Motor Wires keep coming unsoldered

[vintage AE]

I just got myself an Axial Wraith. First thing I did was installed a Castle Creation BEC and ran 3s lipo in it. I had no issues until I added my rock crawler wheels that are weighted up and require more work from the motor. I have no issues with these wheels on my brushless Losi Comp Crawler. The brushed motors I put in so far get so hot the wires become unsoldered. The brushed motor used so far are 19T, and I wonder if it's just too much for them.

I didn't check to see if any BEC wires have become unsoldered yet.

Any suggestions?

[Charlie don't surf]

Gear lower, turn the throttle end point down

[madweazl]

If the motor is reaching a temperature that is capable of melting the solder, it isnt going to run remotely well once the problem is corrected. The cause of your trouble however is the gearing like the previous post states. You'll need to gear down considerably; I'm guessing the diameter of the wheel/tire combo is larger which will effectively give you a taller final drive ratio as well as increasing rotating mass. Both will add considerable more load to the motor than the stock configuration and I'm thinking the pinion required to overcome this may be too small to actually run (hopefully the vehicle provides for enough adjustment to allow for it).

[PBR Allstar]

a couple years ago there was an extreme speed run class at the west coast nationals dirt oval race in bakersfeild california (4 minute single car heats for the fastest single lap). I ran an edm with with a 2c pack and a 3.5 motor, my run would end when the motor wires came undone. The effort didn't go unrewarded though, I beat both the factory custom works drivers and took home the record for the fastest single 2wd drive lap at that track.

[LTO_Dave]

Wow! Wouldn't those wires have to be about 350-400 degrees for the solder to melt? Is your motor and esc hot to the touch?

Maybe try some larger gauge wire along with the other suggestions?

[vintage AE]

Although the tire diameter is the same size, the weight added the all the wheels is considerably greater. I will have to try a smaller pinion, thicker wires and possibly not run it through heavy snow

[Charlie don't surf]

a couple years ago there was an extreme speed run class at the west coast nationals dirt oval race in bakersfeild california (4 minute single car heats for the fastest single lap). I ran an edm with with a 2c pack and a 3.5 motor, my run would end when the motor wires came undone. The effort didn't go unrewarded though, I beat both the factory custom works drivers and took home the record for the fastest single 2wd drive lap at that track.

With my old car?

We were melting the endbells off the checkpoint teardowns that were the basis for our mods in 08

[Coelacanth]

Wow! Wouldn't those wires have to be about 350-400 degrees for the solder to melt? Is your motor and esc hot to the touch?

Maybe try some larger gauge wire along with the other suggestions?

That's what I'm thinking...bad/cold solder joints, not a hot motor or gearing. A typical soldering temperature would be between 650 to 800 *F...any plastic on that motor would be long gone before it got to the point of de-soldering...and 'hot to the touch' is a lot less than 650 *F. But I guess a digital thermometer would determine if the assumption that the motor/gearing was to blame is valid or not.

EDIT: I recently schooled myself in soldering technique and learned so many things I didn't know, and was doing wrong, when I thought I was doing a neat, tidy job. The wrong kind of solder will actually cause resistance and therefore heat buildup...60/40 is good, but 63/37 is easier to work with. Lead-free solder is awful. Just some ideas. Although there's a ton of info here, I found this very helpful and informative:

http://www.rctech.net/forum/radio-electronics/336870-how-solder-correctly-not-so-brief-lesson.html

[vintage AE]

good point about the temps. I have an adjustable soldering iron and had it set to 896deg F and both wires looked good. I somehow managed to splatter solder in my eye just missing the cornia I ended up in the emergency room shortly after, luckily I'm okay and safety glasses will be worn at all times now

[Coelacanth]

good point about the temps. I have an adjustable soldering iron and had it set to 896deg F and both wires looked good. I somehow managed to splatter solder in my eye just missing the cornia I ended up in the emergency room shortly after, luckily I'm okay and safety glasses will be worn at all times now

That would actually be too hot; up to 750 *F is recommended. Another thing I learned? It isn't a higher-wattage soldering iron that makes it hotter; that's only how much energy it consumes. I had 3 piece-of-shat soldering irons rated from 20W to 60W and all of them turned out to be garbage after a few uses. They were all sub-$30 units. I had to look all over the place to find a "good" gun, one in the $40 to $80 range, because none of the usual stores stocked ANYTHING above the pieces-of-shat. I settled on a Weller 25W, only 25 watts but it reaches a max of 750 *F...and it worked TONS better than those other three! I was amazed at the difference. Soldering was always an exercise in frustration for me...until now. I wish I'd known that the reason for all my frustrations was those crappy el-cheapo irons.

[vintage AE]

I got a different motor in now. It has thicker wires and is holding up, so I'm on to breaking parts now

Lost myself a grommet from one of the steering knuckles. Last time that happened before I noticed and the plastic steering knuckle broke. Thank good I upgraded to the aluminum ones already

[markt311]

good point about the temps. I have an adjustable soldering iron and had it set to 896deg F and both wires looked good. I somehow managed to splatter solder in my eye just missing the cornia I ended up in the emergency room shortly after, luckily I'm okay and safety glasses will be worn at all times now

That would actually be too hot; up to 750 *F is recommended. Another thing I learned? It isn't a higher-wattage soldering iron that makes it hotter; that's only how much energy it consumes. I had 3 piece-of-shat soldering irons rated from 20W to 60W and all of them turned out to be garbage after a few uses. They were all sub-$30 units. I had to look all over the place to find a "good" gun, one in the $40 to $80 range, because none of the usual stores stocked ANYTHING above the pieces-of-shat. I settled on a Weller 25W, only 25 watts but it reaches a max of 750 *F...and it worked TONS better than those other three! I was amazed at the difference. Soldering was always an exercise in frustration for me...until now. I wish I'd known that the reason for all my frustrations was those crappy el-cheapo irons.

great article on soldering thanks. I went through a week long soldering class in the air force and I learned a lot. I have always used a Weller 40watt iron with a medium chisel tip. Hard to beat for $15, they last me a year or two. Guns are the devil, only good for cursing at.

[wyldbill]

with me beeing a consumer electronics technician i cringe when walking around the pits and seeing the way some people solder. part of my technical training included a 2 week training certification from P.A.C.E. we wer taught everything from through hole to surface mount and hotairand wave soldering too. that article was dead on and i appreciate you for posting it. one of the most important things for r/c use in that article would have to be thermal recovery ability or tip offset mainly because the larger chisle tips that most guys use for batt./motor connections a few years ago i was looking for something like that i could print out and take to the track. i held a small training course for some of the guys at our local track when a car caught on fire on the track due to a melted wire. most of the guys were using the heat,twist,and pull method of blot soldering that i like to call it. for the class i took in a old stero reciever board and showed them how i changed a 300 pin surface mount flat pack microprocessor ic with nothing but "chip quick" and a lighted magnifier, and then proceeded to solder batteries and motors with the same iron.