Motor that can take abuse?

[prioret]

I'm running cheapo 35T motors in my clod on the beach. Sand, salt water, a bit of abuse. I'm running 6 tooth pinions so I'm too hard on them. The rear motor (who has a solid spool and also gets all the load under acceleration) just burned out after about 10 minutes of use.

Oh, and I'm also dumping in about 14v into the 2 motors.

Any recommendation on a motor that will hold up? Should I just get a pile of cheapos? Should I get nicer ones I can rebuild? Should I move to more turns? (I kinda like the speed thought)

[day215]

I'm thinking brushless, slightly less maintenance, more efficient. Have you looked at putting a pre filter around the motors? Maybe an open cell foam of some sort? How about the good old energy shot motor guard with enough venting to keep things cool, the cover the vents with some fine mesh screen material to keep most of the gunk out.

[TexasSP]

Originally Posted by day215

I'm thinking brushless, slightly less maintenance, more efficient. Have you looked at putting a pre filter around the motors? Maybe an open cell foam of some sort? How about the good old energy shot motor guard with enough venting to keep things cool, the cover the vents with some fine mesh screen material to keep most of the gunk out.

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea.

First you don't want your brushless motors in salt water as they bearings will corrode rapidly and seize. Secondly a pre filter holds heat in which has been proven time and again. A motor needs air flow around it to keep cool. This is especially important when wet running because if a motor gets too hot while running then hits water it can burn up immediately.

If you are running in any kind of dirty water and especially salt water you want to run cheap motors. Clean them well after every run and apply 3in1 or similar oil to the bushings. Toss when fried.

Any thing higher end running like that you will just fry anyway and be out an expensive motor.

You also have to be careful in salt water because it is conductive for electricity.

[day215]

Originally Posted by TexasSP

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea.

First you don't want your brushless motors in salt water as they bearings will corrode rapidly and seize. Secondly a pre filter holds heat in which has been proven time and again. A motor needs air flow around it to keep cool. This is especially important when wet running because if a motor gets too hot while running then hits water it can burn up immediately.

If you are running in any kind of dirty water and especially salt water you want to run cheap motors. Clean them well after every run and apply 3in1 or similar oil to the bushings. Toss when fried.

Any thing higher end running like that you will just fry anyway and be out an expensive motor.

You also have to be careful in salt water because it is conductive for electricity.

See, this is why I don't use prefilters or run my truck in saltwater!

[JohnRobHolmes]

Keep with the cheap motors. You will kill anything in that environment. A cover or filter over the motor is the best bet to at least keep sand out.

You could soak motors in corrosionX to prevent the salt water from attacking the bearings so fast. Beyond this and a filter there isn't much that can be done.


Brushless could work pretty well if you tape up the bearings and get a motor without vents. Keep out the sand, and keep the truck out of the water if you want it to survive.

[prioret]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I will stay with the cheapos and try some foam over the vents. Running in a less punishing environment the 35t motors dont even get warm, so covering the vents, while not optimal, may give me more running time in the harsh environment.

As for the rest of the truck, I have water proofed all the electronics and when it comes home it gets a major fresh water bath and lubrication. Other then the motor, so far so good. I am however thinking about covering the shocks.

[meatmonkey]

Having killed several motors while submerging my SCX, I can say that anything with and open endbell that can be services will put you far ahead of anything with a closed endbell.

The brushes wearing out prematurely is the biggest issue with running a motor underwater. Good thing brushes are fairly cheap.

I still use a comm stick, and a few minutes making it shiny again can gain you a few more hours of underwater use.

I still don't have a good way from keeping the inside of the can from corroding.

Outerwears makes some motor sleeves that look real nice, but I think they cost as much as a new motor, so they'd have to do an excellent job at preserving cheap motors to make it worthwhile.