Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Hi, is it possible to open this thruster so you can swop the motor with a brushless one? if it is possible to change the motor and oilfill the housing you have a thruster.

Anybody ever do a amp/thrust test on one of these?

old thread but those are £330 here in the UK in 2015

I've been using HobbyKing's brushless outrunner motors with a reversible ESC the motor is about £8.18 and the ESC is £10.17.

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh ... duct=11742

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh ... oduct=6246

Are they good uns ? Any downsides to using these? How do you get around the fact the ESC are meant to be water cooled ?Have you done anything to the motors or just used them as they are?

I've ordered a similar set up , I should have checked the delivery times as they are taking forever to get to the UK from the international store. I wanted them set up and tested by now as they affect how I go about my next part of the project.

They seem to work well for me, with the kort nozzle I printed, it gave about 6lbs, 2.72kg, of forward thrust. so far I haven't had any problems with my ESC overheating, but then again, I haven't run it very long. I'd imagine when running an ROV the ambient water temperature would keep the temperatures down, also I think my ESCs are meant to be air-cooled.

I haven't modified the motors at all, I plan on using my ROV primarily freshwater environments, negating the need for salt water mods.

good to know thanks for replying. I haven't got facilities to print a nozzle so will have to make do with a bit of pipe as a guard. My ESC has four pipe connectors for adding water cooling but you are right the smaller ones seem air cooled. I did wonder how they would get on inside a small plastic enclosure so all good then...

I think they very good value for money. Proper test in open water area and shroud in place. Good for doing weedy areas.
The shroud is pretty chunky so there would be some loss
The motor housing seems to be sealed pretty well. I will give it a coat of liquid rubber and do a 10m test.

10v, 1260g @ 7,6a
12v, 1550g @ 9a

with the 6' inch prop giving plenty of torque and motor not getting too warn. Gearbox a little bit noisy but a lot of thrust for under 10amps.
plus you get a 10 good D cell batterys and a cool tube with steering wheel to give to a kid to enjoy.

Prep for mounting is to cut the housing 4cm (just forward on mould mark). This removes all excess plastic except the part that you nee to mount the scroud to the motor housing

I realize this is a very old thread - but I just ordered on of these motors for a surface setup. Could anyone who's used one of these tell me if they are 'easy' to disassemble to convert to brushless?