2minutes w/ Mach 5?

[fry]

Hello all,
I just recently purchased a Mach 5, which is a Spec. 1, and not understanding Japanese did what seemed to be right? Put 6 Duracell AA in the charger plugged the car in off mode to the charger and pressed the button. Waited the several minutes, when the light went off ran the car. At first I got about 1-2 minutes of run time and now I get about 2-3 after about 6 charge/run sessions. Reading the forums it sounds like you guys are getting about 7-8 minutes. Am I doing something wrong or do you guys think I got a bad car?
Also, is there a proper way of setting up the trim on the forward/reverse?
thanks for any advice,
Al

[kwikbb]

Hey fry, I recently got a spec 2 so I myself am kinda new to the epoch's aswell. I can tell you what I know so far is that what you've described in your post is what I've experienced too. Now the 7-8 min run times could be refering to the 4 Cell Mod (http://www.tinyrc.com/articles/epoch4cell/), I'm not positive because I have yet to do it myself. Another consideration is that it's a NiCd 3 cell battery pack stock you can also get a Nimh 3 cell. Which would improve performance too. If anyone else could shed some light on this please do. :)

Hope this helped, a bit anyway.

BTW welcome to the forums

[fry]

Thanks kwikbb! I'm not sure what or how many cells are in my Mach 5? If anyone knows please tell?

From my understanding nicads have .1v more per cell, under load, over NiMh which would translate to more power and speed but typically a similar size NiMh has over x2 the mah, which would give you over twice the duration.

As far as going from 3 cells to 4 cells, assuming they're ran in series you would increase the voltage only and not the mah, which would be more speed but at a sacrifice of higher mah consumption. So, technically you should get less run times if you were to run at full throttle all the time.

Anyways, I just want to make sure mine isn't defective. If 2-3 minutes is normal than that's fine with me it just sucks to get brand new defective merchandise.
Al

[gertman]

Your Mach 5 is nothing more than a Spec 1. ALL Epoch's (Spec 1's AND Spec 2's) have 3 NiCH cells.

As far as a 2 to 3 min run time............You should be getting atleast 5min or more!!!

Make sure your AA's are fresh
Try charging it twice. Afterwards feel the bottom of the chassis after the charge to see how worm it is.

If this does not work, :( I am sorry to inform you that probably one of your cells (in the car) is bad!!! :( :(

It's a Spec 1 so installing the 4cell pack would be tricky. Where did u buy it from? Try and send it back.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news:(

[kwikbb]

Update:

Ok so here's what happened to me on my first and second charge/run. The run time was approximately 2 min., after which time it still had a charge and would studder forward and reverse when I hit the throttle. Figuring that it had run out of juice I picked it up and instinctively hit the trigger to run it down some more, to my surprise it seemed to have alot of juice left in it. So I put it back down on my linoleum floor and tried to run it, again it just studdered. Confused by this time I consulted the trusty TinyRC boards and came across a thread that sounded like what I was experiencing "the wheel spinning on the hub", which turned out to be not the case at all I'm happy to say.
To make a long and story short, 6 runs later I'm now getting the time results that gertman has stated. So bottom-line is it's performance has risen after every charge/dis-charge :D. And the battery appears to be running down properly and no longer studders for 2-3 minutes.

gertman question for you, RE: "It's a Spec 1 so installing the 4cell pack would be tricky. Where did u buy it from? Try and send it back."

Is this because of the spec 1's board not having the resistance to handle more power?

Thanks for the imput.

[gertman]

Nothing like that, It's a matter of packaging. Take the body off your Spec 1 and compare it to the pics of my Spec 2 in the 4cell mod and you will see what I mean.

[kwikbb]

Originally posted by gertman
Nothing like that, It's a matter of packaging. Take the body off your Spec 1 and compare it to the pics of my Spec 2 in the 4cell mod and you will see what I mean.
Actually gertman I've got a Spec 2, it's really no big deal since I have no intention of getting a Spec 1. It was just out curiousity, thanks just the same though.

[JBit]

Yep my Spec 1 Mach 5 is stuttering after 2 min of driving too - but i didnt fully charge it. I guess i should condition it by fully charging it and discharging it a few times. I love how it's different than a Char-G, that you dont have to disconnect than reconnect to re-charge. just push the button again, great!

[Epochracer34]

the stuttering is normal when the batteries get low, the reason it runs when u pick it up is because theres no drag on the motor, is a saftey feature so you dont try to full throttle when the batteries are low losing control, u can still drive it awhile after the first stutter, just pull trigger back slowly, it will drive that way for a little while longer...

[JBit]

It's been fine for a few weeks now but now when i turn it on it instantly goe full throttle forward = i tried to adjust the throttle trim but it cant stop the forward motion, the most it can do is slow it down proportionally. if i push on the trigger towards reverse it stops, but if i push too far it goes reverse, and if i let go of the trigger it goes full on forward again. this is with a fresh recharge, and the steering is fine. i pulled the crystals in the gun and the car in and out and that didn't change anything. i'm at my wits end and im no mechanic, can someone help?