TREX 600E batteries

[uneverno]

Hey Danimal,
I wasn't expecting the board to match my Equinox. The trouble I had figuring it out was that the balancer output for a 3 cell pack has 6 wires (4 red and two black), where the pack input only has 4 (1 pos per cell and common ground). Add to that that the balancer only activates with a load, so what voltage flows where couldn't be measured 'cuz I couldn't plug the dang battery in.

I figured it out though (two of the wires come from common output in the balancer), and since I haven't seen any adapter boards for Electrifly charger/balancers, my thought was that I could get one of those and adapt my Equinox output to it. Looking at your pics, it should be a pretty simple rewire. I'll take a look at the sites though, 'cuz if I don't gotta drag out the soldering iron, so much the better.

[Danimal]

uneverno
Sorry about that I guess I didn't understand exactly what you were trying to do. I did a little research trying to figure out how your balancer works and what kind of balance plugs it would take. When I stumbled on something that might be of use to you. Check this out these are the hi-power adaptors for charging TP and FP LiPo's with your Equinox balancer.

http://www.advantagehobby.com/produc...cat=623&page=1

http://www.gravesrc.com/GREAT_PLANES...p/gpmm3163.htm

Let me know if this is of any help to you.

[uneverno]

Perfect! I don't use Deans, I use EC3 connectors for the two lead, but that's no problem to remedy at all.

Come to think of it, since I don't have any batteries for the Trex yet, I could just switch to Deans when I get them. Even simpler.

Thanks.

[Danimal]

Grate
I thought those looked like they might be useful with the Equinox . I've never had any experience with that setup but I have heard a lot of good things about the Triton chargers. Up until I got my BC6 I had been using an Align balance charger. It was just barley adequat.

What LiPo packs do you intend to use on your Rex?

[uneverno]

I haven't decided yet. The most MaH I can afford at the lightest weight is what I'm shooting for. Thunder Power seem to be pretty good at that, but they're the only brand I'm really familiar with. That was the best set-up for my Hummingbird, but the Rex is a bit of a different story. Cash is also an issue, so bottom line will end up being best I can afford. I'd rather buy 1 really good pack to start than 2 crappy ones - ultimate goal being to have 3 or 4.

I have a lhs that's pretty well stocked on T-rex stuff, so I'll probably ask around.

I'm pretty well versed on the electronics, so I knew what to get there. My RC background is old school and on cars, so I'm a little short of knowledge on computer transmitters, brushless motors and LiPo brands.

Ask me anything you want about Sub-C NiCd's and custom wound brushed motors though I had quite the cell balancing set up when I was racing, and had my own lathe to turn the motor commutators.

The Triton set up is really nice. Compact, light, up to the job and very user friendly.

[Danimal]

Originally Posted by uneverno

Ask me anything you want about Sub-C NiCd's and custom wound brushed motors though I had quite the cell balancing set up when I was racing, and had my own lathe to turn the motor commutators.

I may have to take you up on that offer some day. I'm just now starting to get in to rock crawlers. Those guys are always talking about 35 , 55, 65 (and so on) turn motors and a lot of them build their own NiCd split packs and this stuff is all new to me.

I couldn't agree with you more about getting one really good quality pack rather than two cheep crap-packs. I've never seen one of those cheep ones go more than 20 to 30 cycles before its time to replace them. I've got one TP pro light 2100 that's almost 2 years old and its just now starting to lose its ability to deliver the punch it once had. I also really like the Flight Power EVO 25- 2170MaH for my Mini T. This battery has a 25c continuous rating and 50c max burst. Awesome battery for your Rex if your motor and ESC can handle 108 amp bursts. They are a bit more expensive than the Thunder Power but "O MY GOD".
Flight power has also just released they new EVO Light V2 series that is a bit more affordable and also has some pretty good power ratings. Their 2500 MaH has a 20c continuous and 30c burst rating for about the same price as a TP 2100. Its worth checking out.
http://www.flightpower.co.uk/index.a...=News/news.asp

[uneverno]

Ahh, good info again, thanks.

I'm taking a guess what you mean by rock crawlers.

When I was racing - back in the late '80's early '90's, we had several varieties of hand wound motors available. Trinity was one brand. Though hand wound, still mass produced. My favorites were Cam's - out of Chicago. I don't even know if they still exist.
The turn count I was dealing with was between 11 and 25. Essentially, the higher the turn count, the higher the rpm's, and the lower the torque. We factored based on track conditions (wet finger to the wind technology). I raced clay ovals. If the track was sticky, you wanted more torque - i.e. lower turns. If it was slippery, the opposite.
Add to that gear ratios so that your batteries last the requisite race time. Our final races were 4 mins. Qualifying was 3 mins, so one could gear higher (= faster) - but not always an advantage to do so. Different battery packs/motors/gear ratios for different situations.

The NiCd's I was dealing with at the time were 1700 MaH. That was premium. I have seen that they far exceed that these days.

In any case, just like with LiPo's, balancing is key. We ran 7 cell packs. Discharge rates have to be similar per battery within 10th's of seconds, so the ability to match is key if you're scratch building. You gotta have the gear though, and that's not cheap to do.

I think it's just like LiPos these days where one can rely on the supplier to provide well matched packs. In any case, matching LiPo's is something I'd be unwilling to do given the risk factor.

[Danimal]

Thanks that's some vary helpful info. At the moment my crawler is running a 55 turn motor but I wasn't really sure what that number represented.
If your interested this is a link to the Rock Crawler truck I just go.
http://www.axialracing.com/ftp/ax10/