600 Motors Roundup

Introduction

Given the popularity of the T-Rex 600 it's hard to believe that having been out for so long there are still very few good motors to power it in 6S configuration. In fact it's easier to select a motor for 8S or 10S to power the 600.

This article is a roundup of the various motors I've tried in the 600 and my opinion of how they fared. Effectively a bunch of mini-reviews. I've not got overly scientific in reviewing these motors as with the 600 I feel it is not entirely safe to strap it down and test motors like I do with the T-Rex 450.

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Equipment

Before we move into looking at the mini reviews I would first like to introduce the various motors that have taken part in this test. I would also like to credit the various suppliers whose motors are participating in the test. Additionally I have used a standard ESC (Castle Creations HV-110) and Revolution 6S 4800 packs for the majority of the testing.

 

 

The Reviews

Align 600L

This is the motor that comes with the kit. It is sufficient for sport's flying and mild 3-D. It does run very hot and therefore is not suitable to be run one flight immediately after another as it will overheat. To give an idea of the sort of power that this motor creates it is possible to do tick-tock's with this motor but they will feel underpowered and will not be sustainable for more than four or five repetitions. Generally this motor has been used to good effect by running a very high head speed and using blade speed /inertia in order to deliver the required punch. This motor is not overly hungry with regard to AMP draw and therefore can be used with cheaper lower quality packs.

Align 600XL

This motor is probably one of my least favourite motors of all time. The initial versions of this motor suffered from the motor shaft snapping in-flight. Align reportedly have resolved this issue but there still seems to be a trickle of motor shaft failures. On top of the motor shaft failures I have had this motor burnout in-flight as well as overheat and destroy its magnets. In total trextuning has destroyed six of these motors. I will not be purchasing any more of them. With regard to power they produce significantly more power than the Align 600L. It is possible to sustain tick-tocks for a reasonable amount of time before the motor starts to heat up and bog down. The motor is capable of a full 3-D schedule and produces comparable power to a nitro powered 50 sized helicopter. If Align could fix the overheating and continual shaft snapping then this wouldn't actually be a bad motor.

Z-Power Z30 (red)

I have had nothing but bearing failures running this motor in the T-Rex 600. There appears to be a clearance problem between the shaft and the lower motor shaft bearing. This leads to the bearing seizing on to the shaft and then the entire motor seizes up and overheats. If you are very unlucky then this motor when it fails also take your ESC with it. It does not run hot and therefore can be run on several flights in quick succession without fear of ruining the motor magnets. Power is comparable to the Align 600 XL motor. If it wasn't for the bearing failures this would actually be a good motor.

Z-Power Z30A (blue)

This is the latest version of the Z30 with a new core which is meant to produce more torque and less heat. This is also the motor that Trevor Burley used to achieve third-place in the Sportsman's class of 3-D Masters in 2007. This motor has had the bearing failure resolved and therefore will last much longer than the red version discussed above. Power delivered by this motor is very good and surpasses the 600 XL for delivery of power and also for holding that power during sustained loading. This motor does not get hot and runs very cool in comparison to the Align offering. The motor is capable of continuous tick-tocks and manoeuvres such as the Big Ben without too much effort. This motor lasted in excess of 200 flights before the bearings started to go. The motor has now been retired from service.

Z-Power Z50 (red)

This motor suffered the same bearing problems as the red Z30. It barely lasted two flights before seizing up. I therefore was unable to assess its power capabilities or suitability as a motor for competition use in the T-Rex 600.

In the short amount of time that I was able to fly this motor I was able to ascertain that it was capable of sustaining powerful manoeuvres for longer than it's Z30 counterpart.

Z-Power Z50 (blue 780kv)

This motor has been in my machine for a considerable amount of time. Initially I ran this motor using a custom-made 25 tooth pinion with a helical cut. I needed a custom-made pinion because this motor is only 780 KV. In 6S configuration the motor is really over geared using the 25 tooth pinion and therefore it feels a little bit soft and lacking some of it is obvious power. However, I would go as far as saying that it produces similar power to the 600 XL motor but without all of the heat issues associated with that motor.

I have also run this motor in 8S configuration. This allows the use of a 16 tooth pinion which provides a much better gear ratio. In this configuration the motor produces a good deal more power and functions superbly as a competition motor. In fact if it wasn't for the fact that I need to run a 6S machine for this website both of my machines would be converted to run on 8S packs. This motor has proven to be very reliable and I have not had any issues with it since its installation several months and over 100 flights ago. The only downside to this motor is that it could really benefit from being a slightly higher KV. Fortunately, there is now a Z50 with a KV of 1150 which I will mention a little later in these mini reviews.

NEU 1515 2.5 DF

This motor has probably been the longest running motor installed in my machine. Whilst be and draw is very high from this motor the power delivery is superb. I used this motor for the Clubman 3-D competition last year and it performed impeccably. This motor is extremely expensive in comparison to its peers and therefore you would expect higher quality and a longer service life in comparison.

The problem is that this is not the case. Both myself and Trevor Burley ran this motor in our competition T-Rex 600s. Trevor's motor had a catastrophic failure of the top bearing within its first 100 flights. NEU refused to perform a warranty replacement of the motor. Considering the cost of this motor you would expect better service than this.

My own motor lasted around 200 flights before the top bearing became unseated from its mountings. Fortunately this event did not lead to the destruction of the motor and I was able to effect a repair and put that motor back into service. Unfortunately it did not last more than another 10 flights before it suffered exactly the same catastrophic top bearing failure as Trevor's motor had earlier in the year. Both Trevor and I have come to the conclusion that the reason this failure occurs is that this motor runs best with the helical gearing set. The helical gears produce a vertical thrust in the motor main shaft and this causes the failure of the top bearing. There have now been a significant number of this type of failure and the NEU 1515 2.5 DF is no longer recommended by many people due to this issue.

In my view it is not acceptable for a bearing to fail early when the motor is being used for the purpose it was intended and for that motor to be refused warranty replacement. With this in mind I cannot recommend this motor even though it is one of the best 6S motors available when you only consider power delivered.

Medusa 36-50-1600

This motor was tested for a short period of time by Trevor Burley in his run-up to the Clubman 3-D last year.

The motor produced comparable power to a 600 XL but it also suffered from generating a great deal of heat. In fact it got so hot that the magnets in the motor de-magnetised rendering the motor unusable. This was not a surprising result considering that the motor is only rated to 800 Watts. It was somewhat ambitious to expect the motor to be able to deliver when it was working so far beyond its specification.

If Medusa produce a bigger motor capable of delivering more Watts then that motor would definitely be worth considering given the power their 800 watt motor was able to deliver.

Z-Power Z20A

This motor falls into the same category as the Medusa motor. In most respects it is too small to be able to power a machine the size of the T-Rex 600. Therefore it was not surprising that this motor ran very hot and did not produce the necessary levels of power in order to perform 3-D flight.

If you are considering this motor then really it should only be used for hovering and gentle circuits as any more than this will overload it.

Z-Power Z50 (black 1150kv)

This is one of if not my current favourite 6S motor. It works best on a 16T pinion. It produces bags of power without being massively heavy on amp draw. It has good torque and ability to holder power under load. Relatively cheap in comparison to similar powered motors. It definitely produces more initial kick than the Align 600XL and the holding power it sustains also outperforms the 600XL. It is a very cool running motor, rarely getting much above hand warm. The downside is that I have come across the occasional bad one of these motors where the outrunner motor can rubs on the coils causing a squealing. I have also seen the bearings wear out relatively quickly on this motor, although this may well have been attributed to a crash damaging the bearings. Most notably I've seen this motor used in 8S configuration and in this situation it over revs causing the bearings to fail very early. Overall though it is a very good motor for strong 6S 3D performance without ripping the insides out of your packs. Just make sure it is used within it's RPM range, which effectively means 6S or less.

Tango 45-10

Still to be tried, should be good on 6S which is it's maximum voltage before over revving occurs. I will update this article once the motor has been run. Likely to be good on a 17T pinion, although 16T might also be useable.