I am returning to the RC hobby after a 12 year absence and brushless motors are completely new to me.

I purchased a Traxxas Rustler VXL system to play with along with the Rustler XL5 I bought my son for Christmas. The VXL with a Lipo battery is just silly fast! LOL. So.....here is my question:

Do they make a brushless motor that is closer to the power of the old 27 turn motors we used to race in stock class? I found a "stock spec" brushless on Trinity's web site, but it says 13.5T, and to me, that is a mod number.

Any information would be greatly appreciated! I'd like to get the ease of a brushless, but power closer to the old school stock motors.

Thanks,

John

Stockmclass is either 27 turn brushed or 17.5 brushless. You could also put the rustler on training mode? I'm not quite sure about that but you could give itna shot. I'm not to familiar with the vxl esc.

17.5 is correct, the vxl will run sensord motors too so your not stuck with one brand.

That's great information. Thanks! So some of the new (new to me) ESC's will only run a certain brand motor?

You should be able to mix match motors and esc's. you just have to check and see if the esc can run sensored/non sensored or both depending on the motor application. also the power ratings and stuff. the vxl esc can run both sensored and non sensored motors. it has a sensor port on the front of the esc. hope this helped. please ask any questions.

Thanks again. Another thing completely new to me. Sensored/non sensored motors? What is the sensor for?

They are hall effect sensors that detect the position of the rotor. It helps the ESC with the timing and "firing" of the phases to make the motor run smoothly. It helps most at low speeds and when starting from a dead stop, where some sensorless motors will "cog" and stutter because they don't have the sensors to tell the ESC rotor position.

Sensorless operation is actually more efficient than sensored, so many newer ESCs use a combination mode where it starts the motor using the sensor, then switches to sensorless at higher speeds for better efficiency. Not sure if the VXL is capable of that though.

A lot of time the cheaper ESC's are Sensorless. I'm looking into buying a new brushless system as well and prolly will go with sensorless. It's pretty cool what they are coming out with now. I've been out of it for over a year and am still discovering new stuff that I didn't know about.

i was outa the sport for 20 yrs. thought i new stuff but guess i knew nothing. Brushless and lipo was compleatly new to me. same with clay tracks. use to run dirt and Nicd with manual esc back in the kyosho ultima Pro and Rc10 goldpan era.

I started racing just as the RC10 goldpan era was on its way out. A lot has changed! I like the idea of the brushless motors, can't wait to find one that has a power band for my driving style.

There are tons of good people on here willing to help you get back up to speed! Just an FYI on the norm for any forum, if you ask about brand x vs. y you'll get tons of OPINIONS. If you ask if a certain product will work with another you'll tend to get a less confusing answer. Not that there's anything wrong with getting different opinions on products but it can often be more confusing than helpful..