Best ESCs for your Micro-Trucks

[donaldsneffe]

Hi guys,
meanwhile I do have a ton of small to super small trucks, from WPL/MN size over 1/18 RC4WD, CR-18, Mini-Z 4x4, Panda Hobby and 1/24 SCX24, CR-24, RGT to Orlandoos.

Finding good brushed ESCs for micros seemed to be impossible.

I want a small or tiny ESC, that makes no noise and has very good low speed modulation.

This is the reason why many use good large ESCs, such as the Hobbywing Quicrun 1080, even in smell trucks such as the SCX24.
Because of size, weight and large wires this is IMO no perfect solution.

Now I found some small ESCs from a small German company, modellbau-regler.de, which do show absolutely stunning low speed performance (at least on par, but probably even better then the Hobbywing Quicrun 1080) and are absolutely silent (PWM 18 kHz).
To be exact: Not I did find those ESCs, but a buddy from German rockcrawler.de forum, nick RCfreund. He reported about the awsome performance in the Katana thread of this forum.


I bought two types of ESCs from this company (AS12/6 RW Easy and AS12/15RW BEC) and made tests comparing those to all the small brushed ESCs I do have here and to the Hobbywing Quicrun 1080 (as a kind of reference).
I tested the ESCs of modellbau-regler.de and I did test the Hobbywing Quicrun 1625, the DumboRC ESC, the Turbo Racing 60025 (also sold as Hobby Plus), the Orlandoo ESC, and a red and blue "cheap China ESC".

Before testing all those ESCs in a SCX24 and in a CR-18 chassis, I measured the Amp-draw of those small trucks under extreme torture, using a RC4WD 1/18 Defender, a SCX24, a CR-18 and a Panda Hobby Tetra K1 as models. I wanted to know how big an ESC has to be to be used in those micros.
Those measurements revealed far less than 2 A max draw in the RC4WD 1/18, little more than 4 A in the SCX24, little more than 5 A in the CR-18 and about 8 A in the Panda Hobby Tetra K1.


I made videos about those tests.

Here you find the video with test of "stock performance" of all my 1/24 and 1/18 trucks (SCX24, Atlas 6x6, CR-18, Katana, Patrion, SG1802, Mini-Z 4x4, RC4WD 1/18, Panda Hobby Tetra K1, CR-24, RGT 1/24) and tests of all the ESCs mentioned above, including the HW 1080, in SCX24 and CR-18.
The test of the "winner ESCs" starts at 53:30:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d_WOpvopjs&t=812s


And here is the video with the Amp-draw tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d_WOpvopjs&t=812s



Since many German (native speakers) complain about videos in general and videos in non-German-language especially, I did open a thead in the German forum, where I do explain all those ESCs in more detail.
If you should understand German, you can read this here:
https://www.rockcrawler.de/thread/46074-die-besten-escs-geschwindigkeitsregler-für-micro-crawler/
If not, you should be good with the info in the description box of the testvideo, where I list the ESCs and their data. There are also links to the ECs.


Cheers,
Walter

 

[OnTheTrail]

Looked forward to viewing your review video, Walter. Really enjoy your analytical work and raw data.

Funny, I watched one of your recent videos comparing some programmable ESCs and you went into detail about the noise the ESCs could make. At the time, I didn't think much about it as most of my rigs are run outdoors and are already fairly quiet (all have the HW1080). Then I picked up a Roc Hobby Katana last week and OMG the ESC noise is driving me nuts. So much so, I barely run the rig indoors.

 

[Vitamin_J]

This was an awesome test! Well worth the watch. I have several of the AS12s coming to put on my little trucks.

I know they are only supposed to work on 2S but did you test to see if it would work on a 1S truck also such as the Element24 Sendero?

 

[donaldsneffe]

This was an awesome test! Well worth the watch. I have several of the AS12s coming to put on my little trucks.

I know they are only supposed to work on 2S but did you test to see if it would work on a 1S truck also such as the Element24 Sendero?

Hi,
no, I did not test, but I am quite sure they will not work.
But I can easily check this later this day, I will report.

However, you can run the "1s motor" on 2s without any problems.
I do not have a 1/24 Sendero, but I do have two RGT 1/24 - I guess, they are the same?
Both of my RGTs do have the (large) front motor.
It is no problem at all to run those motors with the 2s ESC.

If you will run those on 2s this will be a huge upgrade. You will get way better low speed control and you will get faster high speed and you will get a lot more torque.


Furthermore:
I do have the small motor in the CR-24, and you can also run those motors without problems on 2s.

Walter

 

[Vitamin_J]

Yes that is my plan to run on 2s but it would be nice to have the option to run 1s for super light weight setup. Looking forward to testing the new ESCs as when people run the stock Sendero on 2s it is really jumpy and uncontrollable. It may take awhile they sent me an email saying some shipments are going by sea :shock:

 

[vinceherman]

I have several of the AS12s coming to put on my little trucks.

Tell us where you ordered them from please. It would be an interesting experiment to try one or 2 of these on my trucks.

 

[donaldsneffe]

Tell us where you ordered them from please. It would be an interesting experiment to try one or 2 of these on my trucks.

You get them here (Germany):
https://www.modellbau-regler.de/shop/

And here (Austria):
https://www.scm-modellbau.com/

BTW:
Links to the ESCs are in the video description

Walter

 

[Shape_Shifter]

Thanks for pointing this out. Im going to try one. I did notice that both AS12/6 RW Easy and AS12/15RW BEC do not have lipo low voltage cut off protection. This will destroy your battery (and possibly burn your house down!).

I will be using a Liposaver and recommend you do also. They seem to be out of stock at Modelbau-regler, but I have been using these for years: https://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/liposhield

 

[vinceherman]

https://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/liposhield

Just a funny note - These guys are from my neighborhood. I met some of them at one of the local shows and I get a kick out of it every time I see them come up.
And Yes, I do have several of their products.

 

[donaldsneffe]

Thanks for pointing this out. Im going to try one. I did notice that both AS12/6 RW Easy and AS12/15RW BEC do not have lipo low voltage cut off protection. This will destroy your battery (and possibly burn your house down!).

I will be using a Liposaver and recommend you do also. They seem to be out of stock at Modelbau-regler, but I have been using these for years: https://www.dimensionengineering.com/products/liposhield

Puuh... yes, but I have to admit never took any attention to this.
I never would run my Lipos that low down anyway... and I am not using a Liposaver in the trucks.
Maybe that is because I am originally a "heli-guy", not a truck guy and therefore take much more care of and attention to my Lipos than (many of the) truck guys do. Many seem to come to RC trucks from "toygrade cars", where you drive till it does not drive anymore and then charge/change batteries. So they are not used to care about batteries...



I forgot to mention:
The larger 12/15 is even waterproof (conformal coating).

Walter

 

[donaldsneffe]

(and possibly burn your house down!).

Sorry, but I have to point this out:
That's the thing "car guys and batteries" I mentioned in my previous posting.

Sorry, no offense, but this is WRONG!!!

Why should it burn your house down?
Why should a Lipo without energy burn your house down?
Every Lipo-Killer does the same, I have several I use befor discarding old Lipos.
It takes all the energy out of your Lipo.
And putting Lipos into salt water (for discharging/killing) does the same.

So why should deeply discharging your Lipo burn your house down?
If you have old Lipos which you want to discard (of course not in the normal garbage), you will do exactly this: taking all energy out.


Please, ... do not spread such...

Walter

 

[Shape_Shifter]

Sorry, but I have to point this out:
That's the thing "car guys and batteries" I mentioned in my previous posting.

Sorry, no offense, but this is WRONG!!!

Why should it burn your house down?
Why should a Lipo without energy burn your house down?
Every Lipo-Killer does the same, I have several I use befor discarding old Lipos.
It takes all the energy out of your Lipo.
And putting Lipos into salt water (for discharging/killing) does the same.

So why should deeply discharging your Lipo burn your house down?
If you have old Lipos which you want to discard (of course not in the normal garbage), you will do exactly this: taking all energy out.


Please, ... do not spread such...

Walter

I don't have the energy to explain my first hand experience with lipos causing property damage to every newbie that comes along.

Overdischarging multi-cell lipos is hazardous. Is is possible this can cause fires? - yes. Is it likely? - no. Will it ruin the pack and waste your money? - absolutely. Will anything I say convince you otherwise? - it doesn't seem like it.

If you don't properly maintain your batteries, you do so at your own peril. Good luck.

 

[donaldsneffe]

Countless hobbyists (including me) ruined a Lipo because they did not or forgot to plug off the battery from a truck with a Hobbywing Quicrun 1080, which draws little amperage even when switched to off...

... and you are right, no, I do not want to continue this discussion if it is already too energy consuming for you now.

Walter

 

[Vitamin_J]

I'll let you guys know if I ever run one of these micros down to low voltage. Hours of fun on a single charge!

A discharged lipo can start to fill with hydrogen which is flammable but without an ignition source, no fire. No energy in the lipo, no ignition.

 

[Vitamin_J]

Did you ever get a chance to test the AS12s on 1s? Just curious as I wait for my order to arrive. Would be cool if they do. If not then I'll get some super small 2s ordered.

 

[donaldsneffe]

Did you ever get a chance to test the AS12s on 1s? Just curious as I wait for my order to arrive. Would be cool if they do. If not then I'll get some super small 2s ordered.

Not yet.
Can check later.
Probably won't work (German descriptions are normally very exact ).

Will see.
The only ESC out of my tests that should work with 1s is the TurboRacing (but did not test this on 1s, either).

Will answer later that day!

But I see also a problem with the BEC - will have to directly plug the 1s Lipo to the receiver... make somy y-harness.

Walter

 

[Voodoobrew]

Depends on how much work you want to do but these are not very expensive and light weight
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/micro-scale-rigs/623254-best-slow-start-scx24.html

 

[Aeronuclear]

Hi guys,
meanwhile I do have a ton of small to super small trucks, from WPL/MN size over 1/18 RC4WD, CR-18, Mini-Z 4x4, Panda Hobby and 1/24 SCX24, CR-24, RGT to Orlandoos.

Finding good brushed ESCs for micros seemed to be impossible.

I want a small or tiny ESC, that makes no noise and has very good low speed modulation.

This is the reason why many use good large ESCs, such as the Hobbywing Quicrun 1080, even in smell trucks such as the SCX24.
Because of size, weight and large wires this is IMO no perfect solution.

Now I found some small ESCs from a small German company, modellbau-regler.de, which do show absolutely stunning low speed performance (at least on par, but probably even better then the Hobbywing Quicrun 1080) and are absolutely silent (PWM 18 kHz).
To be exact: Not I did find those ESCs, but a buddy from German rockcrawler.de forum, nick RCfreund. He reported about the awsome performance in the Katana thread of this forum.


I bought two types of ESCs from this company (AS12/6 RW Easy and AS12/15RW BEC) and made tests comparing those to all the small brushed ESCs I do have here and to the Hobbywing Quicrun 1080 (as a kind of reference).
I tested the ESCs of modellbau-regler.de and I did test the Hobbywing Quicrun 1625, the DumboRC ESC, the Turbo Racing 60025 (also sold as Hobby Plus), the Orlandoo ESC, and a red and blue "cheap China ESC".

Before testing all those ESCs in a SCX24 and in a CR-18 chassis, I measured the Amp-draw of those small trucks under extreme torture, using a RC4WD 1/18 Defender, a SCX24, a CR-18 and a Panda Hobby Tetra K1 as models. I wanted to know how big an ESC has to be to be used in those micros.
Those measurements revealed far less than 2 A max draw in the RC4WD 1/18, little more than 4 A in the SCX24, little more than 5 A in the CR-18 and about 8 A in the Panda Hobby Tetra K1.


I made videos about those tests.

Here you find the video with test of "stock performance" of all my 1/24 and 1/18 trucks (SCX24, Atlas 6x6, CR-18, Katana, Patrion, SG1802, Mini-Z 4x4, RC4WD 1/18, Panda Hobby Tetra K1, CR-24, RGT 1/24) and tests of all the ESCs mentioned above, including the HW 1080, in SCX24 and CR-18.
The test of the "winner ESCs" starts at 53:30:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d_WOpvopjs&t=812s


And here is the video with the Amp-draw tests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d_WOpvopjs&t=812s



Since many German (native speakers) complain about videos in general and videos in non-German-language especially, I did open a thead in the German forum, where I do explain all those ESCs in more detail.
If you should understand German, you can read this here:
https://www.rockcrawler.de/thread/46074-die-besten-escs-geschwindigkeitsregler-für-micro-crawler/
If not, you should be good with the info in the description box of the testvideo, where I list the ESCs and their data. There are also links to the ECs.


Cheers,
Walter

My god awesome job Walter. This benefits a lot of people.

Is the below how it comes in the package?

https://en.fechtner-modellbau.de/12909/1x-fahrregler-as-12/6rw-easy-mit-kabeln.-100-vor/zurueck

to connect the ESC to my existing Receiver (a stock KATANA 1/18 land cruiser), is it just connecting the 4 loose end to the motor and the battery?

Thanks

p/s: just checked with the German website, shipping to the UK is another €18. Probably post Brexit. Not ideal. Anyone from the UK knows if there is any seller in the country for this?
Thanks

 

[donaldsneffe]

Hi,

My god awesome job Walter. This benefits a lot of people.

Is the below how it comes in the package?

https://en.fechtner-modellbau.de/12909/1x-fahrregler-as-12/6rw-easy-mit-kabeln.-100-vor/zurueck

to connect the ESC to my existing Receiver (a stock KATANA 1/18 land cruiser), is it just connecting the 4 loose end to the motor and the battery?

Thanks

p/s: just checked with the German website, shipping to the UK is another €18. Probably post Brexit. Not ideal. Anyone from the UK knows if there is any seller in the country for this?
Thanks

That is the version with wires.
I only bought those without.
Their wires are much too large for a micro anyway

Shipping to UK that expensive?
Hmmm... guess to US it was also "only" 8 € as to my country?

I missed that they are also sold in my country (Austria) by https://www.scm-modellbau.com/ - and shipment (4 €) is much cheaper there for me, 100+ € shipment free for me.
However, I paid 3 x € 8 for shipment from Germany

Check, where it is cheapest for you.

Walter

 

[Aeronuclear]

Hi,


That is the version with wires.
I only bought those without.
Their wires are much too large for a micro anyway

Shipping to UK that expensive?
Hmmm... guess to US it was also "only" 8 € as to my country?

I missed that they are also sold in my country (Austria) by https://www.scm-modellbau.com/ - and shipment (4 €) is much cheaper there for me, 100+ € shipment free for me.
However, I paid 3 x € 8 for shipment from Germany

Check, where it is cheapest for you.

Walter

Thanks Walter. The wires version can be used directly to the existing receiver of the Katana 1/18 right? But I need to add a BEC? What amp BEC? For a 2s lipo.
Will look around more for cheaper postage.