Traxxas Spartan

[oscarel]

So I have a friend that just purchased a Spartan and he's too busy to run it and he's given it to me to break in for him I should have eagle tree data tomorrow, I've got 2 Turnigy 5000 3S on the charger now! I was able to see the Traxxas guys testing this thing and now I'll get to try for myself before I buy!! Thanks Butch for letting me be the first with your baby!

[CaptPJB]

Looking forward to some real data not the hype that has been pushed for months.

[Brushless55]

watch temps, I hear some have returned them due to temp issues on the motor

[martin]

They have just got the Spartan in the shops in the UK now & i asked how much a spare motor was, £160 GB pounds. So i expect this to be around $160 for you guys. For us in the UK the £160 is around $250, ouch.

[oscarel]

Here's some amperage data, my GPS unit didn't seem to capture anything. I ran it for a couple of mins and brought it in and then put my cell phone in to capture speed. I was able to get 46.3 which isn't bad for run down lips's. I have not touched the stinger or tabs, everything is the way it was when the box was opened. Eagle tree data first run was with batteries about 3/4 of the way back, second was with batteries all the way back. Phone GPS reading was also with batteries all the way back.

Oscar

[Doby]

Gee,,46.3 with run down LiPos is awfully close to the 50 Mph advertised speed..........finally someone with some facts!

[befu]

Real data, YEah!!!

So, only high 40's huh? Guess the boat stinks then.... LOL

Good to see some data. I was wondering what the amperage was going to be. Looks like spikes up around 100 and settles down closer to 80 as it gets up to speed. Motor and ESC must be decent quality for that. I think this is comparable in size to a 540xl Feigo, correct? Those are rated for around 70amps max I thought, but I have never actualy run one, so I do not know what people put them through when they run them hard.

Either way, you know the ESC handles 120 amp surges! Get more data and thank you for posting.

brian

[oscarel]

NP, I did get to talk to the Traxxas guy again today and he said he saw amps between 80 and 130 in the 100hrs of testing he did. I had a PM asking about heat, with 6S running with the batteries all the way forward the motor did get a little on the warm side. But today airing it out a little more it was way cooler. The motor does have a temp sensor on it so I would expect it would shut down or cut back if it got too hot.

Also one other thing, make sure you check your rudder direction before running. When I first turned it on yesterday it was reversed and it was very easy to correct. Today between runs it reverted back to reversed, so watch it!

[martin]

How did you reverse rudder direction through the tx. Thanks.

[oscarel]

press menu for 3 sec you should bet 1 blinking green,
press menu you should get 2 blinking green
press set should get 1 blinking green
press set again should get 1 blinking red
press set again and the steering servo should reverse

[oscarel]

Programming is on page 26 of manual.

[Brushless55]

Here's some amperage data, my GPS unit didn't seem to capture anything. I ran it for a couple of mins and brought it in and then put my cell phone in to capture speed. I was able to get 46.3 which isn't bad for run down lips's. I have not touched the stinger or tabs, everything is the way it was when the box was opened. Eagle tree data first run was with batteries about 3/4 of the way back, second was with batteries all the way back. Phone GPS reading was also with batteries all the way back.

Oscar

Right on man!
I just placed an order for one of these at tower to do some testing on 4s, 5s, and 6s
I don't have an Eagle Tree, but I was going to do gps runs and see what happens on the stock prop and then try some others I have lying around
and gues what the CC1520 is going into after my gps runs

[jac4412]

Huh interesting... so it appears they came out with a great setup! Any info or comments on the handling and such? Thats funny... now that I think of it I'm wondering why no one brought up the heat concern before the release.... Going from a few nimh packs to racing 6s lipos is a huge jump... I wonder how these things will work in the summer. But thats cool... maybe I'll have to pick one up since theyre is such positive reviews!

[Brushless55]

I've read over at Traxxas that someone is seeing 185-205* temps on the motor

[jac4412]

Well that's a little too high for my taste... like about 50 degrees too high.....

[Diesel6401]

I've read over at Traxxas that someone is seeing 185-205* temps on the motor

WHAT!!!!!!!

*That's Crazy*

[oscarel]

Huh interesting... so it appears they came out with a great setup! Any info or comments on the handling and such? Thats funny... now that I think of it I'm wondering why no one brought up the heat concern before the release.... Going from a few nimh packs to racing 6s lipos is a huge jump... I wonder how these things will work in the summer. But thats cool... maybe I'll have to pick one up since theyre is such positive reviews!

It handles great from what I did. Again it's not my boat and I'm trying to be as gentle as I can with it. It was a little windy today, 10+mph winds, and with the batteries all the way back it get's a little squirly but all in all a great handling boat. My only complaint is that the lid feels really flimsy and I wonder how long they're going to stand up to abuse. Also not a drop of water in the hull.

So now back to the heat thing. I ran it yesterday for about 6mins with the batteries all the way forward so it was running very wet and that was the only way it heated up the motor. I would imagine which I'll test tomorrow that it was pulling around 130 amps easily running wet.

[Brushless55]

It handles great from what I did. Again it's not my boat and I'm trying to be as gentle as I can with it. It was a little windy today, 10+mph winds, and with the batteries all the way back it get's a little squirly but all in all a great handling boat. My only complaint is that the lid feels really flimsy and I wonder how long they're going to stand up to abuse. Also not a drop of water in the hull.

So now back to the heat thing. I ran it yesterday for about 6mins with the batteries all the way forward so it was running very wet and that was the only way it heated up the motor. I would imagine which I'll test tomorrow that it was pulling around 130 amps easily running wet.

what do you think your average amps is?
because pulling 130amps running 6mins seams like a long run..

[oscarel]

Right on man!
I just placed an order for one of these at tower to do some testing on 4s, 5s, and 6s
I don't have an Eagle Tree, but I was going to do gps runs and see what happens on the stock prop and then try some others I have lying around
and gues what the CC1520 is going into after my gps runs

That will be interesting. The 1520 will need more prop than what comes on this boat and I wonder what that's gonna do to handling. I also wonder what this motor would do with a different prop.

[oscarel]

what do you think your average amps is?
because pulling 130amps running 6mins seams like a long run..

So if I take the 2 runs from the eagle tree data today the first shows average 43.37 and the second 49.62 with each run being about 130secs. The third run my GPS shows 3:06mins 0.46 miles so I would say about 2mins for this run. I'll put the batteries on the charger and see how much is put back into them. Batteries are 2 Turnigy 5000 3S in series.

[oscarel]

I put about 4700 ma back into the packs which included balancing. I'm headed back to the lake with 4S and 6S and I've got temp sensors on the front and back of the motor and RPM sensor hooked up. Hopefully the GPS will record this time.

[Brushless55]

I put about 4700 ma back into the packs which included balancing. I'm headed back to the lake with 4S and 6S and I've got temp sensors on the front and back of the motor and RPM sensor hooked up. Hopefully the GPS will record this time.

ok..
that's pushing those packs taking them down to only 6% left in the packs

[Brushless55]

so if we total your runs = 446 sec into the 4700mah, your average amp draw is 37.94amps
so if we take our packs to 20% left we would see run times of 6.33min or 380sec..

[oscarel]

ok..
that's pushing those packs taking them down to only 6% left in the packs

But that's putting 4700 ma back into 2 5000ma packs correct??? On the charger cells are showing about 3.8v per.

[Make-a-Wake]

Looks to me that with amp draw around 80, and spikes up to 120, along with the high heat mentioned(although not verified yet by osarel) that the prop size is somewhat maxxed out. Maybe a berylium prop of similar size would help it run a tad cooler and get a few more mph out of it.

[oscarel]

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.

[oscarel]

Max temp after running was around 130 and it was still climbing after running as you can see. So I'm sure the 150 is possible with extended running. But as you can see while it's running the cool water will bring the temps down. ONE OF THE TEMPS SENSORS CAME LOOSE WHICH EXPLAINS THE BLUE LINE GOING LOW AND STAYING THERE ON THE 6S RUN.

[oscarel]

RPM data

[oscarel]

But that's putting 4700 ma back into 2 5000ma packs correct??? On the charger cells are showing about 3.8v per.

I stand corrected, I just put 4175 back into one 3s.

[Brushless55]

I stand corrected, I just put 4175 back into one 3s.

That makes me feel better, that's about 16% left in your packs...
Did the LVC kick in durring the run?