Modified Tekin R1Pro

[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.

[brushlessboy16]

sweet review. when can i buy one :D

[rootar]

thats a pretty awesome report, how does that 1512 3d run on 5s, what were the temps on it only geared for 38mph? im running a 10xl and im having temp problems in the long mains.

[jhautz]

the 1512/3D was 161 at the end of the main. 38mph is plenty of speed for all but the biggest tracks. More just wastes battery IMO

[DRIFT_BUGGY]

Nice review, sounds like you had plenty of fun. Not bad temps since it was a 3S ESC and you were running 5S

[rootar]

yea i was geared for 43 on the 10xl but the temps got hotter when i geared down to 38 We have (2) 125' straights one on the back side with two WOT jumps and then the front stretch.

[TruckBasher]

Nice mounting plate....good to hear R1Pro is proving it self even on 5S....

Just to back JHautz up, that little Tekin bugger worked very well all day. We took temps pretty religiously all day and the temps he is reporting were on point. As a comparison, I was running a MMM with No Fan and the top of the case cut off with plenty of air flow into the body. Neu 1512 2.5d with a 4s 5000 running 20/46 (about 39 mph tops). I was getting temps up to 160-170 pretty consistently through the qualifiers and practice. After the 15 minute main I pulled the car off the track and the MMM was 195 degrees.

Very impressed with how that Tekin performed.

[jhautz]

This thread should really be moved to the Tekin forum so it can be found. If a mod gets a chance and agrees that would be great...

[jhautz]

O yea... Almost forgot. Another thing I noticed was the new aluminum case on the modified R1Pro was almost the same temp as the solder posts within a few degrees. The solder posts used to be the hot spot on the esc when measuring temps so the heat sinking job you did on this thing is really working well Artur.

[bdebde]

So, is this controller more 5s capable than a MM? I have had great success on 4s with the MM, but have considered going 5s on my buggy (not sure I want to try it with MM, older one with fan).

[Arct1k]

Well mike's mod'ed one gave out smoke at the weekend on 5s...

The older MM are more likely to take 5s - I know jeff runs them on 5S and I now run my Truggy on 5s since the MMM died.

I'm actually debating if I'll bother to swap back...

[jhautz]

Wait..... I'm confused. Mikes moded MM or moded R1Pro gave out the smoke. He has the only other GriffinRU R1Pro that I know of and I would really be disapointed to hear it died on him. I think you are talking about the MM though.

My experience with the R1Pro is even in stock form 5s is no issue for it as long as you have a proper 35V capacitor installed. So IMO yes it is more 5s capable than the MM The MM is hit or miss on running 5s. I have one MM that works perfectly on 5s with the LVC and everything, one MM that will run 5s with the LVC as long as the 5s pack is only charged to 4.15v/cell rather than 4.2v/cell, and one MM that wont boot on anything over 4s at all, period.

[bdebde]

Originally Posted by Arct1k

Well mike's mod'ed one gave out smoke at the weekend on 5s...

The older MM are more likely to take 5s - I know jeff runs them on 5S and I now run my Truggy on 5s since the MMM died.

I'm actually debating if I'll bother to swap back...

Sounds like hit or miss with them too as well as the MM.

Any mods to your MM on 5s (or jeffs')? All I have so far is a fan (older MM), runs real cool on 4s though.

[jhautz]

Originally Posted by bdebde

Sounds like hit or miss with them too as well as the MM.

Any mods to your MM on 5s (or jeffs')? All I have so far is a fan (older MM), runs real cool on 4s though.

No mods on any of my MMs. Just a 25mm fan and an external BEC. They are all older ones though. I dont have any of the newer versions.