Motor locked up, no light on that arm

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I picked up a Phantom today at "Bargain Hunt" which is an overstock type store. It was a good deal but I was worried it wouldn't work correctly. I've had an AR Drone 2.0 for several months that I crashed badly and have been unable to get flying again, so I figured this would be a good upgrade.

The back left motor seems to be locked up. No big deal, I can replace that no problem. The only thing I'm worried about is that the LED on the bottom of that arm is not lighting up either. Since I'm new to the Phantom, what should be the first thing I check as far as diagnosing why that's not working?

Other than that the copter starts up and the other three motors go full throttle with no problem, so I'm hoping this is a relatively easy fix.
 
How comfortable are you with electronics? Would you consider opening it and checking the solder joints?

Also curious, was it bought as new or used?
 
It was bought used. The store it came from sells overstock and returns. I opened it up in the store to make sure everything was in there. I got it for $289 and they do offer returns so I felt like it was a safe gamble.

I'm fairly comfortable with electronics. I'm fine with opening it up and plan to do so tomorrow. The motor does turn but not nearly as easily as the others so I am assuming it is a bearing.
 
Laid GP said:
I'm fairly comfortable with electronics. I'm fine with opening it up and plan to do so tomorrow. The motor does turn but not nearly as easily as the others so I am assuming it is a bearing.

Double check that motor. Others have found a clip get out of position or even screws stuck in it. Might be worth checking before ordering replacements.

Good luck!
 
I'm assuming if the lights are not lighting up on the ESC then it's either a bad connection to the ESC or just a bad ESC, May not be the motor at all! Does then motor make any noise or turn just a little when you start it up? If so then it may be something wrong with the motor but if not then like I said it most likely is the ESC. I crashed a Phantom and bent a wing which knocked the ESC out of place causing it to push the LED lights out of the board, I replaced the inside components with another broke down Phantom. Everything works accept for the left red LED!! With that in mind if your motor is making some kind of noise or movement like it wants to turn then maybe the LED's on the ESC are broken plus the motor! But I guess the only way to find out is to open it up and check, Either way your looking at a little more time and money then what you got it for! Maybe you should check if they have more and do an exchange since they offer refund's!!
 
The motor doesn't make any noise but it is definitely bound up or something. The others turn freely by hand and this one barely turns at all.

It was the only one they had, I am not worried about investing a bit into it to get it going.
 
So you've checked your assistant software setting then? Okay if the LED isn't lighting up then I would start with getting an ESC which run about 18 dollars but could be cheaper on other sites from where I order from! If your not worried about investment then I would just upgrade all four motors since it is a used unit and you don't know what that person put it through, Or you can just buy a single DJI motor your chouce! You can find a lot of this stuff on Ebay, Just remember if you order over seas it won't get to ya as quick!!
 
Ok! I cracked her open this evening. Opened up the motor and the retaining clip from the bottom of the shaft had come loose and was stuck in between the inner and outer magnets. Once I removed that the motor spins pretty freely. I'm still going to order one just to be safe and have a spare, but I think this one is usable at this point.

The solder joints on the ESC appear to be ok and tight.


I did have a question, there is a red and grey small wire coming off the main board that looks like it doesn't connect to anything. What is it for?

 
That was an aux power wire, mostly used to run a gimbal or video transmitter, later model ones have dropped this feature. Good job finding the cause of the stuck motor . . .

How many other cheap phantoms did this shop have?
 
Did you put the clip back on and try starting it? not sure if a seized motor would cause the ESC not to work for some reason I remember all the LED's lighting up on mine when I seized all four motors by reinstalling prop guard screws with no prop guards!
 
I didn't, I wasn't sure if it was safe to try to start it up with everything pulled apart. And I didn't want to put it all back together to just have to take it right back apart to yank out the ESC board.
 
Tested it out with the top off and all 4 arms have lights now, and all 4 motors spin up fine!
 
Laid GP said:
Tested it out with the top off and all 4 arms have lights now, and all 4 motors spin up fine!

Nice! Good luck flying!
 
Got it all back together and tried flying, but couldn't get it off the ground. Then I got the flashing red light of low battery voltage so I've got the battery charger and will try again tomorrow. I assume the lack of lift is something to do with the low voltage. I connected using the Assistant software and updated to the latest firmware afterwards. There are a ton of settings in that program and I don't fully understand everything I'm looking at.
 
Laid GP said:
Got it all back together and tried flying, but couldn't get it off the ground. Then I got the flashing red light of low battery voltage so I've got the battery charger and will try again tomorrow. I assume the lack of lift is something to do with the low voltage. I connected using the Assistant software and updated to the latest firmware afterwards. There are a ton of settings in that program and I don't fully understand everything I'm looking at.

Are you sure it was low battery and not the flashing red for Calibration error or even the GPS Satellite connection ? If you did all the steps on it and got home lock for take off and got the red lights as you where giving it throttle then yes that sounds like the battery!

If you haven't then go to the DJI web site they have great territorials to help you from start to finish even on what your settings should be on on the assistant software!!
 
Charged the battery tonight and made my first successful test flight! Everything seems to be working fine! :D
 

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