Have you received or given an RC-car? We recommend you read through these tips to make the most out of it.
We recommend you get to know your batteries and charger. If you have a NiMh-battery, the charging time will usually be anywhere from 3-5 hours while a LiPo can usually be charged within an hour using a smart charger. If you're gifting an RC-car to someone it might be a good idea to charge the battery beforehand.
If you chose to go with a LiPo-package REMEMBER TO CHARGE IT SAFELY. A LiPo-battery requires a LiPo-charging program from the charger and both the power cable and balancer to be connected to the charger. Charging a LiPo-battery with a NiMh charging program will usually result in a fire. Remember to always use a LiPo-bag while charging. It'll give you some extra time to ge tthe battery out of your house in case of a fire. When used correctly LiPo-batteries are very safe which is why very similar lithium-based batteries are often used in everyday items such as phones and laptops, but they must be used correctly. NEVER CHARGE THE BATTERIES UNSUPERVISED. Another important thing to note is that the car should also be in LiPo-mode when using such batteries. This will enable the car's low voltage cutoff which is a warning system designed to notify the driver about the battery's voltage being at a point low enough for it to be unsafe for the battery to continue driving. If you don't run the car for a while the battery should be stored at about half full which is the ideal storing voltage at just over the nominal voltage. If the battery is visibly damaged or really puffed out it's not recommended to use the battery to avoid further damage to the battery that can then damage the vehicle.
Make sure to check more accurate charging directions from the charger's page and instruction manual:
It is highly recommended to limit the power output of your RC vehicle when first starting out. RC-cars are very powerful and a driver starting out paired with a very powerful car will result in crashes. many transmitters come with the ability to limit the throttle but if yours doesn't, you can always tape something down behind the throttle trigger to keep it from being pulled all the way. As the driver becomes increasingly comfortable with the car you can the nstart to raise the amount of power available at full throttle to keep things exciting. A video on limiting the power of your ARRMA 4x4 series of cars can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzje6CmK96k
Generally you can run your RC-cars all year round. It's still important to make sure that the electornics of your RC-car are waterproof and make sure to look after the car properly after running in the wet. You'll find more info regarding that from the car info pages.
The wheels and tires of your RC-car go through a lot of abuse because they have to deal with great forces. That's why the tires are glued onto the wheels and should be checked from time to time.
-The gluings should be checked after each run, especailly when they're new. If you notice a tire is coming off, clean the part and glue it back on. We recommend a tire glue that's very sticky, but in the case of an emergency any CA-based superglue should do well enough for a quick fix.
-If you want to further increase the life of your tire that gets ran outside it's recommended to block out the holes in the wheels and punch 2 holes on the opposite sides of each tire. This will allow for the dust and moisture that gets collected up in the tire to fly out of the tire as the yspin at a high speed. At the end of running your car just flip it on it's roof and apply some throttle to clean the tires out.
-Make sure your wheels don't spin too fast. The differentials of the cars may allow one of the tires to spin a lot faster than it ever should if it leaves the ground while the other tires are still on the ground. If you encounter this decrease the throttle to avoid ripping the tire.
-Wheel nuts may loosen up over time so you should definitely check up on them regularly. A wheel nut coming loose can end up damaging the wheel and the hex adapter of the car as well so they're not to be messed with.
Car specific info pages
We've got specific info pages for most of our most popular cars, you'll find them down below:
You'll find loads of accessories, gadgets and option parts for your RC-cars. On our car specific info pages you'll find more information on recommended option parts for your specific vehicle. Generally good accessories are extra batteries, shroud covers, ValueRC tools and the RC glove that'll keep your hands warm while driving in the winter while still keeping good feel on your transmitter. You'll find the batteries, shroud covers and other car specific option parts on the car specific info pages, down below you'll find the glove and some tool sets:
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