Newbie wants to know What’s Good!!!!!

[kurpis]

I've recently got back into RC and just built an Associated B74 to go off road carpet racing at a nice track about 50 miles away in Cocoa Beach, FL. Anyway, I don't want to run the thing outside so now I'm getting into trail trucks. There's a small but vibrant crawler scene in my town (Daytona Beach) that I might get involved with.

Anyway, get quality equipment, buy used if you have to but don't cheap out. Price is usually a good indicator of quality in this hobby in my opinion. Get a good soldering station like a Hakko, good tools like MIP, these are things you will use often and you don't want to struggle when trying to do something.

I don't understand where the whole soldering thing comes into play. What type of things will I be soldering and what type of costs are involved? I'm not opposed to spending. I just have zero knowledge about it.

 

[Dezertdirt]

So the reason that a lot of people bring up soldering is that alot of after aftermarket escs require you to solder on your own connectors for both the battery side and the motor side. With a better better quality soldering iron it is easier to make good solder joints and are more reliable. The better the solder joint the stronger the joint will be and the better current will flow.

I run an older verision of this hakko. I can say that when I went from a cheaper soldering iron to the hakko, I noticed that soldering became easier and better.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/hakko-...ture-soldering-station-hakfx888d-rc-p/p248449

 

[kurpis]

So the reason that a lot of people bring up soldering is that alot of after aftermarket escs require you to solder on your own connectors for both the battery side and the motor side. With a better better quality soldering iron it is easier to make good solder joints and are more reliable. The better the solder joint the stronger the joint will be and the better current will flow.

I run an older verision of this hakko. I can say that when I went from a cheaper soldering iron to the hakko, I noticed that soldering became easier and better.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/hakko-...ture-soldering-station-hakfx888d-rc-p/p248449

How often are you soldering things?

 

[$uicide $hift]

How often are you soldering things?

This depends on how many rigs you own and how many times you want to change things around.

For your first RC you can skip this generally. If you find you are getting into it and buy more rigs you may want to invest in a solder station. Between my son and I we have an OG 2.2 Wraith, OG SCX10, SCX10II, SCX10III, TRX-4 Bronco, Losi TLR 22 2.0 SCT, Losi 22S SCT and 2X SCX24s.

If you want to swap the ESC or motor, you will need to solder. If you buy a battery that does not have the same connector, you will need to solder. If you want to move the electronics around and the wires are really long, you will want to shorten them and need to solder. If a solder joint breaks, you will need to solder.

Options:

• If you have a local hobby shop near you they generally offer to solder up your equipment for a fee

• You can buy a battery that has the same connector as the ESC you chose (you may still need to solder the motor wires though)

• Have a friend with a solder station do it for you

• Buy a solder station and have it for years to be able to do all of your own soldering (This option if you have NOBODY that can solder for you or if you think you'll be getting more rigs and or changing out motors / ESCs down the road)

Between the two of us we have used our solder station about a dozen times since the start of this year. This was due to new ESC / Motor combos, new rigs and new batteries.

 

[TRX4ME]

MIP for tools (hex wrenches and nut drivers), nothing worse than stripping things due to bad tools which usually have a much looser fit.

I think Hitec makes good chargers. You'll need it to balance and storage charge lipo's, pretty much all should. Some extras bonuses might include to be able to charge some other battery types like Li-FE, LiIon and LIHV batteries, some radios use small Li-FE batteries and LIHV is a newer style of Lipo that uses slightly higher voltage per cell. Another bonus might be having a DC input so it can be used with a car battery when you're out in the wilderness. Consider if you want to charge more than one battery at a time too, thats another bonus.
The Hitec RDX1 seems like a nice starter charger, I like mine. I also have their X2 charger which I primarily use.

I might have left something out.

I would add getting a charger with discharge function. Hitec are great chargers, but some don't offer discharge (X1 series I believe) and others do (X2 series). Not really necessary for Crawlers, but might also want to consider one that allows you set set charge levels beyond the standard - especially if racing buggies or on road for the higher Lipo charges.

 

[kurpis]

This depends on how many rigs you own and how many times you want to change things around.

For your first RC you can skip this generally. If you find you are getting into it and buy more rigs you may want to invest in a solder station. Between my son and I we have an OG 2.2 Wraith, OG SCX10, SCX10II, SCX10III, TRX-4 Bronco, Losi TLR 22 2.0 SCT, Losi 22S SCT and 2X SCX24s.

If you want to swap the ESC or motor, you will need to solder. If you buy a battery that does not have the same connector, you will need to solder. If you want to move the electronics around and the wires are really long, you will want to shorten them and need to solder. If a solder joint breaks, you will need to solder.

Options:

• If you have a local hobby shop near you they generally offer to solder up your equipment for a fee

• You can buy a battery that has the same connector as the ESC you chose (you may still need to solder the motor wires though)

• Have a friend with a solder station do it for you

• Buy a solder station and have it for years to be able to do all of your own soldering (This option if you have NOBODY that can solder for you or if you think you'll be getting more rigs and or changing out motors / ESCs down the road)

Between the two of us we have used our solder station about a dozen times since the start of this year. This was due to new ESC / Motor combos, new rigs and new batteries.

Really helpful detailed soldering info for newbies! Thanks so much bro.

 

[kurpis]

I would add getting a charger with discharge function. Hitec are great chargers, but some don't offer discharge (X1 series I believe) and others do (X2 series). Not really necessary for Crawlers, but might also want to consider one that allows you set set charge levels beyond the standard - especially if racing buggies or on road for the higher Lipo charges.

What is discharging all about?

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

What is discharging all about?

Discharging comes into play in 2 scenarios:

1) Taking batts from full down to storage voltage.
2) Getting ready to throw them in the garbage.

*I've heard of people "cycling" their batteries once in a while to improve capacity of old batts but I'm not convinced there's any benefit to that, I think it's a throwback to NiCad days of old..

(Incidentally, it's my personal mission in life to re-educate everyone out there about the saltwater disposal method. It doesn't work. It may even create a more dangerous situation than doing nothing. The problem is that the saltwater can actually corrode the tabs off the cells which leads to a false 0 indication.
Best way to dispose of LiPos is to drain them to 0volts using a charger to take it down as far as the charger will and then using an automotive lightbulb or something similar to discharge it to 0.
Once a LiPo is at 0V you can put in your household garbage.
Even better than anything I've just mentioned is to just cut & tape the connectors {ensure there is no chance of a short circuit} and then hand the pack in to any battery recycling program; I have an Interstate Batteries store in my city and I take them all my dead LiPos.)
#endrant

 

[Inspector86]

Discharging comes into play in 2 scenarios:

1) Taking batts from full down to storage voltage.
2) Getting ready to throw them in the garbage.

*I've heard of people "cycling" their batteries once in a while to improve capacity of old batts but I'm not convinced there's any benefit to that, I think it's a throwback to NiCad days of old..

(Incidentally, it's my personal mission in life to re-educate everyone out there about the saltwater disposal method. It doesn't work. It may even create a more dangerous situation than doing nothing. The problem is that the saltwater can actually corrode the tabs off the cells which leads to a false 0 indication.
Best way to dispose of LiPos is to drain them to 0volts using a charger to take it down as far as the charger will and then using an automotive lightbulb or something similar to discharge it to 0.
Once a LiPo is at 0V you can put in your household garbage.
Even better than anything I've just mentioned is to just cut & tape the connectors {ensure there is no chance of a short circuit} and then hand the pack in to any battery recycling program; I have an Interstate Batteries store in my city and I take them all my dead LiPos.)
#endrant

To take this battery disposal one step further, once the battery is discharged to 0 voltage, I desolder the plug and solder the leads together permanently shorting the battery. I can also reuse the plug this way.

 

[Timmahh]

Best way to dispose of LiPos is to drain them to 0volts using a charger to take it down as far as the charger will and then using an automotive lightbulb or something similar to discharge it to 0.

Meh, toss it on the ground and poke it through with a stick, with a nail in the end of it. Its much more exciting than charger discharging, and it can still go right into the trash after it's done smoking.

 

[Dangerfirst]

Don't waste your time on Fakebook! I have seen more mis-information and just flat out intentional wrong info on the various crawler groups.

I concur with this. I see people promoting crap like reefs all the time. People also like to troll when you ask a genuine question. The only groups I see solid advice on is pages like Holmes and the Toyzuki page.

 

[Raguvian]

How often are you soldering things?

I have been soldering things a ton lately. Battery and ESC leads are the common ones, but I also like to buy cheap servo extensions on eBay (10 for $4 or whatever) and cut them to whatever length I need so I don't have a ton of wire everywhere and can route things how I want to.

It's also a lot cheaper to solder your own harnesses. I made my own BEC harness to bypass the receiver, instead of buying one for $8-10+.

 

[kurpis]

I have been soldering things a ton lately. Battery and ESC leads are the common ones, but I also like to buy cheap servo extensions on eBay (10 for $4 or whatever) and cut them to whatever length I need so I don't have a ton of wire everywhere and can route things how I want to.

It's also a lot cheaper to solder your own harnesses. I made my own BEC harness to bypass the receiver, instead of buying one for $8-10+.

The cheap servo extensions are so you can move the servo to a different location?

 

[kurpis]

I concur with this. I see people promoting crap like reefs all the time. People also like to troll when you ask a genuine question. The only groups I see solid advice on is pages like Holmes and the Toyzuki page.

Never been on Facebook and don't ever plan on it. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[kurpis]

Discharging comes into play in 2 scenarios:

1) Taking batts from full down to storage voltage.
2) Getting ready to throw them in the garbage.

*I've heard of people "cycling" their batteries once in a while to improve capacity of old batts but I'm not convinced there's any benefit to that, I think it's a throwback to NiCad days of old..

(Incidentally, it's my personal mission in life to re-educate everyone out there about the saltwater disposal method. It doesn't work. It may even create a more dangerous situation than doing nothing. The problem is that the saltwater can actually corrode the tabs off the cells which leads to a false 0 indication.
Best way to dispose of LiPos is to drain them to 0volts using a charger to take it down as far as the charger will and then using an automotive lightbulb or something similar to discharge it to 0.
Once a LiPo is at 0V you can put in your household garbage.
Even better than anything I've just mentioned is to just cut & tape the connectors {ensure there is no chance of a short circuit} and then hand the pack in to any battery recycling program; I have an Interstate Batteries store in my city and I take them all my dead LiPos.)
#endrant

Any YouTube videos on the subject that you recommend? I didnt realize it was such an issue.

 

[Raguvian]

The cheap servo extensions are so you can move the servo to a different location?

So you can move the receiver wherever you want. Some servos or ESCs just have shorter leads, too, or some chassis have the receiver boxes far away from everything else so extensions will be needed.

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Any YouTube videos on the subject that you recommend? I didnt realize it was such an issue.

Maybe, but I don't know sorry. I don't do the youtube.

 

[JSterrett]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Element and Traxxas for starter rigs. Element's electronics are pretty good for an RTR, pretty capable rig right out of the box. The TRX-4 Sport is a very solid starter rig as well, though the servo's pretty lame. The ESCs seem to be a bit hit-or-miss (never had one go bad myself), and the motors are OK for a sealed-can.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[2mtech]

Any YouTube videos on the subject that you recommend? I didnt realize it was such an issue.

There aren't very many 'Tube videos on the subject of lipo batteries in general and disposal specifically...can't be more than a few thousand. Proceed with caution, you'll read as much (if not more) disinformation than useful information!

I found this very informative when I was searching for knowledge. BUT...I just read through it again to make sure it hadn't become outdated...when it was written the salt water discharge method was still the flavor of the day, and I believe most of us now discount it as useless, so disregard that part!

https://rogershobbycenter.com/lipoguide

I can speak from firsthand knowledge that not storage charging batteries shortens their usable life significantly, no matter how much of a PIA it can be sometimes.

I currently have a Hitec X1 MF, an Onyx 235 and a Venom Pro Duo charger. The Pro Duo is nice because it's basically two completely independent chargers in one, but the Hitec remains my favorite. It's fast, balance charges perfectly and storage charges quickly as well. Storage charging sounds complicated when you're told you have to either charge or discharge a battery to 3.8v to store it, but the charger is smart enough to read the charge level of the battery you just connected and know whether it needs to charge or discharge all by itself and stop at the right level. The Onyx is ok but it has no storage feature.

 

[kurpis]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Element and Traxxas for starter rigs. Element's electronics are pretty good for an RTR, pretty capable rig right out of the box. The TRX-4 Sport is a very solid starter rig as well, though the servo's pretty lame. The ESCs seem to be a bit hit-or-miss (never had one go bad myself), and the motors are OK for a sealed-can.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

What other RTRs are good for newbies?