suicideneil

The crummy diffs are the biggest issue on the larger traxxas trucks, that, and the poor chassis design of the emaxx, and the 'tiny' battery compartments on the erevo.

It's an under voltage issue with your lipo- the total voltage is lower than what the charger is expectign to see for 2 cells, so it only thinks one is connected as such. Soem chargers are more sensitive than others/have a lower voltage threshold, so sometimes a cell below say, 3.2v won't register correctly- I get the same issue with my old A123 packs ( they discharge much lower than lipos can ). Just start charging them anyway, then after 15 minutes or stop the charge, then restart it & the charger shoudl detect the correct number of cells, just as you've found out

The piece of paper trick works quite well- place a sheet of paper between the spur & pinion, then mesh them together, tighten the screws, and pull out the paper. This should leave a nice small gap & a perfect mesh. Personally, I use The Force; just eyeball & go by feel- there should be a tiny bit of play between the gears, not totally solid as such, so that you can rock the spur back and forth ever so slightly. Make sure you check the mesh by rotating the spur completely so that there are no tight spots at any point.

Yay, another terrible gimmick from a terrible company- wonder how much ( over priced and over rated ) those packs are...

You won't damage the batteries, but the esc won't like you much- they are more efficient at full throttle, partial throttle warms them up nice & quick... I wouldn't recommend jumping into 3s lipos straight away though, not ideal for anything other than massive open spaces and drag racing pretty much- you'd be much better off with a couple 2s lipos and get used to the power first.

Chargers can't detect the capacity of the battery, so you have to set that manually for the safety cut off. That said, most people turn it off or just raise it really high since it becomes a pain having to change it constantly...

Those numbers are fine- +/- 0.02v is perfectly acceptable. What charger are you using- you did plug in the balance leads and select balance charge/charge ( not fast charge ) I take it? Hobbyking wont do anything now you've charged the packs- at best they'll ask you to send them back ( to China.. ) at your own expense, which is often more than they are worth anyway, and they will give a store credit, rather than a refund. As everyone has said, use & charge them a few times, they'll probably even out after a few more uses- it takes a few cycles before lipos are fully broken in...

Click the Tutorials link in my sig- all the info and explanations and battery charging and care you will ever need I doubt the charger will include EC5 leads- usally you just get a tamiya and deans plug, if you're lucky- read the description to be certain. The Modelsport item will be what you want though yeah.

Have you calibrated the esc to the radio ( to set throttle end points & neutral )? Have you looked on the hobbywing website for a manual or explanation of the leds?

Red or green loctite will be the solution- green is the best for sticking the shaft back into the magnet. It's not a common issue, but I have seen several cases over the years- usually fixable luckily unless the magnet has split or shattered.

What PSU is it- what does it say the voltage output is ( or wattage rating )? Depending on what charge current you use ( 5amps for a 1 hour charge, 10amps for 30 minutes ish ) and the voltage of the packs ( 2s or 3s? ), you may need a more powerful PSU for faster charges but I doubt it really. Use the storage setting if you do only run the truck once a week- it'll charge the packs to ~3.8v per cell after your run and they are depleted, then just do a normal charge just before you plan to use them again. The charger will balance the lipos as they charge- just connect both sets of leads to the charger ( main leads and smaller balance leads ) and select either Charge or Balance charge in the settings. Don't use fast charge, that skips balancing. For more yummy lipo info, hit up my sig- the Tutorials page has all you could ever want to know...

Shazzam: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hobbywing-EZRUN-150A-Pro-SC8-SC10-RC-car-ESC-spare-on-off-switch-wire-lead-HW622-/261414601295?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3cdd86424f or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hobbywing-EZRUN-18A-RC-car-ESC-spare-on-off-switch-wire-lead-HW609-/261414601114?pt=UK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN&hash=item3cdd86419a Cut off old one, solder on new one & insulate solder joints.

Bad news; those are the internals for the old 3906 emaxx tranny- your chassis will only accept the newer style tranny ( 3903/05/08 & erevo/summit style ). Also, the old 3906 tranny was junk and falls to bits under BL power anyway, gears strip just by looking at them etc etc....

Tell me I'm not the only person who saw this and giggled...

Not any type of balance connector, seems to be a proprietary connector for use in their transmitters I'm guessing ( though 4000mah seems rather large for a tx lipo- what is it actually for? )? Either you plug a charger into the side of the transmitter to charge the battery, or they might sell a specific charger/adaptor for it. Failing that, you'd have to make something using some header pins / pin headers ( ebay search ) and solder on some leads to a male JST-XH balance connector to create your own adaptor...

Laptop style power bricks ( 5-10amps & 12v output ) will cost about a tenner regardless, better off spending a few extra quid and getting something better that you can still use if/when you upgrade to a more powerful charger in the future- the one in the link is nice for the price and has a worthwhile warranty...

Running it sensored or sensorless ( assuming esc is sensored )? Try the opposite if possible. Might try turning down the timing in the esc settings too if possible.

Tell me more....

Blow me

Oh I see now, it was just really badly worded...

You are incorrect about the turns rating- lower turns means more current draw, having two 35t motors means you have the equivalent of one 17t motor, not one 70t motor ( since a 70t motor would pull half the current of the 35t motor ). Fewer turns = more current, more motors = more current & fewer turns ( equivalent, when in parallel ). The OP would need an esc rated for 17 turns of less to handle the current of two 35t motors in parallel.

What Griffkill said pretty much. Lowering the throttle EPA ( after calibrating the esc to the radio ) will reduce max rpms- couldn't say it'll feel exactly like going from 3s to 2s but more or less the same effect. It isn't ideal though- BL motors are most efficient at partial throttle, but the BL escs are most efficient at full throttle- you'd just have to check temps and play with gearing if required. If you're on a tight budget ( find another hobby now before it's too late! ) I'd still favour buying a 2s and 3s lipo- plenty of cheap brands around that aren't total rubbish- look into hobbyking or one of the options on my Useful links page ( in my sig, near the bottom ).

E-savage was never a good truck, far too many weak points in the driveline ( diffs and such ). I would recommend a 2nd hand Eaxx, one of the newer models ( 3905 or 3908 )- don;t go near the old 3906 as that too had far too many weak points to be worth bothering with.

No such thing as an HPI connector- they just tend to use Deans connectors, Traxxas have their own style of connector though ( TRX plugs ). TRX to Deans adaptors are common enough, but yeah- you need to learn how to solder if you want to get far in this hobby

You need to calibrate the esc tot he radio, it wont just work correctly by plugging it in & turning it on- you need to program the end points and neutral positions. Instructions for that will be in the manual you downloaded...