ASK Cubby, 02.12.2014, Version- Hey Look! More Letters!
“Lipo in ECX Torment
Hey BigSquid,
I am trying to put a 2s lipo battery in my sons ECX Torment and I was told I have to change the jumpers on my speed controller but I can’t find any jumpers. When I called Horizons they said that lipo is not compatible but in your review you said to do this upgrade and in the manual it talks about running lipo and the light on the ECS would be red instead of green but no info on setting up the lipo. We tried just putting the battery in but it is slower taking off and might have a little bit more on top end. Do you have any ideas or know how to change the settings?
Thanks
Jamie M.”
About LiPo compatibility in your Torment…
The newest version comes with small jumpers located on the speedo to set the LVC. You can see the jumpers in This Picture on the lower left of the Torment ESC. Older versions did not come with this feature, so naturally they do not have any jumpers to switch around.
During our reviews we have thrown LiPo in a lot of vehicles that did not have a Low Voltage Cut-off. We do this with confidence because we’ve driven a zillion different cars and “just know” when the battery is starting to get low so we stop driving. The manufacturers definitely don’t recommend this, but we’ve seen it done hundreds of times out in the field by noobs, so we do it because we know that a lot of “Joe Blow” consumers are going to do it too.
So… if your Torment did not come with an LVC and you want to do it “right”, you have a couple of options. You can buy a speedo that comes with it, you can buy a low voltage alarm, or you can “chance” it. You sound like a big boy, you make the decision.
And just FYI, with a LiPo battery you should feel much better power across the entire power range. Your Torment should have much better torque out of the hole, more mid-range rip, and noticeably better top-end speed. That is compared to a typical 6-cell NiMH stick pack. If you’ve been running 7-cell NiMH the difference will not be so pronounced.
“The “Coolest Basher on the Planet’s snail mail”
I know you don’t have a ton of time and may not be able to read my whole response so there is my address info and I want to say how much I appreciate your site and the in depth reviews. I am a big review guy and it seems anything I’m in the market for, you have information on, so keep up the good work and keep up the hard core bashing because everything you do on purpose is bound to happen on accident to us family R/C guys.
Thanks for posting my comment on your home page. You’ll probably get a kick out of this. After a ton of research on right system for this truck, I ended up with the SV3 with a 4600 KV motor. The one you mentioned in your response doesn’t come as an SV3 Motor combo, that I could find, with that particular motor, unless you get a sidewinder SCT edition, and in that case, the ESC shows to only handle up to 2S Lipo and since I will be stealing the radio from my son at every opportunity, I wanted the ability to run 3S, as you mentioned. I was surprised to learn the system you used in your review of the Pro MT isn’t waterproof, not even in the least bit. Not surprised that its the one you used, just surprised they don’t make the Mamba Max pro in a waterproof version. So the 2 finalists were a newly discounted Velineon 3500 or the SV3 combo. The Castle system came out on top. I thought it was cool that it was the very system you mentioned, just the different
series motor as a combo.I actually jumped on your site to see the Pro-2 review because after building and driving that MT kit, I have to have the Short Course version. What a great value for a basher and a way to enjoy the hobby like it was back in the day. RTR kits just end up being torn apart and you spend as much time upgrading them as you would to build one. I see the demand for them in certain applications and for people who only want to slap a battery in and go. In fact, I have a new E-Revo Brushless 1/8 and a Summit 1/8. Pro-line is really on to something with this new kit lineup and I, for one, cannot wait to see what they come up with next.. Maybe a 4wd version???
So, How did you like the esc motor combo you put in for the pro 2 SC review? I had the exact same issue when attaching the rear shock tower on the MT, two of the screws threaded up nicely but the other two seemed to already be loose fitting when screwing them in and setting the threads. I’m about to order one of those now and thinking I may just use the same system i used for the MT.
Thanks again for the notice on your letter of the month page! Made my day!
I’ll let you know how the build goes with the Pro-2 SC and if I take over that truck or the monster truck as my favorite.
Thanks!
Brian T.”
Thanks for the props and yes, we put a lot of effort into reviews here. We slam stuff into curbs and jump (and throw!) products off of roofs so you don’t have to.
Just like the PRO-MT, you will really like the PRO-SC. The tires on the PRO-SC are much lighter than on the MT, so a Castle 1406 series motor works well in it. The 4600 you got is a great motor in the PRO-SC, lots of low end with plenty on top. The 1410 also works well, it has a bit more rip off the bottom and motor temps are typically quite reasonable at high power levels. In our review of the PRO-SC we used a Castle 5700, it had absolutely solid power on 2S (as you can tell by This Picture in the review).
Oh and… in most review vehicles we experiment with a bunch of different electronics. For example, we’ve had a half dozen different power systems, a half dozen different servos, and 3 different radio systems in our PRO-MT. Most have worked well, but some have really excelled, so we try to pass along the information on the ones that we were exceptionally impressed with.
Have fun, go fast, break lots of parts (it’s the basher way).
Yo that’s it for this week. Just for kicks shoot me an email at Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. Make the big time and get a sticker pack, be proclaimed “Letter of the Month” and we’ll hook ya up with t-shirt.
YOUR Cub Reporter
