Your setup looks pretty good! May I suggest that you use some velcro elsewhere besides the battery straps to help hold the batteries in? If the mud guards flex, it could allow the battery(s) to eject.

MM: I can see I'm going to have a similar problem with my buggy. I know I'll need the space over the mudguards and too think they are too liable to break under the weight. I was thinking of making a seperate battery platform (CF maybe?) that would be mounted to the metal chassis with 3/16-1/4" spacers. That should allow the batts to clear the nibs (where the guards are screwed to the chassis) and to keep the weight off the plastic guards.

CHC: Squee is right. The lvc is not needed for these batteries. I'm using NiMh mode on the quark.

MM: It hard to see in the pics, but the left battery is completely on the metal chassis. It's using the middle mud guard mounting hole for the front battery mount. The right battery is mounted to the mud guard at the front only. The mounting hole is only about 1/2" off of the chassis, so the guard does not have much room to flex between the hole and the chassis. About 3/4 of the battery is sitting on the chassis, not the guard, so it should be pretty sturdy. And, I've got velcro under the batteries as well. I will keep an eye on the right side battery, though. Thanks for the advice.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to test the turbos until tomorrow. I used up the batteries and left the charger at work.

Btw, I ran the truck for about half of the pack with the quark mounted on double-sided tape and for the second half of the pack with the quark mounted directly to the chassis. It was noticeably cooler mounted to the chassis, so hopefully the chassis will make a good heatsink.

I got an update and a video for y'all. It is a quick one-handed video with no editing, so sorry for the bad quality. It will give you an idea of how the ST-1 runs, though. I was using the A123 packs without the turbo boosts. The center diff is filled with 50K oil, and the front and rear still have factory grease in them.

Click here to watch st-1

As for the turbo boost, y'all may have been right about them. With the turbos on full boost, the truck was only 5 mph faster than without the turbos installed. Plus, they got really hot after only a few high speed runs. I may have got a bum set, though. I'll contact A123 Racing to see what they say. Even without the turbos, though, the packs alone work great.

After about 15~20 minutes of running, the quark and batteries were warm, but the neu was too hot to hold my finger on it. I'm not sure why, though. Any thoughts from y'all? The gearing was 46/16.

I also noticed a weird quirk with the quark. Sometimes after a full throttle run, I would loose throttle control until I tapped on the brakes. I don't think it was thermalling, because it never felt hot.

Easy on the throttle might help the neu to get a bit cooler, you allmost drive digital. LOL (no offense, i know it's nice to see the truck being launched to warp speed from 0)


Ditch the turbo boosts. i am not surprised they get hot, afterall, they need to boost up the voltage, and this can't be done at 100 percent efficiency.

It does that some times when you loose power for a split second. You have to bump reverse or brake to get it to go again.

that's odd? does it happen after a speedrun or something?

So far, it only happens after a speed run.

Serum, my throttle finger isn't usually digital. I was just trying to show the power on the video. However, it was digital for most of today. I'm still excited about my new toy! :D Maybe the neu will be cooler once I start easing into the throttle instead of nailing it every time! Power sliding on asphalt is too much fun!

You don't know how hot it is now. 50+ degrees start to feel burning on you hands already.

Yeah, I really need to get a temp gauge.

They are not that expensive. Mike has them too. they are a must for tweaking your setup.. Or get an eagltree micro, with the temp probe.

I ran through a full pack all at once for the first time today. I didn't time it, but it was about 20~25 minutes of driving. I was driving it hard, but not digital-hard, lol. The batteries and motor were warm after the packs dumped, and the motor was hot, but not as hot as yesterday. I could hold my finger on it (barely). I've got to say that I love these batteries. They ran strong until less than a minute before the packs dumped. The truggy ran slowly for about 30 seconds and then was done. It has a VERY steep curve at the end of the pack. This was with no lvc. The quark was in NiMh mode. And I can leave the packs in the truggy, and the truggy in my SUV without worrying about any spontaneous combustion. And I can leave the room when they are charging, too. :D

What do you mean Nimh mode? Is that the reason it would stop and then when you tapped the brake it would go again?

NiMh mode just means that the lvc is disabled on the quark.