Hey. Had a small crash and the front left (FL) motor started acting up. If I armed it in air mode all props would spin normally, but after applying throttle, it takes off for a second and the FL motor dies. Oddly, if I arm it in level mode, the FL prop will twitch and not spin smoothly.

I spun the motor in BF on its own and after a couple seconds I could see smoke so I immediately stopped. The motor still spins though. I swamped it out for a known working motor of the same size, but 100kV difference. I ran that motor alone similar to the other one and while it got warm, it didn't smoke or stop. I did the same test on another motor that wasn't giving any trouble, and it stays cool during the same amount of time on.

Has anyone dealt with anything similar?

Thanks

(28-Jun-2023, 05:03 PM)Zheroz00 Wrote: Hey. Had a small crash and the front left (FL) motor started acting up. If I armed it in air mode all props would spin normally, but after applying throttle, it takes off for a second and the FL motor dies. Oddly, if I arm it in level mode, the FL prop will twitch and not spin smoothly.

I spun the motor in BF on its own and after a couple seconds I could see smoke so I immediately stopped. The motor still spins though. I swamped it out for a known working motor of the same size, but 100kV difference. I ran that motor alone similar to the other one and while it got warm, it didn't smoke or stop. I did the same test on another motor that wasn't giving any trouble, and it stays cool during the same amount of time on.

Has anyone dealt with anything similar?

Thanks

 
 When a motor acts up it’s usually the motor and/or ESC.
 
 What you did find by substituting the motor in question with a working one and it solves the problem then it was just the motor.
 If the working motor was not working then it would be likely the ESC.

  Sounds very familiar.
Using a different size motor or different Kv doesn’t hurt as long as they are close in size or Kv.

(28-Jun-2023, 05:53 PM)Rob3ddd Wrote:  
 When a motor acts up it’s usually the motor and/or ESC.
 
 What you did find by substituting the motor in question with a working one and it solves the problem then it was just the motor.
 If the working motor was not working then it would be likely the ESC.

  Sounds very familiar.
Using a different size motor or different Kv doesn’t hurt as long as they are close in size or Kv.

Hey thanks. I've done a bit more testing and I think its the ESC now. I've tried a couple motors I know that work and when you arm, they just twitch now, if I give it some juice it will start spinning, but I doubt that is normal operation. It was doing the same thing before, but as soon as it takes off it bails.

(28-Jun-2023, 06:02 PM)Zheroz00 Wrote: Hey thanks. I've done a bit more testing and I think its the ESC now. I've tried a couple motors I know that work and when you arm, they just twitch now, if I give it some juice it will start spinning, but I doubt that is normal operation. It was doing the same thing before, but as soon as it takes off it bails.

   I once had an ESC acting up but I didn’t know which one it was because it limited the power to 30%.
  I noticed one motor didn’t beep or twitch when I turned on the beeper switch.
 The motor that didn’t beep or twitch with each beep had a bad ESC.
  I don’t know if an ESC always fails to make motor beep if it’s defective but it’s a very simple test.
 
  It sounds like you found the problem and replacing the ESC is the next step.

Make sure your screws are not poking up into the windings or wire. I had a motor go out in flight and upon inspection found one screw that was slightly longer than the other 15 screws touching the windings. I saw the little fire on my goggles and ran over but the damage was done.