General Information on Radio Controlled Car Motors (Part 1)

The single most important thing about motors is that cleaning is the priority. The best way to improve the performance of a motor is to keep it CLEAN. It does not mean to spray it out once a month with motor spray, instead an absolute cleaning is very important. If you are a serious racer cleaning motors means extra and free horsepower for the engine. This is because it gives proper inflow of fuel and prevents and contaminants or foreign bodies from hurting the machine.
Cleaning of all components is an important aspect. It is very important to clean the brushes and the commutator since this is where the power is applied. Any drop in the resistance of the connection from the brushes to the commutator will be rewarded with either an increase in power or efficiency, or BOTH!

Allowing brush dust to allowed to accumulate on the brushes and the com shall add resistance to the connection of the batteries to the motor. As the resistance of that connection is increased, performance is decreased because some of the battery power is converted to what is called ‘I-squared-R losses’. This results in heat being produced at the brush connection instead of power being transferred to the com.

The best way to keep brushes and com clean, without cutting them, is the little shaped eraser-looking things from RPM. Using one on both brushes and the com between runs and keeps the motor ‘fresher’ between visits to the com lathe. There is not any real marked difference between the yellow one and the black one, they both seem to do the same thing equally well.

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