Suggested Electric 1/8th section rules

[jasonwipf]

Those battery rules look good guys. Simple enough to understand and broad enough to let alot of different set ups participate but detailed enough for safety.

[Northy]

Originally Posted by Marvin

- meltdowns in 1/10 happens more regularly than I think is safe, and so with the additional current draw (and heat) of 1/8, it's going to be worse.

Do they? I can't remember the last time I saw one

G

[Marvin]

I've seen it. And 1/10 only sees current draw of around 40A. 1/8 - up to 120A, or more (depending on voltage and set-up).

[Northy]

I've seen it too, but not purely from racing, something else has always been wrong - short, electronic failure, damaged connector....

G

[Marvin]

Even so, Deans were never designed to handle that kind of current - they're rated for 40-50A max. 4mm Corally gold tubes for about the same, maybe 10-20A more. 5mm Corally tubes are more like 100-120A.

[Northy]

But would you turn people away because they have 4mm connectors?

G

[Marvin]

No.

Just in the batteries - the problems caused could be terrible. Where the plugs are used and used, they wear loose, heat up (poor connection - and they'll run hot under the stress of 1/8th anyway), so far as to melt the solder and destroy the pack - maybe there'll be a LiPo fire - we don't want to risk that in the first steps of 1/8th electric or you'll see clubs turn away ANY 1/8th electric, killing the class.

[dodgydiy]

if it was six cell only then wouldnt current drawn be a lot lower and make a smaller connector useable? quite agree though, "any connection used in an electrical system needs to be equal to or above the design current for the installation" small quote from electrical regs BS7671, if it applies to houses and industry, shouldnt we take notice?
anyway, how many people have seen a newbie at a club change his motor then watch his car stop and smoke on the track when his tamiya connector gives up, as far as i can find they are 25A rated, although they are crap. not seen deans or corally fail, the problem could be with some deans connectors, the holes seem to vary in size quite a bit, some are really tight, some are too loose to make proper connection, when i changed to lipo they had loose deans fitted one of which did melt slightly and fail in a touring car, if a lower quality connector can fail in a touring car with a 13 turn brushless then it is definately going to fail in an 1/8 buggy. big problem really is you cannot police the quality of peoples connectors, only the type. if a good type of connector is specified then doesnt that help everyone, wouldnt you rather spend an extra £10 on a pack of connectors and know you are going to be reliable?

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by dodgydiy

if it was six cell only then wouldnt current drawn be a lot lower and make a smaller connector useable? quite agree though, "any connection used in an electrical system needs to be equal to or above the design current for the installation" small quote from electrical regs BS7671, if it applies to houses and industry, shouldnt we take notice?
anyway, how many people have seen a newbie at a club change his motor then watch his car stop and smoke on the track when his tamiya connector gives up, as far as i can find they are 25A rated, although they are crap. not seen deans or corally fail, the problem could be with some deans connectors, the holes seem to vary in size quite a bit, some are really tight, some are too loose to make proper connection, when i changed to lipo they had loose deans fitted one of which did melt slightly and fail in a touring car, if a lower quality connector can fail in a touring car with a 13 turn brushless then it is definately going to fail in an 1/8 buggy. big problem really is you cannot police the quality of peoples connectors, only the type. if a good type of connector is specified then doesnt that help everyone, wouldnt you rather spend an extra £10 on a pack of connectors and know you are going to be reliable?

Totally agree. 'Proper' Deans would probably be fine, when married with more 'proper' Deans plugs - but start mixing and matching, and ...

[jasonwipf]

Are you talking about Ultra Deans plugs? The worse i had with a deans was a soder heat/disconnect because i did a poor soder job, where the soder didnt flow enough and I discovered I only had about 1x2mm patch of soder contact that was joining the plug tab and the wire.

[Marvin]

Yes, but not the 'official ones'. The copies and such - especially when mixed are a potential hazard.