Lipo's and brushed motors

[Big House]

Is there an advantage to using a lipo with a brushed motor. It is obvious with brushless motors and the Kv to volt relationship, but does the same exist with lipo's and brushed motors.

[suicideneil]

Yep, same advantages hold true, however...

Typical brushed motors like those pos items found in traxxas vehicles will draw too much current given the chance (batteries with a high discharge rating, hence why nimhs tend to run hot as they cant provide enough current), so they will fail alot quicker than normal (IE when ran on nimhs).

A well built brushed motor would do much better, such as a proper heavy duty drill motor or r/c boat motor, as the brushes are more robust and not prone to failing under heavy loads.

[Big House]

Neil,

That is good to know. Now is a particular ESC necessary. I have a number of brushed motors in some frankin-cars I built for my boys and want some good run time. I know lipos give good runtime so I am looking to invest in a few for them.

[lincpimp]

Generally you will need an esc with a low voltage cutoff, or run an external lvc that will pulse the throttle channel when the pack voltage drops.

The Castle esc like the MM and sidewinder are great choices as they have built in lvc and can run brushed or brushless and they are cheap.

Another lipo benifit is the very strong voltage holdout, they do not drop off like a nimh battery will. Honestly nimhs suck and should be retired to the old technology wing and left to gather dust...

[Jabe]

Just use ESC that can handle what lipos are giving, as i burned my brushed esc with lipos.
As those brushed motors draw so much current with lipos compared to nimhs.