Bashers Basics – Heat Management

Hello and welcome back to Bashers Basics!

Today we are going to take a deeper look into heat management, what the negative side effects are, and what you can do to combat the issue. Firstly, we must understand what causes heat buildup within the electronics of your RC. Most excessive heat buildup is from inefficiencies in your electronic circuit, these can be contact points, soldered wires, or friction in the mechanical portions of the electronics in your truck.

Heat can cause a multitude of issues, from excessive wear on your motor and esc, to a loss of performance, heat must be avoided at all costs. Motor temperatures should never exceed 180 degrees celsius, esc temperatures should never go above 120 degrees celsius, and battery temperatures should never exceed 120 degrees. Above those given temperatures, damage to product is possible, and performance will suffer.

There can be several ways to eliminate heat from your setup, the first and easiest is to make sure there is as little resistance as possible throughout your whole setup, get motor and battery wires as short as possible, and make sure solder points aren’t bulky.

Next, you need to make sure that you have as little resistance and friction as possible in your drivetrain. Oiling and rebuilding differentials and transmissions regularly, and making sure that all bearings are functioning properly will ensure that your drivetrain is functioning at maximum efficiency.

Now that we are running at maximum efficiency, hopefully your truck is running cool enough not to need any further action, however, if you are running a high cell count battery or high gearing, additional measures may be necessary. It is at this point where most people would start adding fans, however fans add additional resistance and power consumption, so we want to have as few fans as we can. Before we start adding fans, we can look where our over-heated electronics are situated in the car, and see if we can cut air vents in the truck’s body. This is not only quick and easy, but also free! Only after that should you start adding fans to your motor and esc if you are still over heating your electronics system.

I hope this helps you in your pursuit for more performance out of your system, and remember, the more efficient your car can be, the more performance you will get. Happy Bashing!