hankster
11-11-2005, 12:41 PM
Note: This article was written a number of years ago but the information is still valid.
Motor zapping has been around for a long time. If you don't know what motor zapping is, is it putting your motor into a machine and increasing or altering the magnetic field to alter the performance of your motor. With the new stronger magnets that are in newer motors, the general purpose zappers that have been around in the past will not work any longer. In fact they can have the wrong effect and actually decrease the performance of your motor.
We can easily understand that zapping an old motor could help as the magnets can get weak with use. But will zapping really help a new motor perform better? We set out to find the answer.
I sent a P2K, Chameleon and Spec motor off to Superior R/C Supplies for zapping. Superior manufacturers The Magnetizer, one of the most powerful zappers made. These $1200.00 units are known do the job when needed.
Phil Stuard, the designer and builder of The Magnetizer, did the deed on the motors and told me this is what he does to get the most out of zapping.
The Spec motor was zapped to increase timing. Even though this motor has a 21 turn armature, the low timing (approx. 12 degrees) and low performance brushes make them a great, low amp draw motor to run in a spec style class. Phil points out that he will NOT zap Spec motors and does not recommend that anyone else does it. He believes that it is against the goals and purpose of Spec racing to zap Spec motors, but he did it for use so we can show what effect zapping can have on a Spec motor.
He basically zapped the motor with a lot of timing, dynoed it and then adjusted timing again by rezapping it until I found (what I thought to be) a reasonable balance between torque, RPM and spinup time. Of course, more timing would result in more RPM, a longer spinup and less torque, but where RPM is the primary goal, it may be worth the trade off.
The P2k and Chameleon were zapped in a similar manner to the procedure used on the spec motor. The ultimate goal was to advance the timing a bit to achieve the best peak power on the Fantom dyno. Typically, the Chameleon and the Paradox based motors respond VERY good to this procedure. However, Big Jim Greenmyer did such a good job designing magnetic timing advance into the can and arm of the P2K that the timing technique is not as suitable for this motor, but I have never seen any motor come out of the box with totally saturated magnets, so even a brand new P2K can benefit from a good magnet zap. Both of these motors took the zap fairly well. Increases in performance were typical when using the "timing zap", a little torque loss is normal when zapping for timing and the magnets will have a softer feel. Both motors appeared to have basic, out-of-the-box setups, so I believe that both of these motors will really come to life with a good set of brushes and a little dyno tuning.
Enough of all the tech talk, lets get down to the meat of the subject and see if the zapping really helped.
I use a Competition Engineering TurboDyno 45 for testing. I know Phil uses a Fantom dyno, but we should be able to see any improvement no matter what dyno is used for testing.
The TurboDyno is powered by an automotive battery that also has a 50 amps charger hooked to it. The charger makes sure the battery is always topped off and keeps the readings consistent though out testing.
The motors being tested were for the most part new. The P2K and Spec motor did have a 3 runs on them from one day of racing, the Chameleon motor had never been run before the tests. The brushes were what the motors came equipped with and would be just as you would buy them from your local hobby store.
The motors were not cleaned, comms were not trued nor were the brushes changed between the time the motors were tested, zapped and then tested again.
Motor zapping has been around for a long time. If you don't know what motor zapping is, is it putting your motor into a machine and increasing or altering the magnetic field to alter the performance of your motor. With the new stronger magnets that are in newer motors, the general purpose zappers that have been around in the past will not work any longer. In fact they can have the wrong effect and actually decrease the performance of your motor.
We can easily understand that zapping an old motor could help as the magnets can get weak with use. But will zapping really help a new motor perform better? We set out to find the answer.
I sent a P2K, Chameleon and Spec motor off to Superior R/C Supplies for zapping. Superior manufacturers The Magnetizer, one of the most powerful zappers made. These $1200.00 units are known do the job when needed.
Phil Stuard, the designer and builder of The Magnetizer, did the deed on the motors and told me this is what he does to get the most out of zapping.
The Spec motor was zapped to increase timing. Even though this motor has a 21 turn armature, the low timing (approx. 12 degrees) and low performance brushes make them a great, low amp draw motor to run in a spec style class. Phil points out that he will NOT zap Spec motors and does not recommend that anyone else does it. He believes that it is against the goals and purpose of Spec racing to zap Spec motors, but he did it for use so we can show what effect zapping can have on a Spec motor.
He basically zapped the motor with a lot of timing, dynoed it and then adjusted timing again by rezapping it until I found (what I thought to be) a reasonable balance between torque, RPM and spinup time. Of course, more timing would result in more RPM, a longer spinup and less torque, but where RPM is the primary goal, it may be worth the trade off.
The P2k and Chameleon were zapped in a similar manner to the procedure used on the spec motor. The ultimate goal was to advance the timing a bit to achieve the best peak power on the Fantom dyno. Typically, the Chameleon and the Paradox based motors respond VERY good to this procedure. However, Big Jim Greenmyer did such a good job designing magnetic timing advance into the can and arm of the P2K that the timing technique is not as suitable for this motor, but I have never seen any motor come out of the box with totally saturated magnets, so even a brand new P2K can benefit from a good magnet zap. Both of these motors took the zap fairly well. Increases in performance were typical when using the "timing zap", a little torque loss is normal when zapping for timing and the magnets will have a softer feel. Both motors appeared to have basic, out-of-the-box setups, so I believe that both of these motors will really come to life with a good set of brushes and a little dyno tuning.
Enough of all the tech talk, lets get down to the meat of the subject and see if the zapping really helped.
I use a Competition Engineering TurboDyno 45 for testing. I know Phil uses a Fantom dyno, but we should be able to see any improvement no matter what dyno is used for testing.
The TurboDyno is powered by an automotive battery that also has a 50 amps charger hooked to it. The charger makes sure the battery is always topped off and keeps the readings consistent though out testing.
The motors being tested were for the most part new. The P2K and Spec motor did have a 3 runs on them from one day of racing, the Chameleon motor had never been run before the tests. The brushes were what the motors came equipped with and would be just as you would buy them from your local hobby store.
The motors were not cleaned, comms were not trued nor were the brushes changed between the time the motors were tested, zapped and then tested again.