

I have seen the Tekin one running and it is a beast.

That was my next point rallyx car weigh a bit more!!!

Comment on Quark ESC mentionned above:
http://www.rctech.net/forum/showpost...&postcount=460

thing is with nitro its a level playing field, engines and fuel are the same, yea a few people can tweak engines but most are just down to driving and tuning.

But it would be less hassel 1/8th electric, and imagine being able to hear your friends ooooooh :)

If it went electric it would be down to equipment, don't get me wrong electric is my first love and will always be that way, no matter what, even if I dont have good cells and motors :)

Do you really think so? You also have a wide range of engine and prices just like in electro. The only advantage of electro is that if you buy the best, it will work right without tweaking, no hassle. It has less charm I admit ;)

Well I know there is a difference between a £137 go engine and a £300 RB at top level :)

I still think that nitro is a level playing field, you only have to look at some of the electric drivers doing it, in 10th there up or were there, but not quite in the A yet at 1/8th there pushing the top drivers, maybe the driving style suits some better anyway!

I'd say for 10th off road it's pretty negligible, if you need more power drop turns, there isn't a great need to spend all that much, in touring cars, yes, money wins races, but where the speed of the car is traction limited not power limited it's pretty much all skill imo. Neil Cragg for example generally seems to use much less powerful motors than most others (from what i've seen anyway, feel free to correct me here :p) ofc they're all top end brushless systems etc, but that's reliability, not making him go faster. Only thing that would maybe make a difference is top end batteries making the voltage more consistent over a race, or where it's allowed, lipo dropping weight and adding power (Doughtys car at CML 2 weeks ago sunday was a rocket, and it was damp :o)

I agree. You even see people like Mike Truhe running with 5 cells instead of 6.