Mod: MTB Honey Badgers in a Demolisher

Quick post regarding the new MTB Honey Badgers. Mazofactory Grenade Pouch review will go live once I've combat tested them at MLF this Sunday, then Recon MkII and Worker flywheels at some point too.

MTB Honey Badgers are a 130 sized motor intended for use as a high speed RS pusher on 3S - getting about 14dps as opposed to Rhinos at about 9dps. Their specs however also suggest possibility for use as a 2S flywheel motor. I decided to try them in my Demolisher as I didn't want to bother with Blade 180s for it.

A quick diversion to the battery pack in question, the pack I use for the Demolisher and Elite Rayven is a Turnigy "Bolt", which is a high voltage Lithium pack (LiHV). They differ from traditional LiPos in that they are significantly thinner (this one is 11m thick) yet have a very high discharge rating (this 500mAh pack has 65C constant and 130C burst), but also are designed to be charged to a maximum of ~4.35V per cell, instead of 4.2V as with traditional LiPo. For my purposes, the extra voltage is unnecessary and actually potentially detrimental, but the discharge rating and size are very useful for fitting battery trays like that of the Demo and Elite Rayven.

The "ideal" flywheel motor speed is around 30-35kRPM at nominal voltage (LiPos are ~3.7V per cell nominally) without load, as it is high enough to maintain "glass ceiling" velocities (the maximum speed at which a standard single stage flywheeler can launch a full length dart) at good ROF (at least 10dps), while not being so high as to introduce excessive noise, vibration and potential dart burning. The Blade 180/-3240 has a no load speed of ~32kRPM at 7.4V (pretty much perfect), while the "Banshee", another popular 2S motor, has a no load speed around 38.5kRPM, which is higher than necessary. The MTB Honey Badger on the other hand, has a no load speed of ~43kRPM at 7.4V (rated 35kRPM at 6V), which is way excessive for a flywheel motor. This is clearly noticeable upon revving, as the flywheels spin up to a much higher speed and make a massive amount of noise, far more than most popular flywheel motors like Blade 180s and Falcons/Rhinos, and even the already high speed Banshee, despite having roughly the same (perhaps just a touch better) performance. They also take noticeably longer to slow to a stop if left to drift.

BlasterTech have a good video of actual numbers and firing:

MTB Honey Badgers have a good amount of torque, however take a fair time to reach full speed. Since the sweet spot of ~30-35kRPM is well below full speed, Honey Badgers reach glass ceiling speed very quickly. This is in contrast to something like a Blade 180, or Falcon/Rhino, which only reach glass ceiling speed at near full speed, but reach full speed quite quickly.

As a 2S flywheel motor, I personally would recommend against using Honey Badgers if alternatives like Blade 180s or Banshees are available. They spin up to unnecessarily high speed, are excessively loud and provide no significant performance benefit over the aforementioned motors. From my test fires they also seem to fire more helicoptering darts than more conventional flywheel motors, though that could just be my Demolisher as it still has the faux spiral rifling. If you have no other choice and have to use 2S, Honey Badgers will work as flywheel motors but I feel like slower motors like Blade 180s work pretty much just as well and are less ear breaking.