Rotostart motor failure

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

raymond

Active Member
Messages
56
The motor in the Rotostart is failing on me, after guess what, just 3 months of use.

I have luckily, or better, unluckily found the "problem". I disassembled the Rotostart meticulously, even leaving the 5 seconds maximum sticker and the one going around the shaft in almost perfect shape. The multimeter showed that the switch and circuit breaker are fine and the voltage is actually getting to the components.
What happened is, a part of the motor has failed. Turns out that when I press then release the button, if the motor happens to stop at a particular place, or angle, the motor won't work.
Why? I have no idea. Could be because literally every modern thing is shoddily built in factories by Chinese workers with crap pay and miserable conditions.

I have managed to find the exact motor on Alibaba!!!! They are EUR1.65 each with a minimum order of 1000 pieces! I could bet you ALL my money that that's were HPI got theirs from. I have also found the exact same motor on eBay for a higher price, but I can at least order just one. I will order a new motor and replace the faulty motor.

I have concluded that I will have fun with this piece of crap truck I got while it lasts but I will NEVER ever get another HPI product, no matter who buys them or how they run their company.

I have motors from the f***ing nineties which still work!!! They. Still. Work! And they're from the nineties. They were in cassette players and radios and printers.
I have officially given up on anything new. Nothing will work for more than a year without showing what a literal piece of garbage it is.
 
@raymond Sometimes you can have a "DEAD' spot on the rotor / armature where the brushes make contact. I f you can clean up that spot and make sure your brush springs have equal tension and brushes look good it should work... Personally I like the pull start , less to to mess with to start my Rig.
 
Last edited:
@raymond Sometimes you can have a "DEAD' spot on the rotor / armature where the brushes make contact. I f you can clean up that spot and make sure your brush springs have equal tension and brushes look good it should work... Personally I like the pull start , less to to mess with to start my Rig.

And how do I do that pls?
 
You can also replace that burned out motor with any motor intended for RC use.. you just have to use your brain instead of knocking your head against the wall......
 
Looks like any of the 550 electric motors to me, I am sure a traxxas or other would work just fine for a replacement motor......


6956
 
You can also replace that burned out motor with any motor intended for RC use.. you just have to use your brain instead of knocking your head against the wall......

I have ordered the 540 one. Looks pretty much identical to the one in the Rotostart.
I have used my brain to check the manual for the exploded view, carefully dismantle the Rotostart, check its components with a multimeter, and look for a replacement motor with the same length, diameter and those two holes in the motor's case which seem to be what's holding the motor in place.

I have also banged my head against the wall because I would have never expected it to fail at this time.
 
You can also replace that burned out motor with any motor intended for RC use.. you just have to use your brain instead of knocking your head against the wall......

And also, if you read my post, you'll see that I actually ordered a replacement but well..
 
The motor in the Rotostart is failing on me, after guess what, just 3 months of use.

I have luckily, or better, unluckily found the "problem". I disassembled the Rotostart meticulously, even leaving the 5 seconds maximum sticker and the one going around the shaft in almost perfect shape. The multimeter showed that the switch and circuit breaker are fine and the voltage is actually getting to the components.
What happened is, a part of the motor has failed. Turns out that when I press then release the button, if the motor happens to stop at a particular place, or angle, the motor won't work.
Why? I have no idea. Could be because literally every modern thing is shoddily built in factories by Chinese workers with crap pay and miserable conditions.

I have managed to find the exact motor on Alibaba!!!! They are EUR1.65 each with a minimum order of 1000 pieces! I could bet you ALL my money that that's were HPI got theirs from. I have also found the exact same motor on eBay for a higher price, but I can at least order just one. I will order a new motor and replace the faulty motor.

I have concluded that I will have fun with this piece of crap truck I got while it lasts but I will NEVER ever get another HPI product, no matter who buys them or how they run their company.

I have motors from the f***ing nineties which still work!!! They. Still. Work! And they're from the nineties. They were in cassette players and radios and printers.
I have officially given up on anything new. Nothing will work for more than a year without showing what a literal piece of garbage it is.
Use a cordless drill
 
out of curiosity how much was a motor worth
 
well when it fails you could probably use a cordless drill anyway . Mind me ask what country you are in ? euro and all !
 

Latest posts

Members online

Back
Top