Do Brushed Motors lose power/torque over time
 

Do Brushed Motors loas power.touque over time? I don not race, I drift. I think it's easy on the car and the RPM slower. Will my motor get weak until it eventual stops running? WIll it keep it's power? This is going on a Sprint 2, will it lose it's power fast?

Yeah they lose power if you don't maintain them. You need to change the brushes and true to commutator on a lathe in addition to periodic cleaning. Overheating is also very bad for brushed motors, so make sure to keep your motor temps below 140-150ºF at the end of a run to avoid burning the comm, brushes or weakening the magnets.

I remember I ran an HPI Firebolt 15T a long time, never did a thing to it. I've also run other motors without doing anything to them. Modified or not no matter how long I used them they ran. DO brushed motors lose power to point and the just settle there? Or do they lose power until they don't run no more?

Yes. And they start weakening as soon as you have trued them/ changed the brushes, or almost. Back in the days when I raced 17x2 I trued my comm every pack and cleaned the brushes, that's 5 min of use. That is a bit boring and time comsuming but back then we didn't have silver or Q-brushes, which last longer and are more gentle with the comm.

If your commutator looks any different than a uniform/homogenous glossy copper color, it is probably ruined. If your brushes seem to have become blue/purple/red, they are toasted. And with the use you decribed, it is very likely to be the case.

Closed endbells such as the 15t hpi are different because they are sh*tty by design. You probably never used more than 60% of what they could offer, but to get to th 100% would require so many attentions ( among which : veeery, very long break-in, constant cleaning, oiling of the bushes, never make it too hot, find the perfect FDR, etc) that it is not even worth trying.

Just save some money and buy yourself a cheap entry level brushless combo. Buying the tools needed to take care of brushed motors would cost you twice more and bore you to death, eventually making you tired of the hobby.

sorry for my less-than-perfect english, I think you get the point.

I ordered a Yeah Racing 4300KV 9T Brushless Motor for my EZRUN 35AMP Brushless ESC. After reading that, I am don't with Brushed Motors forever. Just like TV Tubes.

over time, motors will lose some of their torque as the magnets weaken from being subjected to heat. Brushed motor cans can be easily remagnetized by using magnet zappers. Brushless rotors are not readily remagnetized since these need more powerful magnetizers not readily available to hobbyists.

mmh, seriously, how accessible are these zappers ? In more than 10 years in rc cars I never saw one other than on picture. I never even knew someone who owned one, an I'm not even sure the very best drivers I met ever used one. :rolleyes:

Quite unrealistic for someone like Driftwoof. Furthermore if you start worrying of the magnets in your brushed motor, you're already pretty skilled. For example it means you already have re-bored ( drilled/reamed ?) your bearing housing to have perfect bearing alignment(+2000 RPM) , you already have a perfect FDR/brushes/springs combo, etc.



Driftwoof : good choice! Hope you're already addicted to RC ! But can your ESC handle the motor you plan on using ? dunno, just wondering. Perhaps the 60 amps ESC would have been more appropriate.

In any case, check the temps every single minute for your first runs at least, it will prevent you from melting anything.

How does magnet zapper looks like? To me I just change the rotor when I notice degraded speed.

Check: Dirtoval.com

There have been a few for sale recently on Dirtoval.com in the classifieds under the forums. The motor can zappers are a little tougher to find than the battery zappers, but they are still around. If you had to go fast back in the day, access to or owning these items was pretty much a given.

Seen them, used them, went faster knowing people who had them. The battery zappers were the best. If you didn't get the battery in there just right, you were in for a very bright surprise.

http://dirtoval.com/forums/showthrea...ghlight=zapper

http://dirtoval.com/forums/showthrea...ghlight=zapper

why would the average user that already running on the cheap be interested in obtaining a magnet zapper ? :sneaky::rolleyes:

I don't think you ran that motor for a very long time though. If nothing else goes wrong, then at least the brushes wear down to the point they just don't push against the comm enough to turn the rotor over.

Brushed motors though lose performance very quickly and that is why you need to change brushes, true comms, polish bushings (in stock) and generally speaking do a lot of maintenance. Knowing that very well, I would guess you aren't that much concerned about performance after all.

I already have a 9T easy run, i have a black one now too though and they run nice and real cool on a 35 ezrun esc even when going nuts with it.