Not really interesting for digital. Crazy fast is not at all helpful without a crazy BIG track where an R4 is considered a hairpin turn. You don't get that much in digital. Even the oXigen Le Mans race wouldn't be suitable because, although the track is the size of a gymnasium, the turns are still normal track radii. If you're just going to slow them down to make them manageable, what's the point of having them in the first place?
Brushless Slot cars
Hi All,
I have been looking into other hobbies recently as I saw an RC plane and thought I'd better give that a go too! Anyhow, these days all the electric motors in RC planes seem to be brushless. Is that something that we'll see with Slot Cars in the future? Are there any already?
Obviously they are more efficient and probably more reliable and have less wear, surely that'd be a good thing?
Cheers,
Damo.
I have been looking into other hobbies recently as I saw an RC plane and thought I'd better give that a go too! Anyhow, these days all the electric motors in RC planes seem to be brushless. Is that something that we'll see with Slot Cars in the future? Are there any already?
Obviously they are more efficient and probably more reliable and have less wear, surely that'd be a good thing?
Cheers,
Damo.
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Excellent list, Doc. I'm definitely more interested than I was before.Potential other benefits of brushless...
1/ candidate for slotcar land speed record challenge
2/ less wear and tear on motors... e.g no commutators/brushes/sparks inside the motor etc
3/ lower drive currents therefore more cars per amp of power supply or lower voltage drops alng the track.
4/ lower drive currents therefore lower system wear-and-tear and less pick-up arcing and so less emi radiated
5/ less heat so less chance of thermal damage to plastic car body parts
6/ more motor poles so better very slow speed running
7/ reduced vibration for a given rpm
8/ integrated tachometer for telemetry and/or governor mode operation
9/ better overall performance per $/£/euro than high end brushed motors used in slot racing.
10/ and repeating injectormans above post... reduced size... which presumably means more flexibility over where and how we mount our motors...
So maybe its not all about speed... tempting as above item 1 appears...
Not sure how many of the above list will be important as slot cars develop over the next 50 years... also not sure what I have missed... but maybe time to start our rethink...?maybe? So I am putting together a couple of test vehicles... based on slot.it in-lne and sidewinder motor pods... really just for fun at this stage and particularly as I now have access to 16mm mabuchi-sized brushless motors...
Enjoy the festivities...
C
With the tiny brushless motors and ESC available these days (see micro-drones), I wonder why we haven't already seen them in slot cars.
Never thought I'd see you take a cue from the anti-digital people.I reckon they would be a lot quieter but I can't see me buying a 100 motor pods and motors for my collection.
Just like switching to digital from analog, or from one digital system to another, doesn't require a complete and immediate conversion of an entire collection, neither would this. Heck, this would be even LESS necessary than changing out 100 in-car decoders.
I'll be honest and say that I'm not especially interested in this, either. But, that's not the same as trying to convince people that it's not worth pursuing. If brushless motors becomes a thing at some point, where I can drop in some ready to install components and enjoy the new engine for whatever it gives me, I'll try it then. Imagine if every time someone scoffed at an idea, the people with the idea gave it up? Not a world I want to live in, thanks. I'm also not going to give them a hard time if their project is put on indefinite hold, or proves not to provide any benefit. Just like with how different people race slot cars of various kinds in various ways, so long as they are enjoying it, it's worth doing.
1 - 5 of 200 Posts
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