"Alternative" 1/18 bl motors?

Well, I guess I'll start off by saying that I like the Mamba 25 controller, but have always felt the Mamba motors were the weak link of the system. At the Hobby People I work at, we're always experimenting with "alternative" motor choices that would still work with both the Mamba 25 and the RC18 chassis, specifically the 18R for parking lot racing. We're looking for about the speed of the 6800 motor, but without the heat they tend to have, and more speed/torque is always a plus.

So far, we've dropped these motors in the 18's with varying performance (links included with possibly unfamiliar ones): Aon 4900, Aon 6000, KMS 130/12, KMS KBL-21EF, Hacker E30 11L, and.....well, that's about it.

The Aon's are fat little 370's that stay really cool, are fairly cheap at $55, have lots and lots of torque, and really wake up on even just 2s lipo.....ideal gearing was around 19 or 20/55 for the 4900, 18/55 for the 6000.

The two KMS's are very inexpensive at around $30, with the 130/12 has about 4900kv and the "blue" one 5100kv, both very torquey because of the longer can. The fatter shaft is the only downside, either turn down the shaft, or run Robinson's T Rex heli Hacker pinions.....but the only ones we had at the store were 16t and 17t. Anyway, the little 130/12 was a ripper.....if it stayed together. They're cheap for a reason, the endbells (front and rear) pop off a lot. They were very fast though, a few clicks higher than a 6800, but got real hot.

Currently, I'm the only one with the Hacker at the store, but I really like it. Very torquey, but winds out to be just a little faster than the 6800. Only problem so far has been heat, little booger gets real hot real fast if ambient temp is over 90.....either not a summer motor, or I still don't have it geared right at 17/55. Very effecient, but has quite a bit of cogging off power, notchy little motor for a 2pole inrunner, never felt that before. Oh, and there's only a couple places I found that carry it, one's in Hong Kong, the other you can only purchase it in a combo with a Quark 33. Nice combo, but I wanted to go with the Mamba 25 because it would be easier to return it to the store I work at if any problems come up.

So, after all that, what others are there?

[crazyjr]

I'm running a Lehner 1020/13t, in my Mini LST2. its a 54-5600kv motor (not for exactly sure). It pulls the Mini LST well, the only drawback is its 120.00 each through Mike (where i got mine, not sure if he can still get them) BPP lists them, but almost always out of stock. I am also playing with a Neu 1107 in my Mini Quake, its awsome on 3s (about 550watts), it has two major drawbacks, Price is about 110.00 and it doesn't like the mamba 25 too much. It will run alright but every so often it will cogg very badly ( I have seen 100 amp spikes and over 1000 watts, Thats with the mamba 25 and a hextronic 1700 20c 3s Lipo and both survived it

[gixxer]

you might also want to check out hyperion. they make mini motors in the 5000 and 6000kv range.

[VintageMA]

How about the Lehner - 1015-12T? It's rated at 6667 KV. This thing rocks on a Mamba 25. I've run it in a MiniT a mLST and it is currently running in my xray M18T. Tons of power, very efficient and runs pretty cool compared with the Mamba 6800.

Not sure if it's worth $150, but I love it.

[crazyjr]

Originally Posted by VintageMA

How about the Lehner - 1015-12T? It's rated at 6667 KV. This thing rocks on a Mamba 25. I've run it in a MiniT a mLST and it is currently running in my xray M18T. Tons of power, very efficient and runs pretty cool compared with the Mamba 6800.

Not sure if it's worth $150, but I love it.

According to BPP, thats the prefered motor for minis' but i like a lower KV

[lincpimp]

Heres my take on mini motors. I have had a mini-t, mlst, mini quake, vendetta, rc18t, rc18mt, rc18r. All were run brushless and I have sold all except the mini quake, my favorite.

The mamba/tekin motors run hot, so do the feigao s and l can 120 size (s can same as a mamba).

The golden horizons 3600 and 4700 motors are the s**t for the quake and vendetta. The 3600 is a 3s motor the 4700, 2s. Only drawdack is they both have 2.3mm shafts. Since they are finned they run cool. I currently run the 4700 in a 13" gecko boat and it does 28mph on 2s!

Feigao 280l motors run great in the quake, yet again a 2.3mm shaft. This is a big motor and most likely can pull more than the mamba 25 can handle, although I have abused my mamba 25s and they have never died on me! I use a 3500kv and run 3s. The quake likes to take off at around 40mph, which is about 2/3rd throttle! The quake needs more torque to move than a rc18 cause of higher diff gearing and weight, thats why I wnt to the 280l.

I have tried a hyperion motor, 5000kv 22 series xl in a vendetta and it ran hot on 3s, but the body was on and had no air cooling. Inside the vendetta is very tight with the std steering servo and a 3s 1800 lipo. It had tons of power, full speed wheelies, etc. I have heard that the l can hyperion 22 series are nice in a rc18. BPP sells them and they are reasonable cost.

GWS l can motors suck, even in a mini t, so I doubt they would be any good in a rc18.

The hacker 13 was a good 3s motor, around 4200kv IIRC. Would go hacker over the mamba.

I would recommend trying the GH 3600 or 4700, not sure about the fit in a 18t, but the chassis cutout should give enough claerance fir the fins. You said that you found pinions to fit the 2.3mm shaft?

Heres a link to the GH motors:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJAB3&P=7

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJAB4&P=7

[crazyjr]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

Heres my take on mini motors. I have had a mini-t, mlst, mini quake, vendetta, rc18t, rc18mt, rc18r. All were run brushless and I have sold all except the mini quake, my favorite.

The golden horizons 3600 and 4700 motors are the s**t for the quake and vendetta. The 3600 is a 3s motor the 4700, 2s. Only drawdack is they both have 2.3mm shafts. Since they are finned they run cool. I currently run the 4700 in a 13" gecko boat and it does 28mph on 2s!



I would recommend trying the GH 3600 or 4700, not sure about the fit in a 18t, but the chassis cutout should give enough claerance fir the fins. You said that you found pinions to fit the 2.3mm shaft?

Heres a link to the GH motors:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJAB3&P=7

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJAB4&P=7

I too love my miniquake SE, its so tough i can't believe it. I have a setup in mine thats about 3/4 HP electric (3s) and it has so much more torque than it needs. The only problem is the battery size, it used a shotgun type battery without the caps on and thats all, makes it hard to find good LIPO's.

I also ran the 4700 GH motor and loved it, I just wanted to break new ground and be the first to run a Neu in mine. I have a Neu 1107/2y (3500kv i think), its an awsome motor. It does not like the mamba 25 though, coggs very badly at times, I do have a quark 33 to put in sometime

Edit; I forgot to add on the Lehner motor (1020), its a 1/8 shaft

I've been running DualSky lipos in one of my MQs or Vendetta for a couple of yrs- they fit like they were made for the MQ or Vendetta batt compartment. They had one rated at 1700 and then things started to change. The next was called xpower was same size but only rated for 1500. They did go from 15C to 20C though. Now looking they've changed again, its now 1300mah but rated at 25C in the same size.

The 1700 never delivered that much, mine were always running 1400+ so the 1700 was prob optimistic. The 1500 was pretty much the same so I'm at a loss to understand the 1300 de-rating. I don't know if these qualify as "good" lipos, but they've worked for me. Apogee was supposed to come out with a "small form factor" lipo, but I don't think they ever did?

I was out of town for almost 90days earlier this year and all my lipos puffed at least one cell, so I've been slowly replacing them. I guess I'll try the 1300 and see what they'll do.

Well, I'm not saying I'll drop another one in my cars, but am always willing to find out more possibilities.......and then dump more money into this blasted hobby. ;)

[GorillaMaxx360]

has anyone tried the permax 400 4d motors they are the same size as the golden horizons motors. i wanted something to use in my vendetta i was looking at the gd motors but i also wanted to know if anyone had any info on the permax motors. BTW crazy what kind of speeds do you think i will expect with a gd 4700 motor in my vendetta on 2s lipo (rough estimate).

I went the other direction - I saw an hobby lobby sale for a 3500 kv heli motor called Cool Red - its a finned motor and delivered to my door was just $25! I wished I had bought more than one. Its in my Vendetta and is a killer with the mamba 25. Super power and if I want stupid speed I just run 3S instead of 2. I get near 30min run times and thats blasting on the street or tennis courts where its at or near WOT most of the time. Temps have never been over 135F, mamba barely warm as are the batts with ambient near 100F. It is a strong enought motor I went to ball diffs to stop destroying the diffs, lol!

I have a GH3500 in my MQ SE and it rocks! I have the 4700 also but have never installed it - too much fun with the 3500. Again if I want to go faster, just run 3S. The batt compartments in Vendetta and MQ are just about identical so its easy swapping 2S and 3S back and forth. I've got a hyp Y22l 5000 and its going in my orig old MQ when it's brushed VR3 quits.

The only mamba motor I run is in my M18MT where its seems to be happy. Its a 5400 and it ran hot in both vendetta and MQ then I put it in the Xray, I guess its the kind of weight it was engineered for, runs warm - I've never temped it since its only warm. My M18 has a tekin 6800 and I expect it to run warm when I get it finished, another very light weight rc.

Don't have a speed est for you on Vendetta with the 4700, but it will be enough you'll need a radio with exp to dial down strg sensitivity or you'll find it hard to control to the point of not being too much fun.

[tashpop]

the permax motors need a bigger esc than the mamba25.

any consideration on trying a wraith 7k? i have one that i replaced a hyperion 5k with and never looked for anything better for the 18th scale cars. i'm truley done searching for motors after i used it. right now it resides in my sportswerks recoil with the highest possible gearing and it stays very happy with the temps, and i can still drift the car with rubber tires, so i didn't give up any torque.

[crazyjr]

I'm using the hextronic 1700 20c rated packs, they are great, but you can't find them. United hobbies lists them, but they are always out of stock. I want some 2s but they are out as well

So the GH 4700 is a great motor? It'd seem that the low kv wouldn't make it all too fast though, or do you just gear it way up because of the greater torque? I'm looking for at least the same speed as my Aon 4900, which was about 40 or so on 2s lipo, and was barely fast enough to be competitive with the 6800 boys.....I usually kept up only because I run 18T foams custom trued down to fit on the R and could holeshot, carry more speed, and accelerate much better than on the rubber tires.

Actually, I like the idea of the slower GH 3600 and just waking it up with 3s, but there are times we like to drive fast and stupid and I use my various 6-cell Nimh packs for that......I'd like to stick with a motor that'd still be acceptable on 6 cells.

Oh yeah, what 2.3mm pinions you guys run? The only ones I've seen at our store are the RRP 16t and 17t ones, but I found some on Tower made by Venom. Any others?