GMade Komodo....

[Rich23]

Hi

I have just purchased a Komodo kit and need some help with the electronics choice. I'm new to crawlers but not new to RC, my background is in cars, trucks and heli's.

I will be mainly using this in the garden and out at some local places that have some interesting terrain.

First off 2S or 3S power? I'm leaning towards 3S Li-Po with high C ratings I want to run lights and want to keep things simple.

Next is ESC. I've been looking at the Castle sidewinder V3 or a Hobbywing QUICKRUN 10BL60. Any thoughts on these? Or could you recommend one?

Now for motor options... I am looking for suggestions here. I want to go brushless and it must be 3S.

Lastly the steering servo. I have been looking at the Savox series as I am familiar with them but is there a high torque one you can recommend?

Thanks for any help advice you can offer

Rich

[Randy Williams]

Congrats on the rig.

I'd look at the Tekin roc412 set up or a Holmes Hobbies brushless. Mamba max pro esc by castle.

Hi tech or savox are good. I've ran both and have had good luck. I'm trying to decide which I want as well for my Komodo. I have a cheap take off on it at the moment.

Savox 1210 steel gear waterproof alum case 222 oz @ 6.0v $82 us
Savox 0231mg waterproof plastic case 208 oz @ 6.0v $37 us

I'm sure there are better I have a couple 0231mg and they work fine for 1.9s.

However you will want to get a external BEC.

Hope this helps.

[Rich23]

Thanks for your suggestions.

For the servo I've gone with a SA-1230SG Servo for it as it was on special and the spec's look great. Also thanks for suggesting the external BEC, I have ordered the CC 10amp one. I'm still undecided about the ESC but will look into your suggestions, I can't decide weather to go brushed to start with and upgrade later...

Thanks again for your help

Rich

[RicZilla]

I set up mine for brushless but kept it pretty mild with a 21.5T motor. I had to waterproof my Castle MMB pro or else it will stop working if it hits too much water. Brushless will be much more powerfull or fast but you might start to break things and have to upgrade much faster. If you gear for torque and go via the brushed route you probably not see too much difference compared to a brushless setup.

Originally Posted by Rich23

Thanks for your suggestions.

For the servo I've gone with a SA-1230SG Servo for it as it was on special and the spec's look great. Also thanks for suggesting the external BEC, I have ordered the CC 10amp one. I'm still undecided about the ESC but will look into your suggestions, I can't decide weather to go brushed to start with and upgrade later...

Thanks again for your help

Rich

[ou812]

My brother has the quickrun 21.5 turn set up.
For the price its very good.
Its advertised as waterproof but isn't so be careful.
Its a very powerful budget set up on 3s.

I opted for the Skyrc Cheetah 21.5 turn system.Its cheaper,same quality but came with the programing card which allows more tunning.
At $74 shipped from rcmart I could not pass it up.
Mine is in my heavy Gelande 2 Cruiser and it tops at about 12 mph with the smallest pinions possible(13 tooth 32 pitch).It will break stuff if you are not careful on the throttle and know when to let off.

Get the program card for any china esc,you can adjust motor timing which will change the torque powerband,lower timing for low speed power and higher for higher.

[diesel559]

I have just finished my Gmade komodo build and I am currently running a castle sidewinder3 esc with a 35t tekin pro motor. This truck is awesome!!! The only upgrades I have done is the high steer front knuckles they made a huge difference. It turns better than my Vaterra Ascender know. Great truck

[TrailDawg362]

I also run the SV3 and 35T. After trying out a full size 3 cell lipo in the stock location, I noticed the front end lifted a lot when climbing. I switched to a smaller 3S 2100 pack attached to the slider bar opposite the motor and climbing improved quite a bit. Sawback sliders fit nicely on the Komodo .

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Randy Williams

Congrats on the rig.

I'd look at the Tekin roc412 set up or a Holmes Hobbies brushless. Mamba max pro esc by castle.

Hi tech or savox are good. I've ran both and have had good luck. I'm trying to decide which I want as well for my Komodo. I have a cheap take off on it at the moment.

Savox 1210 steel gear waterproof alum case 222 oz @ 6.0v $82 us
Savox 0231mg waterproof plastic case 208 oz @ 6.0v $37 us

I'm sure there are better I have a couple 0231mg and they work fine for 1.9s.

However you will want to get a external BEC.

Hope this helps.

Are you out of your mind? Why would you recommend those expensive, high end products when he's going to be a casual user?

Rich, the HobbyWing products are awesome. They are top tier products at budget prices. I'm a huge fan of the Xtreme Stock and Justock ESCs which are being discontinued. They are as smooth as butter and bullet-proof reliable. The XR10 JUSTOCK is the newest version of their stock ESC. Any of these might work depending on which motor you choose. If not the QuicRun series is great as well.

I personally hate the Castle SV3 for many reasons. It's massive in terms of modern day ESCs, programming it without the Castle Link is a PITA and you can't run it without a BEC in some trucks. I also don't think it's the smoothest ESC out there.

As far as the motor there are lots of options. HobbyWing motors as are HobbyKing's.

As far as the servo goes I use the Solar D772 in most of my rigs. It's just over $20 and it has tons of power and I have never had one fail on me.

[Randy Williams]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Are you out of your mind? Why would you recommend those expensive, high end products when he's going to be a casual user?

Quite possibly.

Short answer is quality and customer service.

He said he was looking at a castle ESC. HH isn't much more money. I missed where he indicated he was looking for low end budget. I simply made suggestions around the price range of the castle.

I also have hobby wing sensored brushless set up in an scx10. It runs pretty good. Although programming the hobby wing ESC with the crappy card is a PITA.

Everyone has their opinions man. He asked I answered as did others. No reason to wig out and start questioning someone's mental state because they don't agree 100% with your beliefs.

IMO a brushed motor is more than enough for the Komodo. He wants brushless I would be willing to bet he bought one a while ago not too long after he made the original post.... in January.