Got my VS1 Brushless conversion done and LOVE it!

Mike Luszcz · May 14, 2009

Well, as of last night, I am a new man. I have seen the future, and LOVE IT. This is my first attempt at anything brushless. I just got the boat done enough last night to take it for a spin and its so freakin cool. I have to say I love the sound of that motor better than my Nitro engines! Here is the setup. VS1 that was nitro, Turnigy 120a marine esc, UL-1 motor, Zippy Flightmax 5000 4s1p, x640 prop (didnt know where a good start was, so tryed it first!). Motor and controler and battery were all just warm to the touch after running the whole pack, so I guess that is good? The hull ran really flat, which I liked because it had not intentions of wanting to blow over. I will take it back out tonight and try it again. Suggestions always welcome as I am very new to this stuff! This is the future for sure!

D. Newland · May 14, 2009

Excellent work. The boat looks terrific and they run very well with the setup you've selected.

X442, X445, x642 may be options as well, but as you increase prop size you need to pay more attention to your runtime (shorten it) and heat. You want to get to a point where you know exactly how long to run the boat for (time each run) and how much MAH's you use from your batteries.

Try to keep battery drain to around 3500 to 3800 mah's. That gives you enough room in case you accidentally go over.

The X445 may not clear the cavitation plate, so check that first.

If you know your runtime (exactly) and how much MAH drain you had with your packs, you can easily calculate your average amp draw. That's also a good piece of info to know about your setup when you're prop tuning.

3600/runtime in seconds X amp draw (not mah, amps. 3000 mahs = 3.0 amps).

As an example, if you ran 3 minutes and used 3000 mah's, the calculation would look like this:

3600/180 seconds X 3.0 = 60 average amp draw.

properchopper · May 14, 2009

Nice job & cleanly done ! I have the same setup & have been running an X642 with sucess. It's an amazing handling tunnel. I was just about to GPS it , then I crunched it on a turn buoy, so my second VS-1 [ VS-2 ?] is almost done. I've arranged the internals to shift the CG back some to fly the hull more, that's all. Tunnels ROCK !

Mike Luszcz · May 14, 2009

Thanks for the info. I will have to order some props! Hmm, the mah draw on my batteries...I want to discuss that some more. I have those Zippy flightmax 5000's and I charge with a TP 610c charger. I charged the packs one time from whatever voltage was in there, to the top...Then yesterdays run was the first time actually using the batteries. One battery charged back with 53XXmah (cant remember the exact #) and the other one put back 46XXmah. Now, I had my low voltage on the speed control set to 3.4volts, and the chargers balancer read 3.8 per cell volts when I got back to the house..probably 30 minutes after running. So I know I didn't go to low on the voltage, but what does all that mah charging mean? Did I damage anything? The cells balanced and charged back up perfectly to 4.19X volts per cell. So what does it all mean!!! I will say this, the motor, battery and esc were only warm to the touch. I could easily hold either of them with no pain, so they could not have gotten that hot? Let me know if I messed up. Thanks, Mike

OH, and Propchopper, sorry to hear about your boat..That sucks. I saw that boat on your buildup on OSE..It was one of my inspirations! haha

raptor347 · May 14, 2009

Looks great, very clean.

One thing that will help keep the motor alive is to soak it with Corrosion X, fill it up and let it drain out. I usually do that before it ever hits the water. It keeps them fron rusting when they get dunked.

Also, then best prop I've found for the VS-1/UL-1 combo is a 42x55 back cut .090 at the hub and cupped to 3.3-3.5".

Mike Luszcz · May 14, 2009

Raptor, will you make a prop up like that for a fee? Let me know, Mike

Darin Jordan · May 14, 2009

Dude! That looks GREAT! Nice work!

Glad to see more of these! MORE, MORE, MORE!!

Hang on! and let the FUN begin!!

D. Newland · May 14, 2009

I'm sure your batteries are fine. The reason why I mentioned the info above is that switching from Nitro to FE, the biggest learning curve you are going to have is battery maintenance.

The LVC is a great feature, but ideally you want to know, with test time, exactly how long to run your tunnel and how much MAH that run used without ever needing the LVC to kick in.

With 5000 mah cells, you should set up your boat to run on approximately 75-80% of the total capacity (4000 mah's). And keep in mind that over time as cells start to fade, you lose capacity. So, a 5000 mah pack today may only be 4500 mah's in a year. Give or take, but you need to adjust your 75-80% margin as time goes by.

Use a stop watch, always start with topped off packs and pay attention to MAH's put back into the packs after a run. This, along with monitoring temps will get you a long way with that battery maintenance learning curve.

Store lipos in a discharged state in a cool place, too. 3.7v per cell is good. I think your charger has a discharge feature that allows you to set this (I think?).

Mike Luszcz · May 14, 2009

Oh, So you store them discharged? I will have to discharge the ones I am not using right now. I wonder why you have to do that? Thanks for the info on the batteries. They are pricy, even these cheap Zippys, so having them last would be nice! Thanks!

Darin Jordan · May 14, 2009

spoonefcrx said:
Oh, So you store them discharged? I will have to discharge the ones I am not using right now. I wonder why you have to do that? Thanks for the info on the batteries. They are pricy, even these cheap Zippys, so having them last would be nice! Thanks!

No... not "Discharged"... just not fully charged... I think the general suggestion is to store them at 50-70% of capacity...

I store mine at whatever level they are after a race... For 1-mile... Mine uses around 2400mah... I suspect if yours is running correctly, it'll be around the same.

Grimracer · May 14, 2009

I guess there must be a right and wrong way but so far we have not found that..

Here at work we store all our Lipos charged. (we have lots) we also track battery performance and what not and to date we still store our batteries charged and at room temp..

Also.. if you feel you must store your battery’s in cold temps be warned that you MUST let them warm up before using them.. if you do not you will loose between 5 and 8% capacity.. its gone in one shot and you can not get it back. Again not just pulling that out thin air.. we have tons of data on this..

Having said this.. it just might be that other storage means might work better for you.. Just bringing it to your attention if you want to ponder it.

Grim

D. Newland · May 14, 2009

I'll clarify a few things, I'm in Phoenix so cool means not in my garage! I store mine inside my house in LiPo Sacks on top of my gun safe. I do drain them to near empty for storage, but there will be different thoughts about this. I do this mainly for piece of mind since they are being stored inside...not to bring on the lipo panic, but if I lost my house because of this hobby, my wife...well, I can't even imagine what she would do.

YMMV.

Patrick M · May 14, 2009

Be sure to check all of the sponson seams each time you run the VS1......... mine has split a new (different) seam each time that it has been in the water. The situation is so bad that I think I will need to strip the wood from the sponson bottoms and re-bond them with epoxy. All the bond lines were checked for integrity when I first purchased the hull, but after a few runs they are beginning to work loose. I think they're using a chinese knock-off of Elmer's.........

Grimracer · May 14, 2009

Patrick...

Sorry about you boat coming apart.. let me look into it as my PM is at the factory this week..

I know you all love a good Chinese joke but dude,.... that’s getting old... this is after all international waters.. sorry to be so bold..

Grim

Kris Flynn · May 14, 2009

maybe a way to over come the seam problem is to drill a hole (maybe 1.4") in the non trip area between each former (you should be able to feel where they are) and sqeeze some CA or even epoxy in the hole, let the boat sit on such an angle which will get the glue onto the seam you are trying to strengthen. let epoxy dry, overnight maybe, then repeat for all other seams...

This hull is VERY cheap compared to when the first came out, especially considering it is already made! So this extra glue is well worth it and still well under the original price

Cheers

Kris

Patrick M · May 15, 2009

Grimracer said:
I know you all love a good Chinese joke but dude,.... that’s getting old... this is after all international waters.. sorry to be so bold..

No need to be sorry, Mike..... call 'em like you see 'em...... personally, I've had my fill of political correctness! LOL

Seriously though, what type of adhesive is used to assemble the VS1? The milky appearance suggests some sort of aliphatic resin...

Kris-

Not sure if there are any formers in the VS1 sponsons. The aft areas on mine are filled with EBP foam, though it does appear that there are large gaps between the wood and foam.

Grimracer · May 15, 2009

Patrick,

The adhesive is a water resistant aliphatic resin. The foam is just extra floatation. Epoxies for mass production are hard to control.

The very best I can do to make sure the boat is “safe” is to have the user check every seam, We ask then that if they have any that might be open to re-seal. Im sure you saw this in the manual as well.

Truth is even with epoxies (more so the faster cure stuff) if water enters the boat the seams can take a crap anyway. Besides.. I hate 12 min epoxy and CA for boat building.

So.. what’s the moral..

There is no way we can build with West Systems for mass production.. to bad realy.. just can not get build times were they need to be..

Water resistant aliphatic resin has a faster cure time (we have special fixtures and heat ovens that the parts are put into to cure the resin)

Follow the manual regarding seam checking

Call Hobby Service’s if you feel you have gotten a bum boat (number is in the manual)

ROCK ON RACERS

Grimracer

properchopper · May 26, 2009

Patrick M said:
Not sure if there are any formers in the VS1 sponsons. The aft areas on mine are filled with EBP foam, though it does appear that there are large gaps between the wood and foam.

This is what the inside of the front of the sponson(s) look like. [ Don't ask; had something to do with being contiguous in time and space with a rock-hard buoy

].

OTOH my new VS-1 { VS-2 ?} is rippin' right along, now using a P-220 prop which works real good speed & temp-wise.

TimBarth · May 27, 2009

This boat look to be a blast. What Kind of heardwear are you using to mount up the elc motor to a outbord.. i think i got me a project brewing in my mind... hehe

Kris Flynn · May 28, 2009

Hey Properchopper, thats fixable

My twin how ever LOL I will post a pic later of what it now looks like..........

Got my VS1 Brushless conversion done and LOVE it!

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