Novak 4.5 vs Castle 4 pole 3800
 

What motor would you guys pick for a 4x4 slash if it was between a Novak Ballistic 4.5 550 or a Castle 4 pole 3800kv. I will be running on a indoor off road track on 2s lipo with the traxxas vxl esc.

i would get the 3800kv because it has four pole, novak 4.5 is a 550 size motor but it is not 4pole :(. both motors are great. :) and also make sure that the vxl esc can handle a 5000kv motor (novak 4.5). Im running a jammin scrt10 with a mamba max esc and velineon motor , runs great!!!

I have been driving around with my novak HV 4,5 in my slash 4x4 for more that a year now.
geared 13/54 on 2s lipo with an MMP

I loved that setup. but a 550 is a heavy motor and I used a big heatsink with fan on it.

Im swapping my novak HV 4,5T + heatsink and fan for a castle 3800 4 pole.
hope to get simillar results

I cant comment on the Novak. I have a HV 7.5 on its way soon, but I can tell you the Castle 3800 in a BAD AZZ motor. I picked up the SCT combo for my Hyper 10TT and that things sick on 2s! Im pairing it with a MMP when the mail lady gets here :D Then Im gonna try it out on 3s! Just for one good insane speed run. Maybe two;) lol.. But I would think the novak would be a good choice aswell. Im not shure how the longer can matches up againt the 4 pole. So..But either way Im shure your truck will be tearin it up!

I've run both in 4x4 sct and it's no comparison. Castle 1410 easy. I just bought two more of them to have backups. It is easily the best 4x4 short course motor out there. Not to mention that you'll save nearly a half pound over 1/8 scale systems and an eighth to a quarter over the 550's like the novak.

I herd that the VXL is not setup for the castle 4 pole motors and will not work correctly

Okay I must be confused. I had a 1410 sidewinder in my 2wd and it felt slower than my velineon I forget what gearing I was running, how is this 540 based can suggested for a 2wd running a much heavier 4wd?
Isn't the 1415 designed for the 4wd

You most likely had a gearing issue or setup issue.. that 3800 will tear up a 2wd setup if you wanted it to.

1410 is a 540 sized 3800kv 4-pole motor
1415 is a 550 sized 2400kv 4-pole motor

Both will work, the 1415 is really designed for 3s lipo setups, which is not allowed at most race tracks. The 1410 540 3800kv is perfect on 2s lipo and is a little power house! The esc it comes with however is not, the 1410 kit comes w/ a sc sidewinder that is really designed for vehicles up to 5.5lb max and can not take the large scte. The esc in the 1415 kit is the castle MMp which is perfect for this vehicle, but keep in mind the weak BEC needs to be considered when choosing your servo.

So.. of all this the ideal setup if using castle is a 1410 3800 with a classic MM, the MMp or MMM esc. The Rx8 and any other esc that can work with a sensorless 4pole motor will also work.

Thank you ;). If I'm not mistaken I was running a 16/90 gearing. Running the mmp with the 3800 sounds like it would work. Maybe ill grab another (i sold it) and get a mmp and give it a try.

I run my 1410 on 2S with the RX8. Last weekend I took it on the street with GPS to see how fast it was, because it's WAY faster than my Novak 4.5 or any other 550 I have. The motor didn't get above 140.

37mph not to bad for a 540 sized motor in a 6lb 11oz Losi Ten SCTe.

http://i55.tinypic.com/a5dk5j.jpg

Some are running the 1415 but many are having trouble. Since for racing anyway, we are limited to 2S, the 1415 at only 2400kv has to be geared to the moon to get any speed.

I am running the 1410 in my Losi which is pretty heavy and it ROCKS!!! Go look on the Losi SCTE thread there is a lot of discussion about it. I have been racing against some VERY good racers and no one can keep up with this motor. In fact, in my first two races with the truck, the only two guys who have beaten me in a main were both running the same motor and we were blowing people away on the straight as well as being able to make jumps that had such short run ups that the 1/8 scale nitro buggies were having trouble making it.

If it was slow in your car then something was wrong in the way you geared it, or with your ESC because this motor is the best thing ever for 4x4 short course.

Yeah I was using the sidewinder esc and I think a 16/90 gear on my 2wd slash. I ran a 15 as per their chart for a 2wd slash and I had trouble with stock titan trucks went to a 16 and speed was better but it still felt slow compared to the velineon.

I have the Castle 3800 4-pole and the Novak Ballistic 550 4.5T. I've done some detailed comparisons between the Castle SCT and VXL setups.

In street drag racing both at 13T the 3800 is nearly exactly the same speed as the Traxxas VXL system. This just shows you how impressive the Velineon 3500 is. The Velineon is longer than the Castle but the Castle looks a bit fatter and is of course 4-pole.

In my opinion if your looking for a significant speed or acceleration enhancement then you will not get it out of the 3800 unless perhaps you can gear it higher than the Velineon.

But... I do have to say that you'll notice more torque with the Castle. It brakes harder and pull up the front end more aggressively so a quick hop off a steep jump might be better with the Castle.

I've only been running the Novak for one day and my impression is that it's faster than both and has more torque than both motors. Top speed it should definitely be faster on 2S with the same size pinion since it's 5000kv. I also think acceleration is noticeably better on the Novak but I haven't had the chance to put it head to head yet.

My recommendation is:
1. If money is no object, get the Novak
2. If money is sparse and you have a roller, get the Castle SCT system
3. If money is sparse and you have the VXL, keep it :)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_x...akvsCastle.JPG

I plan to race a VXL system again this weekend so I can report back with my findings.

What's your gearing? My experience is the opposite. The Novak Ballistic 550 4.5T seems much faster than the Castle 3800kv. I'm pretty sure the Novak has higher power (watts) and obviously it has higher kv.

Is it just that you can gear the Castle much higher? I also noticed the motors run similar temps at similar gearing. On a Slash 4x4 Castle recommends not exceeding 13/54.