is the 450MX motor junk or do I just have it set up wrong?

[skunkworx]

I bought a very lightly used 450MX motor and got it installed but it doesn't seem to hold under a load almost whatsoever. Even my old 430SP at 208 degrees had more guts that this thing. I think I have a 14t pinion on it and an 100% flat curve, but even the new 95i tail servo gives up the ghost. I played with the gains and tail settings on the MBX but it still isn't like before. It also seems to be eating up a lot of power because my packs are coming down right in the edge of 80% DOD if not, over that under 4:10 flights. SMH....

[Yfbb]

I think you may need a bigger pinion to wake it up a bit, but IMHO, the 450mx is not a terribly powerful motor. Mines was nearly impossible to sustain tic tocs with.

[skunkworx]

I was kind of afraid of that. It seems to want to fall out of the sky or to kick the tail out really hard on more demanding maneuvers. I can deal with blow-outs, but it was pretty much ruining my whole day of flying today. Probably should've just bit the bullet and got the Scorp/Hyperion/NexD motor instead?

[DWayte62]

I put a KDE Direct 450FX-3500 in my 450 DFC with a castle ice 50 lite, 12T pinion and 121T main running at 3350 rpm. Very happy with this set up. All kinds of power and my 2250mah 45c batteries are at 35 to 40 percent after a 4 minute flight without any hard 3D.

[skunkworx]

I got a second 3400 for pretty cheap so I'm going to try that next. I also got a 6S 1700Kv Align 430MX to try if I decide to go 6S as well (already have the frame set). I'm just not really in a position to pick up the ESC and batteries yet. I prefer 3S simply because, for the time being, it's predictable and I've been using these systems for nearly 8 years now with very few problems so it's kind of wierd to change things up. Old habits are hard to kick I guess?

That being said, if I don't start getting things turned around on the 450's I might start focusing back on the 3D+ (50 size nitro) and my Aurora. It's just hard to find places close by to fly either of those on a weekday.

[Trexwilly]

Either you got a dud, or your doing something wrong, the 450MX is a decent little motor...

[skunkworx]

Probably a dud. I had a 450M in my original Pro back in 2011 and it did about as well as a Scorpion 2221-8. I haven't tried the 500W version Scorp or any of the 6S setups (yet), so I've been trying to make the best out of the 3S setups until I can switch powertrains.

Is it possible that 14t pinion might help with the feel or would just make it draw even worse? I think I have a 13t on it now I believe. On my old 450M it flew a lot better on the 14t but I never had a logger or a way to see what the motor was pulling down.

[Trexwilly]

Yes because the motor is a bit lower KV than the older editions, a taller pinion will be necessary, I gear 10:1 on the pro

[Funky]

The 450mx should have plenty of power. I put well over 1000 flights on my previous 450mx and was very satisfied for a stock motor. It should be able to sustain tic-tocs for as long as you want if the collective is managed right and the lipo is up for it. I finally wore the bearings and motor shaft out so I threw in an old 450m I had sitting around and the MX definately had more power (although it is not a night and day difference).

Check over the coils. I had one in a backup heli that didn't put out as much power and there is a noticeable dark spot on some of the windings.

[skunkworx]

I have Pulse 45Cs and it almost falls out of the sky. The rpm drops extremely low and it's everything I can do to stay off the collective. It seems like it's doing something really weird to the BEC because the tail blows out really hard and it didn't do that at all with the 430SP I had in it previously. I'm going to swap the motors out today and see if there's any difference. It may just be needing a larger pinion, but I really think something is wrong with the one that's in there now. I've always had great luck with Align motors and ESCs on 450 class machines so this may be my first bad one.

[skunkworx]

Well, I swapped the motor out and flew a bit this weekend. Looks like the first motor is, in fact, a dud. It works, but seems to draw a lot more current than the second one so I'll just keep it around for spares or maybe attempt rewinding it for a fun project.

That being said, both of these motors suck pretty bad on a 13t pinion. I'm pretty sure I just need to get a 14t like on the old 450M. I tired swapping it out but had the wrong side ID on the pinion so I tore it apart for nothing.

Also, I think my batteries are starting to die on me already. I haven't even made it since May and they're all really dropping off in power even though they show pretty low IR. Might be a good time to switch up to 65C 6S. C'est la vie...

[CrashNburn420]

What batteries are you using? I can tell a good pretty good difference from my older (200 cycle) Gens ace 25c to my new pulse 45c. The pulse 65c has a small bit more but not that much.

Mine well tic toc till I lose it but it's not hard to use too much collective and bog it down.