An old boy knows nothing! Old Vs New Electrics.

[McMike]

OK. Today I received an old Cougar 2 and tomorrow I will get my Cougar 1. The Cougar 2 just needs a new front end and then its set to go (ballraced diff already inside! Yay!) but I'm totally confused about all the new electronics you can get these days so need some help and advice.
Back in the early 90s, everything was so simple but now I find myself with 4 vintage ESCs (Futaba 112b, Hitec SP-520+. Tekin 411p and 410k) and not sure what to do. I know the Tekins were totally the top of the range back then with the 410k way ahead of its time but, they were never my thing. I like to have a reverse and the other 2 ESCs have that but are made for stock motors and I intend to get a 15x2 (cant afford a brushless system right now).
This is where the confusion comes in, now matter what you say, in not going brushless right now and Lipo is a possibility in the near future. I'm old-school and need to come in that way too. I need some nice Ni-Mh (what happened to Ni-Cads?) and a ESC for a 15x2 brushed motor. I never fully understood the difference but had a Speedmaster Silver Star and Parma Cyclone 2 15x2 in my fully modded Astute and did quite well.
Simply put, who makes good brushed motors these days and what would be a nice ESC for that in combination with some Ni-Mhs? Gone are the days of the Sanyo Cadnica red sticks!
Cheers!

[bigred5765]

first of there are no nice nimh's they were and i suppose still are bad for going bang,as for motors brushed, I'm sure theres still some out there,but running something so slow as 15 turn ull soon get bored pretty sure nosram and lrp still make brushed speedos,i think lol

[roboliver]

i would lok at getting some of the esc that are brushed/brushless compaitable ie tekin rs ,lrp sphere nexxt 4,cc mamaba max (yes they will run b) that way you vcan upgrade to brusless at a latter date without having to buy new equipment
if your looking for a brushed only set up look at mtroniks they have some inexpensive esc that will serve your purpose lrp makes a brushed only sc
you might look at picking up a used gtb novack they are going pretty resonable and would serve you purpose well as far as nimh look at sport packs from the manufactures and they still sell them in that form for ready to runs lrp,orion,reedy ,traxxas are some of the people that are still making packs theres a lot of companies that are still making the packs just have to look around .good luck hope this helps

[Rocking Donkey]

I think a 15x2 will be plenty fast enough. The only time I had problems with brushed motors was racing indoors where there was a large jump straight after a hairpin. Brushless motors just have more torque and accelerate harder. As for cells, Demon Power Products do 6-cell packs. http://demonpowerproducts.co.uk/index.php?cPath=46_47
You will need a charger that is made for NiMH to use them, NiCad chargers definition of 'charged' is different than for a NiMH charger. Most modern chargers will charge NiMH and lipo.

As for motors DMS has some decent buget modified in the sale section http://dms-racing.com/
Older buggies just weren't designed for the sort of torque that you get with brushless, and brushless will just eat diff and outdrives.

If you are tempted to get a brushed esc, then I'd make sure it has an inbuilt lipo cut-off for upgradability.

One other thing is that I have seen a 27t motor go up in smoke when running Lipo as lipo can provide much more current under load than NiCad and sometimes its just too much!

Hope this helps

Ben

[4cells]

There's nothing wrong with the 410K it should handle motors down to 8 turn.so 15 turn should be a doddle.
There are plenty Nims around in your corner model shop, I'm sure you'd get some at a fare price.
Give up reverse.

[McMike]

Thanks for the replies.
I know that Tekin can handle some hot brushed motors but I just feel happier if I have a reverse. I might use it notheless but wanted to know if modern ones blow a 20 year old ESC out of the water.
Modelsport seems to have a load of NiMhs in stock so might pick something they sell up. I am used to the old 1300 capacity Ni-Cads so these new ones hold way more change than I am used to! I know Ni-Cads could take a hell of a beating over these Ni-Mhs but I guess the environment has won over the old tech there! I do seem to remember that Ni-Mhs didnt have anywhere near as much punch as Ni-Cads though.
On a long couse with big straights, I can see the point in Lipos and brushless but, for a 'drivers' circuit, I dont see how a motor/battery combo can provide you with a huge advantage over old tech. I have seen new buggies totally fly into full power off a corner but, in said corners, whats the advantage?
Cheers again, I am going for old tech for a while regardless as I'm not 100% sure a 20 year old Cougar 2 gearbox could handle some mental 10.5 brushless set-up with a ESC that needs a sodding fan! I am pretty sure, however, that a Cougar 2 with a 13x2/15x2 LRP plus a Nosrom ESC and some Orion Ni-Nmhs could take one these new boys with their Cougars and Losis and RC-10s! Might even sell on the Cougar 2 as a refurbished car anyway. I'm pretty proud of it!

[JCJC]

Just a quick point, you can manage a days racing, all heats & finals, on one lipo battery, with nimh cells you will need a few packs, you cannot just top em up all day. Point i am trying to make is lipo can be lower cost.

[dobber]

Word of advise and recent experience. In the last couple of months I've come back into the world of rc after a 25 year gap. I thought I'd start slowly and get a few bits and also use some old. It didn't work out that way. I got an ansmann x4 pro which i was going to put in an old battery and esc etc. Oh no, I got some lipo's and a second hand 6.5t brushless motor and esc. The esc turned out to be a pile of poo, so now I've got a new hobbywing xerus 120a v2.1 esc. I also realised that my car was ok but I wanted to be more competitive. Im now the proud owner of a tamiya 502x, the x4 pro will now be set up for my son to race with.
My point is, buy good stuff now and save in the long run, you will want better if you settle for good enough when you first buy.