Month: December 2016

For motor water cooling to be effective, there must be sufficient water inflow. The water inlet is located at the end close to the propeller. Not all water inlet designs are effective. In fact, many stock inlets are too short to be able to “catch water”. Without water inflow, you can cook your motor in […]

There are two major types of motor cooling coils. The first type wraps around the motor with rubber O rings on both ends. This type is primarily good for brushless motors that have totally no openings on the motor can. Brushed motors have openings all over the can so they will not be suitable for […]

Some RC boats come with a small water release hole at the front, and there is a rubber seal that comes with it. This rubber seal is small so you may lose it pretty easily. A quick and simple replacement is duct tape, which is good enough for covering the opening temporarily. This water release […]

Poorly shaped propeller can allow the motor to spin very fast simply because it is just spinning but not actually “pushing” the water. A good one should push the water hard, not just spin fast on its own. If you change the propeller to a good one that is 10~15% larger in size, you will […]

A good propeller is one that has properly shaped blades. A small but properly shaped propeller can already be very effective. A good and large one that is properly shaped can be several times more powerful, at the expense of load and heat. If you change the propeller to one that has the same size […]

This is a term that describes the number of times the wires are wrapped around the armature web of the motor. The less turns a motor has, the faster it will go, and vice versa (so a 13T motor will run way faster than a 20T motor). Motors with very few turns can consume battery […]

The receiver needs approximately 6V of power to operate. In a typical configuration, the ESC supplies this power to the receiver. Some ESCs can adjust the voltage in a safe manner to avoid blowing up the receiver. Most cheaper ESCs cannot. If you supply too much to the ESC, the circuit that handles power supply […]

We use 7.2V batteries here as examples for discussion. The 3700mah GP pack is so strong that when it is fully charged its effective voltage output is very close to 8.88v. The Intellect 5000mah pack is even stronger. Size-wise, a very close alternative to 7.2V nimh is 7.4V Lipo. Lipo is less heavier and far […]

According to Sean Holman in his article “Choosing The Right Ratio – Uncovering The Secret Calculation”, “With a bigger tire, the truck will feel like it is geared higher (numerically lower), which is great for highway cruising, but not for low-end grunt, off-the-line acceleration, or passing power. To bring your rig back to stock performance […]

Even though it is technically possible to convert a touring car to a truggy by changing tires, the configuration would often be less than optimal. The problem is that the wheel span is not wide enough – the car is going to flip when turned. See the picture below: A Tamiya touring 4WD was converted […]