19 replies to this topic

[nicky 65]

I was in Buzz A Rama yesterday, when a guy walked in with a 1/24 slot car dyno that he had made. It looked very well made,and it was . He gave me a demonstration of how it worked. You have to provide the power supply. It comes with plugs for power, and 2 leads for breaking in motors. You can adjust the voltage input to the car. Also you can adjust the load on the wheels (or motor) to simulate track conditions. A nice feature. It was a very well made unit, as the guy is an electrical engineerand designer. you can tell a lot of time and $$ went into this product. He asked me what i would pay for an iten like this...............I thought and said maybe $ 250. and that is a little high. Considering I only race motors from 16d the gruop 12.

The price he wants is $500. A bit steep for me. And I told him a bit steep for the majority of slot racers. He might need to target the group 7 wing guys, they would be the only ones to maybe spend $500 on a dyno.
If you ask me my personal opinion, it was a great product, but he needs to bring the price down................way down.
He has a website, but he mainly builds products for HO. So the 1/24 dyno is not up yet on his web site. I took a picture on my phone and will try and post it soon.
Im interested in what you guys think . .....................POST AWAY. web site is VRPSLOTRACING.COM

[Gator Bob]

Pictures please.

Looks like great HO products on his website.

[okibono]

If it was a TRUE car dyno, that would seem to be a fair price. Technology isn't cheap.

[Big Mike]

The only dyno that i know of that the G7 guys use is 155' and takes up about 22'x50' of floor space.

Most open racers also can tell by the RPM and amp draw how "good" a motor is going to be, not sure any of them would spend $500 on a dyno.

[Hangtime]

I agree. I've tried several dynos for R/C racing and the track is the true test.

[Victor Poulin]

That seems a bit pricy, but I guess a few of the higher class racers that have deep pockets might buy it.

I tend to agree with Big Mike. There are a couple of dynos out there that you can buy for under a couple hundred bucks.

One that comes to mind is the Monster Machine? Maybe not as high tech, but it will get the job done.

[Guy Spaulding]

Hey, if you got the bread and it gives you confidence behind the trigger, it's a must-buy!

[Bill from NH]

If you're that unconfident in your driving abilities, you can hire a driver for a lot less than $500.

[Victor Poulin]

If you're that unconfident in your driving abilities, you can hire a driver for a lot less than $500.

LOL!! I'd do it for much less, and can bend 'em up with the best of them.

See, that way you not only get motor building skills, but chassis as well.

Just saying!!

[nicky 65]

Anyone interested in the dyno... I'm getting together 500 guys to go $1 a piece... this way we could split it. We each get it for a day, and then pass it on to the next guy.

I figured you should have a chance to use it every 16-1/2 months. And it only cost a dollar. WHO'S WITH ME???

[Ken Bryan]

I tried that once with an expensive investment newsletter. We had 16 people. The problem was being the 16tth person. I can't imagine being number 500.

I would love to try it out. But $500 for something, sight unseen, is a little steep. But I might plunk out half that. So... anybody willing to split it with me, say a month at a time, $250 each? If we each decide we GOTTA have our own, one could buy out the other half and have him build a second one for the other guy. And that would be a great recommendation.

Its a $250 risk... kinda like buying a new electronic controller.

Any takers?

Ken Bryan
Spokane, WA

[Joe Mig]

I would have to see this firsthand.

But on the other hand to me it seems like a good investment for a track owner and then he could do dyno pulls and charge by the pull . Then the costumer could buy some parts and change them and see if there is a difference on the dyno and then the track. The drag guys would love it.

Just my two cents.

[nicky 65]

Hey Ken...

I was only kidding about the 500 guys. But two guys for $250 each ain't bad... just not me.

Thanks.

[Lucky Me]

I have had motors test great, and not so great, and guess what? The not so great ones typically outperform the better tested dyno ones.

So, the track is ALWAYS the final say on what your car does, chassis also make a huge difference on how motors perform.

Me personally, I don't want a dyno, that's what I use the track for.

[DannyHotShot1]

Rick right I have had shaky awful sounding motors that I thought would suck but they outperformed the better ones so let the track test the motor.

[dalek]

The price he wants is $500.

If you ask me my personal opinion, it was a great product, but he needs to bring the price down.

(The above quote is from post #1)

The dyno price is down to $400.
See the info here: http://www.vrpslotra...p-dyno124s.html


He's also selling an armature resistance checker (checks each stack) for $65.
See the info here: http://www.vrpslotra...e-arm-tool.html


One of the things that concerns me about the dyno is if you wanted to check a car from time to time to see if the motor has become weaker, would a difference in the tire diameter give different readings even if the motor was just as strong as the first time you checked it?

For some things it might work very well, for example, testing different brush/spring/spring tension combinations where all of your tests would be done within a short period of time so the tire diameter would be virtually the same during each test (assuming the tires wouldn't wear very fast while using the dyno, even if each test goes up to full power for a few seconds and you have it set to the heaviest load setting).

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[Gator Bob]

Looks like a nice item from VRP Slot Racing.

The modern version of one of these old KF UL69 dynos

[Mike Walpole]

Back when I was racing 1/12th scale I had a Robitronics motor dyno. I buddy of mine had a Fantom. Both were flywheel dynos. There were people who swore by and at both. The only thing that either one could tell you was if your motor was decent and the rest was determined by track testing.

If I remember correctly the Robitronics simulated the internal resistance of a NiCad battery and varied the voltage based on the amp draw. The Fantom supplied a constant voltage. Sometimes a motor that looks good on one dyno appeared to suck on the other. What I remember was the motor s that looks really good on the Fantom usually had good power on the Robitronics; however, they were often less efficient. With limited power onboard an RC car that often meant the more efficient motor was a lot stronger in the last 6 minutes of an 8 minute heat or main.

I believe the Fantom can be converted for slot motors. A friend of mine did some testing with puppy dogs and FK motors a while back. The dyno said the FK motors should be untouchable by the Puppy Dogs and we know that is not true. There is more to it than that.

Last I checked, we don't race dynos do we.

[GearBear]

I have a Fantom Dyno, that I sometimes use. Surprisingly, I found it to be pretty good at showing me what motors were more likely to run good. As verified by on track testing. The main reason I don't use it more often is the software is finicky and crashes often. Since that is the case, I never purchased the "Slotcar" version of the software. For the cost of the software (I think I was quoted $125) I would want to know it was worth the cost. I've never talked with anyone who would answer my questions about the slotcar version.

I do have the correct flywheel with the 2mm hole and lighter weight.

Someday, if I get time, I'll order in an Arduino Board and some sensors to make my own version. I would write my own for the Fantom but there is no API for the board.

[Mike Walpole]

I think Dave Clary made the Fantom Dynos; however, I think he's pretty much fallen off the face of the earth. I did run his stuff for a while in RC when he had Gonzo batteries. His team batteries for stock were pretty good at the time.