First Run - Question - Issue?

[DBBD]

We took the Fury out for the first time on Sunday evening. I broke the motor in Saturday night by just running it with the wheels off the ground for about 10 minutes. Then Sunday just drove it at slow-medium speed for about 5 more minutes around the paved drive way.

I put the battery in the charger for about 2 hours before presenting the truck to my son. He had a blast with it, especially when he was able to do some jumps at a home-made track an old neighbor built. After about 15 minutes it just stopped. The front tires would turn left and right, but there was no drive.

Is it safe to assume this is just a battery worn down? I was using the stock 2000 mah battery. About 5 minutes later it ran for about 30 seconds and shut off again. I know those batteries won't last long, but I read on another forum that a bad ESC could cause no drive but allow steering. Being new, maybe I am panicing a bit.

I checked the battery and it read 7.2 volts. Maybe it just couldn't handle the load?

I am expecting a 3000mah battery to be delivered today. And am further investigating the LiPo's.

 

[Walter]

Are you using the wall charger that came with the truck?
I'm guessing the battery was simply discharged. If a 6 cell NiMh is measuring 7.2V with no load then there's a very good chance it's dropping below 7.2 volts under load. Fully charged NiMh batteries can read up to 1.5V per cell.
According to the manual the 2000mAh battery can take 2.9 hours to charge with the included wall charger, so the 2 hours you used probably wasn't enough to fully charge it.

Bottom line... I don't think you need to panic yet. Charge the battery again, for longer this time. Also I think I saw you were looking into getting another/better charger anyway... that will go a long way to helping you know when your batteries are fully charged/discharged.

Also, just to be sure, check your LVC setting on your ESC is set to NiMh and not LiPo. LiPo has a higher cutoff voltage and an NiMh would exhibit short runtimes if the ESC has LiPo mode enabled.

 

[DBBD]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

I figured after having the battery on the charger over night, and only running for a few minutes, then back on for 2 hours it would fully charge. I realize thats not best for the battery, but given the circumstances thats how I did it this time.

Yes, everything is bone-stock right now. I am currently shopping for better/faster chargers and batteries. I may move to LiPo faster than originally thought. This is primarily for my 7-year old so I would like to maximize the run time, but not really interested in increasing speed just yet.

 

[Walter]

My son and I have 6 cell 4200 mAh batteries we run in our Fury and granite BLS vehicles... We get 30 minutes give or take out of those. They aren't the fastest.. but we still have fun. Our 7 cell 3200 mAh are slightly less runtime but a bit faster. I think we will finally be moving to LiPo soon. We've had our trucks since February.

 

[DBBD]

Thanks again. I was considering the 4200 and even 5000 mah batteries, but want to get the charger first. Obviously the stock charger is not going to cut it because the charge times would be 4-5 hours. I would like for him to be able to run it at least 30 minutes before needing to swap the battery.

 

[DesertFury]

My Fury did the same on its last run today. Went about 5 minutes on a 3 hour charge. The Temps on everything was good, so I'm guessing the wall charger just isn't getting a good charger on the Battery. I'm getting a new charger to replace my old one that kicked the bucket. So I'll see what happens once I get one.

 

[DBBD]

Thanks. I ordered a new charger and a 3000mah NiMh battery. The charger will arrive next week. At least there will be some visual indication of the charge state.

In hindsight, I probably should have bought it all at once.

 

[DBBD]

My son and I have 6 cell 4200 mAh batteries we run in our Fury and granite BLS vehicles... We get 30 minutes give or take out of those. They aren't the fastest.. but we still have fun. Our 7 cell 3200 mAh are slightly less runtime but a bit faster. I think we will finally be moving to LiPo soon. We've had our trucks since February.

What brand batteries do you run?

 

[Dustin Mustangs]

A Nimh battery will get warm when it is done charging. Also, don't worry about overcharging with these wall type chargers. Within reason (i.e. hours and not days), their 1/10c charge rate is not capable of damaging a battery.

 

[Walter]

What brand batteries do you run?

We have the 3300mAh 7 cell NiMh that came with our trucks. We also have 4200 mAh 6 cell's that we got from our LHS. For LiPo's we're going SPC 6500mAh 65C 2S batteries.

Dustin brings up a good point... the NiMh is fully charged when it's warm.

 

[DesertFury]

I need to do my homework on Lipos before I make the leap. In the meantime I'll stick with Nimh. I just need to get a newer charger so I can finally get the Fury zipping around without worrying about short battery life.

 

[Skaxis]

I need to do my homework on Lipos before I make the leap. In the meantime I'll stick with Nimh. I just need to get a newer charger so I can finally get the Fury zipping around without worrying about short battery life.

When you buy a new charger make sure it'll charge both NiMh and LiPo. LiPo isn't a major change really. They're lighter and have a flatter discharge rate than NiMh. It's safest to charge NiMh in a fire safe bag. Problems are rare and usually resultant from charging a damaged battery but it's best to be safe.

 

[DesertFury]

When you buy a new charger make sure it'll charge both NiMh and LiPo. LiPo isn't a major change really. They're lighter and have a flatter discharge rate than NiMh. It's safest to charge NiMh in a fire safe bag. Problems are rare and usually resultant from charging a damaged battery but it's best to be safe.

I'm looking to get an onyx 245. The old charger I had couldn't handle LiPos. I'm sure I'll make the LiPo jump soon.

 

[DBBD]

I'm looking to get an onyx 245. The old charger I had couldn't handle LiPos. I'm sure I'll make the LiPo jump soon.

I considered the Onyx 245. It looks like a great charger. But, after looking around locally and on line I went with this:

Dynamite Prophet Sport Duo 50W x 2 AC Battery Charger https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KMKSJ0G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_nnpCwbTVQVKGK

It's not as advanced as the 245, but it came in a little less expensive, especially for a person just getting in and not 100% sure how serious this is going to become. A lot hinges on my 7 year old and soon to be 5 year old. The ability to charge two batteries at once and LiPo capability were the main things I was looking for. .

I also picked up a couple of these: Charge Lead Banana Plugs/Star Male https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BHLWKI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_espCwbNS78C25

The ones I got were better quality than pictured.

And since I am sticking with NiMh in the near term, I went with a pair of Venom 4200: Venom 7.2v 4200mAh 6-Cell NiMH Battery with Universal Plug System x2 Packs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FE10ZFU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_TupCwbD79YQ8T

They are coming up at $55 now, but I got them for $45.

I am trying to be somewhat budget concious, but not go ultra cheap. I have found if you go too cheap, you get what you pay for, become discouraged, bail on it, and end ip with a pile of junk.

You can also overspend, never getting the full value out of it for what you put in.

We haven't had a chance to run the truck yet since the first day. Its dark by the time I get home from work, so we will probably run it this weekend. But the batteries are all charged. It took a little over two hours out of the box at 3A.

Also went to Home Depot and picked up storage box to hold the batteries, cables, body clips, and a few other spare parts I have picked up "just in case"

Thanks again to everyone. You've made entering this hobby a lot easier!

 

[DBBD]

When you buy a new charger make sure it'll charge both NiMh and LiPo. LiPo isn't a major change really. They're lighter and have a flatter discharge rate than NiMh. It's safest to charge NiMh in a fire safe bag. Problems are rare and usually resultant from charging a damaged battery but it's best to be safe.

Thanks for the reminder on the bags, I do need to get a couple.

 

[Skaxis]

I have an Onyx 245 and it's great. Since I run these with my son having the ability to charge two batteries at once is great. I have a mix of both NiMh and LiPo so this one charger does it all. Just remember it resets to LiPo at each start up. It'll remind you with obnoxious beeps if you have the setting wrong though so that's nice.

 

[justatree]

ok so ive been looking at the charger DBBD, and I was considering on getting the one below it,
http://www.amazon.com/Dynamite-Prop..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=15YEC7KSPEQRCH6GSHZ4
it seems the same, just missing the duo feature... but these do not charge lipos right?

 

[DBBD]

They will charge LiPo's. They are solid chargers.

 

[DBBD]

I would add, don't underestimate the value of being able to charge two batteries at once, even if you are only running one truck. It is a bit of a luxury, but it does keep you playing with less downtime. You can have extra batteries as well, but then you'll have a line of batteries that need to be charged at the end of the day. A dual charger cuts the time in half.

Either way, these chargers can charge a 5000 mah battery in about an hour.

There are quad chargers out there as well but you are getting into serious money then.

 

[Rooles]

I have one of those dynamite chargers and I love it. I was going to go for the dual but it's literally double the money as a single. I figure if I need to charge two batteries at the same time I'll just buy another lol