Brushless Motor Clicking...?

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ChadCharlieG

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Location
Kansas in the United States
RC Driving Style
  1. Bashing
Hi. I have an Exceed Sunfire (Redcat Tornado) (HSP Cheetah [Not JLB Cheetah!]) that I converted to brushless. I got a really cheap brushless ESC and Motor combo by Jrelecs (Yeah, I can't pronounce it either.) that works amazing.. everything does what it's supposed to do. The motor is 540 size (I know that's not typical brushless size, but uh... that's what it said.) But often times the car will get stuck and the motor will click. If it is say... up against a tree or caught in some tall grass it clicks in rapid succession until something gets it moving. It also clicks a few times if you go from reverse to forwards too quickly. But afterwards it moves fine. It's not the gears or anything stripped. It hasn't gotten worse or better, just always done that. Typically it does it more often in cold weather, but it also does it in hot weather. Also, changing the amount of throttle does not change how rapidly it clicks. I could record audio of it making the sound if you would like.
 
try a smaller pinion
 
could be bad motor?
 
could be bad motor?
Well the thing is it was built that way. It's not really a problem that affects performance too heavily. I just makes an audible sound instead of just not moving when it's stuck. I'm mostly curious if anyone knows EXACTLY what it may be.
 
540 is the standard can size for a 1/10 scale RC which the Sunfire is I believe. What exact ESC/Motor combo is it? whats the models of each?
 
That doesn't sound too unusual for a sensorless brushless motor, since all brushless motors cog to some degree when stalling, but check your wire connections. Sometimes bad connections cause the motor to cog more.
 
One problem I see right off the bat is your motor. That motor is not really a 540 sized motor. Its a 380 motor stuck inside a 540 can. Any motor you see with those really deep cooling ridges in them are 380s not 540s. 380 sized motors are generally for use in 1/12 or 1/14th scale kits. For a little more info skip to 7:31 in the video posted below. The ESC is small and probably not rated what it says on the box which is 60A. Alot of budget companies like exceed etc use these kind of parts to keep costs down. Thats one reason they arent known for being reliable.

At any rate first thing I would do is buy a true 540 sized motor and give that a shot. Even if it doesn't fix the issue you'll notice more power from the larger motor. If you replace the motor and the issue still exists its most likely an issue with the ESC. typically a 60A ESC will run 2S or 3S but their directions say not to run anything bigger than 2S which leads me to believe its not really a 60A ESC. If you replace the motor and that fixes the issue and you continue to use that ESC, Id look in to running a standalone BEC to take a bit of the electrical strain off of the ESC.

For budget minded people that want something half way decent Id look at Hobbywing as long as the motor doesn't look like the one pictured at about 9:30ish in the video. Id recommend buying a castle creations combo if you can afford it and Id get a 4pole motor over a 2 pole regardless of what brand you buy.

Cogging is usually caused by the motor not being able to produce enough torque to spin which is very likely cuz you have a 380 sized motor.

 
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One problem I see right off the bat is your motor. That motor is not really a 540 sized motor. Its a 380 stuck inside a 540 can. Any motor you see with those really deep cooling ridges in them are 380s not 540s. 380 sized motors are generally for use in 1/12 or 1/14th scale kits. For a little more info skip to 7:31 in the video posted below. The ESC is small and probably not rated what it says on the box which is 60A. Alot of budget companies like exceed etc use these kind of parts to keep costs down. Thats why they arent known for being reliable.

At any rate first thing I would do is buy a true 540 sized motor and give that a shot. Even if it doesn't fix the issue you'll notice more power from the larger motor. If you replace the motor and the issue still exists its most likely an issue with the ESC. typically a 60A ESC will run 2S or 3S but their directions say not to run anything bigger than 2S which leads me to believe its not really a 60A ESC. If you replace the motor and that fixes the issue and you continue to use that ESC, Id look in to running a standalone BEC to take a bit of the electrical strain off of the ESC.

For budget minded people that want something half way decent Id look at Hobbywing as long as the motor doesn't look like the one pictured at about 9:30ish in the video. Id recommend buying a castle creations combo if you can afford it.

Wow... I feel scammed! Just kidding. That's pretty amazing how much I get out of it with this crappy motor.
 
I know what you mean about feeling scammed been there myself before. If you think that motor is amazing put a 4pole true 540 motor in it and you prolly wont be able to keep the front wheels on the ground :)
 
That being said bigger motor will draw more power from the ESC so be prepared to replace the ESC too if the bigger motor end up being to much for the ESC
 
I know what you mean about feeling scammed been there myself before. If you think that motor is amazing put a 4pole true 540 motor in it and you prolly wont be able to keep the from wheels on the ground :)

That being said bigger motor will draw more power from the ESC so be prepared to replace the ESC too if the bigger motor end up being to much for the ESC
Oh, I see. Also, the ESC I have had no warning about using 3s so the link I sent may have a different ESC.
 
Thats fine if the ESC holds up with a good motor in it then just less you have to replace :)
 
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