HOW TO
WIRE LIKE A PRO
Turn that rat’s nest into a work of art
BY JOEL NAVARRO
Since the day you started in RC, your first cars have probably been ready-to-run vehicles for the ease of plug-and-play action. ;en comes the day when you would like to start racing competitively and you want get yourself a kit car that requires
manual assembly that includes installation of the electronics. It’s fairly
straightforward on how to wire up an RC car, and with a little bit of extra
e;ort, you can get neat wiring like you see in factory drivers’ cars. ;e
best thing is that you’ll need minimal tools to pull o; the job. You’ll need
to know how to use a soldering iron, have a pair of Lexan scissors, and
zip-ties. ;e following step will show you how to get neat wiring and
have your rig looking like it belongs to a pro.
MOUNTING THE ELEC TRONICS
After you have finished putting together your new vehicle, locate the section in the
assembly manual that takes you step by step on mounting the electronics. Follow
the directions on where on the chassis you should mount your speed control and
receiver. While mounting, leave a small amount of spacing between the servo, speed
control and receiver that we will later use to tuck excess servo/speed control leads.
When you mount the
motor, slide it to the
farthest point away from
the speed control so you
will have enough slack
in the motor wires no
matter what size pinion
you will use.
Use the manual to find out
where to mount your electronics before you start wiring.
Remember to wire up your motor with it positioned as far from the
speed control as possible so you don’t have to worry about wire
length later when using a large pinion gear.
WIRING UP THE MOTOR
As we’re getting to the first soldering step of our
wiring job, go ahead and assess all the wires you’ll
be working with and start to place them along the
route they will be traveling in the car. Starting with
the motor tab closest to the speed control, pull the
wire straight to the motor and as you get to the
motor can, curve the wire towards the tab to give
you a little added slack. Repeat the same steps
with the rest of the motor wires and don’t worry on
how short you’re cutting the wires; you can always
solder in new speed control wires if you decided to
use it for a di;erent car.
