Chaning the battery position can be a quick and easy way to tune the handling of your SC10. In general, we are changing the weight distribution between the front and the back of the SC10.
Effects of moving the battery back:
- More rear traction
- Less steering
- More stability during acceleration and breaking
- Vehicle will tend to jump more nose up
Effects of moving the battery forward:
- Less rear traction
- More steering
- Less on-power and braking stability
- Vehicle will tend to jump more nose down
For most of you, it will be wiser to move the battery back. We suggest trying 1/3 of the foam in the back with the battery in a back-middle position (shown in picture). The SC10 has above average steering, so your most likely tuning option will be to give up a little steering for more rear traction. Play with different battery positions and see how it affects your SC10 without changing anything else.
So now that you know the effects of weight distribution, lets talk about how to change the placement of your battery.
The SC10 kit comes with a piece of foam that you need to use to secure the position of the battery within the battery holder. Without this foam, the battery will slide back and forth. We suggest that you cut this piece of foam into two pieces - one piece should be about one third of the foam and the other should be about two thirds of the foam. If you do not cut the foam, you basically have two options for batter position: All the way to the front and all the way in the back. If you cut the foam into two different size pieces (1/3 and 2/3) then you have four different positions: Front, front middle, back middle, and back. All of these different positions are achieved by moving the organization of the foam inside the battery holder.
If you want to move your battery back, you will need to make a small mod to your battery holder. Simply unscrew the 2 screws in the rear of the battery holder and remove the 2 semi-circle plastic pieces. With the semi-circle plastic pieces removed, thread the screws back into the battery holder, place the semi-circle plastic pieces under the battery holder and thread the screws all the way through. Then screw the battery holder back down to the chassis and now you can move your batter all the way to the back.
Another method of changing weight distribution is to add lead weights to the vehicle. These weights should be available at your local hobby shop or an online hobby shop. The SC10 is fairly light and it can afford to have a little weight put on it. Our best advice, if you choose to add weight, is to move the batter towards the back, and then add about one ounce of weight to the front bumper. Be careful not to add too much weight as it will slow down your SC10's speed and handling.
Always remember that your setup should be unique to the surface you are racing on. For some of you, battery placement may need to be towards the front. Once you do some experimenting, you will know how you want your battery positioned under any conditions.