Traxxas Upgrade

[CeilidhKeith]

Hi guys i am new to FE only a couple of months. About six weeks ago i bought a Traxxas Spartan went great getting to know it three sailings each outing i was doing three or four times a week until...................I BLEW IT UP. All i did was connect a fresh set of 3s and she went Bang,Flash and blew out the Positive lead from the Esc. It has been away two weeks now waiting for a replacement Esc from Castle. I am wondering could it happen again as i do not enjoy being off the Lake for long. I am from the UK and have not got a Model shop handy that i can visit for parts. In case it do's happen again i would like another motor & Esc to put in and carry on sailing. I do not race so my speed is not crittical but i do like to go fast 40 to 50 mph. So i am looking for a reliable set up that will not let me down by exploding on me. Reading these posts is confusing as there are so many different setups being used. So come on you guys with experience what is the best reliable setup for the Spartan. All help will be appreciated.
OSE do one i see is this the sort of setup i should be getting. There is no rush at the moment as i am still under warrenty for a while yet.

[dag-nabit]

The most common ESC upgrade is the the Turnigy or Seaking 180 amp marine ESC. They are the same ESC branded differently.

At 180 amp continuous rating these ESC's are beefier than the stock ESC which is rated at 80 amps continuous, they are moderately priced, and require only minor modification to fit onto the Spartan component tray.

You can go with other higher amp rated ESC's if you choose to, but dollar for dollar the T180 ESC is an excellent choice if you stay within the 1600-1800kv range on your motor and stay smart with prop sizing. Based on your comment of targeting 40-50 mph, this should be a good ESC choice for your Spartan.

I have both my Spartans set up with T180 ESC's and have experimented with several different motor and prop combinations. I have found a few good combinations that give speeds in the high 40's to low 50's and have been running reliably.

There are several good threads here on OSE by some of the Spartan "pioneers" who invested considerable effort into trying to fix the many problems that cursed the original Spartan. Use the search function to find threads by GEOVW72, JPRIAMI, Dag-nabit, and others.

Here are a couple to start you off, I will be updating my thread for the 2012 season once the ice melts off the lake.

Kevin

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...lly+got+to+run
https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...lly+got+to+run
https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...Spartan-Season
https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ng+turnigy+180 (photo links got messed up in this post, all photos added in again at end of post)