Granite First taste of LiPo

[Gnolam]

So, my gensacearespammers 2s 5000 maH just arrived in the mail today... man what a difference from the stock NiMh! Much longer run time, and could instantly feel the power increase! Been holding out for this before i take the truck to the local BMX track... as soon as my 4200 mah's arrive for my wltoys 12428 im taking the kids and we're going for a bash!

Any suggestions on a step up from the Granite? Was thinking the Senton 3s BLX (in green, of course) but it seems most of my driving will be on grass, and the low clearance of the truck concerns me a little bit. Time to get in to something with some (more) serious speed!

 

[Matt74]

So, my gensacearespammers 2s 5000 maH just arrived in the mail today... man what a difference from the stock NiMh! Much longer run time, and could instantly feel the power increase! Been holding out for this before i take the truck to the local BMX track... as soon as my 4200 mah's arrive for my wltoys 12428 im taking the kids and we're going for a bash!

Any suggestions on a step up from the Granite? Was thinking the Senton 3s BLX (in green, of course) but it seems most of my driving will be on grass, and the low clearance of the truck concerns me a little bit. Time to get in to something with some (more) serious speed!

I wanted to get the Senton too... but, after further research and watching all the YouTube reviews of a lot of Arrma trucks, I’m gonna get a Kraton V4 6S..

It’s just an all round monster... speed, durability, massive aerial abilities and looks a bit easier to drive than the Senton (the wider stance just looks more forgiving)..

Now all I’ve gotta do is wait till they are in stock in Australian stores... I’ve been told by many Aussie hobby stores I’ve asked that it will be available here in late July... which kind of sucks arse... wish it was available now.

 

[Outcastblxnut]

You wanna step up get a 3s battery. Then go from there. The difference from 2s to 3s is night and day
If you have a mega brushed. Then get a brushless granite or bigrock crewcab

 

[Notorious J]

So, my gensacearespammers 2s 5000 maH just arrived in the mail today... man what a difference from the stock NiMh! Much longer run time, and could instantly feel the power increase! Been holding out for this before i take the truck to the local BMX track... as soon as my 4200 mah's arrive for my wltoys 12428 im taking the kids and we're going for a bash!

Any suggestions on a step up from the Granite? Was thinking the Senton 3s BLX (in green, of course) but it seems most of my driving will be on grass, and the low clearance of the truck concerns me a little bit. Time to get in to something with some (more) serious speed!

Maybe you should consider one of the new 4s models. Since you already have one new 2s battery in hand, a second, identical one, gets you right into the new 4S line's sweet spot, and gets you that clearance I think your looking for. 50 mph on 4s, with a motor that should keep you smiling for a while. At least until you finally make the jump to one of the 6s trucks.

 

[sadlerbw]

If you have a mega brushed. Then get a brushless granite or bigrock crewcab

I agree with this. I converted my Mega to brushless, but it wasn’t the smart or cost-effective way to do things. I enjoyed the project, but just buying a 3S or 4S truck instead would have made way more sense!

 

[Gnolam]

You wanna step up get a 3s battery. Then go from there. The difference from 2s to 3s is night and day
If you have a mega brushed. Then get a brushless granite or bigrock crewcab

I have considered this, but im worried about overheating/stripping gears and destroying this thing from the inside out... ive never had to do any sort of work to an RC before and as this is my only decent truck at the moment i don't really want to have to shelf it right now. Can the megs hold up to a 3s for any length of time?

 

[Mongoose]

I agree with this. I converted my Mega to brushless, but it wasn’t the smart or cost-effective way to do things. I enjoyed the project, but just buying a 3S or 4S truck instead would have made way more sense!

I hear that!

hey Can the megs hold up to a 3s for any length of time?

No, 2S is the max and that isn’t even recommended if you don’t want to get irritated with it overheating every 5 minutes...

 

[Gnolam]

My first 2s run i went through the whole 5000mah without any over heating... and that was after the 2400 NiMh pack...

 

[Mongoose]

Really? What was the ambient temp and surface you were running on?

 

[sadlerbw]

Ok, there are two types of overheating: the ESC overheating. And the motor overheating. The Granite Mega 4x4 has protection against the ESC overheating, but NOT the motor. The truck will happily run along till the motor melts as long as the ESC isn’t overheating.

So, when you say the truck isn’t overheating, do you mean it isn’t shutting down in the middle of running (the ESC protection kicking in.) Or, are you actually checking the temp of the ESC and Motor somehow? I can tell which you mean from your post.

 

[Gnolam]

Ok, there are two types of overheating: the ESC overheating. And the motor overheating. The Granite Mega 4x4 has protection against the ESC overheating, but NOT the motor. The truck will happily run along till the motor melts as long as the ESC isn’t overheating.

So, when you say the truck isn’t overheating, do you mean it isn’t shutting down in the middle of running (the ESC protection kicking in.) Or, are you actually checking the temp of the ESC and Motor somehow? I can tell which you mean from your post.

So now you guys have got me worried... is there a readily available heatsink that fits the stock granite mega 550 motor? don't want to be out of comission. Looking at Arrma's website seems to indicate they only have them for the BLX. would it fid the mega?

 

[jondilly1974]

Due to ESC overheating in my Granite Mega within 10 minutes on either 2S LiPO or stock NiMH, I just picked up a BLX Granite instead of converting the Mega to brushless. My reasoning is spending the $150+ to upgrade the old truck and still have all plastic running gear, I paid a little more and now have two trucks. I will still address the ESC overheating in the Mega, but now I have a backup basher in case I bust the BLX. I now have a 2S battery with a Deans connector, so I bought an EC5 adapter, instead of changing the Deans connector. That way I can still use it in both trucks. I also ordered two 3S with the EC5 connectors too. BLX just arrived and batteries and adapters should be here in a few days.

 

[scv484]

I got this one. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GRM3CT8/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_FFe3CbEVJYRD1

It as worked well so far

 

[sadlerbw]

There are tons of 550-sized heatsinks out there (the stock motor is 36mm diameter, 60-ish mm long.) Adding one won't hurt so feel free to pick one up. It may not save you, but it isn't super expensive. On my stock motor, what failed were the brushes. A Heatsink wouldn't really have helped with that, but that was just how mine died.

I second the suggestion of, just get a second vehicle. Eventually, you are going to kill something on this truck, either by wear or running/jumping into something hard. It's easier if you just pick up a second vehicle to drive while the first is down. You could get another Mega so you have two trucks with the same parts. You could get a 3S so you have a 'fast' truck that still uses most of the same parts. If all that is more money than you want to think about, look at a Granite Voltage. It's only 2WD, but the stock motor deals with 2S LiPo's much better than the Mega 4x4, and you can get one for $99.99 shipped on eBay. Ultimately it can go just about as fast as the Mega 4x4 on 2S, it just takes longer to get to top speed. It isn't that great at aerial tricks off of a ramp, but for bashing around it is fine.

You could also just pick up a spare motor. The stock ones are something like $20, and there is a Traxxas 550-sized 12T motor that also works and is just as cheap. It isn't actually that big of a deal to replace the motor. I think you need two, maybe three hex keys, and some thread locker. In fact, if you get 1.5mm, 2mm, and 2.5mm hex wrenches or drivers, you can replace just about anything on this truck. Oh, and a small socket or nut driver to get the wheel nuts off. The plastic one they give you with the truck isn't very good. The hardest part of taking the motor out is sliding the big, plastic motor mount out of its slot. Replacing the motor is probably a 15min job, maybe 30min the first time you do it. Just remember that steel screws in plastic are easy to strip, so don't go crazy over-tightening stuff and you will be fine.