Picked up a R1Pro

[jhautz]

I picked up a 1 race weekend used R1Pro for a song (Cheaper than a MM) from a local guy who bought it originally to run in his 4 cell oval racer and he didn't like it due some issue it apparently has with low voltage, high kv motors. So for the price I couldn't pass it up and I have no intention of running low voltage on it

Anyway I was just looking the instructions over and it gives settings for the LVC at 6V and 9V only. It says to use the Hotwire programing interface to set any other "custom" voltages. Well I want to set it to 15V damn it. but apparently I cant set a LVC on this thing without the Hotwire interface, and its not released yet. So I guess this testing will go on hold for a little while.

That just burns my butt that they sell a piece of equipment without all of the necessary accessories available to make it work.

Anyone know when the hotwire is gonna be available? Tower says Mid Feb, but every month they just move it back another month so you cant trust that.

[teknorc]

Same here. I'm running one on 4s without a proper LVC. I'm just testing things, but hope the Hotwire interface is out soon so I can run a full pack without worry. So far though, I really like this controller. Small and compact. It was a little more work to wire up since you have to solder everything up. The RX8 should hopefully be out in a couple/few months, so the days of running an under-spec'd ESC with an external BEC are almost over :)

[jhautz]

How has it been doing heat wise for you. Any thermal issues in a 1/8 yet?

[teknorc]

Before pulling it off the track (so I wouldn't damage my batteries due to no LVC), I ran for over 10 minutes in a Losi 8B/4s/Feigao 11L. No issues whatsoever. The ESC temp'd at 120-130 (no fan or heatsink). Very smooth controller.

[jhautz]

Nice! Is that buggy set up with your clutch system?

[teknorc]

Of course

I have it set up identically to how the eRevo clutch is set up. I'm using Racer's Edge Revo/Maxx clutch bells. They are hardened (I verified with the manufacturer) and use 5 x 10mm bearings so there is extra material around the bearings. The Traxxas clutch bells use 5 x 11mm bearings so there is very little material/strength around the bearing and they are not hardened. They can break which is why Robinson insists you use their clutch bells with their spur gears.

With the compact flywheel, the setup can be put in many places. The Revo clutch bells are also a couple mm less in diameter than a 1/8 clutch bell.

0 issues with the clutch setup in my buggies and truggies so far aside from the e-clip popping off once. Been using a screw with thread locker and some shims to secure the clutch bell since (like normal people do :) and problem solved. Plenty of power and plenty of run time. I didn't feel the vehicles slowing during a 15 minute main. I was able to clear all jumps at the end of the race just like at the beginning. Using 4s/6000 in the buggies, 4s/8000 in the truggies.

[lincpimp]

Sounds like some good info there.

I have modded a 4tec clutch bell and will run it with a your clutch adapter in my 2 speed yusa rally (like an inferno gt). It is 1/8 scale and geared pretty high so wee will see how it runs. I am using an integy 3 shoe al clutch and we will see how it does. I had to turn the flywheel down to fit, but the integy flywheel is larger than a stock or lightweight traxxas. Motor is a 2600kv aveox and I am using a quark 125 airmaster esc. 4s lipo to start and I may step up to 5s for speed runs. 4s should do 70mph in second, so I may not bother with 5s!

Hehe, a local tekin team driver has a proto hot wire (along with many proto R1 PRO's and all... He has had the speedo in testing for almost a year now, and I might just have to use it IDK whats different from the real one though.. He wont tell me

Let us know how you like it Mine should be here very soon

[jhautz]

Originally Posted by teknorc

Of course

I have it set up identically to how the eRevo clutch is set up. I'm using Racer's Edge Revo/Maxx clutch bells. They are hardened (I verified with the manufacturer) and use 5 x 10mm bearings so there is extra material around the bearings. The Traxxas clutch bells use 5 x 11mm bearings so there is very little material/strength around the bearing and they are not hardened. They can break which is why Robinson insists you use their clutch bells with their spur gears.

With the compact flywheel, the setup can be put in many places. The Revo clutch bells are also a couple mm less in diameter than a 1/8 clutch bell.

0 issues with the clutch setup in my buggies and truggies so far aside from the e-clip popping off once. Been using a screw with thread locker and some shims to secure the clutch bell since (like normal people do :) and problem solved. Plenty of power and plenty of run time. I didn't feel the vehicles slowing during a 15 minute main. I was able to clear all jumps at the end of the race just like at the beginning. Using 4s/6000 in the buggies, 4s/8000 in the truggies.

I have 2 XB8s set up right now. One with the clutch and one with a conventional direct drive. They are both running identicle setups... Same ESC, same motor (Neu 1512/2.5D) same lipo, same gearing, tires, shock setup, everything. I did it so I could compare the performance with and without the clutch.

So far I like the clutch setup, but can I ask what shoes you are using? I am using the M2C 3 shoe aluminum shoes with the Racers Edge c-bell. The lightest springs they make for that clutch are .9 and I still wish it would grab a little sooner. The M2C clutch can't be setup with the shoes reversed. Any recomendations for a good clutch setup? I was thinking about leaving 1 or 2 springs out completely or possibly going to the stock revo shoes in a reverse(leading) setup.

EDIT: just a note. The one with the clutch runs cooler temps on the esc but higher temps on the motor.Temps are not bad on either one but its a detectable differance. Run time on them is most identical. I can get around 17-18 minutes of race condition running on either setup with a 5000mah 4s pack.

O yea... And I need to decide which of these XB8s to test the R1Pro in. I'm thinking the conventional one cuz it runs higher esc temps so I'll get a better idea of what the R1 is capable of.

[Matthew_Armeni]

Originally Posted by jhautz

I have 2 XB8s set up right now. One with the clutch and one with a conventional direct drive. They are both running identicle setups... Same ESC, same motor (Neu 1512/2.5D) same lipo, same gearing, tires, shock setup, everything. I did it so I could compare the performance with and without the clutch.

So far I like the clutch setup, but can I ask what shoes you are using? I am using the M2C 3 shoe aluminum shoes with the Racers Edge c-bell. The lightest springs they make for that clutch are .9 and I still wish it would grab a little sooner. The M2C clutch can't be setup with the shoes reversed. Any recomendations for a good clutch setup? I was thinking about leaving 1 or 2 springs out completely or possibly going to the stock revo shoes in a reverse(leading) setup.

EDIT: just a note. The one with the clutch runs cooler temps on the esc but higher temps on the motor.Temps are not bad on either one but its a detectable differance. Run time on them is most identical. I can get around 17-18 minutes of race condition running on either setup with a 5000mah 4s pack.

O yea... And I need to decide which of these XB8s to test the R1Pro in. I'm thinking the conventional one cuz it runs higher esc temps so I'll get a better idea of what the R1 is capable of.

He's running stock Revo shoes in the leading position with a spring I'm pretty sure. The M2C's can't be run backwards? Weird. What if you remove the springs, can they be put on backwards then? What ESC you are running? I wanted my clutch to engage a little earlier as well but didn't like how it felt without the spring so I altered the throttle curve on my MM. Instead of a straight diagonel line from 0-100 I raised the start point to about 15. I drew a picture to make it easier to explain, the one on the top is normal, the bottom is mine. Gave it more snap but still good controlable clutch feel.

[teknorc]

Like Matt said, I'm running the stock Revo shoes and spring (TRA4146, not 4146X). I run in the leading position just like the Revo conversion as well. If you are running the M2C 3-shoe setup, like you suggested, just take out one of the springs to get more snap. If it's still not enough, take out two, then three. If that still isn't enough, take one shoe out completely, run one shoe leading, the other trailing, and don't use any springs. I know that sounds a little weird, but I tried that on one of my truggies and it was really snappy.

[jhautz]

OK. A little update on the R1Pro. I got sick of waiting for the Hotwire to be released so I wired up the R1Pro into my XB8 and moved the MM to the Truggy until the MMM is released.

Anyway, some observations from running it today.

UPSIDE: ULTRA butter smooth throttle and braking controll!!!! The absolute smoothest most controllable ESC I have driven in a 1/8. It ran 5s without a hitch. I just used a 1000mfd 35V capacitor on it instead of the one that came with it and no problems at all.

Downside.... It ran a little hot. I littereally ran the exact same setup that I was running the MM with. Same buggy, gearing, motor, battery and tires, so it the load on the esc should have been exactly the same. It ran an entire pack and never shut down, but when I pulled it off after about 15 minutes (about 3/4 of a pack) the built in thermal indicator was at max and touching the wires and posts comming out of the esc, they were pretty hot to the touch. To be fair though, I ran a fan on the MM and there ws no fan on the R1Pro. But! Its cold outside. Even in the indoor track area its just a little above freezing so I'm not sure this would be very good if it were hot outside.

I will keep playing with it and see what else I learn. I am hoping that getting the Hotwire USB programmer will open up some tuning options that will help me keep it running cooler. There isnt alot you can do with the pistol grip tuning options. I might also add a second 1000mfd 35V capacitor to see if that also helps with the temps.

Overall I gotta say I really like it so far in the limited testing I did. I cant stress enough how nice it felt

The setup was:
XB8 buggy
R1Pro
CC BEC
Hacker 50B 10XL
5s 4350mah 25c lipo
16/46 gearing (about 40 mph)

Pics of the instal?

[jhautz]

Wires are still a little "un-managed" but I just tossed it in last night quickly and wanted to run it today. I wasnt sure if it was going to stay in long or not so I didn't spend alot of time making it all neat.

Heres a few quick pics.

[jhautz]

Now that I'm thinking about this, I might throw the Neu 1515/2.5D in there for next week and see how it does running that.