Best 6s single motor? turnigy sk3, g160, ntm, enertion, or diyelectricskateboard?

So to start off, here’s the reason for this thread:

Ever since I built my first board, many people have asked me how they too can build a board, how much it will cost, and where they can get all the components… Most of the people asking, are friends of mine, who I either skateboarded with constantly, or have gotten to know through the rc car hobby. most of friends (and me for that matter) are pretty much fine with the power of a single motor setup, and most of the time, 6s. It is really easy to point out esc’s, batteries, mounts, etc, but I always have a hard time settling on a solid motor for a 6s setup, that doesn’t need any special gearing besides what comes with a mounting kit- essentially, I am just trying to keep it simple.

So just going through all the motors I feel are worth it:

Turnigy sk3 63mm series: this would be my first recommendation, for both there preformance, and price except for one major problem… they are always backordered or out of stock. yes, the 192kv and the 149kv are usually in stock, but the really useful ones without major gearing needed is the 200-300kv range, which are all gone 99% of the time

NTM 270 50mm: again, always out of stock or on backorder- not to mention I hear alot of people say it’s either a hit or miss with them… and of course, 50mm single motor setup would never be my first choice (yes, I am rocking a 50mm enertion motor on one of boards, but it isn’t gonna last much longer)

Turnigy g160 63mm motors: these are the one motor where I honestly don’t know why more people aren’t using them… I see a build here or there, like psychotiller’s board, but for the most part, they are completely dominated by the sk3’s… They seem like they are practically the same as the sk3’s, just with a different shape; 63mm, 8mm shaft, 245 and 290kv… I mean seriously- why aren’t these more common? especially since they are in stock on HK

Enertion R-spec 63mm 190kv: in stock, perfect for a 10s or 8s board, but I just don’t see it being practical for 6s- especially at 105usd, it’s alot more expensive than some of the other guys… worth it for 8 and 10s, not worth it for a cheaper 6s setup (in my opinion)

Diyelectricskateboard 50mm motors: I know right now, its just the 200kv version for 70usd. Again, 50mm is just kinda small for a single motor setup… especially when you can get an sk3 or g160 for around 70usd, and they are both 63mm. Now I know he has a 170kv sensored motor that should be out soon (again, 50mm) and that should be sweet for dual motor 10 and 12s setups. being sensored, I might be giving it a try depending on its price when it comes out.

finally, I know there are other motors like the one from tacon, and alien has some setups, but these were just the ones I felt like mentioning based on popularity. I know the alien motors are probably more popular than the g160’s, but I don’t really want to recommend products from overseas when I am here in the states, unless its really something worth it that you can’t get from here (like enertion’s motor). And yes, I know hobbyking will ship from international warehouses sometimes, but thats the only place to get turnigy products, so you just gotta deal with it…

Don’t forget the 63mm BigFoot motors which are $55 bucks. Of course, they don’t have longer motor shafts and/or keyway and flat spots built in but solid motors. Great for dual rear.

http://www.hobbypartz.com/96m608-bigfoot160-5335-245kv.html http://www.nitroplanes.com/96m608-bigfoot160-5335-245kv.html

Great thing about the BigFoot also is they have both the 50mm and 63mm mounting holes.

A 63mm for a single should always be slightly better. The main reason because of the bigger motor it can handle and disperse heat better. A 50mm will be more lightweight and as a single is more ideal for flat ground. A 63mm single for uphill would be recommending. I would recommend more along the lines of a 6374 versus a 6354 but both are still better because of the amount of heat it can disperse faster.

Of course, low KV and higher gearing for more torque is ideal if you are climbing hills on a single motor.

For complete flat ground, any of the motors should work with decent gearing and no hot motors.

If the motors are hot, just up the gearing ratio to accommodate more torque and the motors won’t be as hot.

Btw the sensored 170KV 50mm motors are now available. I just haven’t updated the website just yet.

In the end they are all fairly similar. Just depends on what you prefer and/or what features which you want added.

Example - The latest TorqueBoards 50mm 170KV Sensored Motors have a 35mm motor shaft, 25mmx3mmx4.5mm keyway, flat spots, circlip in motor housing, sensor wires, heat resistant wire sleeves. Motors more built for electric skateboards. With the longer motor shaft you can use 15mm belts which help a ton. Try going from 9mm belts to 15mm belts and you won’t bother to go back :smile:

I saw those motors once before, but before writing this thread, I couldn’t seem to find them a second time, so they got left out…

the 245kv 50mm that I have had since I built my first board was geared 15/36 (stock gearing for the old enertion k3 mount) and it would fly on that setup. I’ve since bumped it down to 12/36 (about a month ago) just to try to keep temps down. Only problem is, it still runs really warm- I also almost feel like it runs hotter now than when I first got it, but that may just be me…

I have a 15mm belt on my pneumatics build, and I have to say its sweet- But I really haven’t had a problem with enertion’s 9mm setup, and personally, I like the idea of dual rear drive as apposed to dual diag; but thats just me

right now I talking with onloop about possibly buying replacement electronics to put in my old space cell, since the cells are all good, and its just the BMS that failed. having another 10s, I would probably try out your new sensored setup, as long as my wallet says it’s ok…

Of course you’d expect me to say this…

But i really like the Enertion 6355 R-SPEC.

I’ve tried.

  • Ntm 5060 270kv
  • SK3 6354 245kv
  • SK3 6354 215kv?
  • ALIEN 50xx
  • Original Enertion R-SPEC 5065 245kv (same factory as Alien)
  • Saite 6354 245kv.
  • EMP 6354 190kv.
  • EMP 6354 245kv
  • EMP 6354 270kv

I think the SK3 are good for the price… but i have blown them up also.

I realised one thing after testing all these motors, cheap = rubbish.

Basically when it comes to manufacturing motors the cheaper the factory tries to make the motor the less quality parts they use. Or some things are left out completely.

Things to note such as.

  • Magnet quality.

  • Motor dimension tolerance (air gap size)

  • Magnet retainer ring (often left out on cheap motors to save $1 or $2)

  • Stator metal quality. High silicone percentage stator metal is more expensive & it reduces losses. (Cheap motors get hot because of losses often due to low grade stator materials)

  • Use of high quality chemically resistant, high temperature epoxy resins. VS standard low grade epoxy.

  • Quality enamelled copper winding.

  • Computer Controlled motor balancing & tuning.

  • Computer wound stators VS Hand wound.

i’d just like to say that i’m basically in love with the pair of NTM Propdrive 270’s that i’m currently running on my 6S, and i suspect a lot of people are since you mentioned they don’t stay in stock long. And you just can’t beat the price at around $40 each.

I also really really liked Enertion’s old R-SPEC 245s. Torquey little bastards with a decent top end despite being a lower kv than the 270s. That is until the wires ripped themselves out for some unknown (possibly stick or pine cone related) reason.

Ya, that’s the exact same thing that happened to my 245’s…

I’d get an NTM if they came in stock like you said, lol

the wires yanked out of your R-SPECs too? See now i’m thinking its less stick or pine cone related and possibly more heat/glue related. When I took another look at the damage, it was the glue that held the lead wires in place that had given, it wasn’t so much a ripping or tearing of otherwise healthy parts, so to speak. its kind of hard to see here, but i put it on instagram:

The glue gave, then the copper gave. Is this basically what your damage looked like?

yep, my motor looked just like that. I will see if I have a pic of it after it happened…

I know its blurry, and not the best picture: this was back when I had my old phone…

But you can still see that it looks almost identical to what happened to your motor

Interesting. I had a similar situation with an NTM 270. The stator actually started to spin and pulled the wires in and shorted them. Sorry, no pics.

Weird. I’m running NTM 270s right now. We’ll see how they are in a couple of months after I’ve abused them further.

This has happened to me twice now. 2 wires were mostly severed few weeks ago and I fixed them, and one just got severed completely this morning. I contacted Enertion but they say it’s not covered by the warranty, so I’m searching for a new motor.

You can get Turnigy SK3 63mm motors or Tacon Bigfoot 63mm motors.

ya, it seems like a common problem… They only weird thing to me is that I destroyed my first one in less than 3 weeks, but my second has lasted almost 6 months…

Not sure if it actually helps, but i usually zip tie the wires taught that come out from the motor. I’ve felt some “clicks” like the wire was contacting something when rotating, but after tensioning the wires leaving the motor - that click isn’t felt. So i usually pull them moderately tight and then put a zip tie around them against the motor case to keep them tensioned.

Makes me feel better at least…

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Here’s a closer look at my damaged R-SPEC 245kv from Enertion. I disassembled it so i could get a better look at what actually happened. Its pretty clear that the copper just broke, and i didn’t see any evidence of burning or overheating, so i think the break was purely mechanical. Likely due to the glue detaching and the wires bending around or twisting too much, but it could have also happened when I snagged a stick just the right way.

I’m SO using inlaid motor wires on all of my builds from now on. Its worth every hour it takes to do it.

So that’s one bad R-SPEC 245 that needs to be re-wound and a pair of 6-8S ESCs that need a few components replaced on my bench. One day when its cool and rainy and i have time to waste with a multi-meter.

@longhairedboy Can you show an example of what you mean by inlaid motor wire? Like how the boosted boards wires are inlaid on top of the board and covered with griptape?

well do i have the pictures for you…

This is while the connectors were still masked during painting. You can see the connectors by the truck mounting holes and the motor leads that will go into the box:

And here it is with everything plugged in and the box on:

So basically the whole idea is to get the motor leads out of the way while they’re headed into the box while still allowing the entire drive assembly to be removed without cracking the box open. Also, this makes everything splash resistant since you don’t have holes in the box to let the wires in. It also takes a lot of stress off of the motor wires while still allowing them to flex as the truck hanger bends around. Also, and i have tested this, if you lose a belt you can quickly and easily disconnect one motor and tuck the cables in under the truck and keep going.

I used a dremel and some bondo to do this. Not the body filler, but the fiberglassing resin.

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That’s looks really slick and professional

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Hi could you tell me if this motor is good? Alien 6374 Sensored Outrunner brushless motor 400KV 3200W. Thanks!