Granite Lipo 2S Burning out Mega 550 12T Brushed Motor?

[HoleyDonut]

If your running in grass it may be putting too much stress on the motor and esc. None of them like running in grass Including the 3sBLX and 6s line. very short grass, dirt, and pavement are best. If you are running in medium grass you will need to go smaller on the pinion.

We've only run it on short grass around the park and on the sand found in and around the playground. The sand on the pavement made for some great drifting...while it lasted. We are running the unit completely stock...I don't know enough about these things to even start about making modifications. Like I said, it took us two hours to change just a motor out...because we don't know anything about these things. It's just been humbling start to this hobby.

You can get a brushless motor and ESC for less than $100 that with last a much longer time than the stock brushed motor and esc.

Yes, I have heard about that. Like I said in my original post, it took two hours for us to change just the motor out for the second unit which lasted three runs before burning out. We are far too new to even begin thinking about modifications...and no one at the store seemed to be willing to give us a hand with the motor changes either. Everything is stock. By running it at 50% of max, we assumed it would also last a heckuva lot longer than three days when the first motor burned out. Two days of downtime later, had the second motor in and that burned out a day and a half later.

Does running the unit at 50% or even 75% kill motors faster than at full tilt? We wanted to keep the unit slower so my kid could keep up with it, at least until he could control it better. Seems reasonable, right? He's eight years old.

So the first week of ownership:
Lots of downtime trying to figure everything out, reading instructions, manuals, learning to charge the battery properly. This all resulted in two blown motors. Two 2-hour drives to the store. ...all for a grand total of seven runs, two of which ended in blown motors...and none of those seven runs lasted more than 15 minutes.

 

[GraniteFox]

That does stink. I have only had 1 mega and it did not take me long to convert to brushless. I would try going with a smaller pinion rather than 50% or 75% on the remote. It will accomplish the same result....slower speeds for the 8yo and will put less stress on the esc and motor. That esc tends to run hot and shut itself off.....see if you can find a fan to mount on top of the fins.
Something like this:

 

[sfboldeagle]

That does stink. I have only had 1 mega and it did not take me long to convert to brushless. I would try going with a smaller pinion rather than 50% or 75% on the remote. It will accomplish the same result....slower speeds for the 8yo and will put less stress on the esc and motor. That esc tends to run hot and shut itself off.....see if you can find a fan to mount on top of the fins.
Something like this:
View attachment 165187

Granite fox said it. I live in south Florida, and my 2 megas (me and my son) would overheat. LHS sold me a fan for the motor, and one for the ESC. Installed on both trucks and they worked great for a long time. My sons is still running great and hes angry about it because I upgraded mine to brushless (just the onyx) and its way faster than the brushless, even on 2s (I don’t have 3s). For those that are considering brushless on a mega, mine on 2s eats pinions. You have to get the aluminum motor mount and spacer. I run 7200 MAH 2s packs back to back, and have had very few problems. One ESC, one motor, one steering servo. And that is with about 8 packs a week for 6 months.

 

[bkalkwarf]

I just burned out a motor on my Mega Granite in the first 2 weeks. The hobby store said sand kills motors like nothing else, and I ran several times on sand. I bought a new motor to keep thrashing ASAP, but Horizon did send me a free replacement under warranty.

 

[GraniteSean]

I have burned through 2 motors as well on a stock 550 mega Granite running Lipo 2s.

I have fitted a heatsink and fan to the 3rd stock motor and it is reliable however if i run it hard back and forth continuously on my pavement with a slight gradient doing 180 skids etc it will still get hot. I don't blame it and am happy that i can manage with this setup as it has been reliable when not abused.

Other problems i have overcome as below...
First problem as mentioned earlier in this thread was the esc overheating - easy fix get a fan.
Next the servo for the steering couldnt handle my poor driving into trees etc, so that got upgraded to a 20kg unit - no more issues there.

 

[TGRC]

Granite fox said it. I live in south Florida, and my 2 megas (me and my son) would overheat. LHS sold me a fan for the motor, and one for the ESC. Installed on both trucks and they worked great for a long time. My sons is still running great and hes angry about it because I upgraded mine to brushless (just the onyx) and its way faster than the brushless, even on 2s (I don’t have 3s). For those that are considering brushless on a mega, mine on 2s eats pinions. You have to get the aluminum motor mount and spacer. I run 7200 MAH 2s packs back to back, and have had very few problems. One ESC, one motor, one steering servo. And that is with about 8 packs a week for 6 months.

I just got the granite Mega for my son (he’s 3 years old ), it’s been 3 days and a total of 40 minutes of awesome runtime and I’m addicted…. Now looking at all the upgrades I can make and really looking forward to make them. Im as excited about doing the upgrades and learning as running the truck.
Just got a Lipo 2s battery because the stick one doesn’t last long enough and was wondering about motor overheat and found this thread. Im completely new to RC.
Adding fans to the motor and control module should be the best, most affordable solution IMHO… Im surprised it wasn’t brought up before. Where are the fans connected to?

 

[bt224]

When moving to 2s, be sure to move the jumper over per the manual.

My experience with the mega was unfortunately the same as many have mentioned. I bit the bullet and just converted to brushless. I have seen mention in the forums here of upgraded brushed motors that actually last , might be an option to try for the kiddos. Conversion to brushless for a V3 is going to run you around $150-$200. I got a stock BLX motor and ESC, fans included, for about $120 off Ebay. Shafts on the motors are different sizes, so you'll need new pinion, about $5. You'll also want a BLX motor mount, about $20. If you stay 2s, that's about all you should need. If you want to go 3s, you'll have to upgrade the slipper and get another pinion as it has different mesh, another $50.

 

[Velodromed]

I just got the granite Mega for my son (he’s 3 years old ), it’s been 3 days and a total of 40 minutes of awesome runtime and I’m addicted…. Now looking at all the upgrades I can make and really looking forward to make them. Im as excited about doing the upgrades and learning as running the truck.
Just got a Lipo 2s battery because the stick one doesn’t last long enough and was wondering about motor overheat and found this thread. Im completely new to RC.
Adding fans to the motor and control module should be the best, most affordable solution IMHO… Im surprised it wasn’t brought up before. Where are the fans connected to?

The holidays are coming so should be some decent sales. Why not keep the mega for your son and pick up a 3s big rock for yourself?

 

[Vortex 2wd]

You can get a brushless motor and ESC for less than $100 that with last a much longer time than the stock brushed motor and esc.

Yeah. But all the extra parts plus remote will be about 200 total plus... plus 3s battery.

 

[nino]

Fast brushed off road trucks exist only because manufacturers want to have a product at a lower price point, not because it's a sound idea

Closed can brushed motors are expendable items. My first hobby grade RC was a brushed ECX Torment... Of course it ate through brushed motors, and of course each breakage looked like a disaster to me, until I got used to the idea that it takes a lot of time and money if you wanna keep doing stupid things with your rc. Eventually I went brushless and that opened the door to a whole new dazzling universe of things to go wrong.

 

[Vortex 2wd]

Fast brushed off road trucks exist only because manufacturers want to have a product at a lower price point, not because it's a sound idea

Closed can brushed motors are expendable items. My first hobby grade RC was a brushed ECX Torment... Of course it ate through brushed motors, and of course each breakage looked like a disaster to me, until I got used to the idea that it takes a lot of time and money if you wanna keep doing stupid things with your rc. Eventually I went brushless and that opened the door to a whole new dazzling universe of things to go wrong.

Best comment ever. Lol. Whole new dazzling universe of things to go wrong.