Losi mini JRX2 brushless conversion
When the Losi mini JRX2 was released I was excited to get my hands on one and have a blast around the carpark. After a couple of runs on the stock brushed electronics it soon became apparent that the handling was great however the little 42t brushed motor left a bit to be desired in the speed department! So I scanned our website to look for a cheap way to get some more poke out of this little backpack racer. After a brief search I found the Hobbywing 18A brushless Motor/ESC combo at a very reasonable price so the decision was made. Time to convert this little racer to brushless!
First thing to do was strip out all of the stock electronics excluding the Spektrum steering servo that we will keep fitted.
I Also purchased a new Radiolink Gyro receiver to go with my current Radiolink RC4GS transmitter. It's always worth having a handset with model memory so that you do not have to have 10 transmitters laying around the house!
Next was to decide where the electronics will be mounted to the chassis to try and keep it neat and tidy. This was the layout I decided to opt for.
Motor fitted! Nice and easy, make sure that the holes are lined up for the correct pinion, in this case I re-used the stock 17T pinion gear. Due to the fixed mount you can run either 17T / 18T or 19T pinion gears on this model.
The first problem I encountered was that the motor wires did not reach the ESc wires…. Rookie mistake! However A quick solder job to make up some 3.5mm bullet adapters and job done!
This was the end result, I did also change the connectors to deans to make it easier to find replacement batteries. Everything fits great ( with the exception of the wires for the motor ) and I couldn't wait to let it rip on the carpark to see if it was better than the basic brushed setup!
A quick speed run test before work on the stock 7.4v lipo gave a top speed of ……….
25MPH!!!!!! FAST!!!!
So next article I will likely up the gearing and maybe try 11.1v to try and breach 30MPH. This upgrade even on stock gearing and battery is worth doing, it costs very little to do and makes a pretty slow and basic brushed car that, bit more fun. The acceleration is much better and the top speed has been increased so winner winner, chicken dinner!!
Parts used for this conversion
