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Difference between Novak C2, and TC2?

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:27 pm
by Biggs
I am slowly outfitting my vintage cars with appropriate vintage electronics. I always wanted Novak goodies back in the day, so now I am!

But I have stumbled across a question that there doesn't seem to be any real information out there on. What exactly is the difference between the Novak cyclone C2, and the TC2? The T standing for Touring. My mini catalog is from 1998, and just covers the Cyclone.

My assumption would be the programming is different, but if you are reprogramming them with the Pit Wizard, that shouldn't matter. I "think" I can reprogram all the profiles, but I am not 100% clear on that detail. I have a couple C2s, and a Pit Wizard. But neither are wired up ready to go, and I need to clean some corrosion off the battery terminals of the Pit Wizard before trying them out.

Re: Difference between Novak C2, and TC2?

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:37 pm
by JarLuck
This matches my recollection as well. They had different programming for the 3 default profiles, but the 4th was still open and could be programmed to whatever you wanted using the pit wizard or PC software link. There shouldn't be any hardware differences other than the sticker.

Re: Difference between Novak C2, and TC2?

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 3:50 pm
by ChisaiKuso
Biggs wrote: Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:27 pmMy assumption would be the programming is different
This is correct. The TC2 was programmed to be more optimal for touring cars.

Re: Difference between Novak C2, and TC2?

Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2020 7:35 pm
by Biggs
Alright I finally "kinda" answered the rest of my questions. First off, it appears that ONLY the 4th slot is reprogrammable. I have not 100% verified this as my C2s both need wires soldered to them, and my Pit Wizard needs the battery contacts cleaned. But staring at the documentation doesn't give me any hope otherwise.

So if I can't reprogram all the slots, what are the actual settings? And then I finally found it in an obvious place. Step 6 in the C2 TC2 operations manual details the profiles and settings differences.

While I don't fully understand half of the settings, overall the TC2's profiles actually look more suited to racing. The C2 has drag brakes set for the third profile, pretty useless for most racing scenarios. I have to go back and stare at the instructions, and more importantly do so with a fully powered up system. Not sure how difficult it is to change the selected profile on the fly. I think it can be done with the one touch button on the ESC. But how easy is it to even tell what profile you are on?

The Pit Wizard can store a bunch of profiles, 10 I think it is? So really it doesn't matter with that fourth slot. And the PW might even be easier to utilize than trying to select a profile via the button. Still it is nicer to start off with an option that gets you close out of the box I guess.

There is another reason to look into this. C2s are not as easy to come by right now on eBay as the TC2s are. The TC2s are more abundant, and also a bit cheaper. I will probably grab a TC2 sometime soon to mess with and compare side by side with the C2.