Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

I'm wondering if there is a aftermarket motor available that would produce similar or more power than the stock ABX motor and also be significantly lighter. The 540 motor puts out reasonable thrust but is big and honking heavy. I'm looking to upgrade to lipo packs and would like to get a lighter motor ( with at least equivalent thrust and a little more thrust would be desirable) to help put the COG back in the ballpark.
Any ideas or tips?

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

Sure, there are lots of motors that will fill that bill. Lighter and just as powerful in brushed motors? No. In brushless, yes. There are probably two or three AXi motors that'll do the job, as well as a couple of the Mega 16/15 series motors, probably a Hacker or two.

For the most efficient setup, you're probably looking at a 3S LiPoly setup at 20 Amps.

Remind me, what's the limit on how big the prop can be? Oh, and the weight too...

The only issue is that you'll also have to gut the plane and re-equip it with a standard receiver, servos and ESC.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

Stock prop is 8" in diameter. I don't know the pitch. If anyone does, please let me know.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

Stock prop is 8" in diameter. I don't know the pitch. If anyone does, please let me know.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

You could do a few things while remaining stock. A 7 cell pack versus the 6 that comes with it will work. I home built some 3300ma 7 cell packs for mine. Even the 6 cell 3300ma pack I made gave the motor more juice as these cells are of better quality than the stock pack and can deliver the amps without as much resistance. Another option is to reverse time the stock motor which is real easy. Remove the motor and look at the side near the back. You'll see a white plastic thing with a few notches in it and one or two metal tabs over them. Bend back these tabs and the other tabs that hold the back motor plate in place. Now rotate the back motor plate clockwise so that the plastic slot the the upper tab was resting in is now resting in the lower tab...and bend everything back in place. The motor is timed at a neutral position from the factory. You can do this with most brushed motors that haven't come from the factory timed for reverse (pusher) or forward (tractor) setups.

The next step up would be to convert to standard electronics. Just doing this alone will increase the motor's power and speed as a quality ESC will not waste the energy that the stock board does (stock FET gets hot and often burns out...not very efficient). I didn't reverse time my stock motor (yet), but I can notice an increase in motor performance because of the Electrify (?) 50 amp ESC I'm using with my 6 channel JR RX in it. Also used HS81 servos and converted the fishing line over to plastic control rods. Look for "Installing Standard Electronics In An Extreme" in the park flyers forum where we've been discussing this.

If you want even more power you could step up to a brushless motor and lipos which somebody just did in that forum.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

Critterhunter, what does "reverse time" the motor do, and would you recomend that I do it to my stock ABX motor?
Thanks

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

Do a search for reverse timing a brushed motor and you'll find all kinds of good info on it. The motor is timed neutral at the factory to work as a tractor or pusher setup. Since the Extreme is a pusher you can reverse time it for a bit more speed and power. It's simple and only involves rotating the back plate to a static marking.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

Timing in an electric motor serves a very similar purpose, and provides a very similar result to, timing in a gasoline engine. When the fields in the armature are energized at the right time, the motor produces more power. Of course, it's different in each direction, which is why there's "forward," "reverse," and "neutral" timed motors.

Because the ABX motor is a generic unit that they put in many electronic devices such as dustbusters and cordless drills, they come neutrally timed. It's only in R/C airplanes that timing them has any advantage and even then it's only a marginal improvement.

Timing a can motor like the stock ABX motor is a little tricky due to the fact that the motor is not designed to be timed. The back plate is held in by a couple of bend-over tabs that lock into slots on the back plate to keep it fron turning. The challenge is in bending the tabs up without breaking them off, then bending them back down and actually having them prevent the motor from slipping back into its stock timing. Many "540" class buggy/monster truck/car motors have adjustable timing that allow you to fine tune them for ideal performance.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

I've done the reverse timing to a few motors before. Use a thin flat screwdriver, that it small enough to lift the tab up. Turn the endbell to reverse the timing. I think mine are all at -12 degrees. Use a screwdriver that is just as wide as the slot in the end bell. Get it real hot, and melt the plastic in the new spot (-12 degrees) on both sides. tap the tabs back down, and go run it! The zero timing is where the holes for the mount are. I have a degree wheel, so i know where to set it. Or you could mark the 90 degree, then half that, and divide that space by 3. That will give you 15 degrees. Another tip is to have the motor running, with the prop. Put it on a bench. Turn the endbell very slightly. Hold the endbell tight, and run the motor at full speed. Keep adjusting the endbeel, VERY SLIGHTLY until the motor peaks. Mark the spot, and melt new tab slots. The motor will pull more power if you reverse time though., so be careful. To go brushless, you need to convert over to standard electronics, and make a new servo board. It's not hard, but I don't see the worth in that kind of plane, because it coems RTF. The reverse time, and a 7 cell 3300 pack will make you happy.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

The instructions I found on reverse timing a brushed motor are this. Bend back all the tabs on the back plate, including the two that go over the little white (?) plastic tab on the side of the motor near one of the motor wire posts. You want to rotate the motor clockwise so that the little platic depression that the higher tab (facing the back of the motor with the two tabs on the right in orientation) was resting in now will have the lower tab resting in it. Bend all tabs back into place and that should do it. I did this to a stock Stryker and I could really see an increase in power and speed. However, if you want to fine tune the timing I'd do what the other guy said and run it while you move the plate until you hear the motor peak. As said, the motor will draw a bit more in amps when reverse timed.

Another option that will only work with a motor that has NOT been run yet is to do a water break in. Put the motor in a glass of water and run it on two D cells in series. Some people like to run it until the batteries die but I ran mine an hour or two. This helps seat the brushes and remove the carbon as they seat. You'll notice some black flakes floating around in the water after a while. Once done make sure you blow the remaining water out of the motor and then put motor bearing oil on the bushings (front and back) on the shaft.

I feel the Extreme is worth putting standard electronics into. Where else can you buy a plane body for $20, a wing for $20, and a tail for $15 (or make one for free out of coruplast). It's a big plane for an electric and has unique abilities such as hauling a good bit of extra weight into the air. Crash one? Parts can be found off the shelf at most hobby stores.

RE: Aerobird Extreme motor upgrade available?
 

The Aerobird Challenger was my first plane. After many other planes, mostly in the brushless arena I decided to go back and tinker with my challenger. After many mods I decided I wanted to go brushless. Rather than scrap the stock electronics I installed a [link=http://www.modified-rc.com/brushed2less.html]Brushed2Less[/link] controller onto the stock setup and added a brushless speed controller and a Mega 16/15/4 with a 7X4 prop. That was definetly overkill. The thing was now a rocket. At half throttle the tail would still provide manuverability, but any more throttle, and it would only go strait. The V-Tail could not handle that much air over it. It was fun to fly. I would do half throttle tricks and then point it strait up and go full throttle. If I wanted to really spend more time flying that plane I would pick a smaller motor.

I know you are talking about the extreme, but this is another option.