TOPIC:

Edou - have you invested in a darth buggy perchance? (Jealous....).
Fairwood - in my own personal experience, I've had nothing but trouble with Nimh batteries, all sorts, not just toy car ones - the ones I've had seem to die as soon as you ask them to do any work or get them warm eg run them or charge them... or even leave them lying about doing nothing! Others will disagree, but I personally prefer NiCds (If I can get them). Although their capacity is less (Shorter run times) they seem to have more 'punch', are more resilient to abuse & all in more reliable. They also seem to recover well from long term storage - if I've got an old/'dead' battery, I thrash it on an old-style charger (ie a timer type, not one of those poxy peak detection ones) at about 2A until it gets quite warm, then discharge using a car headlamp bulb. Repeat the process a couple of times & it usually has them usable again. My hatred of peak detection chargers comes from the way they switch off when they detect that the battery voltage has stopped increasing quickly, or starts to drop, which is exactly what a battery does when it NEEDS to be forced that extra volt or so to recover its performance. I've found that when using peak detection chargers, batteries seem to lose their performance slightly with every few charges. Giving them the occasional toasting on the timer charger usually sorts them out again. I was advised that occasional slow charging does them good too, but I can't say I've noticed any difference from doing that. The biggest battery-killer I've found, is to charge them repeatedly without discharging them, (Or charging & not using). Discharging the batteries after use makes a big difference to their performace too.
ESC vs MSC is down to personal preference. Some people won't entertain MSCs as a matter of course (Cos they're yesterday's technology?). As Edou said, ESCs are normally more reliable & usually have built in protection systems. Some have additional cool features like ABS & braking/reverse delays etc. BUT, you have to adhere to their current ratings - use too small an ESC for the motor & it will fry it. Being electronic devices, they don't like over-voltage or reversed battery connections either. Sometimes the internal components can also 'short' when overloaded, which can lead to battery destruction or fire... & of course, the higher rated ESC you want, the more expensive it'll be. ESCs don't like water either. However, I usually find that as long as you turn it off & unplug the battery if you get a "Full of water shutdown", then dry the ESC out, it'll usually come back to life. With MSCs, you can use any motor you like (Within reason). They don't get particularly upset about being wet, & they're cheap. Downsides are, you need a second servo to operate them & they're reliant on the radio working correctly to avoid "accidents". An ESC will usually shut the motor off when battery voltage gets low or there's a problem with the radio, MSCs won't. If there's a radio failure or low battery voltage, they can 'stick', causing your car to tear off into the distance, out of control. The other problem is, servos can be physically moved with the power turned off. This means it's quite possible to activate the MSC without having the radio turned on, eg by dropping the car or placing items on it. This is eaily addressed though, ALWAYS UNPLUG THE BATTERY AFTER USE! Incidentally, although most ESCs have an on/off switch, this only controls the internal electronics, it DOESN'T isolate the battery, & there will be some current leakage through the ESC if a battery is attached

eddrick wrote:

Edou - have you invested in a darth buggy perchance?

Not yet (just got some pricey high end Pro-lines) but I doubt I will be able to resist getting the tyre set in the near future...

Great piece of info - I agree with the advantages of NiCad but apart from single cells I think they're not easy to find anymore.
They're indeed more resistent to abuse and longer periodes without useage.
Leave a NiMH lying around for a few years and it's a goner. But a NiCad will miraculously come alive again!

Here's some maintenance tips for NiMH I posted earlier :

Edou wrote:

- Conditioning (a cycle of unload and load) now and then will help keep up the health.
- When not used for a longer period, store with at least 50% charged - not a full load though.
- Refresh this load after a while, empty NiMH packs will go defect when not used for a longer period.
- Don't overcharge - best to use a "smart" charger and not a timed one for loading to max capacity.
- Never uncharge uncontrolled but only up to a minimum of 0.8-0.9V because less voltage can lead to loss of capacity.
- Store in a place that's not too hot, cold (0-30 degrees Celsius) or humid.
- Unplug the battery from any device when not used for a while.

They are just some general tips that could use an extra comment here or there.
For battery packs, I'd always choose one of the better brands myself.
That'll most likely save money (and trouble) in the long run...

I usually keep an eye out for "End of line" & obsolete power tool packs (They often crop up at DIY superstores when they have annual clear outs) then take them to bits, test the cells & put them together in piles of "Nearly matched", then build packs out of them as & when I need them.
Noticed recently that NiCd power tool packs are coming back on the scene, but being sold as an "upgrade" to Nimh, with a higher price tag! - wasn't the original selling point of Nimh that they were far better than NiCd?.
My PLEO has a Nimh pack. It's just over 1 year old, charged 5 times with the factory charger & now it's dead as a doornail. Planning to rebuild his pack with NiCds at some point. Brand-wise, I have to say that Tamiya packs are fantastic! I have packs here from 1979 that still work nearly as well as they did when new! Sanyo cells seem to be best. Orion are good when new but don't last as long, I've found. The chinese ones are usually ok whilst you're using them, but if you don't use them for a few months they usually die from it & refuse to be restored. The life-span seems to be initiated at 1st charge