Weighting Tamiya M03 Mini for LiPo Cells
There are now several LiPo packs available that are shaped like a stick pack, so they will fit the Mini M-Chassis.
But! They are a LOT lighter than a pack of NiMhs. So much so, that most clubs that race minis now specify a minimum weight for all minis. It’s usually around 1350g.
This isn’t such a bad thing, as a LiPo mini without extra weight doesn’t handle very well anyway!
So, you need to add extra weight, usually in the order of around 200g. There are a few of ways of doing this.
1. Stick weights all over the place – ugly, but you can put them where you want to get the best handling. It’s up to you where you stick em.
2. Carefully put lead around the battery, and in front and rear bumpers – tidy, more concentrated weight where you want it. If you open up the chassis you’ll see a gap above the battery, you can put a strip of lead in there. It you take the bumpers off you’ll see they are hollow, you can fold some lead into those too. It’s very tempting to put lead in the large void at the back of the chassis, but that’s not really where you want to put it, the handling will be effected a lot.
3. Create lead packing strips to fit above and below LiPo – accurately imitates a NiMh pack, so handling isn’t changed whatever battery you use – and you can use either a NiMh or LiPo pack. Above the LiPo is usually a hollow, create a lead strip to fit into that hollow. Underneath the battery you can use a double thickness strip, it should hold in by friction. If you wrap the lead in tape it looks nicer, and can help you get the right thickness so the strip holds itself in. You can stick it to the LiPo if you wish, but then that LiPo can only be used in that car. The main advantage of this is the main extra weight is below the Lipo, and it actually ends up with a lower centre of gravity than with a NiMh.
The performance difference between NiMh and LiPo in an M03 is minimal, the voltage curve of a LiPo is a little better, so may be a bit stronger in the latter part of a race in comparison with NiMh.
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5 Responses to “Weighting Tamiya M03 Mini for LiPo Cells”
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Hi Smon.
We are going to use Lipo’s for 2011.
I want to know in the mini what difference does it make in the performance of the car. Is laptimes a lot quicker or is runtimes just longer. We use the sport tuned motor.
Thanks Season greetings
Jakob South Africa
Lipos are lighter, so lap times are quicker. But, handling is affected, so you’ll have to change setup to get the car to work well at that lighter weight.
We have a minimum wait of 1200g (TC rules) and if mine weighs 1400g would it make that big defference in performance then if the car wtih the lipo wheighs 1200g?
Lipo’s are 7.4v does that give a better performance?
Thanks
Lipos actually have less volts than Nimhs. A typical Nimh pack my get to over 9 volts when fully charged, but a LiPo pack maxes out at 8.4v.
The real difference between a light lipo car and a heavy nimh car is in the handling, they’ll handle differently.
From what I’ve seen though, a light lipo car *should* be able to go faster. But there’s absolutely nothing stopping an old school car to go out and win with a good pair of thumbs.
Cool, thanks