Motor almost burnt out?

[montyples]

So the other day I went to land my phantom 3 and it tipped due to a gust of wind and landed completely upside down. It screeched loudly, I uprighted it and tried to turn it off. One motor was turning slowly and there was a bit of smoke. I had to remove the battery to turn it off. After letting it cool for an hour or two (it was too hot to touch), I turned it back on and everything seems fine, I flew it a little a bit, and it seems fine. I've got a spare motor should I void warranty and replace it or just carry on. Ps. The coils in the motor have discoloured and gone black.


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[msinger]

Personally, I would replace it. If your Phantom drops from the sky, you'll be losing a lot more than just that motor.

 

[montyples]

Thanks very much for the reply. I think you are right. I have a spare one ready to go in and I think I shall probably do that. Thanks a lot


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[almustafa]

I had a similar experience, but my crash was caused by flying with litchi and not closing autopilot, so when I tried to stop using litchi the autopilot app was sending conflicting commands. Anyway I let things cool down but I sometimes here a odd click sound coming from one of the motors. Cannot tell from which one though. Is there any diagnostics that can identity a faulty motor? The motors are inexpensive and I assume I can just order them from DJI, are they relatively easy to replace.

 

[Phil H]

So the other day I went to land my phantom 3 and it tipped due to a gust of wind and landed completely upside down. It screeched loudly, I uprighted it and tried to turn it off. One motor was turning slowly and there was a bit of smoke. I had to remove the battery to turn it off. After letting it cool for an hour or two (it was too hot to touch), I turned it back on and everything seems fine, I flew it a little a bit, and it seems fine. I've got a spare motor should I void warranty and replace it or just carry on. Ps. The coils in the motor have discoloured and gone black.


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I had nearly the same thing happen to me at the beach. Your description is almost word for word. Here is what I did. I packed it up and sent it back to my dealer, Drones Made Easy. Here is why. Due to the intense amount of heat that motor generated, it melted the base the motor sits on. In doing so, the motor became tilted and therefore not properly aligned. Drones Made Easy replaced the motor and the shell in a day, fully tested it and have it on its way back to me. I learned several things from this experience. First, this was my first flight after an update. For some reason, the controller changed to the fist stick position and when I took off the sticks were totally wrong. I had to learn what they did in a few seconds and get the craft landed. Second, I have been killing the motors on the P3P the way I did with my P2, both sticks down and to the inside. Doing so on the P3 will cause the craft to tip over. You only use the left stick and pull it all the way back and hold it to shut down. I hope this helps, but do send it in or buy a new shell and replace it yourself.

 

[montyples]

I had thought perhaps the shell could have warped. That last very helpful thanks


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[WetDog]

I had thought perhaps the shell could have warped. That last very helpful thanks


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There have been posts where people have flown on similarly tortured motors for some time. Personally, I would agree with the replacement therapy. You obviously will get a good look at the supports when you replace it.

 

[flyNfrank]

The only way I would recommend replacing the motor is if the person feels they are 100% confident they can get the job done correctly with no doubts. There is a lot more to it then just melting a bead of solder.

I've done more then my fair share of soldering over the years. I have install a number of car stereo's, video, sony playstations, car alarms, GPS this and Bluetooth that, ect, ect. I have 8 different type of soldering iron's, and so forth and so on. And around November of 2014 dji came out with upgraded motors for the P2V+ which I just had to have. So after installing them along with new style props, and doing proper checkws after everything cooled down I went up to 200ft altitude and the 1st flight a wire I soldered broke free of the ESC and the A/C dropped to the ground. I have since made my mind up and there will be no more soldering for me.

 

[StratocasterDave]

I can add this: Hand catch it from now on. It's really not as unsafe as problem claim. It's controlled.