Noise from motor when turning by hand

[Squiddley]

Hi trying to help a friend of mine out with his phantom 4, when the props are on his drone and you turn all of them by hand they are all quite except for one which makes a sound almost like the motor is shot, but yet if you take the prop of and spin it it sounds the same as the other ones, you only notice it with the props on, he also has a problem when he tries to start the motors up sometimes when he pushes both sticks to the center sometimes they will fire up and sometimes theres nothing could this be bcause of the one motor....Im including 2 videos one spinning the motors with the props on and one spinning with the props off so you can see the difference...this has be baffled, Im assuming the motor needs replacing but still doesnt explain the intermittent problem trying to start the motors with the sticks, anyone have any ideas

 

[Merobb61]

Sounds like an issue with the prop

Sent from my SGP311 using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Squiddley]

Sounds like an issue with the prop

Sent from my SGP311 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Thats what I thought as well but took the prop off from the other side and does the same thing

 

[Patrick]

Thats what I thought as well but took the prop off from the other side and does the same thing

i would bet its the plastic prop mount. have you looked at the prop mounts to ensure they are tight and dont move when holding the motor still, i noticed the other day mine was a bit noisy , turned out to be the prop mounts were a tad loose, be careful not to over tighten, but get it snug enough where there's no movement.

 

[Squiddley]

have you looked at the prop mounts to ensure they are tight and dont move when holding the motor still, i noticed the other day mine was a bit noisy , turned out to be the prop mounts were a tad loose, be careful not to over tighten, but get it snug enough where there's no movement.

Did try to wiggle them seemed to me like they were snug, its weird thou with the prop on you can definetly feel something wrong seems like in the motor but take the prop off and it seems smooth, and why is there a problem getting the motors to start at times, trying to figure out if thats cause of the noise from the motor causing them to not start at times

 

[Squiddley]

Did try to wiggle them seemed to me like they were snug, its weird thou with the prop on you can definetly feel something wrong seems like in the motor but take the prop off and it seems smooth, and why is there a problem getting the motors to start at times, trying to figure out if thats cause of the noise from the motor causing them to not start at times

if there was something wrong with one motor would the drone still start up

 

[Patrick]

if there was something wrong with one motor would the drone still start up

check out this video, appears to be the same issue you are having.

 

[Squiddley]

check out this video, appears to be the same issue you are having.

Thanks for the video does sound like the same noise coming from his will give this whirl see if it fixes it.....do you know will the motors start up if there is a problem with one of them....Im assuming they will but just trying to figure out if this problem is causing his intermitent motor starting problems as well

 

[Patrick]

not sure on that one, you might also try a controller calibration, do you have the intermittent issue starting motors on auto take off?

 

[Squiddley]

not sure on that one, you might also try a controller calibration, do you have the intermittent issue starting motors on auto take off?

Did a controller calibration didnt fix the problem, never tried auto takeoff, im gonna try relinking the controller see if that helps, we did install a Dbs antenna onto the controller but that went smooth and dont think that would have caused the problem

 

[See Norway]

Hi.
I'm glad my video on the "bearing noise" is helping others. I also thought the engine was broken when I first heard this noise. But as you see in the video it was a quick and easy fix.

I think this should be a checkpoint for everyone that ownes a P4.

You say your friends P4 sometimes dont start ut. Do you know if he gets some kind of error message in the app? Or do the engines just dont start?

Kind regards
SeeNorway

 

[Patrick]

Hi.
I'm glad my video on the "bearing noise" is helping others. I also thought the engine was broken when I first heard this noise. But as you see in the video it was a quick and easy fix.

I think this should be a checkpoint for everyone that ownes a P4.

You say your friends P4 sometimes dont start ut. Do you know if he gets some kind of error message in the app? Or do the engines just dont start?

Kind regards
SeeNorway

yep , thanks for the video, i noticed the same thing with my p4 with less than 5 hours of flight time, tightened up the prop mounts and all was good

 

[Squiddley]

Hi.
I'm glad my video on the "bearing noise" is helping others. I also thought the engine was broken when I first heard this noise. But as you see in the video it was a quick and easy fix.

I think this should be a checkpoint for everyone that ownes a P4.

You say your friends P4 sometimes dont start ut. Do you know if he gets some kind of error message in the app? Or do the engines just dont start?

Kind regards
SeeNorway

Ya im pretty sure thats whats wrong with his the same as the video, didnt get to much of a chance to try and fly his, we mounted his new DBC antenna on a few months ago and he hasnt had time to try it out so brought it over for me to check out, did a controller update for him, did an IMU calibration, also calibrated the controller for him, was gonna do a compass calibration as well but the only place I had to try it out for a min was out in the street and lots of trees overhead so never did one, just started it up made sure she hovered good and when I started it up thats when I noticed the props making the funny noise brought it down and shut it off went to start it back up again and thats when the motors wouldnt start again, tried 3 times before I got them to go...once they started it seemed to work good, but sometimes they will start first try other times takes 3 tries, dont think that has anything to do with the prop problem thou, never noticed an error in the app when they wouldnt start

 

[Donald Christie]

Hi trying to help a friend of mine out with his phantom 4, when the props are on his drone and you turn all of them by hand they are all quite except for one which makes a sound almost like the motor is shot, but yet if you take the prop of and spin it it sounds the same as the other ones, you only notice it with the props on, he also has a problem when he tries to start the motors up sometimes when he pushes both sticks to the center sometimes they will fire up and sometimes theres nothing could this be bcause of the one motor....Im including 2 videos one spinning the motors with the props on and one spinning with the props off so you can see the difference...this has be baffled, Im assuming the motor needs replacing but still doesnt explain the intermittent problem trying to start the motors with the sticks, anyone have any ideas

My phantom 4 did exactly the same behavior. With the props on, if you spun the motors, one definitely sounded more noisy. Also if you fired up the aircraft with the props and hovered there was a definite whine from the single motor. It was exaggerated when you rotated the craft (which also was how I could tell it was one motor). If the props were removed and the motor spun by hand or revved up by the craft, no odd sound. After watching a couple of videos showing loose prop mounts, I took a closer look at mine. They were all very tight, no play in the mounts at all. However, I decided to pry up the prop tensioners just a bit on the motor in question. Reinstalled the prop and no unusual sound at all when spun by hand or when flying. I never would have imagined such a small adjustment would make such a huge difference! So, try giving the prop a little more tension if you find an extra whiny motor.

 

[Dal Little]

Hi.
I'm glad my video on the "bearing noise" is helping others. I also thought the engine was broken when I first heard this noise. But as you see in the video it was a quick and easy fix.

I think this should be a checkpoint for everyone that ownes a P4.

You say your friends P4 sometimes dont start ut. Do you know if he gets some kind of error message in the app? Or do the engines just dont start?

Kind regards
SeeNorway

Thanks for the video. You nailed the issue and provide a clear solution. I too thought I had bearing starting to go, but I just had to give the springs a little tension to hold prop more secure to the base.
Cheers
Dal on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada