Lunch box Mini

[Replica101 6]

Hi all. Hope this is the correct section. My wife bought me a Lunch Box Mini kit for Christmas - I always loved this truck when I was a kid. Got it all put together and realized that it uses a Tamiya LF Battery - LF1100-6.6V Racing Pack (M-Size) item no. 55105. I’ve searched all over the internet and can’t find one in stock. Does anyone have any clue where I can find one? Why are they so hard to get hold of?!

Here is the link to the product on Tamiya’s website: https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/55105lf1100/index.htm

 

[c64orinoco 667]

I have gone for a 1300mah lipo pack for it. It fits, just but it's a lipo and I'm very wary of it. Not sure it that is justified or not, but lipopacks scare me a bit.

[Replica101 6]

3 hours ago, c64orinoco said:

I have gone for a 1300mah lipo pack for it. It fits, just but it's a lipo and I'm very wary of it. Not sure it that is justified or not, but lipopacks scare me a bit.

Thanks @c64orinoco - love your username by the way, two of my favorite childhood things :-)

I live in the US now - could you point me in the right direction of where to find one here, by chance? Not being lazy I just want to make sure I get the right spec. Also - is there a charger that you would recommend for it? 

Cheers 

[c64orinoco 667]

18 hours ago, Replica101 said:

Thanks @c64orinoco - love your username by the way, two of my favorite childhood things :-)

I live in the US now - could you point me in the right direction of where to find one here, by chance? Not being lazy I just want to make sure I get the right spec. Also - is there a charger that you would recommend for it? 

Cheers 

Well, I'm in Australia, so I don't know the availability of our products in the US. Most of our stuff probably comes from Asia.

The battery is a Gens Ace 1300mah 25C 7.4v 2S1P pack.

The charger I use is a multi-chemistry TornadoRC C-100. I think TornadoRC is a local Australian brand, but the charger is probably some re-badged Chinese thing.

The battery was easy enough to find, probably just search for a 1300mah lipo, they are probably all going to be the same size - it's a little bit bigger than two AA cells. As for the charger I think any multi-chemistry charger will do, I chose the C-100 because it has plenty of useful modes like cell voltage checking, storage charging, cell balancing and can run from a 12V car battery.

And yeah, C64 and Orinoco (womble) and Orinoco Flow (song) are some of my favourite things.

[Replica101 6]

Thanks @c64orinoco! One more question- what ESC are you using? I was counting on using the Tamiya TBLE-02S from my Gravel Hound, but I guess that’s not compatible with lipo? Or is there an adapter or something? Thanks again. 

[c64orinoco 667]

I'm uing a Hobbywing Quickrun 1060. It has a lipo mode. I don't think the TBLE-02S has a cutoff suitable for lipos, but you can use a simple lipo alarm in addition to it.

[Replica101 6]

On 2/5/2021 at 4:00 AM, c64orinoco said:

I'm uing a Hobbywing Quickrun 1060. It has a lipo mode. I don't think the TBLE-02S has a cutoff suitable for lipos, but you can use a simple lipo alarm in addition to it.

Hi. So I got my new charger, battery and ESC- I thought everything would be smooth sailing :-) Turns out the quicrun 1060 ESC doesn’t have the lipo battery connector - it has a lipo mode but I don’t see how I can connect my lipo battery. Will I need to replace the ESC or can I get an adapter? Thanks!!

[c64orinoco 667]

You can by adapters that will let you plug the battery in. I'm guessing the 1060 has a Tamiya-type plug, and your battery has what is known as a 'Deans' plug. You can also just get a matching plug for the battery and re-wire the connector, but an adapter is easier. Your LHS should have them.

[Replica101 6]

Much appreciated mate, thanks. 👍

[c64orinoco 667]

I have been running my Lunch Box Mini off 4 x AA cells. They are basic 2000mah nimh cells, and it runs really well. I think the lipo I bought would be overpowered for such a small car, but it might make it wheelie a lot less as it's much lighter than 4 AA cells. The 4 AAs make it quite top-heavy so wheelies are very easy to do, as is falling over and rolling. Stoppies are fun though!

[c64orinoco 667]

Whats a good setup for the rear wheels with the Upper Link mod? I reduced the toe-in a bit because it seemed excessive. Going into wheelie mode often results in the car spearing off to the left. Seemes like I don't have the setup correct.

Anyone have any good tips for setup of the LB Mini?

[sosidge 624]

There is a longer thread on the Lunchbox Mini in General discussions which might be helpful.

For the upper links, I did a lot of experimentation and settled on having the rears toed in by a couple of mm. I can't remember whether this was the manual setting or something else. If you have too much or too little toe, the wheelie steering just doesn't work.

I have a LiPo in mine and I also experimented with extra ballast in the battery compartment, it does wheelie better with more weight up there. But we actually enjoy it more as a bouncy mini trail truck than a wheelie machine.

I haven't done anything else on setup (there aren't exactly many options!).

If your car is spearing off in one direction, check the driveshafts. The metal part can spin loose from the plastic joint really easily , so I've glued mine and now they are much more reliable.