traxxas 1/16 e-revo vxl with 2.4 ghz radio

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i have 2 old AA 1800mah nimh Duracell batteries, that work really well but the stock Duracell charger takes 12 hours to charge them and i only have a 4 x AA receiver battery holder to charge on my RC charger for my other AA batteries, so i couldn't charge them on my RC charger, but on ebay i found a 2 x AA battery holder for $1.14 with free shipping so i thought ill give it a go and use it on my RC charge.

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i added a female tamiya plug that i crimped, soldered the pin,s and put some heat shrink to keep the wires together

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the plastic is nice and tuff, the wires are a little thinner then my 4 x AA holder but discharging at 1 amp they dint get warm, I'm very impressed with the holders quality for $1.14 you cant go wrong, much better then i expected.

now one thing Ive noticed with my newer 2450 mah and 2650mah AA energizers when discharging at 4 at 1amp or higher the voltage drops really low quickly and the charger cuts off to early cause of the voltage drop but when i put a multi meter on them batteries they are allot higher then the chargers set cut off, so the batteries are voltage dropping to quick and not holding voltage making the charge think its hit the preset low voltage cut of, so i have to discharge them 4 at a time but at no more then 0.5amps it takes ages, but they take close to there claimed mah rating

now the 2 old AA 1800mah nimh Duracell batteries when discharging 2 at 1amp or more the the voltage does not drop at much as the energizers and will hold a steady voltage for longer, they take more then there claimed mah rating and only take a couple of pictures less then the energizers in my digital camera, I'm thinking the 2 old AA 1800mah nimh Duracell batteries are better quality then the new 2450 and 2650mah energizers lolls.
 
some more goodies turned up, 8 x AA battery holder, 4 x 3000 nimh AA batteries, traxxas center diff and 3 bottles of 50 000 wt diff oil

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a female tamiya plug crimped and soldered on with some heat shrink on the wires on the 8 x AA battery holder.

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most likely atlest a week mabe more, ive still waiting on the Pro-Line Dirt Hawg tyres & Titus Bead-Loc rim combo as thats the rims i have to use for the paddles on, the 21t pinion is already here for the proline combo, but the 19t pinion isnt here yet and thats the pinion i will use for the paddles since the paddles are even taller then the proline dirt hawgs and will offer more grip in sand i think so ill gear it right down to take some load off the motor witch should make it run cooler and less chance of any thing electrical letting any smoke out, i have a couple of spare 23t,s that im running now insteaded of the stock 28t pinion so if its to low i can gear it back up a little.
 
my complete rear diff assembly and some more spare suspension arms turned up, so all i need to run now is some tires and foams so i can run it.



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this is all the stuff i plan on using for the rebuild, i will replace other stuff that i find is well worn and give my old man some 50 000 wt diff oil.



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I'm going to replace the stock shocks with some more stock shocks but Ive replaced the springs with traxxas tan and black springs that are a bit firmer
 
i redid the merv using the above parts, i was going to use my new spare gear box and install the center diff but i thought ill pull apart my old gear box and see what it was like and it looked good, the bearings where good and no wear or dirt on any parts so i installed the center diff into my original gear box.

i pulled the new rear diff apart and cleaned it up and put the 50k diff oil in bloody thick stuff the diff feels nice and tight, i reinstalled the bulk head and rear diff using some heat and oil proof silicone as its all i had, to try and seal in better to stop the dirt getting in and killing another set of gears.

i pull the front diff out as well to have a look bugger all dirt in it but a little bit of wear on the crown and pinion gear, i pulled the diff apart and installed some 50k diff oil and use the same bearings as they where still good even after 49 battery packs, but i did find a broken part that looks like its been broken for a while.

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its apart of the servo saver, Ive ordered a new one from Australia but with the ouch price tag of $35 aud delivered so i installed the broken servo saver part back into he car as it looks like its been broken for a while and if my tires get here tomorrow ill have a run with it, if the tires don't get here, the the servo parts should be here tuesday or wednesday so ill install it then.

i did not end up tryed to seal the front bulk head with heat and oil proof silicone since im only going to pull it apart in a few days and replace the broken servo saver so i thought ill leave it as is, as a few more runs shouldnt hurt it to bad as its been like that the last 49 batteyr packs and then once the new servo saver parts are here i have to pull the front bulk head out to install the servo saver so ill seal the front bulk head up then.

i was surprised the condition of the parts and all bearings still were good except for the small out bearings on the rear hubs where flogged out, i think this was due to the rear wheels filling up with sand and the wheels being unbalanced and the vibration this caused when driving it, but every thing else looked good and i didn't have to use many spare or replacement parts at all witch was good.

i did replace the rear drive shafts as in the above picture in my other post as they where well worn but still hanging in there and not popping out, i think allot of there wear has allot to do with my driving style and the 180 power slide with full throttle and pulling wheelies as i pull out, but you get that lolls, i ended up replacing all suspension hinge pins and the two alloy bulk head plates since i have a couple of lots of these in my spares box.

the center drive shafts CV,s where in good nick but the shafts did have some scrapes and scratches and it looks like allot of dirt, sand and small rocks had gotten in there, but i still reused them as the joints them selfs where good so i didn't see a need to replace them yet and the front CV,s and drive shafts looked good still so i left them on, ill save my other spare drive shafts for later on.

Ive pretty much finished working on the car, but some things not right, and the new spur gear is a tad on the wobbly side, even though i checked every thing as i went I'm going to pull the center diff out and check that as like i said some thing just don't feel right, so i think i better check it out.

this turned up today as well i brought it from an Australia ebay seller its thick ca glue i noticed it has the hobby king part number on it so i gather thats where the seller on ebay and his on line shop gets some of his stock from, good on him i think as i know not every one is comfortable ordering from over seas and some rather have the items quicker and are happy to pay an extra few bucks

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this is my fix for stopping the wheels filling up with dirt, getting heavy, becoming unbalanced and wearing out uneven.

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simple just run some electrical tape around the inside of the rim and block off the two large breather holes, i have tested this idea on one set of stock tires and its seams to work well and it also helps with the tires ballooning.

be for this i did try epoxy on the out side of the rims to block off the breather holes but it didn't seams to work as well and the stock pre clude tires popped off the rims, its seams to work better on rims and tires you glue up your self as you can glue them on better then stock and use more glue.

this mod of tapping the inside of the rims only works if you can manage to get at lest one side of the stock tires off the rim, or if you have worn out your first stock set and are just going to replace the tires and foams and use the old rims.

ill try another couple of sets and see how i go and how well it holds up, but it was kind of painful after a few battery packs in dirt the wheel,s filling up with dirt and they wear uneven, get unbalanced and flog out the small outer bearings in the hubs, normally the rears as these are the ones filling up with dirt for me and more so when doing donut,s

this is one of the few negatives of the traxxas mini e-revo vxl 2/4ghz model.
 
i had the feeling after the rebuild some thing wasn't right after the rebuild, i thought it might of been some silicone on the diff gears, but i found out why when i installed the the center diff i didn't reinstall the the traxxas wheelie bar but i used the wheelie bar screw witch are 2mm longer then the stock ones for the rear toe link that screws into the rear bulk head, so a tiny bit of plastic was catching on the crown gear on the rear diff.



some thing else that added to the bad feeling on the drive line was a wobbly spur gear it was a bit tight in one spot, i knew it was wobbly but when i installed it, it didn't feel to tight, but when you push the car and the spur gear does a few full turn it felt tight add that to the 2mm to long screws and the rear diff issue the whole lot just didn't feel right.



the spur gear is new so i didn't want to waste it, so i turned the spur gear until it was in the middle of the tight spot up against the pinion, then i re gapped it with some thin paper, now the drive line feels super smooth and i have no problem leaving car as is and now ill just play the waiting game for my new rubber to get here.
 
the finished product its almost got some of the new car smell back lolls

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now the green force cells cheap 3000 mah AA,s i got off ebay for $3.34 aud with free delivery are not worth a pinch of kangaroo crap, but we all knew that already but it gave me some thing to do for a couple of days.

the little bit of paper that came with them said they work best after a 3 to 4 cycles so i thought ill cycle them a few times, i cycled them on auto for 3 days and almost 3 nights i left my power supply and charge on for over 36 hours a bit of a test to See how they went in a stinking hot shed.

the best i can get the 3000 mah AA,s to take is 770mah after approx 8 + cycles most of witch i had the icharge 106b+ set to auto so 0.4 amp charge and 0.10 amp discharge hence why it to so long but i also did a few cycles at 0.5 amp charge and 1 amp discharge then when they voltage drooped to the cut off i halved the discharge and kept doing this till they hit to low voltage cut off i was happy with, this was the only way i could get them to take more then a couple hundred mah.

this was best result of a few days of cycling, the things we do when waiting for parts lolls

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i have my delta peak sensitivity detection circuit set to 0.2mv so ill try a couple of different settings on the charge and see what i can come up with, but at this stage ill say skip the 3 dollar 3000 mah AA,s witch I'm sure every oen would any way, i thought ill try them since i was buying battery holders from the same seller, the battery holders are OK, just not there batteries, i might email the seller for a laugh.
 
like you said no big loss at the end of the day.

ive been using the duracell nimh for a couple of weeks now, very impressed. coles has them on sale for 12.50 for 4
 
the duracell nimh are realy good ive using some for a couple of years now and like them, they are better then the enigizers nimh i brought and are no longer with me
 
i whent to my old mans last night and we run a coulpe of rhino lipo,s through his merv, he had his first breakage the front body mount after a few hard nocks and a slide into a wooden sleeper.



im hopping i get some rubber turn up in the mail this arvo, either my premade stock merv tries and rims, or just the stock tires and foams or my proline dirt hawgs and titus beed loc,s either will atlest let me run my merv, im keen to have a drive with the center diff and the 50k oil in the diffs
 
last week there was a shortage of Merv rubber at my place but in true Australian form there is either a drought or a flood lolls

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also a crown and pinion set so i can rebuild my read diff and have a spare, at this stage I'm not to keen on the stock pre glued set as i rather glue on the others so i can easily block the breather holes off, but ill keep them as a spare or run them on 3s lipo and pop then off the rims if they don't shred ill tape the breather holes and re glue them if my other tapped rims work out well
 
yesterday the weather was cooler a nice change, we took the merv down the park for a drive to test out the new firmer shock springs, the center diff and the 50 000wt silicone oil in all 3 diffs


the center diff has tamed the beast, its more drivable to me and now i think its ready for another run on 3s lipo,s, im looking forward to trying the center diff out on the dirt and see how the thicker diff oil goes aswell as the firmer shock springs as the merv is more sedate running on grass as it has grip.

this also turned up in the mail today.

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its a servo saver to replace my broken servo saver Mount and now i have the extra servo arm linkage so i can run twin servo now if i want and its some thing i will look into down the road a bit.
 
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today i put the Robinson racing 21t pinion on to run a couple 11.1v 3s lipos down the park, i felt more confident since the center diff install the Merv just wouldn't be a spastic back flipping all over the place RC car, witch was right it was pretty well behaved and the extra performance was great even though i drop 2 more teeth on the pinion from what i normally run on 7.4v 2s lipo,s, the extra voltage makes all the diffrence.



but after one 11.1v lipo the motor was dam hot and the esc was pretty warm, but i put the second battery pack in and drove like i normally do will allot of heavy throttle use and heavy breaking, half way through the second battery pack he Merv's esc thermal protection kicked in and the Merv lost 50% power so i called it quits.



The motor was way to hot to touch it, the esc was to hot to hold your finger on for any length of time and the zippy 11.1v 3s 20c 1800 mah lipo was pretty hot also, todays temp was allot cooler then i normally run in, it was around 30c, be for Ive been running 4 7.4v 2s lipos 4, one after the other none stop and been very heavy on the throttle and it never shuts down due to thermal protect on a 40c + day, but the motor is normally to hot touch for to long and the esc is pretty warm and the batteries are warm.



I'm not sure how others are running 3s with stock gearing as Ive dropped 7 teeth on the pinion with out beeing full of it or running in freezing conditions, the motor is not been breaking down at max rpm (close to max rpm) but the temps are to high for me and what i thinks right, maybe braking to hard and to much full throttle and heavy accelerating for the 3s, and to much traction on the grass loading up the motor, but on 7.4v 2s stock tires and a 23t pinion i can get away with it.



here is a quick video of running 3s lipo.






very happy with the performance, just not it over heating, ill be buggered how others can run larger tires, stock gearing and running 3s in parallel or nimh in series, i will try a 19t pinion and see if the motor will over rev and break down and see how that goes with temp, but in warm weather and my heavy trigger finger ill be pushing my luck still.
 
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