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I'm setting up an old 10L to run on 4 cells. Last time I ran 4 cells it was still the era of the wiper arm...

I have a choice of 2 old ESCs to use with this car: a Novak NESC-4 which may or may not work (it seems to do fine with stock motors but stutters on mod power) and a Duratrax DTX-4, which is in better physical condition but I haven't tested yet. I believe I read somewhere that if you're running the old Novaks on 4 cells, you're supposed to connect the 2 little red wires together. Is that to turn off the BEC? Anything else I need to do?

Looks like you might be correct on the two wires, at least that's what this says.

http://teamnovak.com/file_download/1299712885T1_T4_Instr.pdf

And here's the manual for the NESC-1x/1/4
http://teamnovak.com/file_download/1299712448NESC_1X_Instr.pdf

and once again you are correct on the red wires

Chris

Argh! Both the Novak and the DTX work flawlessly on 6 cells, but neither one will even power up on 4. I'm trying to use an old Futaba AM receiver that also has BEC. I wonder if that's causing problems? Guess I'll try a non-BEC receiver and see if it lights up.

Hmm, If you had a multimeter you might want to check the voltage they are putting out on 4 cell.

Chris

Alternatively you could add a jumper wire around the ESC and power the receiver directly from the 4 cell.

Chris

Duh - 4 cell pack dead. 3.5 volts. Gave it a little bump, tried it again, all works fine. I'll just cycle it once really good before I try running the car.

Now it's time to rip the pack apart, from 4 side-by-side into 2x2, and clean off some 20 year old tape residue...

Well that could be your problem! Good Job

Chris