I’m looking for a quiet DC geared motor. I’ve been trying out an RC servo motor. It has spur gears. Even though it has metal gears and I filled the gearbox with grease it is still loud at higher speeds. I’m wondering if anyone would know if a motor like this one with planetary gears would typically be quieter? [https://ca.robotshop.com/products/e-s-motor-22mm-planetary-gear-motor-w-encoder-24v-380rpm?qd=ad5a1c36877e38e91300ab3322607b09](https://Planetary Gear Motor)
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Hi @jimruxton ,
Almost no motor manufacturers provide noise (decibel) levels for their motors unfortunately. Some are marked as “quiet” or “silent”, but the best approach is to add soundproofing around the motor, but not impact the heat dissipation.
In general, when it comes to noise levels, motors with planetary gears are generally known to be quieter compared to those with spur gears due to their construction and the way they distribute load. Planetary gears have more points of contact, which tends to result in smoother operation and potentially less noise. That said, the actual noise level can still vary depending on other factors like the quality of the motor, the materials used, and how well the gears are meshed.
Additionally, gear lubrication and motor mounting can affect noise levels.
Let me know your opinion.
Thanks for the reply. One never thinks of these things until it becomes necessary. I wonder if talking to the folks at Robotshop have real world experience with such things and can tell me if the planetary motors they sell are quieter than the typical rc servo motor.
@jimruxton To confirm, a DC gear motor doesn’t quite serve the same purpose as an RC servo motor. Do you need to position the output shaft to a specific angle? If so, as your original idea included, it would need a rear shaft encoder but even so, would not provide absolute positioning without something eternal like limit switches. If you can tell us more about the application perhaps we can provide addional insight.
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