Novak SS ESC really hot on T4 with 19T pinion

[TheMartian]

On the race track with a 19T pinion, the ESC, motor and battery (GP3300s) barely get hot, even after 30-40 min of practice. But after 5 min of bashing, the ESC is burning hot(and battery life is not that great). The difference bet. bashing and racing is that I usually go at full speed while bashing, and sometimes while reversing at full speed I would press the trigger all the way to go foward at full throttle. While racing, I do not use reverse and can go at full speed only on the straight for like 3-4 seconds. Does anyone know whether the Amp draw is extremely high while reversing and going fwd at full throttle? How about going up and down the street at full speed?

[kufman]

Slamming from reverse to foward is not a good thing for the motor or the controller. I have always found that using the brakes will heat up the controller quickly, but I don't use reverse much so i don't know what that does. I know the sensor configuration is optimised for forward rotation, so it may draw more current when trying to go backward.

[TheMartian]

I also use a lot of braking while bashing, it's quite necessary before turning around while going up and down the road at full speed... I wonder if that would heat up the ESC... from what I understand braking is like having the motor act as a generator.

[ElectricThunder]

In my T3, bashing, I use a novak SS geared around 17/87 with monster mashers all around and have deans plugs. The ESC will get very hot. Good rule of thumb for gearing is if you can keep your finger on the ESC for about 3 seconds to 5 seconds, it's good. You can also try running a 5VDC fan directly on top of the heat sink (keeps my ESC much cooler). Also, when you're driving, don't slam on the brake, ease up on it, and don't use reverse. Reverse seems to heat mine up much more than braking. :)

[SS Pede]

I don't know anything about T4 gear ratios, but make sure you are relatively close to Novak's recommended gearing for a stadium truck. They have a chart on their website for SS5800 gearing. But I don't know why it would be so much hotter when bashing. I've heard that driving at slow speeds actually builds up heat faster than at high speeds, because the ESC has to limit the current coming from the battery (I think). At full speed it can go straight on through. That's my take on it, someone correct me if I'm wrong. So maybe going consistently fast on the track is just easier on the electronics?

[ElectricThunder]

I think it's that and motor efficiency. At lower RPMs the 5800 is probably not all that efficient, so it probably makes the problem a bit worse.

[TheMartian]

On the race track I can barely go at full speed... and the ESC stays very cool. Hence I don't believe that going at low RPMs would generate too much heat. The ESC would just draw a lower amperage value from the battery. I would guess it's the combination of reverse, braking and pressing foward at full throttle while reversing that cause the ESC to get really hot...

[nicholcgn]

It depends on many things. Is the bashing have a large difference in traction? If so then you may need to go down a tooth or so. Are you running different size tires? You need to find out what all is different between bashing and racing. I have found that I build up a lot of heat in mine when I am constatntly accellerating and braking during racing compared to long high speed runs. I do not believe a 19 should be that high of a gearing. I run a 19 or 20 in my buggy all of the time.

If you are doing a lot of spins and jammin on it the other way yes you are probably going to build up much more heat. That happens even on a brushed motor when I used to bash. I would suggest a fan to help with the heat.

[kufman]

Yes when you use brakes you are using the drive FET's like variable loads for the back generated power from the motor.

[SpEEdyBL]

I found that using full throttle keeps things cool. The esc at least. and I use pretty aggresive gearing. Down to a 9:1 final drive ratio in my buggy with 7 cell gp3300s. 3.5 inch tires.