What Are the Differences Between Brushed And Brushless Motor for new RC hobbyist?

There are more and more RC hobbyist starting to ask this question when they come across the concept of their RC products. Knowing the concept of this and choosing the right motor can make a really big difference for your RC cars（7.4v 5000mah lipo battery）. Today I’m going to help RC hobbyist understand the differences between them from different aspects.

Functionally and Physically differences

Brushed Motor

A Brushed Motor has a rotating set of wound wire coils(armature) which acts as an electromagnet with two poles. A mechanical rotary switch(commutator) reverses the direction of the electric current twice every cycle, to flow through the armature so that the poles of the electromagnet push and pull against the permanent magnets on the outside of the motor. As the poles of the armature electromagnet pass the poles of the permanent magnets, the commutator reverses the polarity of the armature electromagnet. During the instant of switching polarity, inertia keeps the motor going in the proper direction.

Brushless Motor

Brushless motors do not have current carrying commutators.A Brushless Motor uses a permanent magnet external rotor, three phases of driving coils, one or more devices to sense the position of the rotor, and the associated drive electronics. The coils are activated, one phase after the other, by the electronic speed controller as cued by the signals from the rotor position sensors.

Advantages of the Brushed motor

1. The price is relatively lower than brushless motor.
2. There is replaceable brushes for extended life
3. Only two wires to control
4. Do not require any electronic commutation, which makes it can operate in extreme environments

Disadvantages of the Brushed motor

1.There needs to be a periodic maintenance.
2.More power is wasted through the friction of the brushes against the commutator than the brushless one.
3.Poor heat dissipation.
4.Lower speed range.
5.Higher electric noise generated.

Advantages of the brushless motor

1.Less maintenance is needed.
2.High efficiency, so you can get longer run times.
3.The size is smaller.
4.Low electric noise generated.
5.Higher speed achievable.

Disadvantages of the brushless motor

1.The price is higher.
2.An additional Electric Controller that required to power the motor is also expensive.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of brushed and brushless motor for the RC newbie running for the first time? As what we know from the above, brushless motors give you more movement for the electrical energy you feed them – which, to the RC fan, means higher speeds. But In fact, beginners and younger users should purposely avoid models with brushless motors, and not only just because they might be over-powered, but also means fewer stabilising/support features and often a more complex and challenging care regime. If you go brushless, you can be almost certain that the other features – such as steering, responsiveness, suspension etc. – will have been upgraded to match. Going brushless is a step to take as soon as possible in playing on-road racing cars ,which allows you to race and compete on a whole new level; the fact that these cars have no rough terrain to negotiate also means that newbies can handle brushless motors sooner than beginners in other disciplines

In conclusion, as for beginners brushed motors are more recommended to be the first priority to choose in most cases. And switch it up when you feel that your model is going plenty fast enough on its standard EP motor, and if that’s the case, then there are probably other areas that you could focus on improving in any planned upgrade or new model purchase. Such as battery, ESC ect（3s lipo voltage）.