The (almost) COMPLETE Guide to Electric RC Cars

Hey everyone I'm back for one final Instructable...or one of the last at least. I have recently gotten into the hobby of RC cars and at first I didn't know too much about, well basically everything. I have decided to help everyone else out by sharing everything I have learned over the last year. And by the way, I appreciate positive comments since this is still a work in progress. I will be adding on more weekly and most of it will be related to comments. Thanks for the help :) Check out my homemade snow machine!

Step 1 The Brands

These are some of the biggest brands to choose from for buying an rc car. I know there are plenty more but these seem to be the most popular.

TRAXXAS
Traxxas cars are very fast, durable, and high quality. If you buy one of these, you will very rarely need to replace broken or worn parts. However, these cars and trucks start at about $300 and do not always include a battery pack and charger. To buy visit www.traxxas.com

Exceed
Out of all of these, Exceed cars are the cheapest, but they often require spare parts and a rather high level of maitenence. I own an exceed, so I can personally tell you to only get an exceed if you do not want to spend a lot of money and you are willing to pay $10 for shipping every time a few pieces break. The cars start at $90 and are most of the parts are good quality. To buy visit www.nitrorcx.com


HPI
HPI cars are not all that popular, mostly because they are as expensive as Traxxas but not as good quality. There is not much I can say about them other than from what I've read they have good quality parts and will not need many replacements. To buy visit www.nitrorcx.com or www.hpiracing.com

Tamiya
Tamiya is the classic RC car brand. They've been making good cars for more than 30 years. I own the Grasshopper from about 1984 or something but its actually really nice. I have never broken a part on it and I've been driving it offroad for a year now. They start around $200 but are reasonably slower than other brands for that price due to the classical "Low-Tech" designs. To buy visit www.tamiya.com

Team Associated
Coming soon

Losi
Coming soon

Comments

[RSV26]

most electric can go to 40+ km

[unifreddy]

for all batteries the way you want to base your purchase is off of two numbers, lipo just has the c rating because the way lipo discharges is different than nimh.
the two numbers you wanna look for are the volts(dependent on the number of battery cells in the pack). in an nimh battery, for every cell there is 1.2 volts, and in a lipo there is 3.7 volts per cell. for instance, a 6 cell nimh battery has 7.2 volts output, and a 2 cell lipo battery has a 7.4 output voltage.
the second number is mah. this stands for how long the battery will last. mah stands for milliamps per hour, so if you have a 5000mah battery, it will last for about an hour if your car uses an average of 5 amps per hour. you can estimate the run time if you look up your motor, esc, and servo power usage under full voltage input.

[unifreddy]

rcplanet.com has been a great online resource, so you might wanna check that place out as well. and generally, the more kv's (rpm's per volt of input) there will be less turns of the motor. like a 5 turn motor might have a 6000 kv rating, while 20 turn motors are closer to 2000kv.

[unifreddy]

traxxas is pretty much the most innovative and supportive brand of any rc car manufacturers. I have had and used over 10 of their cars, as well as some other brands cars, like a associated b4, losi mini t, and even though they are totally different styles of cars, they all have shown to be not as reliable as traxxas. I personally favor my Bandit VXL, as it has very easy to assemble parts, great warranties, outstanding customer service, and because they are so popular you can get aluminum or rpm upgrades for practically every part of the car. Losi is probably 2nd on the list in my opinion because they have a great building reputation with racing. Their cars are mostly specifically made for racing, except for some models like the mini and micro series, but those are just complete screw-around cars. Their cars handle well, they have pretty good service, but their cars arent very versatile. Associated is like a kid-Losi, because they have a little bit less of a reputation, and they have a bit less of service and model variation, however they are still pretty reliable.
hope that helped a bit!

[The nerdling]

i recommend an electric they are easy ti fix and cheaper

[Electroinnovation]

yeah i recommend elecric aswell for the same reasons

[The nerdling]

so whic one is faster and more powerfull nitro or electric?

[jad51]

Electric is the fastest (record holder at the moment), but it depends on your set up. Nitro is faster on most set-ups, but if you have a brush-less motor with the right battery and ESC then electric should be faster. Electric is easier to use and has less problems of failure due to incorrect set up (if you do not set-up your Nitro properly then new Motor $$$$) There are some good positives with Nitro though, longer run times, usually better components in the drive train area and generally better made cars. But they normally cost more, have way more maintenance and are quite unforgiving to novices. Electric on the other hand are easier to run, pretty forgiving and good for novices. But they also have problems, one charging battery's is a pain, secondly there is way more difference between the low end and high end in electric (you get what you pay for) It really depends on what you want it for if you want it for weekend fun then an electric would be the why to go. If you want to race it then Nitro or high end electric but you would really have to check out what your local club is racing and see. In my area they only race Nitro Trucks, but I am just a weekend hack so I have an electric. :)

[Flatout Knex]

electrics are fast some go 130 and some electric egines are torque

[Flatout Knex]

electics can charge fast

[The nerdling]

again, sorry for all of the comments but did you get your car of rchobbyestore?
because they have the same cars on the webby, thinking of getting the same one

[Electroinnovation]

nah nitrorcx. they are the best and they have amazing customer service. my first esc was fried so they sent a brand new one no charge and im pretty sure they have the best prices around!

[The nerdling]

some buggies on nitrorcx are the same as rchobbyestor just a bit cheaper

[The nerdling]

and i might have my own hobby shop and i am 14 but i won't have a building i will just have an add in the local newspaper and i will sell buggies like these

[The nerdling]

i have found a website where it sells things in bulk and it has the same buggies 'n' truggies

[Electroinnovation]

ohh okay..well i believe there is a code to get 10% off an nitrorcx aswell..you might have to do a little research. and that sounds awesome good luck!

[tdeura]

hi Electroinnovation...this is my first visit to ds site...i have many question n queries dat i wish u cud help to solve....i am trying to implement an adaptive cruise control on RC car for my project...

i want to know abt a rc car dat has a pwm speed controlling mechanism.more precisly a pic microcontroller...
also does brushed and brushless cars both have this type of speed controlling machanism..........?

plz do reply...and it would be gr8 if u mail me at ... [e-mail]

[The nerdling]

for cruise control, you could take out the spring in your transmitter throttle, so it doesn't sspring back to neutral.
or you could get a plane transmitter with the throttle on the left stick

[The nerdling]

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/nitrorcx.com
found a website with heaps of codes/coupons

[The nerdling]

just need to save up some money so i can start my buisness

[WhiteTech]

Every HPI Ive seen blows nearly anything out of the water for quality, save Team Associated and Losi 1/8s, which are top notch. The HPI Savage had been grown into a legend from it's toughness alone. :l Traxxas are great beginner vehicles, very cheap and durable, a basic Slash is $180, RTR, for a Slash RTR with 2.4ghz with battery and charger is $250.

But Im not a beginner and Im an Associated fan ;)

[aidanjarosgrilli]

that is a great drift pic

[The nerdling]

sorry for all of the comments but i was wondering if you would buy one of these cars http://www.rchobbyestore.com.au/RC%20Buggies/?sck=8427745
when i get a part time job i want to get one of theose

[The nerdling]

this buggy

[The nerdling]

meant to have an iframe with the website here

[The nerdling]

where can i get some parts for my wild one?

[Electroinnovation]

Wow...um that's a good question. I just checked every site that might possibly have spare parts including tamiyausa.com and I couldn't find them anywhere. There are some places on ebay you can find spare parts like here (http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=tamiya+wild+one or http://stores.ebay.com/CTY300/Tamiya-WILD-ONE-Parts-/_i.html?_fsub=18465305) but there's no guarentuee everything you need will be there. Sorry

[The nerdling]

mmmmmmm,i know there are shells on ebay, but i don't know where to get all of the others

[Electroinnovation]

I dont know either. I'm really sorry I wish I could have been of more help.

[The nerdling]

you helped a bit. i am sort of thinking of selling it and getting a new fast 4x4 and cool car.

[The nerdling]

i will update my wild one instructable when i make up my mind

[Electroinnovation]

Ohh then I would definitely recommend a traxxas! You can't go wrong with one of them. I've seen people jump them OVER houses and smash them into walls and then just drive away. They are the most indestructable and high quality rc cars you will ever see...

[The nerdling]

cool

[The nerdling]

thinking of getting this car

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-1-16-RADIO-REMOTE-CONTROL-CAR-ELECTRIC-RTR-RC-BUGGY-/390326493785?pt=AU_Toys_Hobbies_Radio_Controlled_Vehicles&hash=item5ae145a259

[The nerdling]

or this one

http://www.rchobbyestore.com.au/Items/TPEB-1007%20PRO%2010707?sck=8427745&caSKU=TPEB-1007%20PRO%2010707&caTitle=NEW%201/10%20SCALE%20BRUSHLESS%20ELECTRIC%20CAR%20RTR%20RC%204WD%20BUGGY

[The nerdling]

not selling, found all of the parts i need, but no shells;
if anyone has parts for a tamiya wild one i am happy to buy them

[The nerdling]

my wild one has no esc, only a mechanical thingy

[aidanjarosgrilli]

but NOW it has one

[The nerdling]

i have said that already

[aidanjarosgrilli]

well, um, I didn't see it.