THURSDAY TESTIMONIALS: Trakpower engine heater

0 July 2, 2015, 3:08 p.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Whether it's wheel nuts, wings, tools, tracks, trinkets and/or anything in between, the LiveRC staff gives their testimonial and mini-review of each every Thursday morning!

RC cars may be Brandon Rohde's career, but he's still just as much of a diehard hobbyist as you can possibly imagine - he even built a full-sized nitro off-road track in his backyard!

On Tuesday, we shared the first part of a multi-episode look at Team Associated's new RC8B3 Team Kit buggy - and Brandon's spectacularly entertaining performance driving it at the ROAR Fuel Off-Road Nationals. He broke in a new engine for the race and logged plenty of driving time on his backyard track getting ready for the race (though it didn't seem to help), and that provided the perfect opportunity to try out Trakpower's engine heater.

Trakpower Nitro Engine Heater 12V DC
#TKPC9000, $40

www.trakpowerusa.com

Like other similar units, TrakPower's engine heater wraps around the sides and top of an engine head in order to warm the engine before it's started. The protective black covering keeps the heat insulated on the inside while keeping your hands safe from the hot internal heating surfaces, and there's a flap on top so that you can access the glow plug. Trakpower installed T-plugs and provides an alligator clip lead to connect your choice of either a DC power supply, 12V battery, or 3S LiPo pack, and an inline push-button switch is used turn the unit on and off.

"It's a lot easier than using a heat gun," Brandon said, citing both not having to hold the gun in place as well as the lack of melted air filter boot/radio tray parts/enthusiasm for breaking in a new engine. Brandon ignored Trakpower's statement that the heater was designed to use a 3S LiPo for power and hooked it up to the 4S battery in his starter box, and said the unit has been working well for weeks. "It's nice having a switch to turn it on and off, too, rather than having to plug or unplug it all the time," said Brandon, who also pointed out that the automatic ten-minute shutoff was a nice feature, too, when he forgot to hit the button to turn it off. Though powering the heater with his starter box battery worked well, Brandon wondered about plugging it into a power strip - there's no included adapter for AC power, but the Trakpower heater is substantially cheaper than units that include the option.

The heater repeatedly warmed the engine to between 140-160 degrees, and while it may be difficult to quantify whether or not the unit actually decreases engine wear or improves fuel mileage, it certainly made his brand new engine easier to start. "Many people up here have engine block heaters for their real cars because it gets so cold in Wisconsin," Brandon told me as I hid in my SoCal bubble, "and if the most engine wear happens during cold starts, something like this could make a big difference for RC engines."

Pros:

Good price
On/Off Button instead of requiring a "plug in/unplug" method
3S battery recommended, but works fine on 4S starter box battery
Velcro flap on top for glow igniter - start engine with heater on it
10 minute safety auto-shutoff incase you forget about it
Comes with Deans(R) compatible plug already installed

Cons:

Doesn't come with A/C adapter (although the price point reflects the savings)

Final Word:

If you live in colder climates, or you'd feel more comfortable plunking down a few Benjamins on an engine knowing that you weren't going to wear it out starting it cold every time, using an engine heater like this Trakpower DC-powered unit is a no-brainer.