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Is The Traxxas Velineon Motor Sensored Or Sensorless? (What’s The Difference)

When you go to buy a new motor for your Traxxas RC car, you will notice that you have many different options. Not only are there many different motors that you can purchase, but they all have differences that will help you while you race. While some are brushless and others have brushes, some now even have sensors, while others are sensorless. 

This is something that many people did not realize and now that they know there are different options, many people want to know which one the Traxxas Velineon motor is? 

The Traxxas Velineon motor is a sensorless motor that can provide the ultimate upgrade to any 1/10 Traxxas vehicle presently powered by the Stringer 20T motor or the Titan 12T motor. 

If you want to purchase the Traxxas Velineon motor, you can find it by clicking here.

If you would like to know more about is the traxxas velineon motor sensored or sensorless, please keep reading and check out this video!

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Traxxas Motors

This Ready-To-Race motor from Traxxas is also waterproof and provides melting horsepower, extreme speeds, and ease of use, which Traxxas, by the way, is known for. All you need to do is plug it in, and it’s set to work.

The reason why Velineon provides excellent power output is not far-fetched at all. The total optimization of the system is the reason it provides such powerful output, and it does provide superb optimization. Every single component of the system from the Traxxas high-current battery connector to the powerful Velineon 3500 brushless motor is designed carefully to function alongside other components of the system in order to get rid of any restrictions and let the power flow through very effectively. 

The Velineon motor also comes with high-frequency transistors and avant-garde circuit design, which ensures that you get extremely smooth and improved throttle control. Another thing that people love is the fact that you can use a wide range of battery types on the Velineon system, including 3S LiPo packs (3-cell Lithium Polymer packs). There’s a built-in low-voltage detection in the VXL-3s electronic speed control, which ensures that the LiPo battery packs stay in excellent condition. No one wants to have to worry about damaging their battery when they are charging or using their RC car. 

The exclusive and innovative Traxxas waterproof technology makes sure that the Velineon motor can successfully function in wet conditions even in snow and mud without requiring you to take any special requirements.

Here are the key features of the Velineon Brushless Motor

  • It is waterproof
  • It functions well with brushed, brushless and sensored brushless motors
  • It has the capacity to auto-detect the motor type
  • It is compatible with all types of battery including NiCad, NiMH (4-10 cells), and LiPo (2-3cells) battery packs
  • It comes with a built-in-two-stage low-voltage detection for the LiPo battery packs
  • It includes 3 drive profiles: Race Mode, Sport Mode, and Training Mode
  • It includes a two-Stage Thermal shutdown protection
  • It is optimized to provide superpower and efficiency in 1/10 vehicles

Sensored vs. Sensorless Motors

Brushless motors are powered by electronic speed control (ESC). To make sure that the motor is smoothly accelerated from zero RPM, the control should know the rotor’s position. When it doesn’t, the ESC has to determine the position. By sending power to the rotor and getting back Electromotive force, the ESC can determine the position of the rotor. This electromotive force is a voltage signal created and sent back to the ESC. This message sent back is what lets the ESC know the rotor’s position.

As the name implies, a sensored brushless motor is one that has sensors in it. It is the sensors that send information on the position of the rotor back to the ESC. As soon as the ESC knows the position of the motor, there is an immediate synchronization established from the zero RPM.

Advantages of a Sensored Brushless Motor

Sensored motors come with a lot of advantages, including their ability to strongly and smoothly accelerate right from zero RPM. In addition, they have the ability to deliver more torque at slow speeds, unlike what a sensored brushless motor can offer. Sensored motors also have the capacity to monitor the condition of the motor in order to ensure safe operation. Some ESCs cannot function if the sensor signals are not in perfect condition.  

Advantages of a Sensorless Brushless Motor

Even though sensored motors have quite a lot of advantages, brushless motors also have the benefits they offer. Granted, sensorless brushless motors offer really poor performance at low speed but, the performance they offer at high speed is superb. Most manufacturers of ESC rely on the sensorless synchronization of a sensored motor at high speed. A lot of ESCs, at high speed, will change the timing for the sequence of power pulses sent to the windings of the motor, improving performance and efficiency.  

In addition, sensorless motors are also lightweight, less likely to fail, and mess complicated. However, it is relatively simple to destroy the thin wire loom that transfers all the information from the sensored motor to the ESC.

Applications of Sensored and Sensorless Brushless Motors

The most important reason you may be needing a sensored motor for your application is the fact that it needs torque when running at really low speeds, about zero RPM. Applications that require torque at very low speeds are RC Car based applications. These RC car based applications include Rock Crawling or any type of RC car that runs at really slow speed.

In addition, high-gearing cars that need rapid torque can bring quite a number of problems when running at low speed. They may comprise high-speed RC drag racing cars or high-speed on-road cars.

The low gearing that these RC vehicles come with needs the motor to develop a lot of torque from the beginning. Quickly accelerating the motor from a stop can mean that an enormous amount of power will be drawn. If the brushless motor and the ESC are not in sync, their acceleration can no longer be trusted to provide smooth and quick performance. A sensored motor would be of great help in these applications.

Speaking of other applications, the requirement for a sensored motor is low. All types of RC boats, helicopters, and airplanes, for example, work perfectly with a sensorless motor. A lot of the operations these motors carry out in these applications are executed at a higher speed. One of the most vital aspects of these is even carried out at 0 RPM, where the torque requirement to get the system running is very low.

At slow speed, a propeller does not considerably load the motor, not to the extent of requiring a sensored motor. Leaving out the need for wire looms and added sensors in these applications helps to save weight and prevent any complications from coming up. In the end, this may provide increased dependability.

Conclusion

The Traxxas Velineon motor is a sensorless motor that can provide the ultimate upgrade to any 1/10 Traxxas vehicle presently powered by the Stringer 20T motor or the Titan 12T motor. Depending on what you are wanting, will depend on if you prefer a sensored or sensorless motor though. The option though is totally up to you.