Motor Woes (HH 35t)

[RCbasher]

I run two hh 35 turn motors in Berg, and today my back motor stopped working (no movement, no sound). My first thought was that it was something with the mixes on my escs as I just added a second fxr this week and had been playing around with my dx7. However I swapped the esc channels and the rear motor still did not run. I then plugged a battery directly into the rear motor and it still did not run. I tried plugging/unlpugging several more times and on two occasions the motor ran for about a second before it shut off, but, after a while, I could not even get it to blip.

I took the motor apart, cleaned it a little, replaced the brushes, and used a pencil eraser to clean the comm. Still, no luck. However after plugging it in the last time, the motor began to smoke and I immediately unplugged the battery.

I'm not sure what else to try, and am unsure if I somehow made the problem worse. What could explain a motor stopping working like this and then smoking? Any ideas would be appreciated. These motors have been great. The only thing that I can think may have causes this was that they got wet at WCC, but, then again, I know electric motors are can get wet.

Thanks

[RCbasher]

Just took the motor apart and put it back together- eveything looked fine (although I guess I really don't what it should like). I plugged the battery back in again, good news no smoke, but bad news still now power. ***BUT, if once I have the battery plugged in, I spin the pinion hard, the motor kicks in and seems to be running at full power. This seems reassuring, maybe if I just get the comms cut and clean her well, she'll be okay? However, again there was just a little bit of smoke which maybe from the motor oil I got from my LHS.

One other thing which may or may not be connected. The fxr for that motor seems completely normal accept it no longer makes an chimes (completely silent)

Thanks again

[antikas]

I've seen similar symptoms: dead, no sound, starts sometimes when I rotate the tires while holding throttle down, smoked once.
The motor had a break in the windings. There was a bad connection in one of the pressfittings between the comm and windings. Applied pressure with pliers and it works again, but probably not for long.

Measure the resistance of Your motor with a multimeter. If the multimeter shows no connection then measure again on the comm to eliminate the brushes and go on from there until You find the break.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in too.

[Scattman]

Time for a comm cut and new brushes me thinks.

[KIWI_CRAWL]

It sounds like your problem is a short circut in the motor windings, if the motor is smoking before it starts spinning i Would say its the insulation on the windings burning and not the motor oil.

[microgoat]

I'll bet the lower brush hood got bashed on a rock and the brush is sticking.

[dezfan]

Originally Posted by microgoat

I'll bet the lower brush hood got bashed on a rock and the brush is sticking.

Yeah, it's happened to me a few times over the years.