will motor work in water ?

[pilot_bear]

some question regarding motor for boat.
do you guys allow your motor to submerge into water ?
brushed should be ok ?
how about brushless ?
or its best to keep the motor room dry ?

Thanks.

[Bee_Flower]

some question regarding motor for boat.
do you guys allow your motor to submerge into water ?
brushed should be ok ?
how about brushless ?
or its best to keep the motor room dry ?

Thanks.

No, I think most motors can't run in water. I keep my motor room dry. Brushless or brush, depends on your usage. My boat runs slow using brush motor & fly across water on brushless.....

Must be careful what motor & ESC combo u use..... they get fried easily if u match the wrong combo......

[Adrianli]

If I'm not wrong, they do work in water. But u got to dry n clean them after playing in water. Or else bye bye to the motor.

[Nazar78]

wouldn't water short the points where the wires should met after coiling? Unless these points are well insulated. but of cos i wouldn't risk...

[Adrianli]

My brush n brushless motor worked when the interior was filled wif water. They were practically submerged in water as they were running round the pond.

[Bee_Flower]

haha..... I asked a shop before.... was told cannot run in water..... so I never 1 2 take the risk as i also think high chance of water in contact with the wires.....

[Nazar78]

mayb his motors are well insulated, meant for boats/submarines, is there any?

[khatiban]

I remember years ago I tried to run Tamiya mini 4WD racing car's brushed motors submerged in tap water under low voltage(1.5V only). It run for about an hour without any problems.

Pure distilled water(which only appear in labs) are poor electrical conductors but water with any dissolved impurities (e.g. minerals) are pretty good conductors.
Although it's not enough to short batteries but it chances are it probably will screw up your electronics.

Electric motors can run submerged in water but the oxygen dissolved in water will promote corrosion of metal parts so remember to dry and if possible lubricate the metal parts after running.

[Bee_Flower]

now understand better.... still wonder how to dry the inside of the motor??? use hair dryer??? maybe thats y i was told cannot run in water....due to corrosion more than electric issues

[pilot_bear]

hmm, better to keep it dry then, kind of difficult
to dry it once mounted in the boat.

but how do you guys clean the motor ?
open the 'can' , rise in tap water then oil ?

[Adrianli]

Commercially, they put motor wif water ingress in the oven for 24hrs. I have personally supervised such job. Got to get the maker n surveyor to witness the process.

We take the megger reading b4 n after. My motors need to use crane to lift one. Not those u can get in hobby shop.

I guess the same procedure should work.

[toiletfreak]

some question regarding motor for boat.
do you guys allow your motor to submerge into water ?
brushed should be ok ?
how about brushless ?
or its best to keep the motor room dry ?

Thanks.

You can run them in water, so long as it is not salt water. However do take note that you need to clean and dry and oil the motor's insides (not practical) and that the contacts are well insulated and waterproofed. Else you get shortcircuit =P Not advisable to run them in water, use some magnetic coupling or stuffing shaft for keeping motor dry

[X34]

Both brush and brushless will work fully submerged.

The coil in brushless motors are fully insulated, as for brush motor - fresh water no problem, salt water may cause the amature to short - need to widen the gap.

Running submerged requires more energy, the rotor being submerged has higher resistance = more amps for the same work. Secondly, the bearing will wear rapidly due to lack of lubrication.

[Nazar78]

lidat means if i waterproof my rx/esc, i can fly in rain w/o worring motor damage? sory if i exaggerate, but its cool!

[X34]

If u check out GreatPlanes or Tower hobbies websites, there is an increase in number of seaplane models available, so use waterproofed esc and waterproof rx, and u are all set.