THE Retired Report – Motor Meltdown Season is Here!

Holy smokes ya bunch of bashing lunatics, it has gotten freak’n hot outside! Well, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, summer temps are now going through the roof. Where I live, the high was 96 degrees F yesterday, and the temp will tend to stay 80 or above for the next 3-4 months. And while I personally love warm weather, there is one thing that does not- the electronics in your rc car. As I was driving my rc car around yesterday, I found out my previous gearing was too tall for the current temp outside, and that is certinaly the case with many of our readers out there.

With that said, here are Cubby’s Top Tips to keep your brushless motor alive during the heat this summer.

1. Pack a small temp gauge with you. On our electric rc car motors, we need to keep their temps down under 200 degrees. Personally, I shoot for motor temps of 160 degress F or below and packing a small temp gun makes this easy. Overheating your electric motor can/will ruin it, so when using a temp gun, I take multiple readings, and go with the highest. If I see motor temps at or above 160, I start grabbing for my pinion box.

2. If your motor temp is higher than you want, you may want to consider gearing down. What this typically entails is going to a smaller pinion gear. As ambient temperatures go up, so does your motor temp. If you were geared perfectly for 80 degrees, your motor will start running too hot when the ambient temps soar, so you may need to drop 2-6 teeth on the pinion to keep everything in check.

3. Another way of keeping temps down is to shorten your runtime. Instead of running a pack all the way until it is completely empty, just make 5 minute runs. The longer you run in hot temps, the hotter your motor will get.

4. Use fans to completely cool the electronics down between runs. Small on-board fans on your speedo and motor will help, as will cutting spots in your body to help with airflow over the electronics. Also, we normally use a large fan after the run to help cool everything down more quickly. To keep temps down it helps to start each run with your electronics at ambient, not while still hot/recovering from the last run.

5. Lower your cell count. If your car is running crazy hot on 6S, go down to 5 if you can, to have decent speed, along with lower temps.

6. Make sure nothing is binding on your car. Even a small amount of binding will add up the heat while driving, give your car a quick once over before you drive to make sure nothing is sticking/binding/creating loads of friction that you don’t want.

So there ya have it ya bunch of ravenous rc junkies, those are my top ways of keeping that motor from going into full meltdown mode this summer. Until next time, support those local hobby shops whenever ya can.

YOUR Cub Reporter

PS- Today’s bonus content – my list of the top ways of knowing your motor is running wayyyyy too hot.

1. You can smell your motor when you drive by.

2. You keep de-soldering the wires to your motor.

3. When you pick your car up off the track, you burn your hand from touching only the chassis.

4. Your car burns down to a small pile of smoldering plastic.