BL Conversion - Traxxas Villain
 

I've posted this up on a few other locations, figured I should put it up on the home of the BL Conversion :intello:

I bought a used 7.2V Villain about a year back and it was just too slow for me. The ducks at the local ponds don't even run from the thing it's so slow. It's relaxing to drive, but very boring. There is a lot of talk about how they cannot handle BL power but I cannot find a brushed motor that fits the bill, so I am modifying mine to BL power. I'm starting off with these Turnigy 60A Marine ESCs and some 30mm 3200KV motors with Graupner U-Joints, Traxxas 3/16th shafts, and OSE 51mm CF props.

Here it is as I got it, note the damaged prop in the last pic (hadn't figured out the macro mode on my camera at the time of these pics).
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1633.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1637.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1636.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1634.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1638.jpg

Those nylon drive gears had me concerned, so they were the first thing to go. I checked the diameter of the driveshafts with a digital caliper and they came out to 3.93mm. I ordered 2 28T 32P 5mm bore hardened steel pinion gears from Kershaw Designs and 2 14T 32p 5mm bore hardened steel pinions gears and 5mm -> 4mm bore reducers from RC-Monster to handle the power better. I will run stock gearing (14/28) for now, until I figure out how to gear my motors and probably replace them with higher-grade motors (I'm hoping to get the new ~3,000KV CM36 motors from Castle Creations). I'm waiting on the OSE Turn Fins to come back in stock, as I'm sure this thing will chine walk horribly.

The powerplant:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1649.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1642.jpg

Size comparison of the ESC and motor against a TRX 2.5 engine:
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1650.jpg

I'm trying to keep it mostly Villain, no direct drive or single motor/single prop configurations.

I hooked up one of the motors (don't have the bottom gear yet, so I dry tested it with the nylon gear) and it works well so far.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1656.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1657.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1658.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1659.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1660.jpg
http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r...y/DSCN1661.jpg

You are running a twin (two turnigy) esc? Will be waiting for the video of this one. I just sold villian IV toward the end of summer. This will make if more exciting to drive for sure. Nice project.

Yep, two separate ESCs. I need to find the servo Y-harness off my Revo, hopefully I don't need to buy another one.

Is it OK to run both BECs? I'd rather run them both rather than have a slightly uneven battery drain but I don't want to fry ~$120 in ESCs or a $80 Rx.

EDIT: The Turnigy parts are all temporary. The motors are basically just there to see if it works and if I want to spend more money on it (cut losses if things don't work out) and the ESCs will probably be replaced with CC Hydra 120s sooner or later, I just don't like the price tag on the Hydras.

I don't know about the BECs never ran a twin setup before. Somebody should chime in with that one. Do get a video of your first run. Keep the sound on too so we can hear your first impression of it. If you decide to cut your losses it should be a great ebay sale. Even with the turnigy stuff. It's a brushless villian, they'll bid it up.

I was thinking the same thing. Somebody will want it regardless of the parts (I'll link to the video in my eBay auction if it gets sold, that usually helps to sell stuff). The initial impression will probably be something like my SV27, "hmm, it's kinda slow *prop stops cavitating and bites properly* HOLY !@#$"

cannot run two bec's, pull the red wire from one. wire your two battery packs in parallel (making it one pack) then power both esc's off your one paralleled pack, and both batteries will draw the same

For the 5 minutes at-a-time and miniscule power draw of a single cheapo (TRX 2055) servo is it really necessary to make a parallel discharge harness? In a few hours of use it'll draw a noticeable amount of power, but I can't see it causing issues in 5 minutes. One pack will simply have 50 mAH or so less in it. I'll probably be using my MA packs at first anyway and one of them seems to discharge slower than the other anyway.

I never run my lipos very low, they're usually resting at 3.8v/cell when I put them back on the charger. This is in a truck though, it takes extra power to get a boat back to shore.

Looks like a cool project. The gear eduction is not really necessay with brushless, but it is there so it is easyier to use it than ditch it. The nylon gears will be fine, just run some grease on them. Boats have no real load until they are wide open, so drivetrain shock is no really and issue. Sikeson did a villian like this a while back, he may have info for you. Straight drive with a rudder is more effecient, but you have 2 motors and plenty of power. The villian hull is said to be very stable, even though it is plastic. have fun with it and keep us updated.

You mention having a supervee 27. Get an octura x642 prop and a prop balancer. Teach yourself how to balance a prop, and give it a light polish with 1000 git sand paper. Sand the rear 1/3 of the hul bottom with 600 grit wet/dry paper, front to back motion. Then get some decent lipos, a pair of 2s packs good for 100 amp discharge. Then watch the boat do 42+ mph on calm water. My boat did a best of 44mph, and i was only running 3600mah 12c lipos, so good for 45amps cont... I have a feeling i could get close to 50 with a few tweaks... I need to get the new aquacft bl esc that has the lipo cutoff.

I have a few boats, and have played with quite a few. I will keep an eye on this thread as it is intersting to see different approaches to boat setup!

that looks great so far, i cant wait to see how it turns out

Cool. Keep us updated!

Thanks guys!
I've got the optional Grimracer prop for it, 3x42 I think, and I think I'll keep that for a while. I'll try your hull mods (was planning on going through the "Supertune your SuperVee" thread on RCU). My only time running it the thing cut out on me and sank so I've gotta seal it up before doing anything else. The ponds around here are always smooth as glass when I get to them, so I have some room to open up the throttle a bit without getting too badly out of shape. There are also some calm spots in the local rivers that would be fun to boat in once I am sure the electronics will be reliable. I ran it on 12 cells NiMH and it was easily doing 30+, quite the rush compared to the stock 7.2v Villain! :lol:

Yep it is a fun boat. Another thing to ditch is the stock radio, just replace it with a fm setup, and wrap the rx in a balloon, even though it is in the box it is not really all that well sealed.

I was planning on picking up some SR3000s for my boats, that should help the radio system. I have no idea what happened to my SV, it just died and would not re-arm and it sank :(

I have never been into boats but this looks like its going to be pretty cool, and fast.

you said that the drivetrain is not very strong, but can you help a boat noob out, and tell me what exactly is it that breaks on a boat drivetrain? I see it has rusty style joints.