Tail Motor Break-in

[Elios000]

Originally Posted by cmar143

I see your point that all the alcohol would evaporate but is that safe? Putting something with electricity in something flammable for an hour?

you could do it in gasoline(please dont) only vapor can ignite nothing in a liquid state can

[sh4d0w]

Hey guys I'm new to heli's and this forum not new to r/c stuff in general. I just wanted to add on to this great post. I busted my tail boom today trying to bend it back for like the 3rd time and had to change it so once I had the tail motor loose i decided to give this "break in" a shot. I decided to use alcohol instead of distiled water i have no idea if it would make any diffrence. I ran it for about 2 minutes in both directions on 2 AA batteries dried it out a little and dripped some after run oil (it all i really have but seems to have done the trick) So here's the good part after I everything back together and try my heli out I was simply amazed. The tail is way more stable less wagging less noise in fact it was so smooth I decided to pull the ch 5 wire out and let the gyro run stock settings and there is like 0 wag in this thing now. So I remember reading some post about some guy flamming the guy who started this post about breaking in a 8 dollar motor well this guy needs to realize that this has nothing to do with money for me personally it's a matter of simply having a motor that just works ALOT better in my opinion it''s way smoother no more moskito on steriods I hardly hear it now. SO I just want to say that to that guy that started this whole Blade SR post cause being the total noob that i am with my blade i must say that all this info related to all the topics in here have been most informative and especially like this tail motor break in thing in fact i was thinking of getting the belt drive kit but i think i'll hold off on that now as this post has solved all of my tail issues. I will be doing this to ALL my brushed motors from now on ... no matter the price

Thanks man

[JimMarconnet]

Thanks sh4d0w for sharing your experience and especially how it turned out so well.

I have several tail motors, old and new and unknown from several different people that I've been planning to run in like you did. I'm a little concerned about using alcohol due to fire hazzard!

There was another post recently about the SR being possessed or something. I'd really like it if someone would come up with a combination of motor run-in, ferrite beads, magic dust, incantations!, something, that makes the tail behave and stay behaving for a while!

And then something loud and clear that would warn that the tail motor is impending failure would be great too!

Jim

[sh4d0w]

I don't think you should have any issues with fire as long as you start up the engine while it's submerged in the alcohol. One guy mentioned that only vapor is flammable ... this is true. So just submerge the motor connect the battery pack run it then invert the polarity run it and disconnect the current then pull the motor out ... dry it out and throw a couple drops of lubricant inside and you should be good to go. If you are really paranoid just use distilled water

[porl_hopkinsoakley]

as a noob (helis AND electrics) how do i connect my SR tail motor up and what batteries do i use????

[lazor 22]

If you just want to check your tail motor, then take a AA and pop the JST Red thing off so you just have the gold plugs.Then hold one on each end (it won't shock you)

[PTCBernie]

Originally Posted by QueadlunnRau

I'm going to experiment using alcohol for my wet break-in. I'll keep a log of how long my new tail motor will run.

Even pure distilled water still conducts electricity, alcohol does not. Also water does not dry as fast as alcohol and I'd still worry about corroding the copper wire inside.

Normally I would just use my normal motor break-in technique, but since I fly primarily at parks, I wanna take every precaution to make sure this bird does not end up having the tail fail randomly in the air.

I've broken in many motors with just running lower voltage for a while. (I also use comminicator break-in oil, you can get that at a hobby shop, but for this motor hard to get to the armature easily.)

Uh, you do know that alcohol is flammable, right?

I've been using DI water for years to break in brushed motoers and it works great. Also, be careful with alcohol as it may soften or affect some internal components, plastics, coatings, shellacs, lubricants etc.

[SeanM]

I've used alcohol several times without an issue. I simply submerge the motor prior to connecting the wires to power. The reason alcohol is recommended is because it evaporates quickly. Water has impurities and can cause oxidation. The only downside to using alcohol is that it removes all of the lubrication and the inner bushing cannot be lubricated afterwards, but that hasn't appeared to be an issue.

[Terry M]

I did the alcohol break in procedure and the tail rotor lasted about 4 minutes.I will just try the next one out of the box and hope for the best

[SeanM]

Sorry to hear about your defective motor... There's bound to be some floating around. The chances of the break-in procedure doing more harm than good is pretty slim.

[Terry M]

yeah ...no sweat i was not pointing fingers just pointing out i did the precautionary measure and it still broke.I orderd 2more and some other spare parts.

[CrashCanuck]

The new tail motor in my SR was broken in using alcohol. No problem with the procedure, at the same time I also broke in a tail motor for my 120SR. As I was flying this more over the winter I only got 3 months out of that tail motor. Had to replace it this week. SR no problem but not many batts run through it. Might go the belt conversion route and be done with it. Keeping the full SR line in tail motors can be a pain in the wallet. But what else would we spend our disposable income on that's this much fun.

Later

[LizardMan]

Using an iCharger 3010B in brushed motor driver mode I slowly ramp up the drive voltage to break-in the brushes and stress test the motor before flying. So far, this has worked well.

My last motor was replaced after having RX brown-out problems. It had many flights (50+) on it, and it still passed the stress test. The only issue with the used motor is the shaft bushing is a bit worn/sloppy.

During this process keep an eye on the motor temp. The motor should run smoothly without changing speeds or suddenly change in any way (including sound).

Brush break-in:
5 min @ 2.5V with 2A current limit and no rotor (no load) draws 160mA
10 min @ 3.5V (no load) draws 170mA
5 min @ 3.5V with reversed leads (spins backward - no load)
5 min @ 5V (no load) draws 200 mA
5 min @ 8V (no load) draws 230 mA

With load break-in:
5 min @ 3.5V and 2A limit with rotor mounted

Load testing:
1 min @ 5V and 2A limit with rotor (should draw about 1.1A), let it cool
1 min @ 5V and 2A limit (repeat of above)
1 min @ 6V and 2A limit, let it cool
30 sec @ 8V and 2A limit (watch for signs of stress and heat, be ready to hit the abort button)

During the 5V, 6V and 8V loaded tests this motor is running beyond the manufacturer specs as it does during flight. Limit the amount of time at these power levels, make sure the heat sink is mounted during these steps. Check for heat build up during these steps. I keep one hand on the heat sink and the other on the abort button.

[Bladecpnitro]

Hey Lizardman would the stock Blade CP Nimh battery charger run the tail motor? I'm needing to break one in or throw it away not sure which yet. I bought a new one yesterday that's loud and gets hot rather quickly.

[Bladecpnitro]

I think I salvaged the new N-60 tail motor. I ran it maybe six times until it got warm on my Blade CP with the main motor unplugged, no tail prop with the slider set at 50 % and that seems to have done the trick. I also dropped some WD 40 on the shaft. The noise it was making almost sounded like a dry non greased bushing.

When I first fired it up brand new it wouldn't hold the tail period, now its holding fine and much quieter.

[LizardMan]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

Hey Lizardman would the stock Blade CP Nimh battery charger run the tail motor? I'm needing to break one in or throw it away not sure which yet. I bought a new one yesterday that's loud and gets hot rather quickly.

I wouldn't use that charger to break-in tail motors. You want programmable voltage and current limits. The brushed motor driver mode of the iCharger has both, and displays voltage, current and power. It has a timer to stop each stage of the process after X minutes or seconds.

[Bladecpnitro]

Originally Posted by LizardMan

I wouldn't use that charger to break-in tail motors. You want programmable voltage and current limits. The brushed motor driver mode of the iCharger has both, and displays voltage, current and power. It has a timer to stop each stage of the process after X minutes or seconds.

So the ICharger actually has a Brushed motor break in mode built into it?

[LizardMan]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

So the ICharger actually has a Brushed motor break in mode built into it?

Not a brushed motor break-in mode, a brushed motor driver mode. It provides a method to power brushed DC motors with a controlled/limited power source.

The SR's tail motor is rated for up to 2A of current or 3W of power, which ever occurs first. Without a load (no rotor) the motor draws little current, usually less than 230mA.

With a rotor mounted the motor consumes more power. 5V with the an SR tail rotor mounted will draw about 1A which is 5W, beyond the motor's rating. At 8V power increases to about 15W (5 times rated power).

[Bladecpnitro]

Hey a drop of WD 40 won't hurt the motor will it? I just don't see the need in all the water. Maybe there is something to it but I just don't think its all that necessary.

I think some of the problem might be poor lubrication on these motors.

It would be neat to do a before water and after video of the the motors disassembled.

[olemil]

Thought I would share my findings on my tail motor after 1-1/2 packs before it went South. I didn't even realize the brushes were so chipped up until I took the pics. Looking at them after taking the motor apart, I thought they were nicely rounded for only less than two packs (no break in). So not sure if they got all chipped up around the edges from me taking the motor apart or if the chunks broke off while in use, guess I'll never know. I can see now why a proper wet break in would help form the brushes. I was going to do this with the new N60 I just threw on but didn't have any leads to solder on the motor to run it. So I just installed the puppy, unplugged the main and ran it for about 30 seconds, let it rest, ran it more until I was probably around 3 minutes total run time. Not sure if this will help but the motor stayed pretty cool which the last one was running way warmer than any motor I have used on my SR. Sorry for the sucky pics, used my Blackberry and way too late to dig out the wifes Nikon to do it right..lol. Guess you can't expect much out of a motor that probably only costs them $1.25 and $.01 of that is labor.