Should I lubricate my brushless motors. I have RC Timers 880KV motors. If so, how often, with what lubricant, and how? Thanks.
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Should I lubricate my brushless motors. I have RC Timers 880KV motors. If so, how often, with what lubricant, and how? Thanks.
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Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.....LoL it all depends on what I come across reading in the forums. Usually bearings are packed with grease not oil and when we introduce drops or squirt oil into these tiny bearings we dilute/wash away the grease and thus cause premature bearing failure.... now some folks get away with the practice of oiling these small bearings because they ritually perform the task more often and thus maybe extend the life of their bearings.
( The only proper maintenance for a ball bearing cage is to re-pack it with grease not oil; regrettably, we don’t have this luxury with our tiny bearings )
I just have to add my own personal observations. I had always read that lubricating Sunnysky X and V series motors was unnecessary and counterproductive for many of the reasons put forth in this thread. I did it a few times using Liquid Wrench (with Dacron, essential to get that one) - a dry lubricant. The other day when spinning my one season old Sunnysky X3108s I noticed one was not spinning well. No noise or roughness, just more friction than the others. So I put some aforementioned Liquid Wrench on and hey presto it span like the others. This does somewhat end the debate for me. I am going to lubricate regularly every hour of flight time or so. Top and bottom bearings. And I spin them before every flight.
That is an interesting question.
I would first consult your manufacturer's documentation. I didn't see any data at THIS website.
It may be that the motor was not designed for oiling maintenance though I cannot see how it would harm it unless a low quality lubricant is used and it 'gels'. Lubricants usually collect dust and dirt. A multi-copter creates quite a dust cloud at take off, much of which may simply get pulled back into the propwash/airstream until the bird is sufficiently high enough to escape the cloud.
If you have a high end competition type motor like Scorpion they address this issue.
Scorpion motors discusses this HERE.
THIS post has a citizen announcing motor service and subsequent discussion about repair and maintenance.
My personal experience with high speed motors is based on cost. Most industrial motors are made to be serviced. In the case of our hobby motors, if the motor is cheaper than bearing replacement, change the motor. Your motors are less than $15US. I wager that the bearings would cost more than the motor.
Then again you probably are asking if oiling the bearings will give longer life?
I have an RC hovercraft that was powered with a glow engine. The dust/grit in the environment it operated in slowly killed the motor. The RC fuels are self lubricating so I could have oiled every hour and it would not matter. In the case of that environment, I needed a air filtration system.
The only parts that generate friction in a brushless outrunner, is the shaft bearings. And unless they are very dry, in my experience applying lubricant doesn't really help. Easier to just change them out if they start to go bad (make noise). But if you do decide to lubricate them, make sure to use something rated for high temperatures.