Jammin X2e
Jammin' X2 #1 Electric Platform - By Cory
Drachenberg
I have finished my prototype chassis for my Jammin X2e conversion. I too a
page out of the 1/10 4WD electric design book and applied it to 1/8 scale buggy
to achieve a very well balanced car. I like the Jammin' car because of it's
wide-body; this gives me lots of room for different battery
configurations.
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From the outside, my newly converted Jammin' X2 looks like any other
1/8 scale buggy that has been transformed into an electric car. I cut a
few holes in the front window the allow fresh air to flow past the ESC and have cut a few heat escape slots right beside
the ESC so the hot air can exit the body easily. The
differences between my car and most other electric conversions is visible
once the body is removed.
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Instead of having the motor in the normal position of the right rear,
I flipped my RC Monster Motor mount around and have placed the motor
at the front left. For you nitro buffs, my motor is where the fuel tank
would be. While a couple other 1/8 electric buggies do use this same
configuration (I was still first) my design employs a saddle pack battery
design. The Hot Bodies Ve8 does have a front engine, but for whatever
reason they have opted to put the battery on the same side instead of
splitting it into a saddle pack. This is a poor design choice in my
opinion. My car has a near perfect left/right bias of 50.34% / 49.76%. |
One of the major reasons that I opted for a saddle pack design is to open
up my battery options. As a store owner I have to say that lipo's are great, but
the reality is; they are volitile. Especially in high amp-draw applications such
as 1/8 scale buggy. It's not unreallistic to pull 105 amps out of a pack in even
medium bite conditions. This can be controlled by ESC "punch control". However,
you still need to be careful that your LiPo can handle the draw. The packs that
I have been using quite successfully over the last season were the a123 cells;
these have come to the mainstream users in the form of LiFe cells. The drawback
to these cells is that they are large. However, with a saddle design I can
easily fit two 4500mah 9.9v LiFe cells. Wired in Series, these provide 19.8v of
power. With a 2050KV motor this will produce 36,000 unloaded RPM. The 4500
milli-amps will also give me more than enough run-time.
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The beauty of this setup is that you can use LiPos if you so choose.
Infact, I will be experimenting with a twin 5 cell (2200mah)
configuration. Wired in parallel this will provide 4400mah (3520mah
usable) of capacity. This small pack will give me approximately 12 minutes
of run-time if I drive the car like I stole it! I drilled only 2 custom
holes in my chassis and used the 150mm Techno RC battery trays to complete my
modificaiton. Pictured is a Neu 1509 motor. This is my preferred motor as
it is very efficient. It's rated at 1820 KV and It can be used for my 5
cell LiPo configuration. I am always trying to find a lighter battery
setup that will give me ample run-time; so I am also going to be
experimenting with twin 3 cell packs wired in parallel. I suspect that
1820 KV will be a bit too much RPM for a 6 cell setup though. If you are
going this route, you may want to consider a motor arond 1400KV -
1600KV. We typlically recommend lower KV motors with higher battery
voltage as they are easier on the hardware (Motor runs cooler) and they
are a lot more efficient so you can generate the same run-time with a
lighter battery packs.
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Here are the parts I used in my configuration:
If you have any questions about electric 1/8 scale please feel free to
contact me directly via email to
Cory@HobbyRoom.ca
Regards;
Cory
