Motor checker/dyno advice

[NumanR]

Hi guys, I wonder if anyone could give me some opinions as to the best sub £150 motor checkers, I know of the ones by integy(indi), motor lab(which looks identical) and ctx, and orion, plus yokomo. Can anyone give me advice as to which one is easier to use or more accurate or has more features than the others. Thanks.

[Ben Turner]

Ive just got the integy and it is a brilliant piece of kit when you think it is almost half the price of others. A few people have got the yok one and they say that the rpm thing on it is very tempremental, however this is not the case on the integy, it seems to be very accurate. As far as features go it has all of the ones that the others do - my only slight "niggle" however would be the slightly slow refresh rate of the counter when running (but this isnt harming anything).PM me if you want to know where to get it.

Ben

[burgie]

I have the indi "dyno" and the majority of people on here knock them, as they don't test the motor "under load".

But, all I know is, when I get a new motor, I dyno it, and then I have a start point for the motor for when I skim it etc, so it is always going back to a "known" point - even if this isn't the best place to be.

All my motors are setup on this, and they all perform exceptionally well, it's amazing how many people at the club despite saying "it's not that godd.....blah blah blah" want to borrow it!

[DA_cookie_monstA]

I use a Shnwa motor dresser, and that is like the Indi but a lot older and analogue. Persoannaly I do my stock motor tunning by ear, sounds daft I know, but I can tell if the brushes are bouncing, if it is labouring and if the tweaks done have made a difference.

In the end, it don't matter WHAT you use, it is how you manage to interperet the results that makes the difference.

[Ben Turner]

I totally understand you mate. If a motor sounds real smooth an whiney, its in good nic, but if its making all sorts of noises, and isnt revving up smoothly through the voltage range, you know somethings up.

Ben

[PDW]

All these items are totally dependent on the power supply they use. If it is a pack of cells, or an ordinary power supply, then the results will be so variable as to be of little use. You must have a large, well regulated, power supply that will probably cost twice the price of the checker!!

All the best motor men don't use a dyno at meetings. Watch Mike Reedy, Jim Deiter and Oscar Jansen. They make motors to suit circuits and test them at the factory using top class, and expensive, equipment. At the races they just rebuild motors and give them a quick spin. They don't test using anything like the equipment you suggest.

Most telling point is DCM's - if you have no idea what to do with the results on the track.....!! Save your money - buy two more motors and experiment. You'll learn more that way - as Ben says.

[MikeS]

Sorry to contradict you Pete, but the only dyno's dependant on power supply are the POWER (i.e. motor watts) test dynos.

I have used most, if not all of the power type dyno's that have been around over the years and my biggest compliant is the apparent lack of consistency and repeatability. So, personally I have no time for a "power" test dyno, since they do not and cannot, fully replicate the load characteristics that the cars operate under and hence many a time I have had a motor that was a real corker on the dyno, only to be flat on the track, and also vice versa.

The motor checker type dyno, is on the other hand can be a very useful diagnostics and reference tool, but as DCM said if you don't use the numbers correctly or understand what it is telling you, but then this is true of any specialist tool!

[NumanR]

As the instructions are fairly poor on these bits of kit is there a site with any info on how to get the best out of your motor checker?

[Ben Turner]

I thought they were quite good ::)

Ben