Motors and bullet connectors

[high plains drifter]

So I'm fixin to install a new HH Crawlmaster Sport 550 5 slot/ 15t motor into my TF2. Getting rid of the original RC4WD 540 45t motor.

And I'm on the fence about how I want to wire it up. I know I'm not going to use the cheap bullet connectors from the original set-up... mainly because they don't seem to lock together too securely or tightly. But also because the leads coming off the motor appear to be a thinner gauge than the leads coming from the ESC. I've already de-soldered the leads off of the motor but I just don't want to use em on the new motor.

So is there any significant drawback to using a nice set of bullet connectors like the ProTek 3.5 mm super bullet gold connectors? They're nice quality and fit together very securely. The wires coming from the ESC are 16g fwiw.

The other way to go would obviously be to just solder the new motor directly onto the wires coming from the ESC. But I feel like being able to disconnect the motor via connectors might have some benefit down the road.

Any thoughts?

 

[Ninomaniac]

Do that.

I use XT60s because that's what I had around when I wired a couple of brushed motors but separate bullets will be more practical.

I'm guessing RC4WD uses those horrible tin tubes. They can heat up, which means power is lost at the connection. And they look crappy.

 

[durok]

I use bullet connectors all the time for connecting motors to HW 1080 ESCs...

 

[high plains drifter]

Do that.

I use XT60s because that's what I had around when I wired a couple of brushed motors but separate bullets will be more practical.

I'm guessing RC4WD uses those horrible tin tubes. They can heat up, which means power is lost at the connection. And they look crappy.

Thank you for the reply. And yep... that's exactly right on the RC4WD connectors. I really hate how thin and soft they are. I've already got the ProTek connectors but never used them on anything. They're really nice though... machined flawlessly and the male/ female bullets are a tight fit.

 

[high plains drifter]

I use bullet connectors all the time for connecting motors to HW 1080 ESCs...

Okay, cool. Glad to hear that I'm not crazy for not really wanting to run the ESC straight to the new motor. I'll probably scrap the soft clear plastic bullet covers and instead just use heat-shrink tubing. This is the original Outcry ESC but I haven't had any issues with it yet so might as well keep using it for now. My Capra is another story though and I've got a 1080 on deck to throw into it asap. Really appreciate the feedback, durok.

 

[CoupeUK]

I always tend to run decent connectors between motors and ESC’s purely for maintenance.
I find it’s much easier to split the motor from ESC then remove the whole gearbox than it would be to remove the motor in situ…

I’m working through my HW Axe’s and putting gold plated bullets on them purely because I hate having the motor and ESC permanently soldered together!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[high plains drifter]

I always tend to run decent connectors between motors and ESC’s purely for maintenance.
I find it’s much easier to split the motor from ESC then remove the whole gearbox than it would be to remove the motor in situ…

I’m working through my HW Axe’s and putting gold plated bullets on them purely because I hate having the motor and ESC permanently soldered together!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maintenance, replacement, or repair of any parts like the motor itself, ESC, motor plate, etc was another reason that I wanted to use the connectors. Connectors made it easier to replace the motor on my trx4 so figured I'd do that here as well unless there was a solid argument against it. And really, I'd think that the only benefit of not using connectors would be a more seamless voltage flow. But with a good set of connectors and a decent solder job, I can't imagine there would be much reason to not use them.

Thanks for the reply, CoupeUK

 

[Greatscott]

I normally run good quality bullet connectors for my ESC/motor connections. Unless the build dictates something else, I normally use 4mm bullet connectors. This allows for easy maintenance and configuration.

I don't like running polarized connectors for this application, as that they don't allow you to flip polarity, if needed. Sure, you can do this in the radio, but I like to keep things as simple as possible. I just installed a set of portals onto a SCX10, which reverses the axle direction from the motor. Instead of having to flip the channel in the radio, then have to recalibrate the radio to the ESC, I just swapped the motor leads and was in business.

The one thing you have to do with bullet connectors, given that the are not plugging in directly to the ESC, is make sure you insulate them.

 

[high plains drifter]

I normally run good quality bullet connectors for my ESC/motor connections. Unless the build dictates something else, I normally use 4mm bullet connectors. This allows for easy maintenance and configuration.

I don't like running polarized connectors for this application, as that they don't allow you to flip polarity, if needed. Sure, you can do this in the radio, but I like to keep things as simple as possible. I just installed a set of portals onto a SCX10, which reverses the axle direction from the motor. Instead of having to flip the channel in the radio, then have to recalibrate the radio to the ESC, I just swapped the motor leads and was in business.

The one thing you have to do with bullet connectors, given that the are not plugging in directly to the ESC, is make sure you insulate them.

I appreciate the additional suggestions. I think I'm good at 3.5mm on the connectors with 16g wire. And I'll either use the soft plastic insulators or a couple heat-shrink sections. I never considered the benefit of using connectors due to reverse gear rotation. Another good reason to use em.

 

[Greatscott]

I appreciate the additional suggestions. I think I'm good at 3.5mm on the connectors with 16g wire. And I'll either use the soft plastic insulators or a couple heat-shrink sections. I never considered the benefit of using connectors due to reverse gear rotation. Another good reason to use em.

The only reason I settled on 4mm bullets is because that is what Castle uses on their ESCs. I use Castle and HW ESCs, by putting female 4mm bullets on the HW ESCs makes my motors swappable no matter what ESC I connect them to. This is my rational for my wiring, and it makes sense to me.

 

[high plains drifter]

The only reason I settled on 4mm bullets is because that is what Castle uses on their ESCs. I use Castle and HW ESCs, by putting female 4mm bullets on the HW ESCs makes my motors swappable no matter what ESC I connect them to. This is my rational for my wiring, and it makes sense to me.

Good idea to make everything as plug-n-play as possible. I think that I may gradually change all my connectors out to the ProTek 3.5 mm bullets. Same as I've done with converting all my battery leads to xt60. Thanks again for the input.

 

[suprachrgd82]

You can keep your wiring neat by soldering the female bullet connector directly to the motor tab (if your motor tabs are robust enough to withstand a good tug on the connector).

 

[high plains drifter]

You can keep your wiring neat by soldering the female bullet connector directly to the motor tab (if your motor tabs are robust enough to withstand a good tug on the connector).

I already completed this but thank you for the tip. I can see how soldering the connectors direct to the motor would maybe be a bit neater but I'm really happy with how it came out and it looks pretty clean imo. Plus I don't have much room between the motor and the backside of the grill on the body as it sits so I'm glad to have the flexible wires soldered directly to the motor tabs instead of rigid connectors. I guess I could've soldered the bullets at a 45 degree angle but regardless, it's done and ready to roll.

Couple pics of the completed job for those of you that have helped out-

 

[Jay-Em]

Those silver connectors have a habit of corroding, and fusing themselves together when getting wet. Proper gold-connectors don’t do that.
The difference in resistance is negligable ( when properly fastened) but the silver ones wear-out WAY faster when connecting and disconnecting often.

So, yes. It’s preferable to use the somewhat more expensive gold-plated variations.

 

[high plains drifter]

What silver ones? Like in the pic above? Those are the stock ones that I've already replaced with the gold connectors... also pictured above in the same pic.

 

[Jay-Em]

Yeah, I know. A bit redundant, but I just meant to say that replacing the silver ones with the gold-plated, was absolutely the right move.