question about upgrade drive motors

[frantz70]

I have a Taigen Tiger upgraded with a Clark board and Taigen steel 4:1 gear boxes, would like more torque/power to maneuver on the grass/hilly yard. So what is the better choice


Mabuchi RS-380PH Hobby Motor - 7.2V DC - 2000 RPM
Promax ACC340 Speed 400 7.2V

or should I just go with the big 480's like,

Promax ACC348 Long Can

any other recommendations are welcome

[Tankbear]

I'm surprised you feel the tank needs more power with that setup, but if you want to upgrade motors go for some quality speed 400 or 480 motors.

Here's what I have used and all work great.

Graupner speed 400 7.2v
Graupner speed 400 6v
Jamara LiPo speed 480 (virtually impossible to get now in the UK)
JP speed 400
JP speed 480

Most important thing is to run the motors in before installing in your tank. I do this with all my tanks and find the power is great even in my tanks with standard ratio gears.

Ian.

[Tankbear]

Mabuchi RS-380PH Hobby Motor - 7.2V DC - 2000 RPM

2,000RPM is too slow you need something around 15,000 RPM. With your 4:1 gearboxes you could go faster as the low ratio will still make the tank slow.

Ian.

[frantz70]

Thanks, other questions

Whats is the difference for the user between the 6v vs 7.2v 400 Graupner speed's

and just how much more do the 480's really give over the 400's

[971wright]

Hi I run 480 permax motors in all my Tigers and king tigers/Jagdtiger(except for standard Tamiya tank) all have low ratio gearboxes .These are the best value for money This is the shop I use http://balsamart.co.uk/store/index.php? ... ts_id=3380
Never had a problem with them have a Tiger(with full metal lower) with clark board and using these motors ,very good control good climbing and speed around scale (maybe slightly fast),also run them in tanks with IBU/El-mod and Tamiya electrics.
Speed 400s I use in Stugs/panzers where its not possible to fit the 480s I always use the 7,2 volt because they draw less amps giving it a longer run time.
Please note 6v speed 400s will blow a RX18 as will the 480s,But you can run speed 400 7,2 volt with a RX18 if you fit a fan.

These findings have taken a lot of time and spending of money to find out which is the best combination, Dont mess with Tamiya setup the motors and gearboxes are good if you fit metal tracks you may destroy the gearboxes if you fit a 3:1 geardown on to a Tamiya gearbox it will destroy it.If you want to fit metal tracks and lower the ratio of gearboxes change the Tamiya gearboxes for the Heng Long low ratio steel gearboxes and fit 480 motors.

regards pete

[Marc780]

Never had a problem with them have a Tiger(with full metal lower) with clark board and using these motors ,very good control good climbing and speed around scale (maybe slightly fast),also run them in tanks with IBU/El-mod and Tamiya electrics.
Speed 400s I use in Stugs/panzers where its not possible to fit the 480s I always use the 7,2 volt because they draw less amps giving it a longer run time.
Please note 6v speed 400s will blow a RX18 as will the 480s,But you can run speed 400 7,2 volt with a RX18 if you fit a fan.

Pete why do these motors blow the RX18? (I have had problems with the boards and fairly fed up with messing with blown electronics)Is it because your tank is all steel or the motors themselves because they draw too many amps? I have the HL King tiger, plastic and not upgrading to steel one anytime soon, and i want a little more speed and torque regardless of scale speed, you seem like you have a lot of experience with r/c electronics, are there any motors you could suggest?

Also to the forum Can I ask another question, how does one know the motor diameters that will fit and what should work before you buy?i bought the black steel upgrade gears from hobby raw andtried to fit them in my HL King tiger. The motors on the new gearbox miked out to be just one or two MM too big in diameter, because of this the gearboxes would not fit! Is there any solution other then just reusing the stock HL motors in the new gearbox (if that will even work?)

Moreover several weeks ago I sent away for mabuchi motors from a supply house and i ordered just by numbers that someone mentioned on another site. And they turned out to be wildly wrong. These motors when they arrived were far too large- not even close, about 3" diameter and 5" long. But there was no way for me, or the guy i bought them from, to know this in advance unless i had known to ask ahead of time "will these fit an r/c tank". Apparently sometimes the motor numbers are not specific enough...I guess perhaps the solution is to stick to R/c supply houses for parts like this...

[jarndice]

MARC, Hi, If instead of living in SOCAL you were resident in the UK I would not hesitate to direct you to Steve at Welsh Dragon Models, truly the font of all knowledge, if you have someone in your area with that kind of information cherish them as you would a good Auto engineer, I am sorry I cannot help more than that but who knows some one here may yet come forward and save the day. shaun

[Marc780]

Thats ok Shaun, I have noticed that r/c tanks are just not nearly as popular in the US as they are in England and the continent...there are plenty of places to buy model cars and helicopters, and lots of shops with every single part for same, for a hundred different brands and types wall-to-wall... but ask the clerks there about r/c tanks or getting parts and they know absolutely nothing about them and care even less. Cars and helicopters is all they know and the shops, even chains like "hobby people" have no interest in stocking the stuff either.
i just ordered these things for $10/2...hopefully they will work in the steel gearbox

[Tankbear]

Thanks, other questions

Whats is the difference for the user between the 6v vs 7.2v 400 Graupner speed's

and just how much more do the 480's really give over the 400's

The 6v Graupner run a lot faster. I originally bought these to fit a 5:1 gearbox as the tank was too slow, but actually turned out to be great motors. At one point I had them in my 6kg Tiger and still felt super strong.

[Tankbear]

Hi I run 480 permax motors in all my Tigers and king tigers/Jagdtiger(except for standard Tamiya tank) all have low ratio gearboxes .These are the best value for money This is the shop I use http://balsamart.co.uk/store/index.php? ... ts_id=3380
Never had a problem with them have a Tiger(with full metal lower) with clark board and using these motors ,very good control good climbing and speed around scale (maybe slightly fast),also run them in tanks with IBU/El-mod and Tamiya electrics.
Speed 400s I use in Stugs/panzers where its not possible to fit the 480s I always use the 7,2 volt because they draw less amps giving it a longer run time.
Please note 6v speed 400s will blow a RX18 as will the 480s,But you can run speed 400 7,2 volt with a RX18 if you fit a fan.

These findings have taken a lot of time and spending of money to find out which is the best combination, Dont mess with Tamiya setup the motors and gearboxes are good if you fit metal tracks you may destroy the gearboxes if you fit a 3:1 geardown on to a Tamiya gearbox it will destroy it.If you want to fit metal tracks and lower the ratio of gearboxes change the Tamiya gearboxes for the Heng Long low ratio steel gearboxes and fit 480 motors.

regards pete

You're okay as long as the motor running current is 5A or below and the RX18 has a cooling fan.

Graupner speed 400 7.2v = 3.3A running current
Graupner speed 400 6v = 4A running current
Jamara LiPO 480 = 5A running current