Traxxas Spartan

[Checkmateguy01]

depends on prop and the grade of cells of the Nimh packs
but most likely the lipo packs will be faster because they put out more amps for the motor to run faster

when I get mine, I'm going to cycle the Nimh packs a few times through my Revo and then try them in the Spartan and see what speeds I get vs my 4s packs

7-cells or 6-cells? I'm curious as to how the boat is really going to run on NIMH's, that's what i'll be using the majority of the time. You can run one 2s pack and one 3s pack in the Spartan (5s) as long as they are the same MAH and C rate right?? 5s would theoretically get it to about 40mph roughly. That may be my other option.

[Brushless55]

7-cells or 6-cells? I'm curious as to how the boat is really going to run on NIMH's, that's what i'll be using the majority of the time. You can run one 2s pack and one 3s pack in the Spartan (5s) as long as they are the same MAH and C rate right?? 5s would theoretically get it to about 40mph roughly. That may be my other option.

7cell nimh that the boat comes with.. I also have some better ones I use in my ERevo that I'm going to try
I am going to run 4s, 5s, and 6s and see how she runs
I hope to see 50mph on 5s!

[keithbradley]

Ok, here's temp and amp data. Again the GPS unit didn't record. I've got to play with that a little more. I ran it on 4s until I got bored and then 6s. It took on some water today so I wasn't going to sacrifice my cellphone. 4s was a continuous run, 6s there are 3 runs. I had a Garmin 855 in and I recorded high speed of 44 but the boat was bouncing back and forth so I brought it in and removed the GPS. Second run it was also bouncing around and I found the rudder tilted up so I moved it back straight and went for the 3rd run. There is no place to hook up the eagle tree so I had a 1500 3s battery powering it and I would imagine the weight of that plus the GPS would add up almost to another 3s 5000 battery.

What kind of problem are you having with the GPS? I ask because if its not recieving a good strong signal, it will not read accurately. I've gotten high 70's out of a 60mph boat when I had a weak signal. I notice the same in my car, sometimes going under bridges, ect, the mph will jump up for a moment.

If you take enough readings you can tell becaue they just wont be consistant. With a good signal my RCs will duplicate the same mph over and over.
Im not sure if you have room in the spartan, but I have put my gps inside a tupperware container that I velcro'ed to the hull in some of my larger boats. Its good insurance if you DO happen to take on water!

[keithbradley]

Ahhhh, OK, makes sense! So, then two 2s lipo's is 14.8 volts right?, and two 7 cell NIMH's is 16.8 volts, the NIMH's would be faster than 4s lipo, correct?

The motor/esc will try and pull whatever current it needs to get the job done. When the batteries cant supply teh required current, the voltage will drop. The voltage will most likely end up lower with the nimhs under load.

[oscarel]

What kind of problem are you having with the GPS? I ask because if its not recieving a good strong signal, it will not read accurately. I've gotten high 70's out of a 60mph boat when I had a weak signal. I notice the same in my car, sometimes going under bridges, ect, the mph will jump up for a moment.

If you take enough readings you can tell becaue they just wont be consistant. With a good signal my RCs will duplicate the same mph over and over.
Im not sure if you have room in the spartan, but I have put my gps inside a tupperware container that I velcro'ed to the hull in some of my larger boats. Its good insurance if you DO happen to take on water!

It turned out that the GPS will not work if the input voltage from BEC is over 5.85 volts, I had it set at 6v. Once I searched on rcgroups and found this it works perfect now. It always worked when doing live capture connected to a PC but seemed to lock on 6v but it would never record.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Traxxas recommends only a 42mm prop (max) with the stock set up. The stock composite prop is a 42mm with a 1.4 pitch. Will need to try a Octura X442 on it.

Stringfly <>+++

Traxxas got the carbon props from me to test that boat. If they ended up with a 42mm prop there is no guarantee that a x442 will be better. I've run a 2317.42 Graupner and a x442 in one of my race boats and the 2317.42 was faster. I'm sure someones going to ask, so yes the x442 was sharpened, thinned and balanced.

[Brushless55]

Traxxas got the carbon props from me to test that boat. If they ended up with a 42mm prop there is no guarantee that a x442 will be better. I've run a 2317.42 Graupner and a x442 in one of my race boats and the 2317.42 was faster. I'm sure someones going to ask, so yes the x442 was sharpened, thinned and balanced.

Steven, how much faster would you say the Graupner was?

[Steven Vaccaro]

Steven, how much faster would you say the Graupner was?

I dont remember. It was back in 2005 at the nats. But it was enough difference in take off speed that I had to quickly switch back to carbon. Please DON'T take this the wrong way. I'm sure I could have found a faster metal prop. I just didn't have the time to do it. I'm just trying to stop people from buying expensive props that "may" be close and not make much of a difference. Which prop is best on the stock Traxxas setup is going to take some testing.

[Brushless55]

I dont remember. It was back in 2005 at the nats. But it was enough difference in take off speed that I had to quickly switch back to carbon. Please DON'T take this the wrong way. I'm sure I could have found a faster metal prop. I just didn't have the time to do it. I'm just trying to stop people from buying expensive props that "may" be close and not make much of a difference. Which prop is best on the stock Traxxas setup is going to take some testing.

thank you!
I have one of these Spartans on the way

[JPriami]

I have one on order too. I hope I'm able to break 50mph with a few changes. Otherwise it will be a bit boring.

[Brushless55]

I sure hope the 50mph advertised, is not the tops of this thing
stock

[JPriami]

Nah I think modding you can always make something faster. But will it handle higher speeds? That's what we will find out :)

[Brushless55]

Nah I think modding you can always make something faster. But will it handle higher speeds? That's what we will find out :)

we will find out with one of my CC1520's!

[tim v]

any of you guys have a water issue ? no water coming through my buddy for cooling , he is going to put bigger hose on it...

[oscarel]

I would also let traxxas know.