Modified Tekin R1Pro

[GriffinRU]

Originally Posted by speed demon

Impressive. How does this compare to your MM's you mod? Are these better? If so...in what way? Again impressive work.

:) Hmm, nice question. They both nice and foot print is great.
From my viewpoint, before mods:
MM cons:
-Incorrect caps for above 4S (fixed with Mod)
-Poor heatsinking, especially first gen. pcb. (Improved with Mod)
-software handicap above 3S (LiPo cutoff can be sacrificed to make it operational)
-poor enclosure design, come loose very quick, i.e. improper for ESC mounting. (Not addressed yet)
MM pros:
-great foot print
-nice programming via USB
-very smooth with latest firmware
-30 fet's total with 24 top level, i.e. with heatsink
Tekin cons:
-no built in Caps, but cap provided, below 4S operation (Modded one allows 6S operation)
- poor heatsinking, heatsink missing (Improved dramatically with heatsink)
Tekin pros:
-very nice foot print
-great enclosure design
-native software support above 3-4S LiPo
-haven't checked Tekin's Hotwire interface, yet
-48 fet's total, none

Common cons and pros are omitted.

In theory Tekin ESC, having 48 fets (but dynamic losses come to play later), doesn't need heatsink for currents below 50A @ 4S LiPo maximum, but with proper heatsinking becoming very capable ESC with smallest foot print.
While MM in stock form can be good for similar performance, while with the mod1 can get close to current capacity of Modified Tekin R1Pro.
Both have Linear BEC's, so both need UBEC (or separate receiver pack) above 3S LiPo, meaning red wire need to be pulled out and isolated.

Price wise MM is the winner, but which one is better? I am not sure, I like them both.

[jhautz]

Originally Posted by GriffinRU

:) Hmm, nice question. They both nice and foot print is great.
From my viewpoint, before mods:
MM cons:
-Incorrect caps for above 4S (fixed with Mod)
-Poor heatsinking, especially first gen. pcb. (Improved with Mod)
-software handicap above 3S (LiPo cutoff can be sacrificed to make it operational)
-poor enclosure design, come loose very quick, i.e. improper for ESC mounting. (Not addressed yet)
MM pros:
-great foot print
-nice programming via USB
-very smooth with latest firmware
-30 fet's total with 24 top level, i.e. with heatsink
Tekin cons:
-no built in Caps, but cap provided, below 4S operation (Modded one allows 6S operation)
- poor heatsinking, heatsink missing (Improved dramatically with heatsink)
Tekin pros:
-very nice foot print
-great enclosure design
-native software support above 3-4S LiPo
-haven't checked Tekin's Hotwire interface, yet
-48 fet's total, none

Common cons and pros are omitted.

In theory Tekin ESC, having 48 fets (but dynamic losses come to play later), doesn't need heatsink for currents below 50A @ 4S LiPo maximum, but with proper heatsinking becoming very capable ESC with smallest foot print.
While MM in stock form can be good for similar performance, while with the mod1 can get close to current capacity of Modified Tekin R1Pro.
Both have Linear BEC's, so both need UBEC (or separate receiver pack) above 3S LiPo, meaning red wire need to be pulled out and isolated.

Price wise MM is the winner, but which one is better? I am not sure, I like them both.

Great list Artur. Just to add some to your hotwire comment. If the MM software and USM programing is great, then the Tekin is very good. Still an excelent piece of software with great programing capabilities, ut missing a couple key things vs te MM. 1st- the thottle curve progaming on the MM and MM are 2nd to none. The Tekin allows changes to a few preset curves, the MM has infinite adjustment. 2nd- WHile I actually hate the usb jack in the side of the esc and would prefer the Rx cble programaing like the MMM and R1Pro, the software on the MM is just simpler and easier to understand than the Tekin software.

[magman]

Thanks Artur for the info and all of your hard work in giving us lucky folk the ability to put an even bigger smile on our faces...

[magman]

I'd say...looks like he had some fun tho...

[jhautz]

Actually... I had the capacitor lead break on me and didnt realize it. The esc overheated pretty darn fast runnnig without a cap. But... to the little guys credit, as soon as I put a new cap on it it was running good as new. This time I put a short section of flexible wire beween the cap and the sloder posts. The rigid wire on the cap must have broke from the vibratrion. I had it tied down, but it must not have been enough to prevent a little flex in the wires and it allowed them to fracture over time.

Other than that, it actually ran fairly cool on the meduim to mild setup that I run for the track. I did notice the plastic case got a bit warped after the capacitor incident. It does look rather wonky in the picture. lol

[GriffinRU]

Hey Jeff,
Can I reset ESC to factory default for testing? It is blinking 1,3,5 LED on me, I am assuming custom voltage cut-off. I do not have hotwire at hand, it is coming from tower any day now, but I would like to finish your ESC and ship it tomorrow.

[TruckBasher]

Looks like a pro job to me...

If I had the money i would have bought the one on sale...


Great job Artur

[jhautz]

Certainly. Set it however you want for testing. I'll set it with the hotwire before running it.

[Serum]

How far can the R1 pro controller be pushed? does it handle 5S?

[jhautz]

I ran it for months on 5s in its stock form. It takes it easily. I know that Jim from Tekin even said it would probably take 6s. It has 30v components inside. But I personally havent tested it. With Arturs mod to it its now limited to 5s becasue he used a 27v component on it. But 5s is plenty for me. In stock form it ran my buggy with 5s and a Hacker 10xl geared for 38-40 mph or so without even breaking a sweat on the track.

[phatmonk]

What is the Tekin R1 Pro's amperage rating?

[GriffinRU]

Originally Posted by Serum

How far can the R1 pro controller be pushed? does it handle 5S?

Far..., as long as software can handle it. Although I do not feel comfortable running close to FET's rated voltage.

What is the Tekin R1 Pro's amperage rating?

SPECS: Controls: Forward/Brake/Reverse
ON Resistance: 0.00005 Ohms (brushed fwd mode)
0.00015 Ohms (brushless mode)
0.00015 Ohms (brushed fwd/rev mode)
Input Voltage: 4 - 9 Cells, 2 - 3S Lipo
BEC 6.0 V / 3.0 A
Motor Limit: Brushed and Brushless, no limit
Throttle Profiles: 1-7
Max Current: Brushed Forward, 312amps / 624amps
Brushless per Phase: 104amps / 208amps

I will assume that stock ratings based on 26A per Fet @ 1sq-in pad with 1oz copper.

Modifications inside, extend current handling and power ratings, but do not overestimate pcb traces current capacity.

[phatmonk]

Thanks for the quick response.

[suicideneil]

Hmm, looks like the upcomming MambaMaxPro will have some stiff competition. I wonder if castle would consider an aluminum case (of half case even) to aid strength and cooling some how (link it to the main heatsink on the FETS somehow)...

[jhautz]

Hey guys. Just wanted to post an update on the R1Pro that GriffinRU modified for me. I finally got to race it this weekend.

Here is my setup. (same setup I have been running all race season)

Xray XB808 Buggy
5s 4350mah Enerland packs (for 20+ minute mains I run a 5s 5000 pack)
Neu 1512/3D/S
Tekin R1Pro with GriffinRU Mod. (see pictures earlier in thread)
Geared 16/42 (around 38mph)
NO FANS OF ANY SORT ANYWHERE ON THE BUGGY (Brian will appreciate this)

This weekend I had to run at the local indoor track (do to some crappy heavy rain we got last night that flooded the outdoor track) Its a huge track though as far as indoor tracks go. Perfect clay surface with TONS of traction so it was really good for pulling high amp spikes when getting on the throttle hard. The traction was so high that on the 2nd longest straight on the track where you had to come off of a very low speed tight corner before entering it, I punched the throttle and actually wheelied the buggy with 10K center dif fluid in it. I would say it is every bit as hard on the electronics as the outdoor track I normally run on which is a little larger, but doesn't have anywhere near the traction so you have to be a little easier on the throttle to keep control, but you get to open it up a little more. To give the new esc a fair test compared to the MMM I had been running for the last month and a half. I didn't change any of the gearing or setup I have been running most of the season. I wanted to see how it performed with a direct comparison.

As a side note it was HOT in the tin roofed building the track is in. Easily over 90F with outdoor temps of 85-90 degrees the sun heated the inside of the building even hotter, so it wasn't exactly mild conditions.

I gotta say, the results were really great. I pushed the buggy pretty hard in the couple hours of practice before the actual racing started. I ran a few 15+ minute practice runs and never measured more than 140-145F anywhere on the ESC. Most times it was only in the 130-140 range. That is amazing considering I was easily able to get those temps on my MMM with a fan. I was getting around 4 lights out of 7 lit for those of you who are familiar with the internal temp monitoring of the ESC. Never saw more than 4 lights no matter what I did to it.

The three 5 minute qualifiers were nothing for it. Didn't even break a sweat. The 15 minute main with 4 minutes of "warm up" was where it got pushed the hardest, and coming off the track I measured the highest temps of the day with a 152. I'll take that for no fans and a tiny little ESC. I ran well and got 3rd (37 laps) only 12 seconds off of the guy in 2nd (Edumakated in his brushless RC8) and the guy who got first was by far outclassing the entire field with his skills. He beat us by multiple laps and was a far far better driver than the rest of the field. 4 and 5th place were 1-2 laps down on the 2 of us and rest of the field went down from there. We were the only electrics running so it was fun with both of us beating the field of nitros (with the exception one the one crazy good driver)

Other limited testing I did was an evening bashing event where some guys run parking lot pylon racing. I had it geared up quite a bit (45-50 mph) and while it is pavement running it is constant hard hitting full throttle and hard breaking coming in to the make the turn around the cone. Very fast running out there and I have actually found it to be harder on the speed controls than normal track racing where most of the time you are not on full throttle. I didn't take any actual temp measurements with it that night, but once again it never went above 4 out of 7 lights on the ESCs internal temp monitor.

Just wanted to let any of you who may be considering having this mod done that so far it is getting 2 big thumbs up from me. I loved the R1Pro before the mod because it was a very smooth controller with the most accurate and controllable breaks of any of the escs I have run (and I have run just about everything ). The only drawback for it was the lack of a heatsink.

Below you can see some pics of how I mounted it up. I used a computer heatsink I had laying around as a platform to mount it on. Just coincidentally it has some ears with mounting holes on it that perfectly aligned with 2 existing holes in the chassis and the body of the heatsink was almost exactly the same size a the R1Pro itself so it worked out rather well. I didn't use it for the heatsink as much as I used it because I am lazy and it fit so perfectly with no fabrication work required.

Thanks Artur. A job well done! At this point the only suggestion I would make is to possibly make some sort of threaded holes in the bottom of the new aluminum case or maybe some small ears with screw holes that could be used to securely mount it. If this thing were able to be screwed down to a flat aluminum chassis with some thermal compound between it and the chassis it would run even cooler.

At this point I am not even going to touch anything. I am going to just leave it all alone and in 2 weeks when my next race is (hopefully back at the outdoor track) I'll give you guys another update.

If all continues to go well with it in the buggy maybe I'll toss it in the truggy for a day of racing just to see what it really can handle. But for now, the little guy has found a home in the Xray 808 for the forseeable future. Great racing ESC for 1/8 buggy thats for sure.