BrotherHobby TC 1404

What it pulls

BrotherHobby’s own bench test, one line per prop. Drag across the chart to move the throttle; the model above follows.

What you get for $16.99

• 8.6 g with leads

  BrotherHobby sells it as an ultralight motor and weighs the 3800KV at 8.6 g with 100 mm leads.

  Source: BrotherHobby product page, BrotherHobby spec tables

• 342 g on 4S

  On BrotherHobby’s 16 V bench the 3800KV pulled 342 g at full throttle on a GF 3016 tri-blade, drawing 8.1 A; the 4600KV pulled 447 g at 13.6 A.

  Source: BrotherHobby 3800KV load test, BrotherHobby 4600KV load test

• 9N12P stator

  A 14 × 4 mm stator with 9 slots and 12 N52H arc magnets.

  Source: BrotherHobby product page, BrotherHobby spec tables

• Stainless shaft, 7075 shell

  A SUS420 stainless-steel shaft; the bell and base are 7075 aluminium.

  Source: BrotherHobby product page

What to pair it with

Our reading of BrotherHobby’s numbers, so your build matches what the motor was tested with.

ESC

BrotherHobby suggests a 4S 10 A ESC for the 3800KV and a 4S 15 A for the 4600KV; its bench peaks were 8.1 A and 13.6 A. (BrotherHobby spec tables, BrotherHobby 3800KV load test, BrotherHobby 4600KV load test)

Props

3-inch tri-blades: 342 g (3800KV, GF 3016) and 447 g (4600KV) at full throttle on 16 V. (BrotherHobby spec tables, BrotherHobby 3800KV load test, BrotherHobby 4600KV load test)

Battery

4S for the 3800KV and 4600KV; BrotherHobby rates the motor for 4S–6S. (BrotherHobby product page, BrotherHobby spec tables)

Frame

Four M2 holes on a 9 mm circle (9 × 9 mm). Four M2 × 5 base screws and two M2 × 7 prop screws come in the box. (BrotherHobby product page, BrotherHobby drawing, BrotherHobby packing list)

Where to buy

• BrotherHobbythe maker’s store; same price for every KV
  $16.99seen Oct 19, 2026
  Visit
• GetFPVchoose the KV
  price on the store’s page
  Visit

Plain links, not affiliate links. Prices change; the store’s page has the current one.

Full specs

Bench data

Redrawn from BrotherHobby’s test reports. Thrust is static pull on a bench, more than you get in flight. Power is volts × amps; efficiency is thrust divided by power.

Inside the motor

A brushless outrunner: the coils stand still in the middle and the magnets spin around them. From the top down:

• Bell. 7075 aluminium bell cap, φ18.2 mm. (BrotherHobby product page)
• Stator. 14 × 4 mm with 9 slots, in 0.15 mm Nippon silicon steel. (BrotherHobby product page)
• Magnets. N52H arc magnets, 12 poles. (BrotherHobby product page)
• Shaft. SUS420 stainless steel, 1.5 mm. (BrotherHobby product page)
• Bearings. NSK, 5 × 2 × 2.5 mm. (BrotherHobby product page)
• Base. 7075 aluminium, with four M2 holes on a 9 mm circle; 30 AWG leads, 100 mm. (BrotherHobby product page)

How fast it spins

KV is the motor’s no-load speed per volt. With nothing on the shaft, the 3800KV version reaches about these speeds; a prop loads the motor and brings it down, typically to around 70–75% of these figures at full throttle.

A 12-pole rotor has 6 pole pairs, so every turn of the shaft is 6 electrical cycles, and a six-step ESC switches the phases 36 times per turn.

About the 3D model

A generic outrunner drawn from BrotherHobby’s published sizes: the 14 × 4 mm stator, 18.2 mm bell, 12 mm height, 1.5 mm shaft, 9 mm mounting circle and 9 teeth and 12 magnets. Anything BrotherHobby doesn’t publish is typical for a motor this size, and the bell’s spoked top, the base and the inside are a generic design, not this motor’s. The colours are read off the maker’s product photos. There are no logos or markings: it is our drawing, not the maker’s.

Sources

1. BrotherHobby: TC 1404 Ultralight Motor (product page on BrotherHobby’s store, with its spec list and photos). Retrieved Oct 19, 2026.
2. BrotherHobby: TC 1404 specification tables for the 3800KV and 4600KV (image on the product page; the second table is headed 4600KV though its KV cell reads 3800KV). Retrieved Oct 19, 2026.
3. BrotherHobby: TC 1404 dimension drawing (image on the product page). Retrieved Oct 19, 2026.
4. BrotherHobby: TC 1404 3800KV load test data on a GF 3016 tri-blade at 16 V (image on the product page). Retrieved Oct 19, 2026.
5. BrotherHobby: TC 1404 4600KV load test data at 16 V (image on the product page; the prop is printed "GF 3160 Triblade"). Retrieved Oct 19, 2026.
6. BrotherHobby: TC 1404 packing list (image on the product page). Retrieved Oct 19, 2026.