Natedog's Vaterra ASCENDER

[Browneye]

I've heard about the Holme's products - would you recommend them for my next build?
Castle?
Tekin?
RC4WD 540 motors are really cheap - are they any good? I'm trying to assess what actual benefits there are for spending a lot more on esc and motor, over how they're configured stock. Some are running brushless too, with expensive controllers.

Any radio recommendations? You mentioned Fly and amazon has them with good reviews and a good price. I come from a long line of rc aircraft where Futaba and Airtronics ruled. LOL
I have a brand new Spektrum 6 channel for aircraft that's never been out of the box.

With the same gearing but 3s and a 20T or so, how much more wheel speed does one get? The stock ascender is just a little more than walking speed. You had mentioned that you had not changed gearing. And what does that do to crawl speed? I have heard some complain that increased wheel speed also sped up their crawl, undesirably so.


EDIT: That's a really good article - thanks! Helps a lot.

 

[M1tch]

@Browneye. I run 3s as I prefer that for efficiency and once the gearing is right, you can crawl just as effectively as 2s, but have the extra wheel speed available 'on tap' rather than having to shift gears. I don't run 2 speed trans in my Ascender just because I cant be bothered. I find 3s with the right gearing just as good.

 

[Browneye]

@Browneye. I run 3s as I prefer that for efficiency and once the gearing is right, you can crawl just as effectively as 2s, but have the extra wheel speed available 'on tap' rather than having to shift gears. I don't run 2 speed trans in my Ascender just because I cant be bothered. I find 3s with the right gearing just as good.

Yeah, that's what I'm going for.
So which motor and gearing? LOL

I'm understanding the closed and open can motors now, get that. Holmes has some nice product, and Tekin is easy to source as well - everything is similarly priced - about $150 for esc and motor.

So if you run 3s what do you do for a battery? I really like the floating stock tray so would like to stay with a compact lipo.

And with 3s you need a BEC for the steering servo, right?

I posted on John Holme's tech thread as well. I like what he's doing for the hobby, small company, personal service, warranty coverage, etc.

I only want to do this once.

 

[M1tch]

I run 1300mah 3s, but have found a 2700 that will just fit in the stock battery tray at a push. ESC in my old Ascender is a Tekin FX-R (I think) with a Tekin 30T handwound motor. Very smooth and so much better than any cheap 35T. also the Tekin ESC is so small it fits in the fuel cell with a Spektrum receiver.

 

[HumboldtEF]

I'm understanding the closed and open can motors now, get that. Holmes has some nice product, and Tekin is easy to source as well - everything is similarly priced - about $150 for esc and motor.

So if you run 3s what do you do for a battery? I really like the floating stock tray so would like to stay with a compact lipo.

And with 3s you need a BEC for the steering servo, right?

I posted on John Holme's tech thread as well. I like what he's doing for the hobby, small company, personal service, warranty coverage, etc.

I only want to do this once.

The Holmes and Tekin motors are pretty awesome for the low speed start up and control, but the sealed cans are nice in that if you plan on going in mud or lots of water when something goes wrong they're cheap to replace. I'm partial to the Crawlmaster Holmes motors, don't let the 13T rating fool you, turn for turn they are always slower than others. Holmes ESC's are tweaked Castle Creations ESC's, I love the silent mode they add though (no high pitched noises under throttle).

The 3S battery I use fits in the stock tray with a little bit of room to spare, Protek 3S shorty , its been pretty great for run times and is a LIHV (lipo high voltage) so it holds a bit higher of a charge 13.05V compared to 12.4V. its makeup of Silicone Graphene is said to be less likely to puff and to allow the higher voltage (you need a LIHV capable charger to take full advantage of them). I think after Nate saw the long run time I was getting he was impressed with this battery.

The reason for a BEC isn't the battery its the steering servo. A strong servo will benefit from a BEC which can feed it more voltage than the built in BEC that ESC's have. You'll definitely want a strong servo in a crawler.

If you have other questions it might be a good time to start a fresh thread so we aren't hijacking Nate's thread anymore

 

[Natedog]

Going lower profile and COG, added aluminum Axial crossmember in place of fuel cell mount. Cut out two 1/4" thick black kydex spacers to go inside frame rails, slid the cell down and back as low as it could go and not limit suspension movement, glued it to the spacers, drilled and bolted in place with rear shock tower mount screws. More to come...down lower.

 

[rs10man]

nice stance, should stick to the rocks for side hilling

 

[Itali83]

Thanks Nate! Now I have more work to do. Can't believe I didn't notice the fuel cell could be dropped some. I'm keeping my battery tray floating but I've lowered that 5mm in the front and 10mm in the rear already.
Plus I'm dropping the whole truck with my new braven Ironsides that are on their way.

Ben

 

[Natedog]

You're welcome lol, dropped it about 11mm on mine. I'll do the floating tray drop on my Blazer like yours. Those tires are hot, can't wait to see them on your truck!

 

[M1tch]

I might try that on my Landy Ascender.. No fuel cell on No:2 as everything is up front. Good to see you are still improving the Ascender. "thumbsup"

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Natedog! that K10 is gunna be awesome man!

Thanks for sharing your killer Ascender mods with everybody. If I didnt already have a big stack of 2S shorty packs I would be getting some of those fancy graphine high voltage shorty packs and copying what you have done.

good work my man! now get out there and show us some pics of it outin some of that beautiful Cali outdoors.

The big California fires have been on the news here, hope everyone if safe and well.

 

[Natedog]

Follow the leader with Rockhugger's Traxxas nicely modded TRX-4 and my Ascender Blazer. TRX4 with body lowered one hole on mounts, MFR brass portal covers, home-made lowered batter tray, Ernie Codyboy brass knuckle rotor weights, preloaded stock rear springs, lifted bumpers and few other little mods did really well considering the body weighs almost two pounds and it's up on portals. There were some sidehills and steep climbs taht my Blazer made, that the Traxxas just couldnt' follow with stock body.

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Looking good Natedog!
Good to get out for a trail run, no luck for me at the moment, Christmas craziness!

 

[Natedog]

Thanks YetiStealth, it is good to get out for a crawl! Protek 3500mah 3S LIHV pack ran four hours or a little more, partly with lights going too! I'm busy multi-tasking, swapping in a new toilet, building shelving units, drinking afternoon coffee still and posting updates here lol. Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[Itali83]

Nice pics Nate! We are buried in snow and have temps topping out in the teens and below zero at night all week! Nice to see the old blazer still out and about. Thought it may be a shelf queen by now. Glad it's not! I'd love to play follow the leader with my truck and yours out there on those beautiful rocks. Keep the pictures coming for us frozen in the northeast please!

Ben

 

[Ascender'nMN84]

Good to hear solid reports about that 3s battery. I've had my eye on them for a bit but have been waiting to hear run-time reports. Sadly I think it's been close to a month since I've gotten to trail and with a high of -5* F on Saturday, I don't see getting out this weekend either. Crossing my fingers the predator tracks finally get here tomorrow so I can get some Ascender time in my life again. Need to talk to Ernie too... Merry Christmas a day late Nate!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[M1tch]

Nice pics Natedog. Still raining here Can't seem to get those batteries over here, and expensive to import. 2700mah give me a couple of hours run time, but need new soon as showing their age.

 

[Natedog]

Thanks Ben, that would be fun for a week, we haven't had but maybe 10 days of rain all winter iirc, I miss it sometimes. Heck, Blazer is my go to crawler, always try to keep it ready and works great, my best performing (and great looking imo) crawler! When you're enroute call me and we'll go for a crawl/hike, that would be great! Will try to keep pics coming, K10 is due for the next step.

Thanks, Ascender'nMN84, HumboldtEF got me on them, love em so far! Hope your tracks show soon and you get time to run a bit, Ernie always has something nice brewing in RC, thanks for Christmas wishes!

Thanks Mitch, love to hop the pond and spend a week splashing in puddles! Hmmmm, AMain is the distributor it seems, they are expensive, but worth the price I paid, might not be with duty and alll. Yes, that's good mah too, I love the size of the Protek and the LIHV kicks, long runtime and lots of volts!

 

[rockhugger]

Great pics Nate !!!! Can't wait To go out again. Ready when you are. "thumbsup"

 

[Natedog]

Thanks, yes me too!