Is there any way to water proof motors? Or any way to make it at least water resistant. Can I just open it up and cover it in conformal coating I know the bearings won’t be waterproof but those are replaceable. Any help is appreciated
Never had a problem with water. The centrifugal force while they spin usually keeps it out of the motors and on my clothing
you can clean them after they get wet!
motors are waterproof in theory, it’s the sensors which are not (the green disc)
you can conformal coat that and it will help, but as for the motor itself you could run in in rain without and issue. I would be more concerned about the bearings.
Take @b264 use case, he uses all his motors without sensors in salty, dirty, snow slush throughout winter and all he need to do is dry the bearing after each ride.
TLDR; water and motors = minor issue
water + non-broken motor = free water cooling
water + broken motor (windings/phase wires arent properly insulated) = faceplant
You should be fine, just make sure to take care of the bearings.
also make sure to conformal coat the sensor PCB if youre using them.
but your bearings will probably rust if your didn’t change them to INOX ones
If they are sealed the roller balls inside can last quite a while
And they only rust a bit on the side so imo not a big deal
Can confirm waterproof. My buddy Keith’s husky peed on one of my old kaly NYC 6355s. Still worked totally fine. Tasted kinda funny afterwards though
Did he intentionally pee on his board? Or he peed himself and it got on the motors?
Ooh don’t remember it was back in 2017 or 2018. They were on my first Evo that Cisco sold me and ran into Keith walking his dog. Peed on my motors during the conversation
Oh the dog peed on the motors I thought your buddy’s name was Keith husky
didn’t see the ‘S
BLDC motors mostly aren’t affected by water, even in water the resistance of the water is higher than the coil resistance so the electric mostly just stays in the coil. Water definitely accelerates the rate of bearing wear, sometimes tenfold or hundredfold or more.
The thing inside motors which absolutely does not like water, is the sensor assembly. This is where most problems will be.
If you battle harden a motor, you can also waterproof the phase interconnects and the sensor assembly while you’re in there. Thin epoxy is probably my latest favorite chemical for this, maybe West System 650. If you don’t want to do all that, MG Chemicals # 4228 red insulating varnish is pretty good for that.
I have some mg chemicals 422B conformal coating can I use this?
Also does anyone know if TB motors come battle hardened?
I would not use that. I have used it in motors. But I would not recommend that one for motors. That one is good on wires and circuit boards.
Why thin epoxy?
For the coating on the stator, thinner means more heat dissipation.
For the rotor, I have a machine to cure the thin epoxy but if you don’t have that then maybe try milliput for the rotor.
I was wondering how using epoxy would effect heat dissipation. I am trying to waterproof my hall sensors/phase wires where they connect at stator, and figure that while I’m in there, I might as well battle harden the things.
The stator windings are where the heat is generated. The thicker any coating on them, the less it cools off.
It is good to have a thin coating on them though but not entirely for waterproofing purposes as they don’t need waterproofing.
You effectively trade a bit of maximum continuous power throughput for longevity/reliability. Instantaneous throughput isn’t affected much.
So the reason I’m asking this, because with the motors i have, i think i can seal the fan thats is in the motor and fill the stator/bell with ferro fluid for cooling.
I’ve had it with my motors overheating and I’m ready to do some crazy shit.