Your braking power may also be lower with bad cells, because the controller uses the batteries as a resistor to brake (the higher the internal resistance of the cell, the lower the braking power)

Maybe this will help you mounting your batteries tight? I'm sure Mike can get them as well.

The powerswitch you'r planning on using needs to be in the receiver path, don't put a switch in the powerpath (batteries/controller) this can hurt your controller.

I hadn't really thought about the batteries for braking. Next run will be with GP3300s to test that out. If it dries up at my house today, I'll try it tonight. Thanks for the information, Serum.

I already purchased
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LX2778&P=7
but I'm finding that it's tougher to figure out mounting since I don't really have a flat surface to put any hardware on. I think my best bet is going to be cutting slots in the rock guards (plastic) and using velcro strips down the length of the packs. I'd like to try the Gorilla straps, but I don't think I can drill into the aluminum on both ends for the mounting hardware and still have room to fit the packs. Lastly, I'll be using stick packs in both 6 and 8-cell sizes, so I need an adaptable solution.

I figured the power switch would reside in the lead from the controller to the receiver - thanks for confirming. All of the switches I've found at RadioShack are 1A to 3A on 120V; will this work? I don't know enough about the current going through those wires. Also, would it be best to splice into the red or the black wire, or does it not matter as long as I interrupt the circuit?

Those holders you've chosen is the better choice! (no doubt)

Thanks for that link!

Do you have a brake exponential on your radio? If you maximize this etting, you should get better brakes as well. Godd batteries should help a bit, too. Serum also gave good advise on the switch. Mount the switch to the receiver leads, not the batteries. You would need a parallel y adapter to mount the receiver pack and controller on the same switch (just plug the controller lead and receiver pack lead to the switch and plug the switch into the channel 2 of the receiver. then, when you turn on the switch, the receiver has power. I can put a y adapter in your package if you would like.

I've got the M8 so yes, I've got just about any adjustment you'd want. I'll take a better look at that, as well. The default brakes have been fine on my touring sedan, stadium truck, E-Maxx, and 1/12th scale, so I hadn't thought about changing them for the buggy. Another thing to check :)

Regarding the y-harness, I'm more of a visual guy and your description doesn't really end up making sense to me. I'm going to attach a drawing I just did at my desk here, and one of a y-harness in the next post. I labelled everything, so if you could help with what goes where (i.e. A1 goes to B2, etc...) I'd greatly appreciate it. If it works out, you could even use my crude drawings as a how-to somewhere else in the forum/site.

Thanks again.

Y-Harness.

Note that wire 1 is red, 2 is black, 3 is orange. I don't remember if I got them in the right order, but it's the color that's important, so I hope it's good enough to work with.

It is much easier than you diagram makes it out to be. There is a thing called a y harness. All it is a receptacle for two servo leads on one end, with a servo plug on th other. You plug both items that you want to run from the same channel in the receptacle, and plug the servo plug into the receiver. In your case, you would plug the esc and receiver pack into the receptacle, and plug the servo lead of the y harness into the switch and plug the switch into the channel two section of the receiver.

Yep - I'm familiar with a y-harness...that's what the second diagram is ;)

I guess my confusion is from two things;

1 - Can you plug both the ESC and the receiver pack into CH2 on the receiver? I always assumed that the receiver pack HAD to be in the slot specifically designated for it on the receiver.

2 - I have a switch that came with a previous radio, and I tried to put it in-line with the ESC early on. Steering didn't work, only the throttle worked, and I assumed it was because the switch only has the red and black wires, and no third wire. I guess I'm looking for a switch now that has all three wires.

All that in mind, I think what you're telling me (based on my drawings) is that I need to plug my receiver pack into "B" on the harness, and my ESC into "C" on the harness. Then plug "A" into an on/off switch and plug the other end of the switch into CH2 on my receiver. Is this right?

I'm sure what you said in the last reply is right - I'm making it more difficult than it needs to be :)
I just want to get it right. If I'm going to show those nitro 1/8th scales a competitive electric, I should at least have working electronics :)

"All that in mind, I think what you're telling me (based on my drawings) is that I need to plug my receiver pack into "B" on the harness, and my ESC into "C" on the harness. Then plug "A" into an on/off switch and plug the other end of the switch into CH2 on my receiver. Is this right?"

Yes. You do understand. You will need a switch harness with three wires(most times, there is a receiver pack OR BEC, (not both), which makes your setup a little different. The receiver pack can be plugged into any channel in the receiver. In fact, sometimes the servos work better when the receiver pack is plugged into another channel (not "bat" slot), as some receivers limit output voltage to 4.8 volts when using the "bat" slot.

Just figured I'd mention that it's been wet here for a couple days, and it probably won't dry out 'til tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping to get more done in the way of testing tomorrow.

Mike - here's a picture of the motor clamp/heatsink mounted. By the way, it takes a fair bit of effort to take a decent picture of it using a flash since it's so shiny. :)

Yes, I had quite a bit of trouble getting a decent picture as well, due to the shine.

Here is another thing to try pertaining to the brakes:
set the brake exponential to the base settings (stock settings on the radio). Then, reprogram the controller.... Then, add more brakes on the exponential. The brakes are potentially strong enough to stop very quickly, but it may take a little programming effort to find the right setting. If the controller is programmed with a high brake exponential already set, the actual braking ability may be minimized. Try this and let me know how it works out.

I got to run one pack through the buggy a few minutes ago. I'm still working on the solution to hold the batteries in, but I'm hoping I may have something worked out in the next couple days.

I did work with the brake exp. on my M8 and was able to dial in a good amount of brakes. It still doesn't have "super-brakes", but it's more than adequate for stopping the buggy quick. I'll be trying out between 75% and 100% at my local track (which we're building now) to see where to sweet spot is.

My wife was sitting with me when I ran the pack in the car and one of her first comments was "we need a bigger yard, don't we?". :)
I love my wife :)

Thanks for the idea on checking the brake exp., Mike. I did try good batteries, but they didn't seem to make any difference.

Attached is a pic of the overhead view.

I am glad you got some brake action. i don't like my brakes to lock up, but I do like to be able to slow down! So, is the wife working on that bigger yard for you!?

:)

She's not working on a bigger yard, but she wouldn't mind me buying a house with a bigger yard ;)
She's working on delivering our second daughter :)
The due date is May 5, 2005.

Just wanted to post a minor update about the buggy.

Things have been going well with the buggy and I think I have my solution for holding the batteries in. I got a 4ft piece of elbowed 1/8" aluminum from Home Depot and I'm going to cut a couple pieces out of it long enough to fit the chassis. I'll drill holes to allow me to secure it to the chassis with bolts, then secure them to each other with a threaded rod, kind of like a turnbuckle-type thing. I'll then slot the aluminum in different places to allow for velcro to hold the batteries onto the aluminum.
The weight I'm adding should bring the buggy to about 9-9.5 lbs with 16 cells. I'm hoping to cut enough out of the aluminum battery holders so that I'm adding as little weight as possible.

I'm keeping my updates going at rcpics.net:
http://www.rcpics.net/member/Batfish

One last question - I'm horrible with math, so I figure someone else can give me a hand :)
I'm running 15/46 now, what could I expect to see by way of speed increase if I go to 16/46?

Thanks.

Congrats on the pending arrival - My wife is working on my second daughter also - due may 25. She would also like a bigger house and yard - in that order. Yard / house in my order...lol - Keep us updated on the little miss - take care......