e-revo questions
 

I have been reading these forums and although there is lots of great information I am nervous to continue with my conversion without more 'direct' answers to my questions :)

I have been racing my nitro for awhile now so the number one concern is being competitive with the other MT's after the change. We run 12 to 20 minute mains and have a somewhat small tight track. I am running a center diff and have front and rear brakes and plan to keep the revo tranny and brake setup.

So with that info...

I'm favoring 14 cells. Lipo's are not currently an option.
Is the 9xl and 9920 on 14 cells going to be competitive? Anything better suited without going crazy cash-wise? What type of cells can I get away with and still get the minimum of 12 minutes solid runtime? Will anything besides lipo's give me 20 minutes? Can I go with general GP3700's or IB4200's or should I get the more expensive matched sets?

I haven't used electric r/c's in 10 years so I'm a little behind on the current abilities :)

i would recommend the g2r revo conversion if you plan to race alot with it and be competitive. the wanderer xl motors are the way to go for max runtime with great power and torque. the 9xl on 14 cells would give you over 20 minutes with good cells. i would recommend the ib4200s and if you can afford them i would go with matched sets. i wouldnt go crazy and spend 80 bucks on 1 pack but 50 is reasonable for a matched or zapped set. i think you should be able to get around 35 minutes on 14 cells and 9xl with good ib 4200s. coolhandcountry runs a 9xl on 18 gp 3700s and gets about 25-30 minutes of hard running.

would you mind sharing how your running a center diff with front and rear brakes in the revo tranny? i assume you have the center diff off ebay which is the same thing i have but i would really like to have rear brakes.

If you could put 16 cells on it. It would bump run time and power up. But that is just a suggestion to. 14 cells on a tight track so you could gear down some and should be very competive and make it to the 20 min run.

Well first I made my own diff using a revo front/rear diff which allowed me to experiment with the shaft length and make a rear brake. After that I bought one from the guy from ebay and am having him make a shaft to meet my needs (at a reasonable price). The pictures of my rear brake setup are on the traxxas forum .

Why do you say to use the g2r if I'm goign to race? Its a nice setup but a bit pricey. Not that its not worth the money. Its made for the e-maxx tranny which I don't have but I am sure the revo one could fit on there but then there doesn't appear to be anywhere well suited for the brake servo and thats important if your going to have biased braking.

Are most chargers pretty good these days? I currently have a Twin Peak that I use for my son. Should I get a better charger too?

yea, i would go with something a bit better like a astroflight 112d. it can charge 36 cells i think. using a charger and charging one at a time will take a while. also, i recommend the g2r because it will give oyu a better center of gravity and will handle better and IMHO is well worth it. a revo tranny would be nice in one but i wouldnt use a brake servo. i would lock it and use a custom made oneway in the front.

i would personally get a better charger that can charge at 6 amps at least there is a big difference between charging at 4 amps and charging at 6 amps

what did you do to the front of the chassis? it looks like the shock mount was moved forward of something....

My chassis is stock. You might have been looking at a picture of someone stretched chassis.

oh, i see. the one with os .18 isnt yours.

Uh oh, someone forgot an image path on the forum :)

The 9xl is out of stock, whats another good option? 8xl is more power, less runtime and 10xl is less power more runtime...right? Remember 20 minutes runtime is needed. Any other brands? I see dafni wants a 19xx, are they alot better?

Also when it comes to lipo, if you get a 4000mah lipo vs a 4200nimh I know the voltage is higher on the lipo and it weighs alot less...but would the runtimes be similiar?

runtimes should be better than nimh's one of the rc car magazines tested a scorpion against a 3300 pack and not only did it out perform the 3300 it lasted longer with more power later than the nimh's

the reason the 4000mah lipo would give better runtimes is because it cand deleiver more amps and not heat up thus not draining the packs quicker and the fact that lipos are lighter which would make it to where the truck doesnt have to work so hard to push the extra weight around.

lipos are the way to go if you can afford them

Besides the mechanical stuff is this about what I need...

TP4000-2S2P and balancer and LVD
TP4000-3S2P and balancer and LVD
Multiplex LN-5014 charger
BK 9920 controller
BK 10xl
UBEC

Where else can you get the 5.5mm connectors on the xl's? Mikes out of stock and depending on when I order I would hate for that to be the only thing keeping me from assembling it :)

Any recommended changes/additions? Would the 10xl be just as good for my purposes as the 9xl (which is out of stock)?