RunRyder - OUCH!! Roasty toasty align 400

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e-Align T-REX 450-500-600 > OUCH!! Roasty toasty align 400 - is this OK?

iainc
Senior Heliman
Location: Brit living in Kirkland, WA, USA (got very lost on

I have:

Align 400 2500 kv
12 tooth pinion (one down from largest supplied with heli - think it's 12)
TP2100 battery

Don't have a tach to measure head speed, but hover is at half stick, and I get 15 - 17 minutes of hovering about. When I'm done, the battery is a little warm, but the motor has this hot smell - not sure if its the plastic frame starting to melt, and a drop of water on the motor case evaporates in 2-3 seconds (sorry, don't have a temp probe either).

Maybe this is normal - in which case my only current outstandign issue is to reprogram the Align ESC NOT to blip the throttel 3 times to warn me of low battery

thank goodness for autorotation clutches...

Thanks in advance for your input,

Regards,

-Iain

01-01-2005 Over year old.

HiFi RC
Heliman
Location: SoCal, USA

Hi the Aligns are known to run hot.... I haven't heard many failure complaints, my 400S and 400L are still going strong for over 100 flights (and they will burn if you touch them longer than about 5-10 seconds). A Heat Sink is always a good idea, it makes it run cooler..

Some are also running the 15Tooth (btw the supplied 3.17mm teeth are 11, 13 and 15). I think you should be fine on the 13! Not sure about the burning smell though.... I haven't noticed such. Are you using normal or advanced timing? What is your pitch range, and throttle curve? These motors like to run between 80 to 100%. Belt nice and loose? Mesh good? You appear to have great flight times so it sounds like things are running smooth... maybe you should bring up the headspeed by setting hover at 3/4 stick (normal pitch curve 0-25-50-75-100) and running something like 100-90-80-90-100 throttle curve. It might help...

Damian

01-01-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

iainc
Senior Heliman
Location: Brit living in Kirkland, WA, USA (got very lost on

Thanks Damian!

I think you may have the answer in the pitch/throttle relationship. WIth a fresh pack, I lift off at a tad under half stick - it maybe I need to ease back on the pitch curve a bit to fix things.

Pitch is 40-inh-50-inh-100, throttle is 0-45-85-95-100. My belt is very loose (it doesn't slip though), and my gear mesh is good - not too tight.

Many thanks,

-Iain

01-01-2005 Over year old.

Jarod
Veteran
Location: USA

It sounds like your pushing the motor to hard. I agree bring up the headspeed it will make it easier for your motor. You motor will run cooler and your heli will be more stable. My motor runs at 200 degrees at the end of 13 min flight. Its hot but thats about as cool as I can get it. I have seen it at 273 once. I wasnt even trying to cook it. You motor must be even hotter since I cant describe the same cooking smell. Im running the 400 Long 2500kv w/ 13 tooth pinion. Has allot of power. Not ballistic but enough to get the job done with ease.

01-01-2005 Over year old.

steph280
Key Veteran
Location: Irvine, California

These motor do run hot. Latest versions actually comes with heatsinks.

01-01-2005 Over year old.

iainc
Senior Heliman
Location: Brit living in Kirkland, WA, USA (got very lost on

Thanks Jarod,

Most folks seem to have the 2800 kv motor - interesting to hear from someone with the 2500 motor/13 tooth pinion combo as mine is (not 12 as I erroneously reported below...). I've tweaked my pitch curve a bit and hopefully this will make the motor a little cooler. I'm amazed at the power from this tiny motor - quite astounding

This is my first CP heli - my other 4 are FP - so lots of new tweaks to be investigated.

Happy New Year!

-Iain

01-01-2005 Over year old.

iainc
Senior Heliman
Location: Brit living in Kirkland, WA, USA (got very lost on

Source for heatsinks please?

I checked GrandRc and Helihobby to no avail - is it possible to obtain these separately, or just in the newer complete kits?

Thanks,

-Iain

01-01-2005 Over year old.

ianm
Heliman
Location: UK

I get all my spares inc the heatsinks from a dealer in Taiwan ( My RC WORLD).
Give Ian a mail and he will be able to supply you with anything you need.
I use him all the time and his service is second to none.

ianccy2000@yahoo.com

01-01-2005 Over year old.

HiFi RC
Heliman
Location: SoCal, USA

Just an FYI our 400S/400L's received from Align do not come with heatsinks, I think this is pretty standard. Some dealers do add heatsinks as a bonus (we do). I just posted a topic about us, and we do have those BTW...

Damian

01-01-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

iainc
Senior Heliman
Location: Brit living in Kirkland, WA, USA (got very lost on

Heatsinks

Thanks guys,

I altered my pitch curve for a higher headspeed, and I think the motor is a little cooler now. Still going to get a heatsink though - thanks for the info you sent ;-)

-Iain

01-02-2005 Over year old.

steph280
Key Veteran
Location: Irvine, California

I ran my 400L for the first time today on 4s-1320 lipo and 11T pinion. Headspeed is way slower than when I had my Mega 16/15/4, and after 5 minutes motor was sizling 200F degrees. I think I'm going back to the Mega...

01-03-2005 Over year old.

GrandRC
Heliman
Location: San Jose, California

We have and just put them on the website.

01-03-2005 Over year old.

Jarod
Veteran
Location: USA

Here is an update to tell you how the my Align 400L is holding up. I have put about 5 hours on it so far. I usually just keep reloading the lipos and go right back up over and over. I bought a temp gun and the motor temps stays around 210 degrees and im running heads speeds between 2100 and 2400 with it. The motor is running fine so far I dont use a heatsink. I was worried about 4 weeks ago when I got it that it wouldnt last from the heat but its holding up fine. Not bad for a $40 motor if you ask me. I run a 13 tooth pinion and pull a max of 20 amps through it. So far it working out great. I keep my throttle curve set to max at about 83 in normal or 93 max for Idle up.

01-03-2005 Over year old.

iainc
Senior Heliman
Location: Brit living in Kirkland, WA, USA (got very lost on

Well that's heartening - seems that although this motor runs very hot, it doesn't kill it. As Jarod says - not bad for a $40 motor. Looking at the Align site, it seems you can replace the stator (coils) for around $20... I am not aware of other manufacturers offering the option of replacing parts of a motor. Top marks to Align

Happy new year to all,

Regards,

-Iain

01-03-2005 Over year old.

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e-Align T-REX 450-500-600 > OUCH!! Roasty toasty align 400 - is this OK?

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