Tekno RC Joins the Club
 

I'll have to admit that I've known this was coming because the owner of Tekno runs at a couple local club events. When he initially told me he was going to run a stock clutch setup with the BL system I was a little skeptical on how it would perform. I've driven the setup myself and I would have to say it works perfectly for racing. Take a look and shoot some feedback. I'd like know what you all think another player in the brushless arena.

sweet i love tekno rc and i am glad they are joiining the BL race.

I liked Tekno parts as well, but extra weight and clutch wear in "patent pending" adapter make me smile.
I am still under impression that nobody gives any respect to TRAXXAS REVO team for developing such a great platform...

I must say it is a nice looking conversion.

erh.. They can't have enough testing time on that one! a neu 2.5d on a mamba maxx? they would be the first who run that setup succesfull

on the other hand;

their clutchbell might take away the issues with that motor. It's quite lame though to use a clutch on an electric vehicle..

'This means no cogging'

Don't get me wrong though; i love the rest of their conversion! that bolt on, ready to use is awesome!

Well, there is no cogging with stock REVO tranny, and with clutch against loaded spur - cogging would stay the same.

But I do like drop-in conversions, and the price looks right.

- I am not sure if ESC mount will not interfere with rear brake linkage, when center diff option used?

I think it would be kind of neat to see a electric car shift :smile:.

I don't know. One of the things that I hated about nitro was the clutch and the associated maintenance. It seems to me that this sort of conversion would take clutch maintenance to a new level, with the stress that the brushless will put on it.

On the other hand, they say that their conversion (battery tray) will fit either a 3S 8Ah pack or a 4S 6Ah pack. If you stick to these battery configurations with a 1515/2.5d, it might not be too insane. I consider a 1515 2.5d on 4S to be a pretty mild setup.

AAngel l think it's acctually a 1512-2.5d or a 1512-1.5d & not a 1515-2.5d

amen to that Hippie.

Another company supporting this type of product is very welcome news. There conversion goes way beyond a standard drop in conversion. Lots of cool innovation. The Clutch adapter is very slick looking, not sure how it will play out but it may help even with 1/8th conversions. Having brake bias will also be nice...I never thought I'd want a Revo but right now, I do...

DM

I maybe wrong but would'nt you loose some of the low end snap with a clutch on a electric motor ?.

Probably, but that would also tame wheelies wouldnt it?...

i hate their plastic...

nice conversion though. that clutch idea is really nice. it'll definitely save your gears from the brushless powah. looks like a nice setup, and the weight seems balanced from the pics. i much like my dual battery setup, though. as more people get this, we'll see how it pans out.

wish it came in silver...

i like a handful of the conversions i've seen here better, methinks. i definitely like mine better ( i haven't shown you guys pics yet... but i will :whistle: )

other than that... time will tell. oh... and this... "Stay tuned for Tekno RC's line of brushless motors."

Im interested to see what motors they come out with too. As for the silver thing- greased lightning should have the desired effect :D

Personally, I'll probably be buying it. I LOVE that kit for some reason. The motor mount seems REALLY nice and the battery tray is a nice design as well, which the multiple slots for different batteries, etc. I already have Mikes motor mount, though.

I understand the skepticism, involving the clutch, but thats where this conversion helps newbs. I got friends who love my G2R, but don't want to drop 500 in their rigs and give up the center diff. Besides, i miss this portion of the hobby, innovation is sorely missed in my mind. since the BJ4 in 4wd and the T2 Xray, in touring there is not a lot of innovation in RC lately. I really like to see a big player take chances on something.

i think this kit is cool, and with a nitro clutch it should allow the mm to support more motors, i really miss my first version and this is similar, but not ready to give up the g3r chassis i have like 10 runs on , but maybe will start a new project!!!!

I think the clutchbell might atually help. It will allow more adjustment for one.

Looks like a 1515 type may have issues hitting the a-arm.

The mount looks nice, but it looks like it is set back in order to make clearance for the clutchbell adapter. I don't think it would work w/ std mod1 pinions.

Otherwise I like the kit. The esc mount looks most promising to me, tho I would worry abit about its exposure to top side damage. For my conversion, Being able to use the entire L side for a batt tray would be nice. Lay down the batts more for lower cg and balance tweeking. The MGM I now have on that side is 80mm long! :P

The clutchbell adapater does look interesting for other conversions tho. Is it the LST that has the two spd CB/spur? Maybe on some truggies too to give some sort of slip. However it does require the use of manual brakes, so its def a tradeoff.

Cool tho, I hope it encourages more conversions and peopke over to the BL side.

At first glance it looks very nice. I do have a problem with the mesh adjustment though. The stock Nitro motor sits a bit under the spur gear, so the angled up/down adjustment of the stock setup works well. However, the Techno mount makes the pinion sit to the side of the spur. The stock mesh adjustment will still work, but won't have the adjustment range that Mike's mount does by far.

The 5mm shaft requirement is not a real limitation because you can get bore adaptors. The new bore reducer line-up Mike has are really nice and strong.

The battery tray is nice though, but should be 6061 IMO simply for strength.

I wanted to put this up when I initially posted but had to make sure to get the okay from Tekno :rules:

The owner of Tekno was running at a local club race last weekend and I was able to get some video of his Revo running in the truggy class. My favorite part is where the nitro guys are starting and fueling up and the BL Revo is just sitting on the starting grid :rofl: well, that and also where the truggy guys crumble under the pressure of getting chased down by a REVO!

As for testing time with the Mamba Max / Neu configuration here is another clip I put together and posted up on Youtube in May - over five months ago.

He has the 1515 in there now and there are no issues with the a-arms. At maximum travel the a-arm does not hit the motor.

Not sure about the mesh issue but he has run different size Traxxas spurs and CBs. So it will accommodate those for sure. As for the battery tray I believe they considered aluminum but went with plastic to reduce weight and keep cost down. The plastic used is plenty durable. He's running a 3S 2P 8000 Maxamps pack in those videos. Almost half a year of testing and the prototype has not broken.:yipi:

Wonder how the weight/balance will be with this kit...many of the Revo guys say the Revo could use as much weight moved forward as possible, this kit looks like it puts much of the heavy parts too far back...just curious...I'm not a Revo guy...yet...

DM

Thats rather odd- the 2nd video that riceman posted there was also posted backalong, only it was said to be a topsecret video of Traxxas' E-revo they were supposedly developing. Whatever.....

:oh: I hadn't heard that one. Can you post a link to that? :smile:

I'm just curious how these rumors start. I shot both of those videos out here in San Diego CA where Tekno is based and does much of their R&D testing at the local club tracks. Check out the distinct orange body and yellow wing of the car in both videos. It's the same vehicle.

Well maybe someone thought thats what it was and then told everyone thus starting a rumor, but it was most definitely Tekno doing their testing at Palomar (the older video). I race at Palomar and have seen that truck pass me many times:smile:

Yeah, i waved that off with my seccond post; it's probably solved with a clutch.

That's basicly the only part i don't like about this conversion; the clutch is useless on a brushless car. since a brushless motor (or brushed motors as known for rc-vehicles) have got torque from 0 rpm, it's only adding another wearing part. Instead of replacing brushes, you can stock up on springs and other clutch parts.

I love their layout, but with this clutch it's missing the big picture.

Exactly my point of view.

I do like their swaybar system (reminds me Dafni's alot).

Hope they'll sell the clutch adapter as a single part, would make converting a truggy way easier!

What makes it easier? there are hardened pinions.. don't see the 'easier' part.

"easier" on the glue between magnet and shaft!?

A clutch on a direct drive conversion would at least remove the magnet as the weak link.

Daf

Not to get too off topic....but you guys have had great results with the new crop of hardened pinions and metal Spurs? My experience with the Century and early RCM hardened pinions was a disaster.

And I think the Clutch *may* help to shelter both the drivetrain and the motor from moments of over-torque. I had been betting on the RCM slipper-diff-whatever-it's-called as that strain relief but if the clutch provides it, great. I just don't know enough about nitro clutches, when they are fully engaged, will they slip?

DM

the new pinions rule. they seem to last for ever.

I did some weight comparisons, of my lipo's

8000mah 3s 560g
2 5000mah 2s lipo's (maxamps) 500g
3300mah flightpower 4s 370g
3700 4s flightpower 4s 390g
2500 flightpower 5s 335g

I'm not liking his recomendation of a 3s lipo, but if it works for him. I prefer higher voltages, so i checked some weights. I think the 3300 would be the lowest i'd go unless i had a Neu, then the 2500's would be possible, based on the efficiency

I'm actually thinking that the clutch adapter thing might make it a little easier to drive for someone coming from a nitro background. A little less hard hitting on the torque cuz the clutch will grab a little softer than the a direct drive. Like the latest RC Driver 1/8 comparison says "electric and nitro take very different driving styles to be successful on the track". I'm thinking a conventional clutch would help move it toward the more forgiving throttle style used with nitros. I have actually thought about how this would work in the past, but never actually thought about doing it. If they sell the clutch adapter by itself I might pick one up to play around with. It is definitely different and has me a little intrigued.

The conversion kit also looks the most "factory" of all of the kits I have seen. Good to see more and more people getting into the game.:yes: Its only a matter of time before a major brand launches something designed for brushless and lipo from the ground up!

Thanks for the feedback Serum. So, in your opinion, the main issue with the clutch is from a maintenance point of view more so than performance? As I stated I'm the beneficiary of having Tekno run at my local track and having run this setup myself. I did mention to them early on that the clutch setup might be a tough sell to those already converted brushless veterans such as those on these boards. Much of the advantages of clutch tuning can be accomplished now with firmware/software adjustments of the newer controllers (i.e. CastleLink). But I can see where there is an advantage to having the clutch. The first being (not in the case of the REVO) the absence of a slipper in 1/8 applications. And - as you already pointed out - it allows the motor to "spool up" before engaging thus reducing potential for cogging. As far as maintenance - I also asked about that and interestingly enough the truck you see in the two videos I linked are running the same clutch assembly throughout the entire testing period - which I would guess would be about 10 race programs and perhaps a couple dozen packs in between.

since the stock revo has a very decent slipper it makes no sence to add a 2nd one. (in the clutch)

If you think you need a clutch with electric/the brushless motors we use you don't get the point of electric. since they talk about the 'no cogging' part i think they where into brushless 10 years ago and didn't bothered to test the latest setups, since there is 0 cogging. the maintanance is just another negative thing about it.

One thing that no one has brought up is reverse capability with the clutch setup. I think using this setup could be the way to go on 1/8 scale buggies. It will allow front/rear brake bias and still give you rever..... wait, no it won't, because the mechanical brakes will still be engaged while the motor tries to spin backwards. Unless..... nope... adjusting the ABS on the transmitter would affect the breaking servo and the speed control at the same time. Ok, well this was a waste of space:lol: