INQUIRIES O’ Cub Reporter, 09.19.2012, Version- Ye Questions Keep Me Busy, me Answers Keep th’ Legal Department Hop’n on One Peg

Hello, I was wondering if the Radient Ascend charger will somehow charge AA size NIMH batteries. I have 8 AA nimh batteries { single, not a battery pack } and would like to know if the ascend can handle this { maybe with an adapter of some sort? } Thanks!!

Jim P.

Cubby– Ahoy thar Jimmy P, what ye be doin? Be sure ‘n send Brian ye snail mail so we can flood ye mailbox wit’ sweet BigSquid stickers.

Let me guess, ye use 8 AA NiMH batteries in ye transmitter? ‘n ye’d like to charge them wit’ ye Helion Ascend?

Can th’ Radient Ascend charge 8 AA NiMH cells at one the hour? Yarr, absolutely no problem. In fact it can charge just one, or just a pair, ect, all th’ way up to 8 like ye be tryin’ to do. ye could charge each sin’le AA separately, but that would take a dozen sails around the globe. What I would recommend be ’tis- use a battery tray out ‘o an barnacle-covered transmitter. Remove th’ tray from th’ barnacle-covered transmitter, throw a connector ‘o some type on th’ wires (if needed, it might already have a plug ye can adapt to), ‘n charge th’ 8 AA NiMH batteries all at once wit’ ye Ascend. Use a 1C charge rate (2 amps if they be 2000 mah cells) ‘n ye be dialed.

First off – just want to say I really enjoy your site. As someone getting back into RC after about 15 yrs it’s been helpful and informative, not to mention entertaining. After picking up a 2WD Slash last winter and an SC10 this summer for racing the local tracks here the northern burbs of Chicago when I can get the time – my daughter is starting to show an interest (she’s almost 5 yrs old).

So what better excuse to pick up another vehicle – enter the Ruckus. Picked it up from the local HobbyTown USA and it fits the bill perfectly. It has that big truck look that she enjoys and out of the box it isn’t quite fast enough for her to cause any real damage. I found that the large bumper from the ECX Torment is a direct bolt-on by the way.

To my question – I read in your initial review that you had trouble fitting a Lipo battery in there yet during the RTR Monster truck shoot-out a Lipo was used in all three trucks. I’m curious if you did any specific mod to get it to fit? Or if you just used a velcro strap around the chassis or something?

Just for the longer run times and continual even power I may eventually swap out the esc to the XL5 from my Slash (for the low voltage protection) and run it with a lipo. Another thing I found out is that the 7-cell nimh flat packs DO fit – which works out since I had a couple of these before making the lipo switch on my Slash. I couldn’t confirm the 7-cell fitment anywhere online before purchasing the vehicle.

Thanks…….

Matt F.

P.S. Thanks for the posting about the price decreases of ECX vehicles – HobbyTown gladly price matched it since their supplier is Horizon Hobbies.

Cubby– Greetin’s dearest Matt, ‘n hearty thanks fer writin’ in ‘n fer th’ lust.

No, we didn’t mod th’ battery tray in any way on th’ ECX Ruckus durin’ our shootout. We used standard ROAR hardcase 2S SpeedPack Lipo’s from Dynamite fer th’ shootout. No, they weren’t an easy fit, we had to push below on th’ battery bar pretty harrrd fer th’ fastener to properly latch, but it did set the sails. Btw, I totally dig th’ fact that ECX does not use body clips on their battery bars, ‘n their set-up never comes loose or causes any issues, salutes to them on that.

But yarr, many common battery packs be slightly taller than what ECX intended thus makin’ it harrrd to get th’ battery strap on. I drive an ECX Torment nearly every day ‘n here’s th’ scoop on what I did to make it a wee bit easier to install slightly taller packs-

1. Get out a Phillips head screwdriver.
2. Slightly loosen th’ a pair bolts that thread up into th’ battery strap latches, ’tis be typically only a couple ‘o turns.
3. Slightly loosen th’ four screws at th’ back ‘o th’ battery box to gift th’ rear area a wee bit more height as well.
4. All done ‘n dialed.

To boil it below, a standard sized Lipo be slightly a pain to put in th’ Ruckus but it can set the sails, ‘n, ’tis super easy to loosen a few screws to gain a wee bit ‘o height if needed.

That’s it ye bunch of swashbuckling pirates, submit ye questions ‘n whatever else happens to be on ye mind to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com! If ye be lucky that be all I can take to make th’ front page ye’ll get free stickers, if i reckon yours be th’ “letter ‘o th’ month” ye get a really burly BSRC t-shirt.

YE Cub Reporter