Tekin RX8 Brushless ESC Motor Power for Monster Trucks and Buggies

Tekin RX8 Brushless Power for Monster Trucks and Buggies
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com

You probably all know I am one of the big brushless freaks in the RC industry and a Beta Tester for many manufacturer's systems including Tekin, Castle, NeuMotor, Hacker, Medusa Products, and a few others. To say I have been working with Jim Campbell at Tekin or a Beta tester in this case developing the RX8 would be incorrect, however I was one of the people who did spend many many hours on the phone and trading a multitude of emails with Jim discussing what worked and what didn't while they developed the RX8. To me the RX8 is the good result that has come from the experience of bad decisions, blown lipo packs, ESCs, and fried motors... it's potentially the pinnacle of Big RC Brushless Power and I feel somehow, I contributed to it's development by communicating previous challenges to Jim and Tekin.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BIG BRUSHLESS
Long ago Quark ESCs were spec-wise great, but freaking stupid expensive and really moody from a reliability perspective and support was... not so great. A few other big 5S+ rated ESC were out there from several German companies, but again big $$ and lacking support.

Most of use reached for the old reliable and conservatively rated 1/10th scale Castle Creations Mamba Max and then added a fan. The reality is Castle's short lived Limited Edition Mamba Max with an equipped fan was about as good as Castle has introduced for a high power ESC, why they dumped this is totally beyond me. Almost all of my Mamba Max ESCs all handle 5S just fine with a fan, but they are not spec'ed for that power or 1/8th scale class rigs and shouldn't from a warranty perspective be used in that scale.

Castle's much anticipated Mamba Monster Max had big problems... and from all indications, still does considering we are now on about the 4th or 5th rev of a release. The reliability just hasn't been there yet. Novak's very dated HV systems admittedly offered some great reliable smooth sensored power, but they are far from what a true 4S-5S powered Neu or Hacker motor'ed system provides in power when compared even with fan equipped 1/10th scale Tekin R1 or Castle Mamba Max ESCs pushing power to big oversized motors. The Novak systems are still far too high strung with much too high Kv rating for most applications. The result are fast dumping packs, short run times, extremely high current draws, and limited power. For the 2007 iHobby Show, Losi asked me in conjunction with A123 batteries to create a brushless Losi 8, my conversion was a huge hit and lead to Losi resurrecting the idea for it's current brushless lineup. Losi's ESC has some black marks on the reliability side, but they wisely offer some slower motors with the option to always gear up. Probably the best move from a power perspective in that I think anything more than 2700Kv is too high in my opinion, in reality a 2000-2200Kv is good for a 4S system, even less Kv for a 5-6S system.

Another problem was that racers still wanted the super smooth power that a sensored brushless system provided. Bashers and power hungry junkies (like me) wanted the raw muscle ripping top end power of sensorless. In my opinion most 1/8th scale motor manufacturers, still hadn't gotten it that slow Kv was way better from run time, power, reliability, and overall system stress... I guess most didn't use a data recorder. Some got it, Neu, Hacker (kind of), Losi, and Medusa.

TEKIN TO THE RESCUE
Here it is, Tekin in theory has developed the killer app for big 1/8th scale+ rigs with it's RX8 system. The RX8 is 6S rated ESC that can run either sensored or sensorless motors. In this case Tekin has opted to provide a Neu Motor like motor that is sensored for the ultimate big power (Yes Steve Neu knows). Yep, 6S power for the power junkies, smooth sensorless power for the racers with Tekin warranty and service to back it up. Tekin's offering two can lengths one shorter can for lighter buggies and a longer torquier version for Truggies and Monster Trucks.

The first week in July (2009) I received my RX8 and a (longer can) Truggy 1700Kv motor for testing. Out of the box the system is of excellent quality, fit and finish. The motor seems about the same heft as my favorite Neu and Hacker motors. The electronics wizard John Holmes of Holmes hobbies speaks the truth when he says a quality motor is never light and the Tekinmotor has substantial heft. The motor features solder tabs and an external sensor harness wire plug (both features I love). The motor finish is jewel like and is only matched by the fit and finish of the Hacker motors, but Tekin is actually stylistically cooler.

On the ESC, the reality is that a design encompassing X number of fets, a huge heat sink, and a fan are all going to look about the same and Tekin made it as cool looking as possible with solderable posts, sensor harness and fan plugs.

TESTING
Going to be a bit, I have a few projects stacked up and a new job I am getting settled into. Be patient, I guarantee I will give you a better review than most of the rags will. ;)

	Easily Access Programming, Anywhere, Anytime Drives Sensor/Sensorless Brushless and Brushed Motors D2: Dual Drive Mode Technology On-Board Temperature Indicator PC Interface for Custom Programming HDAC: High Density Copper Fet Boards Sensor Plug for Precise Commutation with all Motors Solder Posts for Easy Wire Replacement Self Test Diagnostics and Factory Reset Adjustable Drag Brakes Pit Tune Mode DGF2: Digital Glitch Filtering V2 QuickTune™ Programming One-Touch Radio Calibration
	Drag Brake (13 steps) Brake / Reverse Strength (13 steps) Current Limiter (none + 12 steps) Neutral Width (7 steps) Throttle Profiles (7 choices) Motor/Reverse Type: Brushless, Brushed, No Rev, Rev Delay Voltage Cutoffs (none, 2s, 3s, 4s, 6s, Custom) Timing Advance when used with Tekin Hotwire Extensive Tuning via Tekin HotWire PC Interface (sold separately)
	Controls: Forward/Brake/Reverse Input Voltage: up to 6S Lipo Continuous Current: 210 Amps* BEC: 6.0V/5.0A Motor Limit Brushless Mode: No Limit Motor Limit Brushed Fwd Only Mode: No Limit Motor Limit Brushed Fwd/Rev Mode: No Limit Throttle Profiles: 7 choices (on board) Brushed Modes: Fwd Only, Fwd/Rev, Rev Delay Brushless Modes: Fwd Only, Fwd/Rev, Rev Delay Dimensions: 1.5 x 2.2 x 1.4" Weight Approx: 2.7oz Available motors T8 (Buggy) motors TT2350 4030 2650kv TT2351 4030 2050kv TT2352 4030 1900kv TT2353 4030 1700kv TT2354 4030 1400kv T8 (Truggy) motors TT2360 4038 2250kv TT2361 4038 2000kv TT2362 4038 1700kv TT2363 4038 1550kv TT2364 4038 1350kv