Granite Brushless Upgrade for Granite or Fazon Voltage???

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lcowart9

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Arrma RC's
  1. Fazon
  2. Granite
  3. Voltage
Alright guys and gals. I've bought 3 rc's for Christmas. The granite and fazon and last, but not least a losi 22s st which the losi turned out to be amazingly fast. Of course I had to test drive a couple before they made it under the tree and can't help, but want to tinker with one as I sort of ended up ordering one too many cars, long story. As far as the two voltages I'm indecisive on which one to upgrade to start. I was already impulsive and picked up a brushless combo and transmitter off of bang good. It's a 540 brushless 3300kv with a 120 amp esc and a surpass hobby transmitter w/receiver all for a whopping $74.00. I'll add links below to the parts. The few questions I had were first off did I choose the right kv motor, would a pinion change be a good idea also, plus the heat sinc that comes with the motor won't fit the arrma I'm sure so should I add a fan above the motor compartment and last, but not least which on should I operate on, the Fazon or the Granite??? Any advice or ideas would definitely be appreciated.

Parts Links:
https://usa.banggood.com/HSP-Off-Ro...7.html?rmmds=search&ID=45583&cur_warehouse=CN

https://usa.banggood.com/Surpass-Ho...p-1466740.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=USA
 
You can read about my brushless build here:
https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/fazon-brushless-build.8211/

I say go with the Fazon, the smaller tires stress the drivertrain much less, and with the added power - it will only help. also with the added speed the smaller wheels will offer more stability.

As i wrote in the post, i changed to the 25t pinion, and it puts the speed in a good range (28mph on 2s and 44mph on 3s)
 
You can read about my brushless build here:
https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/fazon-brushless-build.8211/

I say go with the Fazon, the smaller tires stress the drivertrain much less, and with the added power - it will only help. also with the added speed the smaller wheels will offer more stability.

As i wrote in the post, i changed to the 25t pinion, and it puts the speed in a good range (28mph on 2s and 44mph on 3s)

Awesome...I'm in Florida so heat is an issue here. I don't know what the temp is like on average where you're from, but wonder if the added fan over the motor would be a good idea. Also what happened to the video on your link I was anxious to see it?! Anyways thanks for the advice and link to the thread!
 
That motor is what is called a F540. Note a 540 motor has a 36mm diameter can, 36mm long. That F540 is a 28mm diameter, 36mm long motor with tall fins, to make it 36mm. It will not have the power if the 3650 motor in your Losi, it is a smaller motor.

With that said, I have a 3000kv F540 motor that I have run in several different cars. In a light 2wd car, it will be a big power bump over the stock motor. For a car with plastic gears, like the Voltage, it will be (imho) a better upgrade than a bigger motor with a lot more torque that may strips gears.

With the fins, I did not have heat issues, (texas summers here) unless I tried to gear it way up, so that is good.

Last - that esc is neither 120a or waterproof. It is probably a 35a or 45a esc, but should be ok, as the F540 motors don't draw big amps. Keep it dry, and it should be fine. If it does, look for a 45a Hobbywing esc (maybe a JustStock) as a replacement.
 
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Awesome...I'm in Florida so heat is an issue here. I don't know what the temp is like on average where you're from, but wonder if the added fan over the motor would be a good idea. Also what happened to the video on your link I was anxious to see it?! Anyways thanks for the advice and link to the thread!

Fixed the video.

I lived in Philly back then, and i could over heat the motor on 3s, but not 2s. A fan would be a good idea, but i couldnt make one that fits in the opening.
 
That motor is what is called a F540. Note a 540 motor has a 36mm diameter can, 36mm long. That F540 is a 28mm diameter, 36mm long motor with tall fins, to make it 36mm. It will not have the power if the 3660 motor in your Losi, it is a smaller motor.

With that said, I have a 3000kv F540 motor that I have run in several different cars. In a light 2wd car, it will be a big power bump over the stock motor. For a car with plastic gears, like the Voltage, it will be (imho) a better upgrade than a bigger motor with a lot more torque that may strips gears.

With the fins, I did not have heat issues, (texas summers here) unless I tried to gear it way up, so that is good.

Last - that esc is neither 120a or waterproof. It is probably a 35a or 45a esc, but should be ok, as the F540 motors don't draw big amps. Keep it dry, and it should be fine. If it does, look for a 45a Hobbywing esc (maybe a JustStock) as a replacement.
Gotcha! Newbie here as you can tell. I wondered when I read the reviews one person said to the size motor he thought it was. So I'm guess now that it should fit with the fine attached. My last question as far as the esc goes should I run 2s or 3s? I'm sure 3s will be fine as for my losi it's insane on 3s and in plan on running 2s more often in it.
Gotcha! Newbie here as you can tell. I wondered when I read the reviews one person said to the size motor he thought it was. So I'm guess now that it should fit with the fine attached. My last question as far as the esc goes should I run 2s or 3s? I'm sure 3s will be fine as for my losi it's insane on 3s and in plan on running 2s more often in it.
*said it wasn't the size he thought it was.
 
The motor will be fine on 3s. Those GoolRC ESCs are pretty hit and miss. I have had several. My 35a goolrc did fine on 2s, but 3s killed it. My 45a goolrc, I never ran 3s, it died on 2s and a sprinkle of water. My 80a esc has been good on 2s and 3s.
 
So maybe I just bite the bullet now and install a better esc or use the one that's coming until it dies?
 
That motor is what is called a F540. Note a 540 motor has a 36mm diameter can, 36mm long. That F540 is a 28mm diameter, 36mm long motor with tall fins, to make it 36mm. It will not have the power if the 3660 motor in your Losi, it is a smaller motor.

With that said, I have a 3000kv F540 motor that I have run in several different cars. In a light 2wd car, it will be a big power bump over the stock motor. For a car with plastic gears, like the Voltage, it will be (imho) a better upgrade than a bigger motor with a lot more torque that may strips gears.

With the fins, I did not have heat issues, (texas summers here) unless I tried to gear it way up, so that is good.

Last - that esc is neither 120a or waterproof. It is probably a 35a or 45a esc, but should be ok, as the F540 motors don't draw big amps. Keep it dry, and it should be fine. If it does, look for a 45a Hobbywing esc (maybe a JustStock) as a replacement.
I thought a 540 was 3650 and a 550 was 3660? I could have sworn my Castle 3650 motor is the same size as my 540 brushed motors.

As far as escs go, I would try to stick with Hobbywing or Hobbywing rebrands.
The cheapest brushless Hobbywing 1/10 esc I know of is the WP10BL50 last I looked they were about $30-$35
 
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The one that is coming may be DOA... Banggood.com is pretty good about sending new ones. You may need to make a video of the dead esc not working, they like videos...
I thought a 540 was 3650 and a 550 was 3660? I could have sworn my Castle 3650 motor is the same size as my 540 brushed motors.
Yes, you are correct. I'll fix my post above.
 
Just wanted to update everyone that I ended up installing the F540 brushless motor and tsky 120 esc into the Granite Voltage. Everything seemed to fit fairly well except the mesh seemed a little tight between the pinion and spur gear. Definitely faster with more torque. It can pull a power wheelie which it was unable to do before. I’m a little worried about the noise coming from the gearing and would appreciate some input on that. I thought I read somewhere that others had to do a pinion swap when swapping motors due to clearance issues, but I may be wrong. I’m looking forward to buying another kit for the Fazon and seeing what it can do in the near future. Here’s a little video of me squidding out sending it into the ditch filled with water. It’s all good though and I’m sure you can here the gear noise I’m describing.

 

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Just wanted to update everyone that I ended up installing the F540 brushless motor and tsky 120 esc into the Granite Voltage. Everything seemed to fit fairly well except the mesh seemed a little tight between the pinion and spur gear. Definitely faster with more torque. It can pull a power wheelie which it was unable to do before. I’m a little worried about the noise coming from the gearing and would appreciate some input on that. I thought I read somewhere that others had to do a pinion swap when swapping motors due to clearance issues, but I may be wrong. I’m looking forward to buying another kit for the Fazon and seeing what it can do in the near future. Here’s a little video of me squidding out sending it into the ditch filled with water. It’s all good though and I’m sure you can here the gear noise I’m describing.


There is nothing you can really do about the mesh since it's fixed recessed holes. The clearance issue is the wires that come out the top of the motor. See how your wires are smashed down coming out of the motor. If you get another setup get a motor where the wires come out the back like this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/3650-3300K...=143418782664c9676075ef0245ef92fe66e919b7c6db

SkW10l0.jpg
 
Be careful with those tsky escs, they are rather hit or miss, the one I had started randomly resetting itself then it just completely died ?.

@jym73 did a small test of that ESC like 4 years ago https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2466764-TSKY-120A-from-GearBest-Review

If you want I have the thingy to connect it to the computer so you can adjust settings on it, upload the Hobbywing firmware. Pm me if you are interested I'll make you a deal you can have it for free.99
 
looks like fun!

Yeah, it sounds like a very tight mesh. the only thing you can do is to file one (or both) of the mounting holes a hair, make it an oval, so the motor can pivot away from the spur a bit. You probably want to take off a bit less than 1/64, so hit it with 1-3 strokes of the file, test fit, and if it is still tight, repeat till you get the right mesh.
 
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