Monday, November 1, 2010

Tekno RC Brushless Kit

Tekno RC Brushless Kit
by Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com
RC Car - April 2008

TechnoRC Revo Brushless Conversion

By Tony Arnold – StampedeProject.com

With Dremel wounds from engineering and fabricating two different NTB (Nitro to Brushless) Revo conversions still fresh scares (Revo’Lution - May 2007), I could not wait to review the bolt-on Revo 2.5/3.3 brushless kit from TechnoRC. Excluding motor, battery, and ESC, every part is included to deliver a factory looking brushlessconversion all for the price of two month’s of nitro without even scraping a knuckle. The kicker is it even drives like a nitro powered Revo thanks to TechnoRC’s patent pending Elektri-Clutch clutch bell adapter.

NTB Conversion Flashback
The Project Revo’Lution article taught us different Revo conversions have different problems. The EMaxx transmission swap conversion requires chassis Dremeling, an Emaxx Tranny, and a half-shaft trim and swap. The upsides were a lighter and cleaner install that was faster, delivered a more direct feel, easier to tune, and offered more durability with stock parts. However it also delivered a wheelie prone design with less braking feel than stock, and a higher CG with the motor hanging up top. The direct style NTB conversion is heavier and typically has a goofy transmission and shift point feel due to the absence of a clutch and the complexity of the Revo transmission. The direct conversion like TechnoRC’s is the best racing option, however the already cramped chassis makes finding places to mount the ESC and batteries challenging. The “F” word – “Fabrication” is also required, but TechnoRC’s conversion may have the best of all worlds in one kit.

TechnoTour
TechnoRC is one of the first companies to offer a complete brushless bolt on Revo kit. The kit addresses all the major fabrication issues of a NTB Revo conversion including, motor, ESC, battery & servo mounts, procuring battery straps, hardware, and receiver box. The Elektri-Clutch is of course the trick part of the kit that could also be handy in those NTB 1/8th scale buggies we are seeing now.

The battery, servo and receiver trays are durable quality plastic that rival any typical factory mold formed part. The real show shoppers are the stunningly finished CNC machined, polished and anodized motor and ESC mounts.

The idea is simple; bolt up your motor of choice with the included TechnoRC motor mount where the nitro engine resided, and adjust the Elektri-Clutch tooth gap with the stock nitro mounts. Install the battery tray and strap on your favorite Lithium pack(s), bolt on the ESC mount with ESC above the transmission, and swap the huge stock receiver box for the smaller TechnoRC unit. You could go for a forward only conversion at this point with the included servo mount plate, however I decided to retain reverse and the stock servo box to show the flexibility of this kit. I did tighten down the shift setting to eliminate shifting.

TechnoRC recommends one of the large format premium brushless motors with 5mm shafts such as a Neumotor 1512 or 1515 or the Hacker C50 11L motor I used. Due to the voltage and torque requirements, I recommend a motor in the 2200-2700Kv range for more torque and lower ESC operating temperatures.

The Elektri-Clutch clutch bell adapter is in reality a special pinion that still needs all the stock Traxxas clutch parts to work. Pull your entire clutch from your nitro engine and bolt them on the Elektri-Clutch adapter then attach to the motor as simply as you would install a regular pinion. The Elektri-Clutch effectively provides a Nitro engine shaft and clutch on any 5mm shafted electric motor – handy.

Testing
I tried a number of setups. The battery tray is flexible enough to handle everything from twelve GP3300 cells, a massive 10,000mh 14.4V MaxAmps Lipo pack, dual 8000Mh Max Amps 7.4V packs, to the dual 4600 A123 6.6V packs featured. For optimal tray fit and battery protection, stick with LiPo packs under 8000Mh to prevent overhang. I also cycled through several motor and ESC combinations including a Castle Mamba Max and Tekin’s new R1 Pro ESCs and motors from Hacker and Neumotor. Although TehnoRC states Novak’s 3.2mm shafted HV system won’t work with the Elektri-Clutch, I got it working by ditching the massive motor heat sink in favor of a more compact unit and using RC-Monster’s handy 3.2mm-to-5mm adapter sleeve.

For the photo shoot and initial testing we used a fan cooled Tekin R1 Pro, dual A123 4600Mh packs, and a Hacker C50 11L 2215kv motor. Since braking and reverse are handled by stock equipment, I turned off or minimized brakes and reverse on the ESCs tested. You will need a servo Y splitter adapter to assure the ESC gets the go signals and the brakes the stop signals. Due to a tight deadline, I really didn’t have enough time to really work through all the various combinations, tuning, and testing as I would have liked, however Stephen has committed to a long-term update, so we’ll keep you posted with nerdy temp, rpm, voltage, and current data from my Oracle Data recorder later.

What We Liked
TechnoRC’s bolt on brushless conversion is a beautifully elegant and flexible kit and that even gives you little details like multiple motor bolt patterns and a slot to slip in a hex wrench to tighten down the Elektri-Clutch on the mount plate. The kit includes every little bolt and tie-down strap you will need – all nice touches.

With the torque of our previous NTB Revo setups trigger control was essential in keeping the front wheels on the ground for fast lap times. With a clutch, it’s more forgiving in the first 1/3 of trigger pull. The clutch also removes any perception of cogging. Instead of punching a wheelie, the power is less peaky – racers will love this, wheelie-ing bashers will hate it. Using a standard Mega Motors extended shaft MOD1 pinion instead of the Elektri-Clutch will please the bashers with expected wheelies.

So it drives just like a higher torque Nitro powered Revo, but isn’t it overall less efficient with a clutch? Based on my Medusa Research Oracle Data Recorder, runtimes varied only slightly between the Elektri-Clutch and the standard Mega Motor pinion. Interestingly I observed significantly lower operating temps on the motor and ESC with the Elektri-Clutch installed versus a fixed pinion – but I later duplicated the same effect and drive feel by simply loosing the slipper.

Driving was like running a nicely tuned Nitro Revo with earplugs in. The featured Tekin R1 Pro was a trooper and easily handled the 14.4V at a reasonable temperature with a fan applied to the solder posts. For initial testing the 14.4V MaxAmp and dual 6.6V A123 packs used produced some impressive speeds but was quite under geared, however for the speedsters in the group that want to go head-to-head with the Nitro guys they should bump up the pinion teeth and target a 5S-6S setup, with one of upcoming big voltage Tekin and Castle ESCs.

What We Would Change
Included instructions were thorough and well thought out, but electric combo recommendations were missing. The kit is still a little ahead of it’s time as far as monster truck brushless systems are concerned. Sure the MaxAmps powered Tekin R1 Pro kicked out enough juice to the Hacker C11 motor that it shredded the Revo tranny in the first 45 minutes, but both the R1 Pro and Mamba Max test are 10th scale units happiest with fan cooling. Just for extra insurance I used an industrial 12V+ fan that moved some serious air at 14.4V. At time of publishing the obvious ESC choices of bigger power Tekin and Castle units were still unavailable. With the noted tranny destruction, slipper tuning is still needed to prevent transmission damage. The shift point transition was still a little notchy, however our single speed tweak resolved that issue. Brushless motors like a load at start and with the clutched freewheeling starts, cogging was more audible with every motor ESC tested – the clutch made any cogging invisible to the overall system.

Conclusion
The TechnoRC kit is super simple – bolt it on and go. In about an hour you could convert a stock Revo to brushless with results that look factory perfect. The conversion is reversible, flexible to handle about any motor and ESC, and can even use fixed extended pinions for the wheelie lovers. The Elektri-Clutch is a winner for brushless racers, the “nitro feel” people, and a no-brainer for potential NTB buggy conversions. The initial abrupt power of a high power brushless system is smoothed out by the clutch and makes a much more driver friendly RC and most likely faster lap times. For those that have resisted a Revo conversion due to tuning limitations, the TechnoRC brushless conversion will offer even more tuning flexibility than nitro with not only clutch tuning, but also in the form of the new breed of PC programmable brushless ESCs now on the market. Fit and finish, quality, and high flexibility - I would be stunned if the TechnoRC Revo Brushless Conversion kit isn’t a huge hit.

  • Kit Includes

  • Motor Mount

  • Braking servo Mount

  • Elektri-Clutch Clutch Bell Adapter

  • Battery Tray and Straps

  • Receiver Box

  • ESC Mount

  • Hardware

  • $149.99

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Highs – Full bolt on kit looks factory installed and performs like nitro. Easy reversible install.
Lows – Still need motor, ESC, LiPo pack and servo Y adapter.
Final Call – The most complete brushless conversion kit yet to hit the market.
Competing Kits: RC-Monster.com Motor Mount, Blue Groove Concepts Revo Kit.

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On the Other Hand – Tony Arnold

I am split, the EMaxx transmission is simpler and handles brushless power better, but the Elektri-Clutch and disk brakes are the obvious answer for racing. I like the idea of the Elektri-Clutch because it reduces stress on motor and ESC, but as a basher the direct one-to-one feel of a fixed pinion and non-freewheeling transmission is a lot more fun on the dirt pile. The clutch is cool, but couldn’t we just loosen our slipper clutches a little – GASP!

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Sources: TechnoRC – www.TechnoRC.com, Tekin – www.TeamTekin.com, Castle Creations – www.CastleCreations.com, Novak – www.TeamNovak.com, A123 Racing – www.A123Racing.com, MaxAmps – www.MaxAmps.com, RC-Monster – www.RC-Monster.com, Neumotor – www.Neumotors.com, Hacker – www.HackerBrushless.com, Medusa Research – www.MedusaProducts.com, Mega-Motor – www.MegaMotorUSA.com, Traxxas – www.Traxxas.com.
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