LRP Bonded Rotor Turned BLACK???

[NSDie]

I have a LRP 5.5 bonded motor which was running fine for about 6 months until today. It just stopped running in the middle of a race. For the first time, I opened the can and took the rotor out. It was black!! Is that the normal color of a bonded rotor? Also I connected my speedo to another motor and it was working.

I need to know what could be other causes of motor failure. It is worth it for me to buy another rotor to test it out or just forget about it and buy a new motor?

[SlowOne]

Depends on your definition of black. Sounds to me like the motor has got very dirty, that this might well have caused rubbish to get on the end of the rotor and the sensor plate, and eventually something has stopped in the sensor-plate department.

Despite the claims to the contrary, BL motors must be cleaned regularly like any other motor, as they get dirt in them and damage can be caused. Hope you find that a damn good clean out and some TLC gets it back going again! HTH

[NSDie]

Thanks for your reply.

By black, I meant it's literally black. It's not like it's covered with black dust. I didn't use a specific cleaning agent to wipe it but just use a slightly damp cloth but it remained black. Btw, what is the color of a new bonded rotor?

On cleaning the sensor plate, I opened up the back plate and all I could see is a round electrical board or whatever you call it with the sensor adaptor. It's not dirty or anything like that. It's just a bit dusty. Btw, I could not disect the motor any further than the back plate. The electrical board seemed to be permanantly attached to the can. Anyways, I managed to get myself an air spary to blow out the dirt inside the can. Nothing much came out and it was clean. Am I cleaning it the right way?

Any LRP brushless motor expert can help me out here? Before I go out and buy myself a new motor, it would be nice if I could get it fix myself.

Please help me out.

[sparrow.2]

LRP bonded rotors are black.

Have you checked everything else, like sensor wire, capacitor, the speedo being in lipo mode, the switch, the cables having a break in them, duff solder connection...?

Also, if you put the motor back together, be sure not to overtighten the three screws that hold the motor together. Easier done than said sadly...

[NSDie]

Hi Sparrow, as I mentioned on my first post, I tried connecting the speedo to another LRP motor and it worked fine no problem. I have already narrowed down the problem to just the motor is screwed. FYI, speedo has always been set to forced NiMH mode.

Ok, back to the motor, can you please share some light if you know anyway, on how can I bring my motor back to life again with some basic self-diagnostic repair tips. FYI, the motor still work intermittently BUT when it does work, it's spinning wildly up and down with no throttle control.

[Chris Doughty]

swap the rotor with the motor that works and see if the problem follows the rotor or follows the can.

bonded rotors are black and they have what looks like fibre tape around it (looks like grooves) this is normal.

if its getting 'hairy' then thats not good.

if you do find it to be a faulty rotor, I would recomend replacing the bonded rotor with the 12.5mm sintered rotor from LRP, they feel similar and the sintered rotor is very reliable.

hope that helps