WooHoo, went brushless...

End Overend · #1 08-01-2003, 11:36 PM

Well, I took the plunge and sold my comm lathe to purchase a Novak Brushless motor.

I put it in an Associated B3 and I have it geared on the low end of Novak's starting point (22/81). With this gearing it's way fast and the fun part is it can be geared higher. After running a 1500 pack through it I'd guess the motor was only reaching temps of around 120 degrees and the ESC was in the 140-150 range. I may end up with a 23 or 24 tooth pinion but right now on the tracks I run on I don't think I'm going to need it.

I'm going to love not cutting comms any longer and being able to run back to back packs with out cooling the motor off for 5-10 minutes.

With the overall cost comparison of the Novak Brushless to a higher end ESC/Motor why deal with brushes and comm's unless you want to race? I'm sold.

Now all I need is a better fitting body.

Sharkey · #2 08-02-2003, 12:32 AM

i want to go brushless, but untill there is a class for brushless touring cars, i cant justify it. all i use my electric car for is racing.

ApriliaRacer · #3 08-02-2003, 12:46 AM

I've heard some about them on this board and finally saw and talked to a guy running one at the local track.

Seems there are still some bugs to work out. He had to send his motor back to Novak and had heard there are still some "bugs" to work out.

I think its cool how you can totally "tune" the motor for how you want to run, meaning like a stock motor or a modified motor. Very cool.

On the down side, there is no racing class for them.

I'll give it a couple years till it gets better and they sanction them for racing.

crono man · #4 08-02-2003, 12:58 AM

welcome to the club End overend!

k_sw31 · #5 08-02-2003, 01:06 AM

...dun dun dun, another one bites the dust!

Have fun with your brushless.

Dragger · #6 08-02-2003, 01:16 AM

What do you mean cutting comms? Who said you had to?

trw · #7 08-02-2003, 02:50 AM

umm if you dont cut your comm once in a while your motor will loose loads of performance and eventually it'll stop running all together once the comm gets dirty enough

trw · #8 08-02-2003, 03:01 AM

ofcourse that only applys to brushed motors

Dragger · #9 08-02-2003, 05:24 AM

I did not know that.

The_In_Kid · #10 08-02-2003, 09:36 AM

don't they have unlimited class or something?

k_sw31 · #11 08-02-2003, 01:06 PM

Not in actual ROAR leagues. If its just a club race, its usually run watcha brung, so they'll either throw you in with the mods or throw you in with an outlaw class (people running 7 cells, brushless setups, etc.).

JIMMYBANGBANG · #12 08-02-2003, 01:40 PM

i cant wait till they make brushless races, will be alot easier! i agree you dont have to worry about your comm if you oil it and get a fiberglass stick and you shouldnt have to trim it down. but it is still a pain to keep on with the maintenance. brushless is for people who like the more driving time and less down time!!!

glad to hear you are liking the brushless set up, seems fun.

fishtale17 · #13 08-02-2003, 02:01 PM

WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE!!!!!!!!

End Overend · #14 08-02-2003, 04:06 PM

I don't know that I'd refer to Brushless as the Dark Side

, I'd rather refer it to the bright side since I don't have to do motor maintanence any longer, and I get the same motor performance battery after battery

. That's what I would call the Bright Side

This morning I took a worn set of Bowtie tires and dremeled them down to slicks and went out for another run, this time with a 24 tooth pinion (24/81 gearing on my B3) just to see what it could do. The motor and ESC actually seemed to run a lot cooler with the taller gearing.

With the slicks and taller gearing, it wouldn't wheelie any longer

It just spun it's wheels off of the line for about 3-4 feet and took off like a rocket

.

I think I'm either going to settle on a 23 tooth pinion or go up to a 84 tooth spur as per Novaks recomendations.

This thing is fun, I wish the ESC was smaller though since it doesn't fit very well under the buggy body. For a truck it would be just fine though.

RadicalRustler · #15 08-02-2003, 08:45 PM

Nitro is the dark side. BL is definitely the brighter side.

ruff_ridah_dawg · #16 08-02-2003, 11:34 PM

how long are your run times

End Overend · #17 08-03-2003, 01:16 AM

I'm not totally sure since I haven't measured it yet. I'd guess I'm getting around 10 minutes doing a lot of high speed passes on the street in front of my house. I won't be able to get to a track until late next week.

I'm using cheap 2400 packs to power it right now.

RadicalRustler,

I go both ways, having a CEN MT2 monster truck. I like both, and really enjoy nitro for bashing. With the lack of maintanence on the brushless I'll spend a bit more time with it though.

Danno · #18 08-03-2003, 09:31 AM

One thing you will notice is that the extra power will tear up the rest of the car . Bearings , drives , things like that .

k_sw31 · #19 08-03-2003, 02:27 PM

With the car hes running it should be fine, no different than running a modified.

End Overend · #20 08-03-2003, 08:37 PM

ruff_ridah_dawg,

Here is a better response to your question about run times.

I took it out for a quick run this morning with a 1500 Duratrax Shark battery. The run consisted of running on my street with lots of starts, stops, high speed passes and jumping off of curbs, etc. Very little stopping.

My gearing was 22 tooth pinionand 81 tooth spur gear.

The peak charge on the battery was 1749 mAh. I got approximately 7 minutes before the batteries dumped a noticible amount and 7.5 minutes before a complete dump. I then discharged the batteries to 2.4 volts (I do this with all my NiCad's) and took 207 mAh out of the battery.

So if my math is correct with the same set up and a 3300 mAh battery I would get approximately 11.5 - 12 minutes of run time. Not too bad for having similar speed to a 10 turn brushed motor.

I haven't tried the Sportsman mode yet so I don't know if it makes any difference in run times or speed, and for the most part don't plan on spending much time there

.

I hope this gives you a better idea of brushless run times.

ruff_ridah_dawg · #21 08-03-2003, 11:41 PM