Howdy gang-

This thread will be an unboxing and review of the Racerstar F540 3000kv motor / 45a ESC combo. I received this combo as a review sample from Banggood.com, where it is currently selling for $35.99 (price may change) For the motor, there are options for 3000kv, 3300kv, 3930kv, and 4370kv.
http://www.banggood.com/Racerstar-F5...5056684201606A

I choose the lower KV because once testing is done, I am planning on this motor living in an older 2wd 1/10 racing buggy. I am hoping the F540 will be a good “middle ground” power plant for older cars – similar power compared the brushed motors these cars were designed for, (not so much power I must worry about stripping hard to find gears) but with the higher efficiency of modern brushless motors. Will this motor be up to the challenge? We will find out!

Today, the package arrived. Unboxing time! Shipping time from China, with the basic Banggood postage was about three weeks to Texas. The package was “soft packed” – outer layer was a tough plastic bag, inside was a box wrapped with several layers of foam padding – Good packing.


Inside the box was the motor, ESC, and instruction page for both, and another small piece of bubble-wrap.



The motor is pre-wired with smallish power leads, and bullet connectors. The ESC is prewired with bullets on the motor side, and a T-plug on the batter side. ESC also has a basic on/off switch, a small Cap pack across the battery leads, and the standard white/red/black signal lead.


The ESC comes with a fan on the heatsink, with the fan power leads soldered to the ESC board –


There is a Racerstar ESC programming card available, for about $6; I have one coming in the mail, hopefully it will get here soon. the instruction sheet for the ESC talks about programing options for the ESC, but it gives no instructions, and there is no programing button. So it looks like using the Program card is the only way to change ESC settings.
http://www.banggood.com/Racerstar-LE...5056684201606A

The Motor is a F540 – F is for “Finned” and 540, because it’s outside dimensions match up to the standard 540 size, 3650 can. I say “outside dimensions” because of the fins – the actual motor windings and rotor are smaller than normal for a 3650 motor. My calipers would not fit between the fins, so I do not have that measurement. The rotor measures out to 13.2mm wide, but 29.4mm long.



That is all for today. Next step for me will be to change the plug to an EC3 type plug, then I will mount it up and start testing! Current plans are to test it in my old Losi XX-CR, to compare it to a mild brushed motor setup (comparing to an old “stock” 27t motor, and a modern 21T). Then I plan on moving it to a 2wd SCT to see how it does with a heavier load.

So watch for updates, and I’ll see you soon!

Jerry from Texas.

Update - 8/6/16 -

Today I had a chance to install and run the Racerstar F540 3000kv with 45a ESC combo for the first time. I dropped it in my Losi XX CR in place of the dynamite brushed 20 turn motor that I've been running in that car for the last year or so. Battery was a 2s lipo, a zippy compact 4000mah 25 C. Pinon was a 25 tooth, I am not sure what size the spur gear is.

My first impression, as I drive the car out of my crowded garage to the driveway, was wow this motor is smooth. There was no cogging at all, it was almost exactly like running my brushed combo, but with less motor noise. Really really smooth. Once I got the car out to the street in front of my house, I gave it some gas to see how much power the Motor had. There was a slight hesitation, then the car took off smoothly. Top speed seems to be very similar to the 20 turn brushed combo. Overall, it seemed somewhat tame but with a good top speed.

After a few runs up and down the street, I took the car back to my bench to check out the Programming Card. The programming card was not included with the combo, but only costs about $6 from banggood. Programming with the card was quick and easy. My only issue is the low voltage cutoff. The highest setting is 3.1 volts per cell, which is a little lower than I would like. I would really like to set it at 3.2 or 3.3. Also, I saw the start mode was set at soft. I guess that explains the tame off the line performance. I set it to strong to see what the difference would be.

Back out into the street, acceleration was a lot stronger. Off the line, with Full Throttle, I could hear the slipper clutch spinning a bit. Throttle response was a lot better. Speed seemed to be a little bit better as well. After running for about 5 minutes, motor temperature was at 106 Fahrenheit, the ESC was at about 95 and outside air temperature was probably about 90 degrees.

Overall, for a first run, I am fairly impressed. I was really not certain how this small motor would perform in a 1/10 scale car. It has given me a small bump in speed and acceleration over the old brushed motor, but that should not be very hard to achieve with today's brushless power. I'm going to keep testing this motor over the next few weeks. I hope to take my Losi to the track and test it there comma and I also hope to the motor in a two-wheel drive 10 scale SCT to see how it handles a heavy load.

Talk to you later-
Jerry

8/8/16 -

Got to play with the Racerstar combo again. After my first run, I was thinking the motor could handle a bit more load. I stepped up the pinion to a 27t, and took it for another run. Acceleration was still strong on the low end. Top end was a bit faster, but you could hear the motor starting to work to get those last few revs - I am guessing it is close to being maxed out. I don't have any larger pinions to test this, though, plus the motor mount is about maxed out. I velcro'ed in an old iphone, and GPS'ed the top speed at 35mph. Not bad for a 380 sized motor. My old 20T brushed motor maxed out at around 28mph with the smaller 25t pinion, and it really need room to run out to hit that speed - I don't think the brushed motor would have run good with the 27t.

XX-CR with the Racerstar combo installed:



The next test for the Racerstar combo - a 1/10 2wd SCT, that has been running a 3300kv 3650 brushless. I don't expect the Racerstar F540 to match that motor, but it should be an interesting test. I also plan on comparing the Racerstar 45a ESC to the Tazer 45a ESC in the Torment - I will be running both motors on both ESC's, and see which is smoother, which is faster, and what other differences pop up.
Torment for test two:



Stay Tuned in for more!

(overdue update, mostly copied from my posts on the forums)

I was testing the motor/esc in my son's Torment, stock gearing, with water on the ground - it had rained that morning. Got to splash through some puddles, but no immersion.
Motor had no issues pushing the heavier SCT. With everything wet, there was no traction for wheelies. Still, it was throwing rooster tails of grass and dirt/mud when I gave it throttle. Top speed was a bit less vs the stock Fuze 3300kv 3650 motor - to be expected as this F540 motor is only 3000kv. I was surprised that it still seemed to have plenty of power even in the upper RPM's with the stock gearing. I ran it for about 5 minutes, shot some video, then gave the controller to my son. A few minutes later, it was cogging bad - I have had other ESC's do a similar cogging when waterlogged... Once the cogging started, I put the car up to dry out for about an hour, then tried to "Test" it. Poof! When it smoked, smoke was from under the heat sink.

Not sure what killed it, overload or the water, but I am guessing the water. Before the cogging, motor sounded like it was happy, very smooth at low RPM, and plenty of power even at the top revs.

Here are the FETS.


Inside the lower case, everything was wet - there was no gaskets or epoxy potting. I am not sure why they thought this could be advertised as "Waterproof". Here is the lower board - it looks ok, nothing burned.


I contacted Banggood and they agreed to replace it. Then italked to BGTobey - who origonally sent me this combo for review - and he offered to replace it with a different combo from the racerstar. I agreed, and so he sent me the 380 sized Racerstar combo - 2838 4500kv motor and 30a ESC...

But, back to testing the F540 motor-

I took the Torment to my local RC track, with the RacerStar F540 motor. ESC was the Dynamite 45a that came with the truck. My big letdown for the day was my tires, they would not stick, so I had to run 2/3 throttle max for most of the track... On the track, it was very noticeable that the motor didn't have the oomph that the old stock 3300kv 3650 motor had (expected). However, it still could put out more power than my tires could handle, so most of the track was run at 2/3 throttle. Power is still smooth, and when I could get traction, I could punch up the jumps and get good air. Overall, it was a good run.

On another track day, I mounted the F540 back into my Losi XXCR. This motor is a great match for this car. Power is good, you can come out of a corner and lay into the throttle, and get smooth acceleration, with plenty of power for the big jumps. Top speed is not super fast with current gearing, but I am fine with that, as I don't want to break my old racer. Heat continues to be non-existent, so I could gear up, if I had room for a larger pinion.


Summary -

Overall, I believe this motor is a great fit for someone looking for a mild brushless power system. I am thinking, if you have an older RC and want to modernize it, without going over the top on power this would be a great setup. also, this motor should be good for some of the cheaper "clone" Chinese models that come with 540 power, but plastic drive trains - it will add efficiency, but hopefully not enough power to strip gears...

For the ESC - it seemed good while it lasted... LOL Very smooth all the way from very slow to WOT. Brakes might have been a bit weak. Programming card is a must, as there is no way to change settings without it. And last - it is NOT waterproof, so keep it dry, and hopefully it will last.

A few videos I made with this motor ESC combo -

Running the combo is a 2wd SCT -

Racerstar combo, F540 3000kv 45a Esc, in a 2wd torment. (7 min 12 sec)

Cogging test -

Racerstar brushless combo - F540 3000kv with 45a ESC - low speed test. (2 min 51 sec)

Cogging test - F540 with Tazer 45a esc -

Racerstar brushless motor F540 with Tazer 45a ESC. (3 min 54 sec)

Update to an old review -

I mounted this motor up in a new RC of mine, a Arrma Granite Mega 4x4 - a 1/10 scale Monster truck. For ESC duties, I ran it first with a Hobbyking 45a ESC, then with a huge Arrma BLX185/Hobbywing Quickrun 150A ESC. (more on why later).

A few words about the Granite - stock power is a brushed 550, 12t motor. Decent power, guessing speed is about 20mph, with lots of low end grunt. However, the Motor and ESC overheat EVERY time I run it, at about the 15 minute mark. So the truck is a load to push... LOL Stock pinion is a 14t, so not much room to go smaller.

So, I mounted up the Racerstar F540. I started with a 20t pinion. With this gear, the truck had more off the line punch, and better top end. Running around the yard in the grass, however, the motor was too hot - first time I have been able to get this motor to heat up! LOL. I dropped the pinion down to a 15t, and the heat was manageable. Acceleration was still good, but top speed had dropped off to near stock.

The other half of the story was brakes - they were terrible with the 45a ESC. I swapped in the big 1/8 scale ESC, and was able to get good brakes again - not flip on the nose good, but plenty of stopping power. So - the issue with brakes is probably just too much mass for the smaller ESC to handle...

No video, sorry guys. I've move this motor back to the workbench again, and dropped a bigger motor in my Granite now.

This F540 is not a huge power motor, but it is a work-horse. I still feel it is a good match for people that want brushless reliability, but don't need huge power.