RC Truck Lighting suggestions

[Beer]

So I am planning on getting a Traxxas Emaxx RC truck very soon.

What I want to do is put 2 10mm white leds into the body for headlights, 2 red 10mm leds for taillights and put 4 10mm leds in a lightbar I'm going to build fo it.

I want to use a 3AAA to C adapter inside a painted peice of pvc mounted in the "bed" for power.

My question is:
1. Is this enough juice fo all the LED's
2. Would I be better off using 1 cr123a
4. Is this too much power? Eg. will I need resistors>

Thanks!

 

[Changchung]

Hi, you can try something like that for under car lights, see the pic below

For some lights at the front and back you can use the same configuration for the Leds but in separety way, I mean, put the two Leds were you want and connect those in serie for use a 9volts battery you need a 90ohm resistor, is you want to use a 3AAA in serie to have 4.5volts you need a 50ohm resistor to each Led, you can put the resistor in any leg of the Led...

Good luck...

 

[Beer]

Thanks now that you mention it a 9V batt would probibly be waaaaay easier to work with (plus I can most likley hide it under the body.)



BTW I was looking at the 10mm leds at LCK led (I just clicked on the banner ad on this site)

Any other good places to get leds / resistors?

 

[Changchung]

Is easier for you find the resistors in any Radioshack in your area, I buy resistors and Leds from china, but I buy larger amounts, for the 4x Leds from LCK you need a bigger resistor, for three Leds in serie you will need a 24ohm or equivalent 1 watt resistor for the 150ma Leds, if the Leds are 80ma you will need a 45ohm or equivalent 1watt recomended... Is better connect the Leds in serie for less resistors to use and the current is less too...

Let me know if you need more help...

 

[bombelman]

My suggestion, get a 18650 (from member AW).
IIRC it has about 2200mA of juice at 3.7v.
With a small resistor that would give you SCREAMING
lights for a long time........ ! I have 1 here in my hand and it
does not differ THAT much from a C-cell or 9v (in size).
Overall diameter is 18mm which is about as wide as the 9v cell...

Use some cool under-car leds too !!
Best of luck and hope to see pics ! Cheers !
(btw, I used to buy my leds from SuperBrightLeds.com)

 

[Beer]

18650 would be alot of light but....

I just saw the video of what happens when you puncture one.

This truck will be run very rough, and it is built to take it. But having a 18650 on board is like carrying a small bomb. Roll it over onto a sharp rock and

 

[Mark_Paulus]

So I am planning on getting a Traxxas Emaxx RC truck very soon.

What I want to do is put 2 10mm white leds into the body for headlights, 2 red 10mm leds for taillights and put 4 10mm leds in a lightbar I'm going to build fo it.

I want to use a 3AAA to C adapter inside a painted peice of pvc mounted in the "bed" for power.

My question is:
1. Is this enough juice fo all the LED's
2. Would I be better off using 1 cr123a
4. Is this too much power? Eg. will I need resistors>

Thanks!

I think I'll watch this thread with some interest. I was thinking about doing something similar with my 2 Team Losi XX 1/10 RC Buggies. My thoughts:

1) Will the 2 10mm leds give enough light to be useful at speed? I was thinking about using a Luxeon Lux1/O that I have laying around.
2) I was also thinking of leaching power from the Power Pack itself, and using a 12V driver board from Georges80.

I hadn't thought about a separate power supply. I'll be interested in knowing how much throw you will get from your led setup. I'm just worried that there won't be enough "throw" to light up what you need at full speeds, especially if you are any distance from the vehicle while it's running in the dark.

 

[unnerv]

You need very little light from the actual truck. Since it is operating usually quite some distance from you, generally you are not using the light to actually see infront of the truck but more to get the orientation of the truck. Ie if you see the white lights it is coming towards you, if you see red it is going away and if you only see one of each it is cutting across your path heading in the direction of the white lights

Btw I have a T-Maxx, E-Maxx and Revo. I prefer the Gas trucks just because you can run them all day, just keep adding gas every 10 min or so, plus they sound cool. The E-Maxx is also cool, but be prepared to have a bunch of batteries. I used to use matched 2000mah batts when I used to run mine a bunch and they would last about 7-10 min per pair of packs. Capacities are much higher now but you will still want to have 4 to 6 packs more than likely. The E-Maxx's have much better low end torque than the T's do but top out fairly quickly. The manual two speed tranny is a big plus though for the E-maxx. I have seen a couple of E-maxxes with brushless conversions and those thing haul big time.

Too bad you aren't closer to the San Francisco Bay Area, I would let you take the two of them out so you could compare. One of these days I have clean out my RC inventory. I think I am up around 10 cars/trucks now.

 

[Beer]

The E-Maxx is also cool, but be prepared to have a bunch of batteries. I used to use matched 2000mah batts when I used to run mine a bunch and they would last about 7-10 min per pair of packs. Capacities are much higher now but you will still want to have 4 to 6 packs more than likely. /quote]


LOL... Thats why I'm gonna have Mike at cheapbatterypacks.com build me packs out of the elite 4500 cells. Exspensive but good good cells. I have a stick of six for my ROP 4D I get a bout 3-4 hours of light out of it.

As for Nitro, I'm goona take it slow. The last time I was into RC I had a Tamiya "Lunch Box". I kept breaking it, and my uncle kept fixing it. Finally I broke somany things on it (ended up with a stadium truck frame, moster truck wheels, jerry rigged shock towers, and a midnight pumpkin body) That he just stopped fixing it. That was probibly 15 years ago.

I'll work my way up to nitro after I prove to myself that I wont break my electric one.

 

[unnerv]

I'll work my way up to nitro after I prove to myself that I wont break my electric one.

Don't worry about breaking them, all the parts are replaceable. There is definately a learning curve to driving the monster trucks, but if you are not breaking stuff your not jumping over big enough ramps :nana:.

All joking aside, you will break stuff, esp during the 1st month or so. When you order your emaxx, order at least one extra set of control arms, and one extra set of turn buckles as these are the 1st things that you will tear off. An extra set of bulkheads are probably a good idea too. With wheels that stick out that far, they tend to catch on poles, curbs, table legs, or anything else that sticks out of the ground. aluminum skid plates stiffen up the bulkheads and really help protect them. Once you find the limitations of the truck you will start breaking stuff a lot less, but the 1st month or so is usually pretty bad.

If you go out to my website http://www.unnerv.com/rc/ and right click to download rcsunday.wmv and tmaxxbig.wmv you can see how much abuse they can take. My highest jump was about 12 ft, my longest in the video was 43ft.

 

[Mark_Paulus]

All joking aside, you will break stuff, esp during the 1st month or so.

I'm finding that out, but it's my kids that are being kind of rough. I found my 1st car almost RTR at a garage sale for $5, so I thought, "what the heck". The problem I'm finding is that I didn't realize that the car is older than my kids, I'm thinking early 1990's vintage, and parts are getting harder to come by. Some just aren't available, and most others are mail-order, because my LHS is only carrying the later model Losi stuff. Some stuff is still compatible, but not others. Oh well, the boys are still enjoying them, and if they really get interested, then maybe I'll think about ponying up some $$ to get something from this century...

I was thinking about actual night driving, which is why I was thinking about some more serious lighting. Having played with bike lights, and creating my own, I fully understand the issues of "outrunning" your light, which is why I mentioned using a LUX I or maybe even a LUX III (both of which I have laying around).

 

[BrokenR1]

I found a fun thing to do is take them to skate parks, I was taking it off of a quarter, 10 feet up across a 3 or so table, and landing on the opposite quarter. At least until I didn't clear the table. Cost less than $20 to repair. Found an old site with it I had. http://hometown.aol.com/zoominr1/index.html I destroyed that body and have a HMMWV body on it now. I have 4 blue led's wired to a 9 volt battery, 2 for each headlight. I've seen pics of guys that wired the taillights with switches connected to the servos so that when they brake the lights actually get brighter.

Only problem I had with it was runaways. Stupid thing would just take off screaming and the foot chase would begin. Half the time it would end up screaming away upside down until I run up and plug the exhaust killing it, the other half it would up in places like jammed under the rear of a car, or in a cow field. They make things for that though I never bought one. I have the original T-MAXX which I ported the motor out. Haven't used that thing in a while, need to pull it out.

http://www.towerhobbies.com/ became my friend while in Europe.

 

[BrokenR1]

I should also say I used 5 mm blue led's and made holes then hot glued them in and the wires along the body. This held for a while the the glue has since seperated from the body. It might just be the paint I used, since the bodies are painted on the inside.

 

[Gryloc]

I would check out a place called LSDiodes for your 3mm, 5mm, and "pirhana"-style LEDs. I used to order from them so much back when 5mm LEDs were awesome. The main reason that I order from them is that they offer great quality LEDs for some decent prices. Shipping is only $2 to anywhere for nearly any size order. Plus, they give out freebies (more LEDs) for different amounts of LEDs that you purchase.

I loved this place so much, that I really feel ashamed for not recommending it on the CPF more often. Try them out. The LEDs have pretty decent brightness, and they have a decent beam with few artifacts. LSDiodes are best for smaller, one time orders, as the prices are not as good as ebay bulk specials for higher quantities. I usually ordered $15 worth of LEDs at a time and get 20 or more LEDs of various colors and sizes. All of the small acrylic LEDs that I own that are still floating around are from LSDiodes (aside from some white 5mm LEDs from junky Chinese lights).

Well, good luck with your forward and rear lighting. I wish I had a nitro powered truck of my own . I have strapped some LuxIII lights to a friend's nitro truck a few years back. That was cool. I have used the smaller 5mm LEDs to light some smaller electric R/C trucks, and it makes the truck appear to be much more realistic! It makes it more fun to drive them, too! This is also cool to do to small R/C airplanes.

-Tony

 

[Beer]

Only problem I had with it was runaways. Stupid thing would just take off screaming and the foot chase would begin. Half the time it would end up screaming away upside down until I run up and plug the exhaust killing it, the other half it would up in places like jammed under the rear of a car, or in a cow field. They make things for that though I never bought one.

What is that called? Thats the exact reason mine kept breaking, I'd lose radio contact with the speed controller wide open and the damn thing would take off and wedge it's self under a parked car (I lived on a cul-de-sac)

I'd like to get somthing to prevent that.

 

[Cuso]

What is that called? Thats the exact reason mine kept breaking, I'd lose radio contact with the speed controller wide open and the damn thing would take off and wedge it's self under a parked car (I lived on a cul-de-sac)

I'd like to get somthing to prevent that.

Ohh if thats the main problem dont worry, Rc technology has advanced so much that radios today have absurd range. And there's a little gadget called a failsafe which applies the brakes if you loose reception.

 

[BrokenR1]

What is that called? Thats the exact reason mine kept breaking, I'd lose radio contact with the speed controller wide open and the damn thing would take off and wedge it's self under a parked car (I lived on a cul-de-sac)

I'd like to get somthing to prevent that.

Searching Failsafes on TowerHobbies I get http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0095P?FVSEARCH=failsafe&search=Go

You can also put a throttle return spring on there. I think ideally it'd be both. http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0095p?FVPROFIL=++&FVSEARCH=return+spring&search=Go

 

[Changchung]

About the Leds... 8 x 5mm wide angle under car, 2 white 5mm front and 2 red back...

 

[Whitelitee]

Brushless motors is where its at, forget the emaxx get one of the new Traxxas VXL Brushless Stampedes or Rustler. I have an older xl5 rustler, with a Mamba 5700kv brushless motor, and on a 7 cell battery 8.4 volts that thing rips, I can do wheelies for over 200 feet, and it will go around 50+mph, and I get about 20min runtime with a 4200mah nimh battery. Alot of fun, I also cut out a section of the windshield on my body and I mounted a p1dce to the inside of the roof with velcro, works great ill get pics later.

Edit: I also have the Nitro T-maxx and the my Rustler seems alot more durable then the tmaxx, the tmaxx and emaxx are too heavy and break easy.