More telemetry

Well, I finally got that last part of the telemetry fitted - the rpm sensor. You can see that the sensor fits just fine inside the spur/pinion cover - and once I found the right place for it with double-sided sticky, it was held in place by a little screw. The wires route out via the cover that's used to adjust the slipper. Quite neat, and I'm altogether pretty pleased.



For completeness, here's a shot of the aluminium mount I made for the lap-timing trigger..



.. and the new receiver (which is a lot bigger and heavier than the more modern one that the telemetry system doesn't work with :(( ) and the telemetry box itself :



Wires, wires everywhere. I'll tidy them up a bit now I'm happy it's all working, but some of them really are only just long enough, so getting them tidier may be tricky.

Back up to a 15T pinion too today, and broke my lap record for the farming (now stands at 24.8 secs - should be able to get a sub 20 sec in good conditions and once I've l2drive). Mostly because the conditions were much better (less sticky).

The temp sensor is great, the voltage sensor is pretty useful and the rpm sensor is, well, fun. It measures spur speed, but of course, you only need to tweak the throttle whilst you're airborn and you get a crazy high max speed reading :/ It'd be useful if you have a pit guy to keep an eye on the telemetry real time, but apart from that, it's not the most useful bit of the kit. There were many reviews of the Spektrum telemetry stuff which slated it - but it is actually quite a good setup - you can get them on the internet for far less than the Novek Data sentry stuff, and the voltage and temp are really quite useful. The rpm sensor could be a pain to mount (I guess it depends a lot on the car) but on the e-firestorm it's really quite straightforward if you can drill a hole straight and are willing to spend 15 mins or so getting the stuff in exactly the right position.

RC Pedia

Good old Chris has set up http://rcpedia.wikidot.com/

Go there and make it happen! :)

Gah spektrum!

Got most of the telemetry plumbed in and...

couldn't get the handheld to bind properly so checked the internet. Telemetry is compatible with all Spektrum surface receivers... except the one I've got. Gah! Mine's a DSM2 - will only work with the DSM1 ones.

Off to ebay we go...

Telemetry

The telemetry kit arrived. I can see what the reviews on the internet meant when they say it's a PITA to fit...

Fitting to the e-firestorm will require :

1. A mount for the IR lap timing sensor. Current thinking is that this will be made from aluminium and be screwed down to the screws that hold the battery down. they are very long on mine, as I had to change them
2. A cutout (or at least a polish to make the lexan transparent) so the IR "eye" can "see" out.
3. A mount (again from alu) to get the rev. counter sensor close enough to the spur gear while still fitting under the spur/pinion cover. I've no idea yet how this can work...
   
4. Re-soldering the battery connector on in order to add the harness to the voltage sensor.

I'm not so bothered about 3. 'cos I genuinely think it's gonna be the hardest of them all. Info would be useful to have for gearing, though :/

I'll keep you posted with updates - gonna try and make some cardboard patterns this afternoon.

Fun on the track

No photos, I'm afraid, as my dear wife is starting to get bored with having to trek across the field to the Farmring and watch me spin round the track whilst she points the camera. Unreasonable, huh? :)

Anyway - a good session on the Farmring - some tweaking of the car has improved things no end. Swapped the rear springs for softer ones (now have 3.3lb springs on the front and 3.0lb springs on the rear - previously had 3.3 on the front and 3.6 on the rear). That has radically improved things down the front straight, as the car sticks to the track much better, and so you can keep the power on. this is how I discovered that the newly reshaped jump on the front straight is deadly at high-ish speeds :) I've calmed it down a bit now, but it still needs to be taken 'just right' or you tumble into the scenary.

Other main tweak I made is to use the Exponential setting on the DX3R to make the steering less twitchy around the midpoint, while keeping reactivity when you get to full lock. It has made me much more fluid round the track, and really helps me get the power down better without it fishtailing.

The telemetry kit should be arriving this week, including the timing stuff - so I should be able to post some lap times!

The firestorm is now filthy. Must get it cleaned.

Farmring Action!

Just a few photos to give you a taste.

Getting some air - even though the jumps need re-shaping after the 'gate', you can still get airborn if you've got enough... :)

You can also get it wrong :


Throttle control is important - some bits have more dust than grip. I'd changed down to a 13T pinion, and vmax is still pretty hard to hit

And to end with, here's one of the e-firestorm with a big grin on its face at the end of the session. The new Edit stickers have improved overall performance ;)

Farmring Walkthrough

Well, I know lots of you have been waiting for some snaps of the Farmring, so here's a walkthrough of the track. Bear in mind that the gate ruined most of the jumps and banking, and that hasn't been fixed yet. (If that sentence makes no sense, I suggest you read a few previous posts :) )

Let's get started on the front straight :

Nothing much to say, other than some difficulties will be added later (a rough zone, for example). There was a big mound that was to be a tabletop, but that got flattened. The soil is still there, but it need making back into a pile in the right place.

The straight leads into a left hander (the course is anti-clockwise, in fact, though for the moment it can be used either way since all the jumps are gone.

The turn is up a hill (the photos don't show it too well, but it's a decent gradient) and tightens progressively :

This then leads into what should have been a banked 'S', but again the gate got the better of it :



And then onto the back straight - same remarks apply as to the front straight, there was (and will be) some jumps on here :

This part then starts to swing left into what was (and will be...) a sort of banked hairpin. I must admit, I've been struggling to get this bit right. It may just remain a tight corner :)

After the hairpin comes Frankenstein's Corner - its a hard to describe crossover between a jump and a banked 'S' - the photo doesn't do it justice, and the gate calmed it down somewhat - it's a fun thing though, that it's quite hard to get right.

And after Frankenstein's - it's back onto the front straight :


Overall - the track has so far been quite a learning experience. I'm following a scraper blade for the tractor on eBay, because I think that's the best way of getting a good finish on it. The jumps and final finishing needs to be completed by hand. The track is not as wide as I would have liked it - but a) for the moment, there's only ever one car on it anyway :) and b) I was limited by the size of the heavy objects I used to drag round there. The scraper might change that :).

I'll try and convince my dear wife to take a few action shots (wish me luck!), and I think now that I'll gear down to 13 or 14T pinions, as the 16 that's cool for bashing is really too long for the track. Lots of fun to be had - shame that winter is now closing in...

Elvis fully approves of the track, btw :))