Re: My very first hobby RC
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2012 11:34 am
Not to worry - I was there not too long ago and going crosseyed with all the new technology. Here's a few tips:
1. If you want to modernize the buggy, you need to go with a brushless motor and a lipo battery combo. Doing so will give you more speed and fun than you can imagine BUT this comes at a price. You will need a different ESC and a different charger to do this correctly and safely.
2. If you want to keep it more 'vintage' then any brushed motor and ESC will do the trick, you just won't get the speed and run times that you will with modern tech.
3. Kv is essentially the speed of the motor (sort of). So very basically, all else being equal, a 4000 kv motor will be slower than a 6000kv. But, the 4000 kv will have more torque. There is more to it than that but its a good starting point. Turns is a similar idea, but opposite in numbers - a 17.5T motor will be slower than an equivalent 12.5T motor. But again, a 17.5T will have more torque.
4. Brushed vs. Brushless - exactly as the name implies, a brushless has nothing that contacts the motor whereas a brushed motor has a couple of metal 'brushes' (actually they are kind of rectangular hunks of metal) that lightly contact the motor and help it spin. (At least that's my crude understanding of it). Brushless are the newest and fastest way to go and they are much lower maintenance (if any) and far more efficient too. Kind of like an old big block 427 is cool but a new supercharged V6 can be much faster AND more efficient.
5. Lipos vs NiCad vs NimH - so originally we all ran NiCad (nickel cadmium) batteries but they had a host of issues from lack of capacity and memory etc, same with Nickel Metal Hydride which resolved some of the capacity issues and you could get more juice with hump back packs but they were still affected by memory issues with charge / discharge and a voltage curve that dropped off fairly rapidly. However, they were (and NimH are still available) fairly inexpensive and widely available. Lipos (lithium polymer) batteries have taken it to a whole new level. Not only are they now smaller and more powerful, they have a very stable and consistent voltage curve and are capable of large bursts of power (which is related to the 'C' rating). They also can have enormous capacity versus the same size NimH batteries. The 'C' rating refers to the charge and discharge rate of a battery. Batteries with a higher 'C' rating can allow your car to potentially be faster because it can give a quick burst of power to your motor. The drawbacks here are that lipos are very finicky and MUST be used with a proper lipo batter charger / balancer and you have to always be careful in handling them as they can be very dangerous when not handled / charged correctly. You also MUST use a proper ESC with a voltage cutoff because below a certain voltage the lipo will not be able to be charged up again - so unlike the old days when your car would get slower and slower, now it will be going full speed and then just stop.
Hope this helps - make sure you read a lot here, there is a TON of knowledge and try the search, as most of what you may ask will likely have been asked already.
1. If you want to modernize the buggy, you need to go with a brushless motor and a lipo battery combo. Doing so will give you more speed and fun than you can imagine BUT this comes at a price. You will need a different ESC and a different charger to do this correctly and safely.
2. If you want to keep it more 'vintage' then any brushed motor and ESC will do the trick, you just won't get the speed and run times that you will with modern tech.
3. Kv is essentially the speed of the motor (sort of). So very basically, all else being equal, a 4000 kv motor will be slower than a 6000kv. But, the 4000 kv will have more torque. There is more to it than that but its a good starting point. Turns is a similar idea, but opposite in numbers - a 17.5T motor will be slower than an equivalent 12.5T motor. But again, a 17.5T will have more torque.
4. Brushed vs. Brushless - exactly as the name implies, a brushless has nothing that contacts the motor whereas a brushed motor has a couple of metal 'brushes' (actually they are kind of rectangular hunks of metal) that lightly contact the motor and help it spin. (At least that's my crude understanding of it). Brushless are the newest and fastest way to go and they are much lower maintenance (if any) and far more efficient too. Kind of like an old big block 427 is cool but a new supercharged V6 can be much faster AND more efficient.
5. Lipos vs NiCad vs NimH - so originally we all ran NiCad (nickel cadmium) batteries but they had a host of issues from lack of capacity and memory etc, same with Nickel Metal Hydride which resolved some of the capacity issues and you could get more juice with hump back packs but they were still affected by memory issues with charge / discharge and a voltage curve that dropped off fairly rapidly. However, they were (and NimH are still available) fairly inexpensive and widely available. Lipos (lithium polymer) batteries have taken it to a whole new level. Not only are they now smaller and more powerful, they have a very stable and consistent voltage curve and are capable of large bursts of power (which is related to the 'C' rating). They also can have enormous capacity versus the same size NimH batteries. The 'C' rating refers to the charge and discharge rate of a battery. Batteries with a higher 'C' rating can allow your car to potentially be faster because it can give a quick burst of power to your motor. The drawbacks here are that lipos are very finicky and MUST be used with a proper lipo batter charger / balancer and you have to always be careful in handling them as they can be very dangerous when not handled / charged correctly. You also MUST use a proper ESC with a voltage cutoff because below a certain voltage the lipo will not be able to be charged up again - so unlike the old days when your car would get slower and slower, now it will be going full speed and then just stop.
Hope this helps - make sure you read a lot here, there is a TON of knowledge and try the search, as most of what you may ask will likely have been asked already.
