Senton Power Help

[305HemiGuy]

Hey guys, just curious to see/hear what you guys are powering your Sentons with. I started off with a Reedy brushless combo, I wasn't too happy with the performance of the system at all, especially the fact that I couldn't even program the ESC. I'm a bit of a self-admitted Castle fanboy, so I recently just swapped in Axial Vanguard 3150kv combo (Rebranded Castle ESC & motor). Much to my surprise, this combo doesn't have the grunt and raw power that I was expecting from Castle. I started off with an 18 tooth pinion in the Castle setup, this is even lower than the stock 20t. It thermaled several times, and in the grass it didn't even have enough starting power to barely move. Yesterday I dropped it down to an 16t pinion. I haven't fully tested it outside yet, but it seems slightly better. However, even just putting around on my carpet I noticed the motor wires going to the ESC were getting a little warm. I double checked my gear mesh to make sure it's not too tight, and I even went in checked all the ESC settings via Castle Link. Here's something else I find odd, In my K6 also running Castle setup, the second I squeeze the trigger it takes off like an angry ape with gobs of immediate torque. But in this setup, when I squeeze the trigger it's like there's a half-second lag for the full power and torque to kick in and really get it moving. I've read some reviews on the Axial forums and quite a few of them state that this setup does seem to run pretty hot on 3S for some reason. Ultimately, I'm looking for full instantaneous power & cooler running temps. At this point I'm not sure if I should try a different ESC, or if the motor is the culprit. I'm more-so leaning to replacing the ESC.

 

[Senton_Prime]

Well for starters, that's a crawler setup.. how did you come about choosing that setup for your senton.. was it a mega or boost I'm assuming!?

 

[305HemiGuy]

Well for starters, that's a crawler setup.. how did you come about choosing that setup for your senton.. was it a mega or boost I'm assuming!?

That particular setup (3150kv brushless motor & AE-3 ESC) is not for crawlers, it was made for the 1/10 Yeti Rock Racer, which is now discontinued. It's bigger 1/8 brother (The Yeti XL) had a 2200kv brushless system also made by Castle. That system works beautifully in my Kraton 6S, so I figured I'd try the 1/10 setup for my Senton. And yes, it started life as a Mega roller.

 

[Senton_Prime]

That particular setup (3150kv brushless motor & AE-3 ESC) is not for crawlers, it was made for the 1/10 Yeti Rock Racer, which is now discontinued. It's bigger 1/8 brother (The Yeti XL) had a 2200kv brushless system also made by Castle. That system works beautifully in my Kraton 6S, so I figured I'd try the 1/10 setup for my Senton. And yes, it started life as a Mega roller.
View attachment 326007

Oh sry my bad!! I forgot about those.. was thinking of their crawlers.. aren't those things slow tho?

Are you using the stock tx/rx?

 

[305HemiGuy]

Oh sry my bad!! I forgot about those.. was thinking of their crawlers.. aren't those things slow tho?

Are you using the stock tx/rx?

No sir, those things were pretty quick...I'd put it in the same class as the Lasernut. I'm using a DumboRC tx/rx. Motor response was much better with the Reedy setup, which is just rebranded Hobbywing.

 

[SrC]

The plain Jane Reedy RTR stuff, ESC's and all are horrible. Just me. I been there. Reedy has the $$good$$ stuff. Expensive "Black Box" Race stuff.
But I would simply go to CC or HW Upgrade Retail boxed electrics. ESC's are very tunable.

 

[305HemiGuy]

The plain Jane Reedy RTR stuff, ESC's and all are horrible. Just me. I been there. Reedy has the $$good$$ stuff. Expensive "Black Box" Race stuff.
But I would simply go to CC or HW Upgrade Retail boxed electrics. ESC's are very tunable.

Totally agree with those opinions.

So I'm getting closer to having this thing dialed in. I took a chance on an Amazon motor, a 2700KV from a company called X Steam. The reviews looked pretty good so I went for it. It looks like a Castle clone tbh, but the power delivery and torque are much much better with this motor. I'm very happy with it so far. I'm still having a thermal issue with the ESC, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was before. I really think the thermal issues are due to the adapter plugs I'm running from the battery to the ESC. I'm running a 20t pinion for now, which is the same as stock. Eventually I'll get the correct connectors soldered onto to the ESC and I think that'll do it for this project.