LadiesFirst

Hi all,
I have a brushless Novak GTB speed control and 13.5 and 17.5 motors. When I want to change out the motors, it is extremely difficult to remove the motor sensor wire from the speed control. I mean it is an EXTREMELY TIGHT fit. I just replaced the ESC recently so the sensor fitting is very snug. I don't want to be pulling on the wires and I can't seem to get anything small enough to fit under the lip or dislodge the center plastic blade that fits down the middle of the connector in the ESC. Is there some kind of tool out there to make removal easier? I don't want to damage either the sensor connection or the wire for the motor or the ESC. Anybody know some tricks? I have removed the 17.5 from the former ESC a couple of times, so the edges are just a little fragile. I used a very think blade to do that, but it doesn't work on this one. Any ideas for this? Otherwise, I am stuck running 17.5 forever! Thanks! (The one thing I notice about the Losi brushless motors that I like are that the sensors plug into the motor itself so you don't have to mess with the wire on the ESC on the Novak. I wish Novak would go with something like that).

Diane

FOXY923

I agree. Novak needs to have the sensor wire plug into the motor itself. For some reason I think novak is the only one where you can't unplug the motor. Would be very nice if they updated to this format. I find it hard to remove the sensor plug from the esc to. But is it the same as removing the sensor plug from the motor on other brand motors? The motor is usually easier to reach though.

LadiesFirst

I have a friend who has the Losi plug in motor and it is way easier to remove that plug from the motor. It doesn't have the plastic to plastic issue, as far as I can tell. The one thing I always wondered is if it could come out during a race, but this guy is very fast and competitive and he has never had it come out. I may write to Novak to get their advice on unplugging the motor. Thanks for your input. I thought I might be the only one with this problem.

FOXY923

Ah, the problem with asking a fast guy if the motor comes unplugged it that the fast guys don't crash like the rest of us Could it be an issue for regular guys like me?

LadiesFirst

Actually, he's fast, but fairly new at it. A real natural and quick learner - he has raced many other types of "standard sized" vehicles, but the class he is running in right now has a lot of hackers. But he does have his share of crashes caused by himself - but he will be moving up to pro stock where there will be less of that, but he has seen his share of bad crashes. Also, people that intentionally try to take him out. I'll let you know what Novak tells me when I call them.

Dave H

Agreed. I also wish the three motor tabs were a little farther apart. At least one of the ESC threads has mentioned that this is the leading cause of problems, stray strands between the tabs/wires. Even worse for us ol' dudes. And they can get bent even closer in crashes. Or so I've heard!

LadiesFirst

Well, I called Novak today and talked to John. He said there is no special procedure to removing the sensor, just grasp all the wires together as close as you can get to the base and pull it out. He acknowleged that it can be very tight. I asked if Novak was considering making their sensor like some of the other motors - plugged into the motor. He said that is up to the engineers, but if other companies were doing it, that they would probably eventually follow suite. We'll see.

I also agree about the solder tabs being too close. I am very careful to even take my exacto blade and scrape between just in case I may have dripped a little in between. My iron tends to get pretty hot and I do get solder down the tabs a little. But I have a friend who put the gold connectors in between the lines from the motor to the ESC so that he doesn't have to solder anymore. He did a clean job and even shrink wraps it. I may do the same because I HATE to solder if I don't have to, and this would be much faster and cleaner. It's just a thought if you don't like to continually solder your wires when experimenting with motors.