A brushed motor switches current mechanically, using carbon brushes pressed against a spinning commutator; a brushless motor switches current electronically, using a controller and rotor-position feedback. For an importer, that engineering difference converts into four commercial questions: where the cost sits in the bill of materials, what wears out inside your warranty period, what the machine sounds like, and which price band the product can credibly occupy. There is no universally better choice — there is only the choice that matches the warranty promise and the channel you are selling into.
This article is about motor construction and service life. It deliberately does not cover how power ratings are declared or compared, because that is a separate subject handled in our explainer on peak versus continuous horsepower. Read that one for rating terminology; read this one before you write a motor claim into a listing.
What actually differs inside the motor
Brushed DC motors
The permanent magnets sit in the stator and the windings sit on the rotor. Current reaches the rotor through carbon brushes riding on a commutator, and the mechanical contact is what reverses the current direction at the right moment. The design is simple, mature and inexpensive to build, and the drive electronics can be similarly simple — often little more than a rectifier and a speed controller.
The consequence is a wear part inside the product. Brushes are consumable, they produce dust, and they arc slightly at the contact point. Speed control is achieved by varying the applied voltage, which means efficiency falls away from the design point and losses appear as heat.
Brushless DC motors (BLDC)
The magnets rotate and the windings are stationary, so no brush contact is needed. An electronic controller — using Hall sensors or sensing the back-EMF — works out the rotor position and switches the windings accordingly. There is no mechanical commutation, so there is no brush dust, no brush arcing and no brush replacement interval.
The consequence is that part of the cost moves out of the motor and into the electronics, and the electronics become a failure mode in their own right. The controller also introduces a new acoustic signature: the switching frequency of the drive and the quality of its filtering determine whether the user hears an electrical whine that tracks belt speed.
. Motor manufacturers’ published engineering guidance puts the gap in service life at an order of magnitude: brushed life is limited by brush type and often averages around one to three thousand hours, while brushless designs can reach tens of thousands of hours. Treat those as illustrative of the mechanism, not as a figure for any particular product — the number that matters is the one your supplier will warrant, in writing.
Lens 1 — Landed cost
A brushless drive usually costs more at the bill-of-materials level, but not in the way buyers expect. Part of the increase is the motor, and part is the controller and the extra sensing and filtering around it. On a compact walking pad, where the motor is one of the larger single cost items, that difference is enough to move the product from one retail price band to the next.
. Ask for the quote split so you can see whether the premium sits in the motor, the controller or the assembly labour. Then ask the harder commercial question: what happens to your landed cost if the cheaper drive returns at a higher rate and you are absorbing reverse freight, refunds and marketplace consequences? A lower unit cost that raises the return rate is not a lower cost.
Second-order cost items worth asking about: whether the two architectures differ in unit weight (which changes freight and parcel tiers), whether the packaging has to change to protect extra electronics, and whether the controller board adds a component you will need to stock as a spare.
Lens 2 — Service life and warranty exposure
This is where the motor choice becomes a balance-sheet decision rather than a product decision. A brushed motor has a wear part with a finite life; a brushless motor does not, but it has a board that can fail instantly.
- Brushed: if the realistic brush life is shorter than your warranty period, every unit you sell carries a latent replacement obligation. Either you fund it, the supplier funds it, or the customer discovers it through a complaint.
- Brushless: fewer predictable wear failures, but failures that do occur are usually electronic, harder to diagnose in the field, and more expensive per event.
. Ask whether the warranty covers the motor and the controller on the same terms, and get the answer per component rather than as a single machine-level statement. Then ask what the spare-parts route is: can a distributor replace a controller board, or does the whole machine come back? A drive that can be serviced locally protects your margin far more than one that cannot.
Kangruida’s product-level warranty position is the published one — a two-year warranty as standard on its products — but the component-level detail belongs in the supply agreement: ask for the covered period for the motor and for the controller separately, and whether a failed controller is treated as a warranty item or a chargeable spare.
Lens 3 — Noise and product positioning
Brushless removes the mechanical commutation source, which is genuinely one of the reasons compact machines built for offices are usually brushless. It does not make a machine silent: belt friction, bearing noise and floor transmission remain, and the controller can add a whine of its own if it is poorly filtered.
The positioning consequence is the part product managers underestimate. If your range is sold into workplaces or marketed on quietness, the motor architecture is part of the claim you are making, and a claim you cannot evidence is a liability. Noise figures need measurement conditions to be meaningful — distance, belt speed, load, floor surface, ambient level, and an instrument meeting the accuracy classes defined in IEC 61672-1:2013. This sits deliberately alongside the safety framework for treadmills in the ISO 20957 series, where Part 6 gives the treadmill-specific requirements and test methods to be read with Part 1.
. Decide which price band you are playing in before you choose the drive. In a price-led channel, a brushed motor with an honest specification and a clearly stated service life can be the right product — the market for it is real. In a workplace or premium channel, the noise-sensitive positioning is what justifies the brushless cost, and it is also what your competitor cannot copy by swapping a part. Our own view of competing on specification rather than on the lowest price is set out in why we do not make the cheapest treadmills.
Lens 4 — Compliance and documentation
A motor architecture does not, on its own, settle a compliance question — but it changes what you must document. A brushless drive means a controller with switching electronics, which affects the electromagnetic-compatibility evidence for the product; a brushed drive means a simpler electrical assembly and a consumable you should describe in the manual and the spare-parts list.
. Ask which declarations of conformity and test reports exist for the model, and check that the drive architecture in the report matches the architecture in your purchase order. Substituting a different motor or board after the test invalidates the paperwork you were relying on, and that is a routine cause of customs and marketplace problems.
One point to leave unasserted: Confirm with your compliance adviser whether any energy-efficiency marking or minimum-efficiency obligation applies to the small DC motors used in this product category. The position is not settled across jurisdictions for this product type, so check it for each market you sell into rather than assuming it does or does not apply.
The request list: exact parameters to send a supplier
Send this table with your enquiry and require a written answer per row.
| Parameter or document | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Motor type: brushed DC or brushless DC | The starting point — everything else follows from it |
| Rated voltage, and rated power with its basis (peak or continuous) | Whether the headline figure is a sustained one |
| Rated speed (rpm) and the resulting belt speed range | Lets you sanity-check the drive against the intended use |
| Efficiency at rated load | Predicts heat, duty-cycle headroom and audible strain |
| Duty rating and thermal cut-out behaviour | Whether the drive can sustain a working day |
| Controller type, switching frequency and filtering description | Governs electrical whine and conducted/radiated behaviour |
| Measured noise level in dB(A) at a stated distance, speed setting and load | The only form in which a noise claim is comparable |
| Test conditions: floor surface, ambient background, instrument class | Distinguishes a real measurement from a marketing number |
| Brush specification and expected brush life (brushed drives only) | Defines the consumable inside your warranty window |
| Brush or motor replacement procedure and interval | Whether the wear part is serviceable in the field |
| Controller board part number and spare availability | Determines whether a failure is a repair or a write-off |
| Insulation class and temperature rise at rated load | A thermal proxy for service life |
| Endurance or life-test protocol and results | Gives you a document instead of an assurance |
| Declarations of conformity and test reports covering this exact assembly | Confirms the tested configuration matches what you will buy |
Kangruida’s own motor configuration per model — motor type, rated speed, power basis and efficiency at rated load — should be requested in writing before you fix the range.
Decision frame: how to choose in practice
- Write down your warranty promise first. Then ask whether the drive’s wear parts or electronics can outlive it under your expected usage pattern. If the answer is unclear, the specification is not finished.
- Match the drive to the channel. Noise-tolerant, price-led channel: a brushed drive with honest specification can work. Noise-sensitive workplace channel: brushless is the defensible default.
- Price the whole system, not the motor. Include controller cost, spare-part stocking, weight effect on freight and your expected claim rate.
- Get the noise number with its conditions. A dB(A) figure at a stated distance, speed and load, measured with an instrument of a stated class, is a specification. Anything else is a slogan.
- Confirm the tested configuration equals the ordered configuration. The compliance file is only valid for the assembly that was tested.
Common mistakes when specifying a motor
- Treating “brushless” as a finished claim. It is one line of a specification. Without controller details and a noise figure, the buyer cannot verify what they are paying for.
- Assuming brushless means silent. Belt friction and floor transmission are usually louder than commutation once the machine is under load.
- Ignoring the consumable. On brushed drives, the brush replacement interval belongs in the manual and in your spare-parts plan, not in a supplier’s head.
- Comparing a motor cost against a system cost. The decisive number is claim rate plus spare-part cost plus freight, divided across the units you expect to sell.
- Letting a supplier change the drive after testing. That silently invalidates the documentation you paid for.
FAQ
Are brushless motors always the better choice for a walking pad?
No. They are the better choice when your positioning depends on low noise, long service life or a long warranty — and they cost more to buy. In a price-led channel, a brushed drive with an honest, documented service life can be the more profitable product.
How long do brushed motors actually last?
. Life is governed by brush type and running conditions; published motor-manufacturer guidance places brushed life in the region of one to three thousand hours and brushless life an order of magnitude higher. The number that matters commercially is the one your supplier will warrant, with the usage assumptions attached.
Does a brushless motor make the machine silent?
No. It removes mechanical commutation noise, which is one of several sources. Belt and deck friction, bearing quality, deck damping and structure-borne transmission into the floor all remain, and an unfiltered controller can add its own whine.
What single parameter should I request first?
The motor type together with the measured noise level at a stated distance, speed and load. Those two answers, in that form, tell you more than any marketing sheet — and they immediately reveal whether the supplier measures anything at all.
Which architecture lasts longer, if the controller can fail either way?
Brushless removes a predictable wear mechanism, so its failures tend to be electronic and random rather than gradual. Brushed failures are usually predictable and, with a serviceable brush design, repairable in the field. Weigh predictability and repairability, not just expected hours.
Will a brushless drive change my freight or warehousing costs?
It can, through unit weight and packaging protection for the electronics, but the effect is usually small next to the effect on your claim rate. Ask your supplier for the weight and carton data of both configurations before you assume it is neutral.
Can I switch motor architecture mid-project?
Technically yes, commercially carefully. A change to the drive assembly can invalidate test documentation, change the packaging, change the product’s noise profile and reset your sample approval. Treat it as a re-specification, not a substitution.
Next step
Send the request table with your enquiry, then decide the drive architecture against the warranty promise and the channel rather than against a claim on a listing. Motor selection usually sits inside a project rather than a catalogue order, so start with the OEM and ODM treadmill programme and request a quotation for the configuration you intend to sell. The current models are listed under compact walking machines and the noise-sensitive office and under desk range, within the wider walking pad supply programmes. KREEDA publishes ISO9001:2015 quality management, FMEA risk control, a CE quality inspection, a passed Walmart factory audit and a passed BSCI factory audit, alongside 50 patent certificates for its treadmill designs; the evidence pack is on our audit and certification evidence page.
Email sales001@treadmillfactory.cn or message WhatsApp +86 18868929496 with your target price band and channel.