Tekin Rage Brushless System Review Big Power Now has A Little Brother

[CAPTION - Big Power Now Has a Little Brother]

Tekin Rage Brushless System Review
Big Power Now has A Little Brother [use this headline or the main above image will not make sense]
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com

Dinky 1/18^th scale cars need power too and when I mean power, I mean brushless. Tekin Mini-Rage brushless ESC has been available for a while, however along with an update that includes Tekin Hotwire (PC interface) compatibility, the Mini-Rage is now available in a convenient ESC/motor combo for big power in tiny RCs.

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SPECS
Input Voltage:
4-12 Cells @ 1.2V/Cell NiCd/NiMh, 2-4 Cells LiPo
8kv Motor: 8 Cells NiCd NiMh Max, 3 Cells LiPo
Motor Limit: 180 Size, 20mm Diameter
ON-Resistance: 0.002 Ohm
Frequency: 2000 Hz
Power Wires: 16 Gauge
Plugs: JST / Bullet
BEC: 5.0V / 2.0A
Weight: 0.9 Oz (25.5g) (w/wires)
Dimensions: 0.95" x 1.72" x 0.4" (24 x 43 x 10mm)
Forward / Brake / Reverse

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FEATURE OVERVIEW
Tekin offers kit choices of 5.5KV, 6.9KV, or 8.1KV motors to match any application you might have. We choose a torquey 5.5Kv combo and added an extra 6.9Kv motor for testing in our Tamiya GB-03 Hotshot 1/18^th scale buggy. Although the Tekin ESC is not pre-wired, the motors is and all that is required is soldering the pre-tipped ready-to-solder leads to the esc and attach your battery plug of choice. Other nice touches were the inclusion of outstanding instructions, mounting tape, and motor mount machine screws.

The Mini-Rage ESC is both powerful and feature rich with all the configuration/tuning options you expect on a race quality ESC. When compared to its competition, power handling and size are similar, however the Mini-Rage excels with super easy access to all those features all via Tekin’s Quick-Tune (onboard) or HotWire (PC) interface.

Typically, beep and click interfaces lead me to start throwing stuff and swearing, however Tekin managed to make their ESC easy for even me without a manual. Tuning via the optional HotWire PC interface is not really any quicker for simple configuration changes, however it is faster for initial setups and convenient for loading/storing of configurations for different cars/setups. The big advantage of the HotWire compatibility is facilitating free ESC firmware updates assuring the ESC will never be out of date.

TESTING
The stock NiCd pack in our GB-03 was not going to cut it for high power delivery, so I did a little Dremel work to slip in a 9.9V 3S A123 1100Mh pack into the stock ESC/battery bay to maximize runtime and power for the Tekin System. The result was the timid HotSpot becoming a blurry bullet. Although the 5.5Kv motor consistently pushed 35 MPH speeds, the 6.9Kv delivered 40-45 MPH speeds with ease. The Mini-Rage system delivered so much power that I had to swap to slicks to get any on road traction. The stock plastic pinion was also slipping with Tekin system, so we upgraded to an aluminum Robinson Racing pinion to assure power transfer. With this much power, make sure you tune the slipper appropriately.

CONCLUSION
The lower KV motor is the best choice to limit high-speed related breakage – seriously the 5.5Kv motor was plenty fast for a car this size. Still want more? Bolt up the higher Kv motors and your 1/18^th scale will deliver more speed than you are prepared to handle. The power delivery was impressively smooth and cog-free. Tekin’s Mini-Rage system allows an easy mini-RC upgrade and delivers high speed, loads of torque and extended run times all with expected Tekin finish and quality. As in nature, if you are small be fast, and if you are Tekin powered you are going to be un-naturally fast.

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PROGRAMMABLE FEATURES

• Drag brake: 13 steps
• Brake and Reverse Strength: 13 Steps
• Motor Timing: 13 Steps
• Brake/Reverse Response: Normal, Delay, None
• Voltage Cutoff: None, 3V, 6V, 9V, 12V
• 7 Throttle Profiles
• 7 Brake Profiles

FEATURES

• One Touch Quick-Tune Programming
• Pit Tune Mode (adjust speedo without your radio on)
• Fully Proportional brakes
• Adjustable drag brakes
• Reversible with reverse lockout
• Handles up to 12 NiCd/NiMH batteries (see specs above)
• 2-4 cell Li-Po batteries
• Low Voltage cutoff
• 25 amp continuous
• Timing adjustment for motor
• Precision motor bearings
• HotWire Compatible
• Socket head motor screws included
• Digital Glitch Filtering

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SOURCES – Tekin – www.TeamTekin.com, Tamiya – www.Tamiya.com, A123 Racing – www.A123Racing.com


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