Weekend full of spartan...and questions....

[t-maxxy]

Had bought spartan day before weekend vacation to lake Ontario went up and found walts hobby that had some three cell 6400mah traxxas packs..perfect!!!Then went to napa and got t connectors for cooling mod. All in all impressive had no thermal issues but was hot and i wasnt goin all out cuz weather conditions. I buoyed the boat about three times,lol. Always dried it out and oil the bearing, lubed shaft,ect. I have some rants and questions though...One being; how to water proof cockpit? If its water cooled why need air vents and no seal around the hatch. Anyone using waterproof tap on the edges? Second, Would running larger nitro hose before and after the t connections on the coolin system help, i noticed stock one are meduim...Any aftermarket hulls being made for traxxas system cuz my hull is cracked and its not even three days old!!!! On the starboard side back corner where hood meets boat top about half inch!! How did this happen?? possibly from hood coming off so easy and pulling it maybe...water gets up under and forces it off.... poor design imo. Anyone shoegoing the edges to prevent this??? And then....I spent over two hundred on these packs and one has a bad cell i think anyway, cuzz it wont reach the 4.2v like the others not even close, its like 4.0 So idk what that means but illl have to call traxxas. The hobby shop said to keep cycling it should raise up, but i went to store them and the charger took an hour at .01amp tryin to get that middle cell up, the other pack took ten minutes all three cells at 3.81 so idk...Also the lake i run in has lettuce or seaweed in it, does anyone sharpen there rudder to help cut that crap possibly? cuz it covered my inlet but luckly i noticeed right away.Good fun with a kayak handy no doubt, but i bought this thinking i wouldnt need upgrades, looks like ose will be getting some business soon....

[hog]

I use clear hockey tape on the hatch. (Canadian Tire or Walmart) The hatch is not easy to seal properly because of those vents, but the tape will help secure the hatch in case of a flip.

The charger I use has a recovery function, which is more or less an enhanced balance function, on occasion a cell will get out of sync and it can take a few hours to bring it back. It might be worthwhile to be patient and try a few balance charge cycles to see if your battery will recover.

I'm on my third hull. Plastic breaks, so does fiberglass, but fiberglass is "generally" easier to get a successful repair. To date there are no hull options that would utilize the Spartan component tray.

hog

[t-maxxy]

You use hockey tape between the hatch n hull or after the hatch is on you tape it? balance charge cycles?? i got charge discharge balance and storage modes. Are you saying to charge it discharge it then balance it, repeat.??

[t-maxxy]

another one; i read somewhere on another forum saying the castle spartan isnt waterproof only water resistant, only the velinion motor is...Is that true??

[hog]

Check your documentation to find out if the balance cycle is a charge/balance function, or just a balance function.

If a charge balance function, run it and allow enough time for the balance to complete at the end of the cycle, it could take up to a few hours to complete if cells are out of sync by a wide margin.

If it is a charge/balance cycle, I would suggest using this function everytime you charge your batteries. If the cells are close to balanced, it should only take another 10-20 min at the end of the charge cycle to perform the balance.

if it is a stand alone balance function, charge the batteries, then run the balance cycle.

I tape on the outside of the hatch. Some owners, myself included, will fill in the vent tabs on the inside of the hatch cover with fiberglass or silicone to help seal things up. The vent tabs are difficult to seal with tape.

I believe it is true the Castle components are water resistant, not water proof.

hog

[t-maxxy]

thanks for the sticky info hog, i read my traxxas charger manual and its a balance charge function and it recommends using it all the time for lipo batteries aswell. Opps,lol Hope my electronics are alrite cuz i buoyed a few. Any thing i can spray in there to help them out, like electronics cleaner or something??

[hog]

Put them in a zip lock bag with a cup or so of rice. The rice will help absorb water out of the components.

Hog

[t-maxxy]

nice thats a good one...hey ive been balance charging that one lipo now two times and its gone up .05volts two cells finish a 4.2 and one at 3.95. When im done running it there at 3.84 while the one is at 3.74. So its getting mildy better. Maybe i should just send it in under warranty. But i just ran across this thing called a team checkpoint balancer looks like it would solve my issue but does it work on traxxas pack type connections???

bump????

If not, im sending it back to factory tomarrow and the rudder to kr, this battery is on its fifth balance charge, so idk. I just really dont wanna wait for traxxas three week process cuz.... One week to get there, another to fix, another to ship back. Ill loose interest in this boat and will be goin back to my 5ive-t for awhile....