This Team Orion Vortex R8 Sensorless ESC 130A is on its way...!

[bsodmike]

Hi all,

I'm doing an electric conversion on my Kyosho and Mugen Nitro 1/8 buggies; for the moment I'm starting off with the Kyosho.

I've got this following:

• Team Orion Vortex R8 Sensorless 1/8 Scale Brushless ESC (130A, 2-4S) (details)
• Castle Creations Neu-Castle 1515 1Y 1/8 Brushless Motor (2200kV)
  [CSE060-0004-00] - (details)

I've been with their support and here's the issue - the Castle Creations (CC) 1515 motor comes with their custom 6.5 mm CC gold connectors - where can I find the 'female' parts for these? A Main Hobbies only carries the 4 mm CC bullet set.

So the plan is to cut these off the motor and wire in my own cables, same gauge of course for current handling purposes. Now the issue is, what size banana plugs does the ESC use?

I've looked at the Team Orion docs but there is no mention of it at all. The 'universal' banana plug size from speakers is typically 4mm, but it looks like the ESC is using large banana plugs.

Any ideas?

The following battery cables come with the ESC, although I have no clue how the cable at the bottom with dual deans/T-connectors work. Seems like it's a pass-through of some sort or is this for a 4S configuration?

Thanks!!
Mike.

 

[bsodmike]

After some digging, it seems Team Orion use 4mm banana plugs. I've ordered 20 male/female connectors to solder my own ESC <-> motor harness. I've already got some decent heatshrink around.

 

[hamz9561]

The bottom cable is for running dual batteries in a series configuration. A pair of 2s cells is seen as a single 4s by the ESC.

 

[Greywolf74]

You can buy generic 6.5MM bullet connectors from Hobbyking.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__28390__Polymax_6_5mm_Gold_Connectors_5_pairs_10pc_.html

One question though...Why buy a 1515 and then buy an ESC that limits you to 4S? For another 25-35 bucks you could have gotten a MMM. Just curious.

 

[bsodmike]

Hamz- looking at that snaps it's making sense now; thanks!

Gwolf- ahh drat. Since I'm doing the conversion on two I'll get the MMM next time. Thanks for the tip. With the MMM I'd run 2x 3S as series yeah?

 

[hamz9561]

MMM on 6s is a beast.

 

[Greywolf74]

If you want crazy insane power then yes you could run on 6S with the MMM.

 

[bsodmike]

BTW guys, this feels like a rather silly question to ask but ...! Which of the terminals at the front of my Vortex R8 is positive? The manual seems very generic and indicates it is the right terminal. This for power from the lipos. However, the Inferno conversion manual from Kyosho has an example of an ESC with the positive terminal on the left? Hmmm...!! D'oh!!

See that sneaky red dot on the left!!

... gah, I think they forgot to place them stickers on my unit..!

Here's a snap of the conversion from start to finish done this afternoon:

 

[trax de max]

sweet, Team orion has been letting a few things slip lately, I hope it's only cosmetic things and not lack of quality on any of thier products.

 

[bsodmike]

I was just chatting with a support rep @ A Main Hobbies and he was saying that the MMM + 6S would be 'overkill' - any thoughts on this guys?

Would going 6S/MMM improve my bottom-end (acceleration) as well or simply top-speed?
@trax de max - to be fair, I was a bit tired by the time I finished the conversion - think I did it in a 6-8 hr stretch in one go! I'll double check in the morning if that sticker is indeed missing.

---------- Post added at 8:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 8:19 PM ----------

I take it's also safe to trim the motor wires down and solder on my own 4mm gold-plated banana plugs?

 

[trax de max]

With 6s, make sure you have some spare money, alot of parts break, very fast and fun, but i think you loose the driveability of the rc. i would rather have a good drive on 4 or 5s than having a crazy rc.
Trimming down the motor wires is ok on some, but not all. You'd have to check with the manufacturer to be 100% sure.