Breaking in new motors a lazier way.

[X_I_Ted]

Alot of you like to break in your new motors before actually using them in your bit. The standard way to do so is to flip your bit upside down and tape/elastic/weigh down the controller's forward or reverse and let the battery run it's course. This is all well and good but it requires your controller locking system, a flipped bit and well, too much fuss. I now offer an alternative method that looks much more aesthetically pleasing (don't tell me that a flipped/suspended bit looks dignified) and requires less bric-a-brac to implement.

Many of you have the bit racer chassis' lying around, forlorn and stripped of everything you could use for your bit. Some of you have thrown these things away . Shame on you. A bit graveyard is sometimes the right tool for the job. Take the racer chassis and stuff a battery back in it. Many of you see where this is going. Toss your engine in, charge the batt and let it sit on your table, whirring happily away. You can even flip the battery and set it in reverse.

If you have a low quality motor, you won't want to leave it there too long though. Because there isn't any extra electronics, not to mention the voltage throttling, a single charge can last a long, long time. The motor is essential wired straight to the battery, so it does spin faster than it would in a bit. I wouldn't recommend anything larger than the stock battery, unless you're using the larger size engines.

Most people recommend about 5 minutes when using a bit to break in the motor. For this application, 3 mins should do the trick.

Oh yeah. Happy Canada Day!!!

[Racer9]

Cool. idea!

I have never "broken in" a motor.
I have never heard of "breaking in" a dc motor for any other application either.

Is this something one does with larger scale RC stuff too?

It seems to me that running the motor with no load just creates more friction and wear faster, reducing the overall life of the motor.
(This might be a good thing to encourage if you're selling motors!)

Wouldn't this wear happen with normal use, and actually give you some running time for your time and trouble?

I've read alot of posts about breaking in motors, but I'm skeptical.

[denden]

I have to agree ,.. I've never " broken in " a motor .

[X_I_Ted]

Heh. In all reality, I've actually wondered if breaking in such small motors was really that beneficial. I just made this suggestion because I have bit racer chassis' lying around uselessly.

Breaking in motors might be a way of creating a smooth surface on the armatures or brushes or what have you. But given the size of these motors, they're most likely built with more precise specifications. I guess I should have stuffed a disclaimer on the post. Especially since motors like the BitMOD brand have been listed as only being good for a mere 85 minutes of totally reliable runtime.

Thanks for pointing out something that I actually believe myself strider (the wear and tear). I was just happy to find a use for my chassis. Now if i can only make their cheesy suspension bar useful....

I see. I have about half a dozen of those KIT Racer carcasses laying around myself.

I've built a couple of complete KIT Racers out of junk parts, but what're the odds I'll ever find the track?

And yeah, the plastic tab "suspension" is kinda, well, eh.

However they do come in handy for sticking in the hole for turning the cars off!

[X_I_Ted]

I never thought of that. Mind you, I have no need to keep a fully charged bit racer around.

On another note, I've already checked their homepage, and Meijer's has no stores in Jersey. It's just one of those super duper market places. Anyway, I saw that they had their bit racer tracks on clearance. for 13 bucks it comes with a car with 2 different gearsets and the track. The tracks are stackable and have a cheesy lap counter.

Mind you any high speed hotwheels track will work. And while that proves no help to you. I have some younger family memebers who have said track. Now if if they'd only let me play.

I never read the KIT Racer instructions until about my third or fourth one, I though that's what they were for! (duh)

I used it to turn the car off when I realized it was boring to let them wander around on the floor uncontrolled.

[nrmcj]

lol, i used to break in all my motors with a KIT racer... too lazy now

i do know one thing tho... if you got a motor that's not running like it used to, stuff it in the KIT racer for a couple minutes, and it runs as fast as before. i think it's cuz it gets more current/voltage force-fed to it, w/o a PCB interfering. of course, if you have a dual cell car, the KIT racer's useless