Quote:
Originally Posted by drkdgglr
This is exactly my feeling too. Although the speedcalculator and these forums are a great help, it seems impossible to chose 1 motor and getting it right from the start, especially if your setup is different than common setups.
If I understand correctly:
- larger can motors with the same kv rating produce more torque than smaller can motors.
- lower kv motors produce more torque than higher kv motors with the same can length?
So if a have a setup geared for 40mph and I need more torque (and don't want to sacrifice speed) I could:
- get a larger can motor with the same kv rating;
- or go for a higher voltage setup with a lower kv rating/ same can length...
|
The larger can will provide more torque because there is essentially just more surface area. You get longer coils and thus a longer magnet (rotor) so even though it may be spinning at the same RPM, it will be able to provide more torque. Hopefully someone else can clear this up a little better.
A brushless motor's torque is largely dependant on amps. The KV rating tells you how many RPMs it will spin per volt applied, but the faster it spins per volt the more amps it needs to maintain that RPM. Theoretically, these Medusa motors are all capable of the same output (wattage) as long as they're the same size. A higher KV motor will require more amps and will drain the batteries faster while a lower KV motor will require fewer amps but more voltage.
If you're aiming for 40 MPH (very reasonable goal, according to BrianG's calculator my Muggy was doing around 45 on 5s with 40 series tires and a 2700KV Neu) and you already have your motor, it is cheaper to just get a smaller pinion gear. The smaller pinion gear will reduce the load you put on the motor, ESC, and batteries (reduce amp draw) which gives you more torque in 2 ways. The first way is you now have a shorter overall gear ratio, which is easier for the motor to turn, and the second is you are requiring fewer amps out of your batteries so if you really get it bogged down you have those extra amps to pull. If you aren't happy about the drop in speed, add more voltage. It's a good idea to aim your KV/voltage around 30-40k RPM though these motors can do 50k without coming apart (the bearings are rated to 60k, but you shouldn't need to push it that far).
This is where I get all confused. I spend a lot of time before buying a motor trying to balance out the weight of higher voltage packs with the amp output of the batteries I'll be using while trying to keep temps down. Technically the lower KV you run the better as long as you can feed it enough volts, but adding cells for voltage gets heavy and takes a lot of room. For a 1/8th Buggy or Truggy anything between 1500 and 2300 KV and 4-6s lipo (5-7s A123) should be fine though.
Sorry if I completely lost you, I just spent almost 8.5 hours at work so I'm a little out of it. Hopefully someone else can jump in and correct errors I've probably made