Keep a Brushless ESC and Motor cool by gearing properly. To keeping the motor from overheating must be looked at on both sides, under and over gearing. 1- don't over gear (tall or high gearing),
meaning: If your pinion is too large and/or your spur gear is too small
then it will be over geared. To get the motor to maintain the desired
speed it takes more torque Current. The motor may not
be able reach the desired speed as the batteries and esc, and the motor
windings themselves can only handle so much current before becoming
damaged.
2- don't under gear (short or low gearing),
meaning: If your pinion is too small and/or your spur gear is too large
then it will be under geared. This means your motor reaches maximum
rpm too quickly because of applying higher Voltage,
effectively placing too small of a load on the motor- running a motor
unloaded ( no real resistance ) can also damage the rotor over time.
Motor efficiency plays a huge factor in this. The better the components
such as wire quality, insulation quality, precision windings, bearing
quality, magnet quality.... the more efficient the motor will be.
Better costs more and you get what you pay for. While there is no 100% efficient motor, there is a huge difference between a 70% efficient and an 85% efficient motor. If you look at 7.4V * 50A you get 370W. On the 70% motor 30% turns directly to heat, 111watts. Verses the 15% from the 85% motor for 55.5watts of heat. That little difference in quality results in a huge 50% difference in inefficient heat. This much difference is very common between cheap motors and the quality motors on the market today. Likewise about the components in the ESC.
It is not as simple as picking a motor and gearing, it is picking the
right motor and gearing for the conditions. What terrain, what battery,
what driving style? There are other things to consider as well when you
involve aftermarket parts such as tires and wheels of different size
and weight, excessive weight from aftermarket alloy parts, and other
changes. A Frequent slowing and stopping with quick acceleration will require more low-end power or lower gearing. Usually short or technical tracks need lower gearing. Likewise rougher terrain such as running in grass also require lower gearing. Care must be taken because you will not have the higher speed of taller gearing and it is easy to push your truck hard and over heat your ESC and/or Motor. Long stretches of track, oval tracks, or open areas will require higher gearing to get higher speeds. Going too tall on the gearing will over stress the motor and/or ESC which will cause over heating. Testing by trial and error is the best way to find optimal gearing. Everyone drives differently even on the same terrain. Remember that changing from one style driving and/or terrain to another will many times require re-gearing to obtain optimal performance. Also remember that changing to different battery packs (increased voltage or from NiMH to LiPo) will also many times require re-gearing for optimal performance. Driving in grass puts a lot of strain on your motor and ESC no matter what the gearing, don't push it too hard.
Without changing the Spur Gear or Motor RPM, smaller Pinions (or lower
gearing) will reduce the driving speed and increase torque. Opposite,
larger will increase the speed and decrease the torque.
What does changing the Spur Gear (gear on the transmission input shaft) do?
Without changing the Pinion Gear or Motor RPM, Smaller Spurs will
increase the driving speed and reduce torque. Larger will decrease the
speed and raise torque. As you can see changing the pinion and spur work in opposite direction for speed changes. Remember it is possible to change both the pinion and spur and still have the same gear ratio. Example 10/25 gearing is equal to 20/50 gearing. Both are a ratio of 2:5
KV is not the same thing as "kV" or Kilo-Volt. The higher the KV rating on a motor the faster it turns with the same applied voltage as a lower rated motor. The lower the Turn count the faster the motor turns at the same applied voltage as a higher count motor. If your motor is too slow or too fast, you may not be physically able to find or fit the correct size gears to operate in the optimal range. Most people use 540 size brushless motors in the 3000KV to 6000KV range or 6.5 to 13.5 turn. It is possible to use motors out of that range.
Generally speaking, With a Temp gun a warm/hot motor & ESC should
be around 150° to 170° Fahrenheit and under 200° Fahrenheit. Some
motors and ESCs are different depending upon construction, check the
manufacturer specifications.
Novak says "the maximum external safe operating
temperature for Novak brushless motors is 175 degrees F (80 degrees C).
Motors that run at higher temperatures have sustained internal damage.
From our testing and experience, keeping the external motor operating
temperature under 160 degrees F (72 degrees C) will provide the best
performance when the car is handling well.
Very Hot
Super Freaking HOT!!! |