Anyone into R/C?

Okay I'm buying the honcho today. What battery/charger should I buy with it that's reasonably priced but still gives me some good driving time?

 

well, that just doubled the cost, lol.
The model should come with a NiMH pack and a wall wart that usually provides a full charge overnight, it's just enough to piss you off.
But, if you pick up a hobby grade charger, you can charge the supplied battery in about half an hour or less. If you go Lipo, charge times will be under 15 minutes with quality packs.

 

The charger is one area to not skimp if you think your RC hobby will expand.
I recommend the Cellpro Powerlab 8 1344W

 

It does not come with a battery pack or charger, what would be the level below that one? That's a bit expensive right now

 

so, over time, I have ended up with 4 chargers. The progression is real, buy once, get the best you can afford.
that being said, Venom makes a decent charger. I have one.
Hyperion is another good name, I have one of those that is my travel charger as it runs on lower voltage and still charges fairly fast.
Revolectrix is imho, the best.

Whatever you get it needs to be able to charge the first three at the minimum...
Lipo,
Nimh,
NiCD,
Life,
A123, and maybe
lead acid so you charge the lawn mower battery too.

 

ah, gotcha.

I don't really spend much time on the rc forums, so the last time I logged on (over a year ago probably), the best option for steering was to take the bell crank assembly of a traxxas 2wd, bolt it down, and make up the turnbuckles. bolt on would save me some time though

mine has metal diff gears, but isn't the kit version.....hmmmm. I'm running castle motor in mine. was running a castle ESC until the blue smoke came out. haven't had any issues with the plastic gears yet, but i'll upgrade when they do go.

just a heads up, best thing you can do to protect the car is to toss the junky panels out and make some aluminum ones. great protection, and the slight weight increase does wonders for the suspension.

 

http://www.buddyrc.com/cellpro-10xp-645w-15a-10s-charger.html

Edit:
this may be better for entry level as it comes with a balance board.
http://www.buddyrc.com/cellpro-4s-charger-with-xh-adapter-combo.html

 

I have a Hitec

 

I have always run plastic transmission gears and have never had a problem.

I quit racing 1/10 off road because of the stress. I still enjoy going all day to OC for a practice day with the mod and stock t4. It's fun to run your transponder and race the clock by yourself all day. No one will hack you and you get passing practice with all the short course trucks on the track.

I bought 4 used chargers before they started making the 4 in 1 chargers. Now I have 4 chargers I leave at home and one 4 channel charger I use...

Does anyone want to buy a twin hammers or a wraith?

 

If you don't want to break the bank and want a brand name, the Hitec X1 is a nice charger: http://www.amainhobbies.com/rc-cars...ac-dc-multicharger-6s-6a-50w-hrc44165/p209622

The benefit there is that's it's an all-in-one, so you don't need a separate power supply. Do you need something cheaper than that?

For batteries, you can go with Turnigy (HobbyKing) Lipos, they're pretty good, or Sky or Gens Ace (HobbyPartz) Lipos. I actually also have SPC Lipos, and they've been good: http://spcracingbatteries.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=59

 

I love the 2s set up I have. 3300 mah. Got two with the Hitec charger. Takes longer to kill one than charge it so that was my hope

 

TH Kit
GCM Upright Shock kit
GCM rear axle truss
Gmade shocks for front
Holmes Hobby Puller Pro 3500kv motor
Holmes Hobby BLE Pro ESC
Some 3s batteries
Spektrum Dx4c radio/reciever
Hitec HS7955TG Steering servo
Sr Irie bell crank steering kit
Team Associated dog bones (#9672) and CVA rebuild kit (#7381) to accommodate the extra travel from the upright kit.
Robinson hardened pinion and spur
Probably will need a Castle BEC
Plus some other misc stuff, like a battery charger, diff and shock oil, etc.
I'd like to step up to some 2.2's to run some decent sized paddle tires for the dunes and if I can get them to fit, some 5.4" TSL swampers.
I plan to try out the Spektrum AVC (basically traction control system) and see if I can get the hammers to handle decently up to 30mph. That will eat up all 4 channels so if I decide I don't like that then I'll spend some money on a shift servo and the Offna shift linkage. For now I'll have to hand shift it.

There's a guy on RC Crawler who took a set of B4.1 rear A arms and got them to fit on the TH. He then machined/welded his own CV axles for it. It's about 3/4" wider now and went from 1.4" to 2" of front travel and handles great I guess. I'd love to do that down the road but I'll have to source some axles since I lack the tools and skill to build my own axles...

 

@BradyT88

You got pictures of your TH?

 

I don't have one yet. Just planning out my build still. I'm waiting until my taxes are done in case I have to pay in...

 

Over on RC crawler they recommended this Turnigy charger.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__66718__Turnigy_Reaktor_250W_10A_1_6S_Balance_Charger.html

I guess it is just a rebranded iCharger for about half the price.
http://www.progressiverc.com/icharger-106b.html

 

sounds like a fun build

I might urge you to think twice about the AVC setup. on a 2wd, or a short course/truggy, it makes more sense, because the vehicle will oversteer before it rolls. quite the opposite with the TH. regardless or rideheight, sway bars, shocks, etc, it will roll over before it spins out, unless you are on a very very low traction surface.

the bigger tires may take some ingenuity. even when I bumped up to the 1.9 super swampers, the inside front tire and outside rear would always rub the chassis or body. I've made the nessesary cuts to make them fit, but a 2.2 will take more. if you can run those associated front arms, and then some axle extenders out back though, you'll be golden. wouldn't run the extenders on the plastic rear axle housing though.

 

I guess the rollovers come from the poor geometry of the rear creating torque twist and the poor setup of the cantilever shocks up front. From what I have read, going to up right front shocks and getting that GCM rear axle truss to fix the rear geometry, that most people's rollover problems disappeared. I figure with the AVC having some minor steer control it should help stabilize it better before it gets to that rollover point. And if I don't like it I'm only out $40 for the higher model receiver that is AVC capable.

The TH kit comes with the 1.9 TSL Swampers and there are quite a few guys running 2.2's on them. They didn't go into much detail about what they had to do to fit them though. I figured I would look it over before I bought the 2.2 TSL Swampers though.

 

TH on 2.2, tires are 5 1/4" dia.
No modification, and you could prolly squeeze another 1/2" in there if wanted.
The hexes will need to be changed if you use Axial wheels, the hex is the same but has a protruding round bit that helps center the wheel.

 

the axle truss does great for cutting back on the torque twist, but the rear end just has so much travel, that lean is a major challenge with high speed turns.

I run the 440 oz savox servos in all of my 1/10 vehicles. it's an absolute monster for a truck that light, but is a little bigger than your average 1/10 servo. that may have been my issue with tire clearance. servo horn sticks out further. regardless though, if you keep the factory rear flex, you'll rub the hell out of the rear wing panels. nothing bad functionally, but if you have plastic panels or paint/stickers on the outside of the panels, you won't for very long

 

Right, but you still need a power supply for that, which would increase the cost for someone starting up. I had a 106B and now have a 308 Duo, but those are overkill for someone who just wants to dabble in the hobby (I race onroad, hence the 308 ). I have the X1 as a backup, though.