[Deepsycher]

Due growing problems with my eyes I need to get out more to excercise them rather than spending most of the day looking at paper and a screen. For where I live I have little interest to go out due to swarms of working class behaviour or pay to go in a shop which has forced me to open this little world of mine which is not so good for the long term. I need to be motivated by something.

So now I have settled for this:



Two motor car that holds two 7.2 volt battery packs in series at 14.4 volts.
Already brought two 4300 mah 7.2 volt packs and they are so expensive.

I have seen a bigger one from Tamiya but is under $100 more, metal built with two motor but only can hold one battery pack at 7.2 volt and I can't find anything to say that it goes as fast.


I did consider of buying a petrol or nitro car but I think I have to spend a significant amount everytime to fill it up. I am a bit concerned that the plastic could break and render it useless compared to the more expensive possibly slower metal buggy.

Does anyone hear own a toy car to advice?

[Vesuvius]

I have two Nikko RC cars. The oldest one I stripped the gears on it due to excessive driving, hard braking, and drifting (before it became popular). The newer model that I have had a slightly upgraded motor, but I never played with it that much due to school, work, and training.

They both ran on 9v batteries. But I never bothered with buying new ones because I stuck with rechargeable batteries only for my RC cars.

A friend of mine had a gas powered RC car and he claims it would top 40mph, but he did do some extensive work on the gears and such.

If I were to buy any RC cars today, I'd stick with the brand Nikko. They're pretty reliable. Tyco has too many outlandish vehicles that do more than drive.

[Despondent]

I got this set and it's been a blast: Carrera GO

I'll post some pics- there's a pretty decent setup in the study with a landscape, billboard, marina and jurassic park area. It's really fun when they wreck in the middle.

I'll take some pics and post them. I've been so busy I haven't even mailed my cards yet.


Happy New Year!

[Deepsycher]

This car I purchased is a Traxxas E-maxx but after seeing the metal Tamiya Ford f-15 I don't know whether to cancel the order considering the Ford only takes one 7.2 volts.

I had a Tyco car with three wheels on each side ten years ago.
The remote control was a bit awkward so I kept on crashing it.

Also I had a Hovercraft which the plastic broke after trying to clean the insides out. Found another working one but the rubber has split due to heat.

They both take 9.6 volt packs. The problem is that they didn't state how much milliamps was on the pack and it took 4 hours to charge. Fifteen minutes was an insult. I got the hovercraft running for 45 minutes on boxes for holding 2500 milliamps rechargeables.


In 1997 was a rip off at Radioshack or Tandys. Someone brought me a toy car which worked on a 7.2 volt C cell pack. The charger they provided was slow. Took 24 hours just to charge a 1600 milliamps. I eventually got bored from frustration of waiting for it to charge whilst I only got 10 minutes out of it.

Brought a Nikko 30 minute charger with a clock. Expensive but it was again not good as I exptected. Can't connect it to the car if it was started as it would overcharge the batteries.

I found at a second hand shop an automatic M-Troniks charger with a 7.2 volt battery all for $10 that didn't overcharge whilst the car was running. The fantastic thing is that I am still using it for charging a drill, alarm batteries and no problems with it yet.


The car will be here on Wednesday along with batteries. The M-Troniks charger's output is 2 amps an hour. Unfortunately I estimate it will take a total of under 5 hours to charge both batteries at 4300 milliamps. I hope the time I get out of it is worth it.

I got this set and it's been a blast: Carrera GO

I'll post some pics- there's a pretty decent setup in the study with a landscape, billboard, marina and jurassic park area. It's really fun when they wreck in the middle.

I'll take some pics and post them. I've been so busy I haven't even mailed my cards yet.
Happy New Year!

That set looks good, if I had someone to play with me.
I had a similar set ten years ago. Despite the amount of cars and roads I brought I had to spend a lot of time trying to clean and replace the contacts before I could use them. And they got pretty dirty quick. Back then I seen a better quality set with slightly bigger cars that had stainless steal contacts with brushes underneath. Also I do have an old electric trainset somewhere to show later if you would like to see.

Sorry I am not good at sending cards.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 30 December 2006 - 05:35 PM

[Deepsycher]

Anyway the car arrived but with no batteries which is most annoying.


I'll post some pictures later about two slight disappointments:

(1) The cover which is held down by a looped pin is flimsy.
I am considering of phoning Traxxas for a hard thick cover.

(2) The steering on the control seems to be so restrictive I'm concerned of it being too sensitive.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 03 January 2007 - 08:41 AM

[Despondent]

If you start backwards before the interchange, you can get this great ebrake turnaround!

[Gobbler]

Boys and their toys...

[Cyzyk]

RC cars are definately a cheaper hobby than chasing women, and probably more enjoyable long-term...

[Despondent]

I got the slot cars as a present for me and my girlfriend (the next day was a MINI rally, so it was a themed weekend).

We love to race together. Cheaper? debatable. More fun? It's nice when it's AS fun.

[Deepsycher]

To chase women? Not a problem with the two extra cells added the car can chase them away at 30 miles an hour.

Well that is an extra bonus to have someone to play with. I would have kept my slot cars if I made the right choice from the beginning and dumped my cheaper pack to buy a proper set with stainless steel contacts and brushes. Unfortunately then I wasn't so sensible and brought more parts instead. The lesson: Quality not quantity!



The only slot toy I have left is a train set which is in pieces:


This was my first train but I wasn't able to use it much due to the small living space.

A slightly broken train I found at a stall:



The tracks are packed in a box somewhere in the cupboard. I use to have a large piece of wood but that had to be broken in half due to the size.


I was busy due to some trouble lately. The packs still didn't arrive despite the messages days ago.

First message:

Thank you for your online order from ********** Products.
Your order details follow:

Second message:

Thank you for placing your order with ********** Products.
Your order has been shipped.

The man said on the phone that they just came back to work this week and they ran out of batteries before Christmas. I asked why did I get two messages with a shipping confirmation. He said, that was the system. This is what makes me frustrated. There is a particular reason why I ordered at that date but not to be told it is on it's way when it isn't. This is what I call a mood damper for buying a car without the batteries arriving on time.





I have discovered another disappointment. The C cells I have here won't fit in the car. I can only get five in. I have been assured that it is not a manufacturing fault. The shop owner thinks they are sub C cells (longer and wider cap size.) I have decided to order the 3900 milliamps batteries with an extra cell (8.4 volts) on each pack as it says in the manual and the link:

http://www.traxxas.c...a...t=35&id=280

Just waiting for a quote now.


The flimsy cover:


In time I'll ask if I can get a harder cover. I don't like how flimsy it is. I mean what happens if the car topples overs? The cover gets scratched or damage and so can the insides.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 04 January 2007 - 10:54 AM

[Zewb]

Ah, cat torture equipment! I've been wanting to get a nice, cheap indoor RC copter but they aren't sold anywhere near me.

[Despondent]

Oh, those got high marks. There's one for like $59 or something? I almost got one for my nephews.

[Deepsycher]

A helicopter?

Last Summer I brought an X-UFO but had to send it back. I got the X-UFO to hover but the aerial kept on getting stuck in a propeller causing it to roughly land on top. I got my money back instead after seeing how delicate it is. Also I wasn't pleased with the battery, 12 volt 350 milliamps which gave 4 to 5 minutes flying time is just not enough time to satisfy my contentions.

I found that lithium polymer is a solution for lightweight flying models but carries a risk of exploding if damaged or charged incorrectly.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 04 January 2007 - 10:10 PM

[Deepsycher]

Now I feel I have limited knowledage of batteries and chargers. I didn't even know that there was another type of C cell called Sub C which is smaller. Above someone mixed them up for me.

Now another problem:



I am unsure about charging NiMH batteries with this. I have been advised by the seller who claims to have sold them ten years ago that the delta peak voltage detection may undercharge or overcharge NiMH cells. I charged 12 volt 7 amp lead acid batteries and a few laptop NiMH batteries without any problems as well as my drill batteries. Look around for an M-Troniks APC 200 and there is very little around. The manufacturer said to call back tomorrow which is irritating as I am waiting around so much.

The other place who was quoting me with a custom extra cell hasn't received the worked out price yet from the factory and I am not willing to wait any longer for a lower milliamp pack than I expected. I'll purchase the two extra cells at a later date and follow the instructions on the site so I can get it up to 30 mph.

The batteries should be here tomorrow morning which I'll post a picture but I hope I don't have to spend around $120 on another battery charger.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 08 January 2007 - 06:57 PM

[Deepsycher]

Made MY day!!!!

Charger arrived and it took 2 hours to charge both packs.
I found it difficult to get the charger working but that was me tripping over myself.

I had a long release in the park. Unfortunately I accidentally topped the car twice in the first ten minutes because of the way I reversed and steered. Luckily it was on grass so it didn't scratch. It took under 6 seconds to reach near the bottom of the field but I didn't drive it to the full incase of it toppling over again.

Another thing to be cautious about are muddy sandy areas. I learnt my lesson ten years ago except this time the motors are exposed under the top casing. And little bits of dry mud did manage to get near.

One problem is the steering trim. It balances at 15 degrees right. Need to read and confirm over the phone for adjustment or replacement.

The best to car I have ever driven.

I am intending to use it in the park at day time assuming the working class behaviouries are most likely at school or work.

I'll post a picture of the battery packs, charger and power supply. At the moment I am worried about the phone bills.

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 12 January 2007 - 01:17 PM