Need help with Mamba Max on 4 cells

[rcjmaxx]

I just got a Mamba Max with the intentions of running a Serpent Impact with a 12s and 4 lipo cells.I searched and saw a lot of talk of a Max 4 cell setup,but could someone hook me up with a direct link as to whats involved in making this woek? Thanks a heap.

[BrianG]

Not much involved; basically just disable the on-board BEC by removing the red wire in the throttle cable, and then using a BEC for your servo(s)...

[glassdoctor]

Yep... a neat way to do is stick a small ubec right to the side of the Mamba Max and run the power input wire for the ubec right with the power lead wires of the esc, soldered onto the connector that goes to the battery. This way the wiring is pretty tidy and the esc/ubec are almost like a single unit.

Now you run both outputs to the reciever... the esc's reciever wire and the 6 volt output lead from the ubec. Both of these will plug into the reciever.And like Brian said, you remove the red wire from the esc's plug.

It's very simple... you just have to make a few connections. Some ubecs don't even come with plugs... just bare wires.

[crazyjr]

^^^What they said

If you got your MM recently, be sure to listen when it starts up on lipo cells. On four cells, you should hear four beeps. I got one very recently and the software needed to be upgraded because it didn't properly recognize the number of cells in the lipo pack.

[rcjmaxx]

Originally Posted by glassdoctor

Yep... a neat way to do is stick a small ubec right to the side of the Mamba Max and run the power input wire for the ubec right with the power lead wires of the esc, soldered onto the connector that goes to the battery. This way the wiring is pretty tidy and the esc/ubec are almost like a single unit.

Now you run both outputs to the reciever... the esc's reciever wire and the 6 volt output lead from the ubec. Both of these will plug into the reciever.And like Brian said, you remove the red wire from the esc's plug.

It's very simple... you just have to make a few connections. Some ubecs don't even come with plugs... just bare wires.

Could somebody shoot a diagram or drawing of this,please,I'm kinda slow?

[BrianG]

It's not the exact diagram of what glassdoctor is talking about, but this might help you out...

[rcjmaxx]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Not much involved; basically just disable the on-board BEC by removing the red wire in the throttle cable, and then using a BEC for your servo(s)...

The deed is done,car runs great,thank you much.If I did it correctly this setup leaves me with 2 on/off switches,the stock MM turns on the ESC and the receiver switch turns on the steering servo.Is this how its being done or is there a way to eliminate one switch?

[glassdoctor]

You can eliminate both switches if you want... but I suppose you could rewire the switch wires for both into one switch.

I would not worry about it though. I removed the switch on my MMs.... they are notorious for going bad anyway. I DNFd a race twice due to the switch taking a dump.

[BrianG]

@rcjmaxx: You could use only one switch, but if using a UBEC, I too like to use a seperate switch for the receiver/servos, but only in between the UBEC and rx/servos. When you first plug in your batts, the UBEC output may need a second or two to "settle down" since it's a switching device. Then, I turn on that switch when the power is stable. Then, I turn on the ESC switch. No problems thus far.

If using the BEC built-in to the ESC, just the ESC switch is fine.

@gd: Yeah, I hate those cheapie open-frame switches. dust gets in there and the contacts get all yukky (that's a technical term :)). There are closed frame switches that you can solder on there and then plastidip to really seal it. I don't want to remove it because I still use the switch to calibrate the radio after software updates to the ESC. I am planning to pick up several of these and swapping all the open-frame switches I have right now.

[crazyjr]

the MM switch is only for BEC only and for programmingI usually keep mine on and just plug and unplug the battery. Thought you needed to know, so that you wouldn't accidentally leave the batteries on