The motor is a vibration motor. It's got an offset weight on the spindle, so that's the "load." I'm not really sure what the spec'd current is. The only place I could find to get it was from eBay, and it shipped from China, so there's not a whole lot of documentation or labeling (i.e. there is none).

 

The point I was making is if that (larger) motor is running at (or close to) rated torque in the application a smaller motor will be possibly under powered?
Max.

 

Maybe I'm not following you. Presently, the 12V motor runs at full torque both on batteries and with a DC power supply (I have some pretty high-drain 18650s). The smaller 6V motor should have ample power. Why would a smaller motor be under powered? I could see that being true if I was planning to use a larger motor . . .

 

By 'Full Torque' I assume you mean it is running at the maximum continuous torque rating of the motor?
Your application requires a certain torque from the motor to operate correctly, if you have a certain motor and it requires that motor to run at its maximum continuous torque level, Then down-sizing the motor would indicate that the replacement will be under-powered if it has a lower continuous torque rating.
Max.

 

These are pretty basic motors. I'm not sure what their torque rating is or if they are running at their maximum continuous torque - there are literally no markings on them. My background is in ME, so I know that there is a difference between torque and electrical power, though. The 12V one vibrates pretty strong (too strong, really), so I decided to get a smaller one and use fewer Li-ion cells to save space.

 

As a general rule, current = torque and voltage = RPM.
You still didn't confirm as to whether the test was off load or running the application?
Normally a DC motor should not 'vibrate' unless unbalanced or maybe excess rpm.
See post#12 for an empiracal test I did on a 2HP DC motor.
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/t...motor-its-the-thing-i-cant-figure-out.122343/
Max.

 

No no no - they aren't "unbalanced." These are vibration motors like what's in your cell phone, only much bigger. They are supposed to vibrate. I'm using them for haptic feedback/silent alert purposes.

 

Actually that is the principle they are operating in, making it an unbalanced motor!.
Max.

 

Okay, okay - touche. I saw that a few minutes ago and realized I contradicted myself. The motor itself isn't unbalanced, though.

Thanks for your help and feedback!

 

Usually wreaks havoc on the bearings!
Max.