Brushless

[kiwirc]

Is there a reason why more people don't run brushless in their WK's?
I recently put a Novak Goat in mine, and its awesome. Now I can drive up and down near vertical slopes at a snails pace, and stop halfway up (or down)! The control a brushless gives you is just wicked!

Just wondering why I don't see more brushless use on the forum?
I'm new to crawling if you hadn't guessed...lots of nitro experience though!

[Mnster]

Brushless was big with crawlers, now it's starting to fade as higher power brushed motors are on the market. They just don't have that butter smooth throttle control on start up or the sock it to you high speeds on low voltages. Either one or the other with brushless not both unless you volt way up. The novak system is a little different then others, I like it through I like castle made products more. I'm still a huge fan of Brushless power, still haven't made the swap back to Brushed power. I love it's start up torque, you can go low speeds and not have to throttle up everytime the tires hit a rock. It's great in heavy bog type mud with my scalers. I am thinking about swaping back in my 2.2 though just to get a smoother take off throttle control.

[kiwirc]

Yeah, the Novak is silky smooth on startup. I'm gonna gear it down next as its still on the stock pinion and spur so I could compare before and after - Doesn't seem to be much slower than the stock brushed motor was. Not worried about the lack of speed, as I race a nitro buggy and truggy which takes care of the need for speed!

I don't quite get the reason you say of brushed motors being higher powered. Isn't the idea of a crawler to um, crawl? So low speed and torque would be more inviting wouldn't they?

And dude, whats with the little man in your gallery!! You've obviously got far too much time on your hands... Made me laugh anyway!

[Locked Up]

My 2 cents ... is that it's more about the $$$.

It's easy to stick with stock WK stuff or slap in a $20 motor when you are just bashing a truck or not seriously competing. Brushless costs a bit more to run and most guys that would be willing to invest are comp guys. Most (not all) of the comp guys run AX10s. I would't spend $150 on an ESC & Motor just to fart around.

Having said that, I run a Sidewinder and I suppose I could go to a brushless motor, but my other motors work just fine. I too can stop halfway up a hill because of the drag brake. At local comps I haven't seen the brushless guys pull away form the pack or anything either...

[chrisjlittle]

Originally Posted by kiwirc

Yeah, the Novak is silky smooth on startup. I'm gonna gear it down next as its still on the stock pinion and spur so I could compare before and after - Doesn't seem to be much slower than the stock brushed motor was. Not worried about the lack of speed, as I race a nitro buggy and truggy which takes care of the need for speed!

I don't quite get the reason you say of brushed motors being higher powered. Isn't the idea of a crawler to um, crawl? So low speed and torque would be more inviting wouldn't they?

And dude, whats with the little man in your gallery!! You've obviously got far too much time on your hands... Made me laugh anyway!

What he meant about higher power brushed motors is that in the last year or so several brushed motors have come out that are way better than the ones that came before. In the early days your only real option was to run a lathe motor or an outrunner brushless motor, which is fine, but you get stuck with a compromise between torque and speed. Lately companies have been coming out with brushed motors that have more torque and more speed, like the handwound lathe motors and the Cobalt Puller. Sometimes a little extra wheelspeed is nice to have, and these don't sacrifice low speed control for higher speeds, and make way more torque than standard lathe motors. Also, the goat system is a unique case. It's an inrunner, and pretty fast compared to a standard 55t lathe motor or a typical outrunner. Also, it's the only crawler system I'm aware of that uses a sensored motor, which seems to make the low speed control much better.

[kiwirc]

Well I can vouch for the goats low speed control - from a standing start it will smoothly engage and inch along. But I get what your saying, I have a Hacker brushless outrunner in a cessna and now that I think about it, it gives quite a kick when you start it up.
As for the cost - I guess people have different perspectives on whats expensive. The goat system cost me $200aud from amains but I didn't really consider that as being a very expensive investment for a hobby. They practically last forever (burnt out motors all the time is what got me into nitro from electric buggies 4 or 5 years ago), and a 2 cell lipo lasts easily 30 - 45 minutes. And its quiet!
I did have to change the receiver, which I was going to do anyway. The AM one picked up inteference from the brushless. I had a spare Spektrum receiver lying around so now its 2.4ghz.