Kraton Are Motor Fans Necessary

Jigstick · Jul 16, 2018

When I first started tuning my nitro LST2 years ago I got the needles adjusted to the performance I wanted. Temps on the heat sink and engine block were borderline. At that point in my RC career I didn't even know fans existed. So I drilled holes in the windshield of the shell. I was kind of impressed how much it helped. Then I decided to actually funnel the air from the holes directly towards the engine and the effect was even better.

Im probably going to order my Kraton tonight online. My boys were out front in the culdesac running their Skullys and were begging me to get a new truck. Im going to assess the temps on 6S and see where Im at. Before I jump to the fans Ill drill some holes. Ill let you guys know how it turns out, and post some hard numbers.

Rpmspeedyblue · Jul 16, 2018

Dvarg said:
The first few runs on my Kraton, i wasnt really watching temps; I went just shy of 200degrees after like 15 minutes. Since i've been limiting my runtimes. I should get a fan. This is on 6S, and in loose silt. I'd say running pretty hard.

I run all my ARRMA’s at full throttle and took temperatures. They were well over 200 degrees *F. Running on loose dirt and tall to medium height grass. I’m a firm believer of keeping Electric motors cool as possible. Heat wears down motors.

Jigstick · Jul 16, 2018

Heres another thought for you guys. When running with the lids on at full throttle for extended times you're definitely going to generate heat under that shell. especially in the vicinity of the engine. With the fans you are essentially just blowing hot air onto the engine. yes...thats better than no air flow at all. But funneling air from outside the shell....that is cooler in relation to air under the shell near the motor....is going to cool the engine better than a fan. Prove me wrong

Rpmspeedyblue · Jul 16, 2018

Jigstick said:
Heres another thought for you guys. When running with the lids on at full throttle for extended times you're definitely going to generate heat under that shell. especially in the vicinity of the engine. With the fans you are essentially just blowing hot air onto the engine. yes...thats better than no air flow at all. But funneling air from outside the shell....that is cooler in relation to air under the shell near the motor....is going to cool the engine better than a fan. Prove me wrong

I agree with you 100% on funneling air in but designing it to be efficient seems pretty challenging. Installing the heatsink and fans have lowered my temps from 200 *F down to 165*F. Unless there is an easier way by funneling air to the motor I would use it in a heartbeat.

RCROD · Jul 16, 2018

Jigstick said:
Heres another thought for you guys. When running with the lids on at full throttle for extended times you're definitely going to generate heat under that shell. especially in the vicinity of the engine. With the fans you are essentially just blowing hot air onto the engine. yes...thats better than no air flow at all. But funneling air from outside the shell....that is cooler in relation to air under the shell near the motor....is going to cool the engine better than a fan. Prove me wrong

No, fans are not really necessary if you gear correctly, maintain vehicle, not build diffs too tight, and not add a bunch of unnecessary weight, especially with really heavy tires/wheels. I do not run RC's when outside temps are well into the 30's C (over 90F), and do not usually run in tall grass either. If outside temps are that hot, they are too hot for me, so I will just run RC in the morning or later evening. I am running a 15T in my Kraton, and a 18T in my Talion and have no heat issues.

Also a fan is just another thing to go wrong, and if you solely rely on the fan to keep your motor from overheating very easily, this is not the best idea. The weight of a fan and motor heat sink is also a negative, besides having to hookup and try and feed even more wire through the little black foam plug on the receiver box and keep it all still waterproof.

For many of us well seasoned RCers, we all used to make large holes in our front windows of our Nitro vehicles (whether it was an onroad or offroad RC). I even cut out the rear window on my SUBIE Rally car, & put mesh in place, for even better airflow (this worked extremely well).

I agree with Jigstick 100%, more airflow (especially bringing more air from outside the shell) is always the best thing, especially compared to just moving hot air around with a fan (which does helps a bit). However, we do have to be careful where any holes are drilled, whether on the front grille or front window, so we don't affect the durability of the body shell, as most if us definitely abuse our Arrma's when driving and jumping them as hard as we do (years ago, we could only dream that an RC can handle what they do now). Although making holes in the lower grille would be protected by a good front bumper, I would think the airflow would be mostly blocked by the shock tower, etc. The upper grille area make work, but concerned if this will affect the durability of the body? The front window area seems to be quite strong and reinforced, so was thinking 2 small holes on each side (+ would look better than 1 big hole), but still debating myself where to try this exactly...

If you are not driving in dirty, rocky, muddy, damp conditions, you could remove the Outcast front dirt guards on your Kraton/Outcast, which would improve airflow a lot over the motor and battery(s), but this is starting to sound like a fair weather pavement street machine only, and what is the fun of that (unless it is a Arrma speed machine that does 141mph...LOL)

Zaiden15 · Jul 16, 2018

I use fans on my rigs for extra piece of mind. They do help with temps from my experience. The title asks are they necessary so I would answer no, while not necessary they do give added piece of mind that you have some positive air flow around your power plant. The Yeah Racing one in the above posted is awesome. Moves an amazing amount of air.

spectrum audio · Jul 19, 2018

I’m all for running a fan or two. My motor gets pretty hot pretty quickly to where I have to stop and set a couple ice cubes on the can so I can run another five minutes as soon as I can

MeesterC · Jul 19, 2018

Nope, fans aren't necessary but do give a little extra protection and piece of mind. I do run a fan on my kraton motor because I had it anyways so why not. I live in the south and the summer heat here is usually above 90 most days. Before installing the fans I removed the grill section on my lid to allow fresh cool air to enter as I drive it, like the effect of driving a real car entering thru the grill to cool the radiator. Just from doing the grill mod my motor temps dropped around 15 degrees or so. Not a whole lot, if any, debris enters thru it since either nose is in the air doing wheelies or because it sits around 3 inches off the ground....... Lol. I just need to find a way to secure some mesh over the opening for an added safety measure, hot glue won't hold it. Picture for reference.

Zeus · Jul 19, 2018

Jigstick said:
Heres another thought for you guys. When running with the lids on at full throttle for extended times you're definitely going to generate heat under that shell. especially in the vicinity of the engine. With the fans you are essentially just blowing hot air onto the engine. yes...thats better than no air flow at all. But funneling air from outside the shell....that is cooler in relation to air under the shell near the motor....is going to cool the engine better than a fan. Prove me wrong

AGREED...BUT NO ONE BELEIVES ME. FANS SUCK, FUNNELS RULE.

MeesterC · Jul 19, 2018

Zeus said:
AGREED...BUT NO ONE BELEIVES ME. FANS SUCK, FUNNELS RULE.

What size funnel would you recommend and how do you go about mounting it? Just kidding! Had to do it for shits and giggles.
I removed the front grill section from my lid to let the air flow but I also use a fan just cuz........ Here in the South the days are 90 or above and any extra protection is better than none.

Zeus · Jul 19, 2018

Rcs move at many thousand feet per minute... a fan moves 20cfm...its a no brainer.

Just cut up an old oil can and zip tie it to concentrate and force airflow down over your electronics...off to work but will post pics later. ..

Jerry-rigged · Jul 20, 2018

Zeus said:
Rcs move at many thousand feet per minute... a fan moves 20cfm...its a no brainer.

By my "back of the napkin" math, 20cfm on a 25mm fan works out to moving air about 30-35mph, or close to 3000fpm - AKA " many thousand feet per minute" And it is working even with the car is standing still...

(But I am still in the smaller pinion no fan camp)

Rpmspeedyblue · Jul 21, 2018

Zeus said:
Rcs move at many thousand feet per minute... a fan moves 20cfm...its a no brainer.

Just cut up an old oil can and zip tie it to concentrate and force airflow down over your electronics...off to work but will post pics later. ..

Ok you got my attention. Just got my My Talion recently and my motor hit over 200*F. I am going to order heatsink and fans for it but will try the funnel method mod first to see how well this works. Please show some pics of this funnel modifications. Thx

Rpmspeedyblue · Jul 21, 2018

Zeus said:
AGREED...BUT NO ONE BELEIVES ME. FANS SUCK, FUNNELS RULE.

Good concept. Show me how it’s done so I can be a believer.

-Dusty- · Jul 21, 2018

MeesterC said:
Nope, fans aren't necessary but do give a little extra protection and piece of mind. I do run a fan on my kraton motor because I had it anyways so why not. I live in the south and the summer heat here is usually above 90 most days. Before installing the fans I removed the grill section on my lid to allow fresh cool air to enter as I drive it, like the effect of driving a real car entering thru the grill to cool the radiator. Just from doing the grill mod my motor temps dropped around 15 degrees or so. Not a whole lot, if any, debris enters thru it since either nose is in the air doing wheelies or because it sits around 3 inches off the ground....... Lol. I just need to find a way to secure some mesh over the opening for an added safety measure, hot glue won't hold it. Picture for reference. View attachment 20586

I was thinking of doing the same thing except on the black part under the headlights. Putting window screen on the holes and using shoe goo to secure it.

Rpmspeedyblue · Jul 21, 2018

-Dusty- said:
I was thinking of doing the same thing except on the black part under the headlights. Putting window screen on the holes and using shoe goo to secure it.

Rpmspeedyblue · Jul 21, 2018

Thinking of drilling holes in body using a 5/64 drill bit. Same diameter as screen mesh.

ThatDrewGuy · Jul 22, 2018

There are a lot of good ideas here. I think integrating a few of them at once looks like a really good plan. I was up just over 200 on the 90 degree days, and the 2 Yeah Racing fans brought me down to 171-174. That was a big deal. That's with no holes in the body, or funnel type method. Think I might try putting a few holes in the front of the body with a drill to let some air in there. I liked that idea over cutting out a gap to have to cover with screen. A dozen small holes might do the trick. Never hurts to try! Well minus some small holes in the body. Motor and esc cost more to replace than a body does!

Zaiden15 · Jul 22, 2018

I have had holes in my bodies for awhile. I use gorilla tape and hot glue to hold my screen. I use a hot glue gun that's 40w I think so it gets hot and the glue just holds so much better than the lower temperature ones.

-Dusty- · Jul 23, 2018

Zaiden15 said:
I have had holes in my bodies for awhile. I use gorilla tape and hot glue to hold my screen. I use a hot glue gun that's 40w I think so it gets hot and the glue just holds so much better than the lower temperature ones.

Looks pretty slick. Did it help temps out at all?

Kraton Are Motor Fans Necessary

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