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Enjoy your RC hobby more by knowing how remote controlled car engines work and how to take care of them
Are you curious to find out more about how remote controlled cars work? Then you might be interested to learn about remote control car engines. Strictly speaking, the term "engine" applies to nitro RC cars only, whereas electric RC cars are powered by a battery pack and a motor. The motor generates magnetic force from electrical force and uses this magnetic force to apply torque to the car's wheels.
The speed controller in electric radio controlled cars determines the amount of electricity going from the battery to the motor. You can get either an electronic speed controller (ESC) or a mechanical speed controller (MSC). As for the batteries to power your electric RC car, different cars require battery packs from 6 volts to 9.6 volts. Typically, these packs have several batteries connected together; there can be five to eight batteries in a pack, depending on how many volts the car needs.
Actual remote control car engines in nitro powered cars are different. The engines you'll find in nitro cars highly resemble a life-sized car's engine in the way they work. However, the fuel type nitro cars require is different. While most life-sized cars run on petrol or gasoline, nitro powered RC cars run on nitromethane mixed with lubricating oil and methyl alcohol.
The car's engine has a carburetor that mixes this fuel with air and then sends it into a metal cylinder.The metal cylinder compresses the fuel-air mixture, which then explodes and provides the force for a piston to push a metal connecting rod. The rod then rotates a crankshaft that turns the wheels-- and off the car goes!
This kind of engine makes a lot of noise, and if you're into realism, you'll find that a nitro remote control car can replicate the sounds of life-sized cars quite well. But this also means that you'll need to drive your nitro RC car outside and away from people whom the noise might bother. Getting a muffler for the car might reduce this noise to a manageable level. Yet because of the kind of fuel it uses, your nitro RC car will also produce exhaust, so you'll definitely need to run it outside.
Remember that, if you own a nitro RC car, you need to tune your engine periodically to keep it functioning well. Nitro remote controlled car engines are sensitive to changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure, and tuning the car's engine helps its performance when these conditions change.
You can also expect the nitro RC car to get messy when you run it, because the exhaust will often settle on the car body and leave oil there. To get rid of the resultant dirt, you can apply aerosol solvents or compressed air. Nitro remote controlled car engines take time and maintenance work to keep properly, but they will serve you well if you take good care of them.
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