Only one motor spools up :-(

[RogerClark]

Help..

I just attempted my first flight, but only one of the motors spooled up.
I only get red leds lighting under the one (front left) motor that is spooling up.

The other 3 just kind of went around slowly in a jerky motion, i.e appear to be in idle

The motor that is working does respond to the throttle and also to the giro's, because if I pick up the Phantom (2) and wave it around, the motor power goes power level goes up and down, but the remaining 3 motors seem to be at Idle.

Start-up beeps seem to indicate that all four ESC's are working OK.
I'm getting flashing green leds to indicate full satellite lock for GPS flight.

I've tried switching to Attitude control and this makes a difference to the one motor that is spooling up, but no difference to the other 3.

Just re-calibrated the IMU, but it didn't make any difference :-(

All giro readings are around +/-0.5

Acceleration readings are 0.01 0.00 -1.00 . Should the Z accelerometer be reading -1.0, does this be 1G ie normal gravity ?

Compass (raw) readings also look a bit odd to me.

x: 340 y: -43 z: -640 mod: 1560

(not Y and Z values are negative numbers, X is a positive number as is Mod)

Are these normal values ?

Thanks

Roger

Edit.

Just did the compass calibration again (twice) and its not made any appreciable difference to the value now that I've brought the P2 back indoors and hooked it up again to the Assistant software :-(

I'm contemplating taking the P2 apart and swapping over the leads from the Naza-M to the ESC's to prove that they are all OK, but it seems odd that 3 of them are idling and not completely stopped, ie the ESC's appear to be functioning in a basic way and it looks like the issue is more likely to be the Naza-m unit.

 

[RogerClark]

Just an update to my posting.

I tried updating all the firmware again, including the TX, but still no joy. And getting the TX to reconnect to the P2 took multiple attempts.
I've re calibrated everything at least twice.

I tried using "Phantom 2" mode instead of Naza, but all that did was to disable GPS flight (Slow flashing orange instead of slow flash green) so went back to Naza

I basically at the point of probably trying to return my P2 to either get a replacement or preferably a refund.

It seems to me that if your Phantom works, that's great. But is you update the firmware or something isn't quite right. You're stuffed.

 

[ZonComGMZ]

Did you ever have Prop Guards on?

 

[RogerClark]

OK.

The issue appears to the the prop guard bolts.

I presume they are too long, and although the motors seem to turn freely by hand, I guess something must happen when they try to spin at greater speed.

I'll get some smaller screws and try again.

i.e assuming its screw length that is the problem.


However I also have concerns about my TX / RX combination. I've noticed that in my back yard, it seems to get interference which appears to be from the Wifi and also my cordless phone.

Would I be better off replacing the stock TX / RX combination with a Futaba ?

 

[LandYachtMedia]

OK.

The issue appears to the the prop guard bolts.

I presume they are too long, and although the motors seem to turn freely by hand, I guess something must happen when they try to spin at greater speed.

I'll get some smaller screws and try again.

i.e assuming its screw length that is the problem.


However I also have concerns about my TX / RX combination. I've noticed that in my back yard, it seems to get interference which appears to be from the Wifi and also my cordless phone.

Would I be better off replacing the stock TX / RX combination with a Futaba ?

You will need to replace the motors because the longer screws have damaged the windings. Hopefully the ESCs are ok.

 

[RogerClark]

As far as I can tell, the motors have not been damaged.

They all seem to function OK.

I'll probably need to take the motors apart and check.

Is there any reference online about how to disassemble the phantom. There are lots of screws on the underside, but I don't know which ones I would need to remove.

 

[LandYachtMedia]

If your motors were acting like the ones in this video you will need to replace them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QGpWK3VgCs

Depending on how much you have tried to run the motors with electrical shorts inside from the screws you may have to replace a speed controller or two.

 

[RogerClark]

Strangely, my motors never behaved quite like the ones in the video

And now that I put shorter screws in, the all seem to work absolutely normally.

Which is very odd indeed.

 

[andersonlroos]

what is the problem in video? my phantom is doing the same!
i buy a new motor anda replace it, and now, two others motors like this video

 

[RogerClark]

what is the problem in video? my phantom is doing the same!
i buy a new motor anda replace it, and now, two others motors like this video

As far as I know, this is normally caused by a motor fault.

Did you put prop guards on ?

In my case I'd "shorted" the motors with the prop guard screws. However I don't appear to have an major damage to the motors, but I guess its hard to tell, as perhaps my Phantom doesn't fly as fast as others with perfect motors (but its good enough for me at the moment while I'm learning)

How many motors were broken before you replaced the motor?