Hey All,  Looking for some guidance.

I just built an Armattan 2.5" Tadpole with iFlight SucceX Micro 15A 4-in-1 ESC and Armattan 1204/5000k motors.  I've got about 100 flights on the quad and it's been flying GREAT!

Last flight I got caught in the leaves of a low hanging branch.  I use the motors as a beeper and had the beeper on to locate the quad.  Beeping was on for about 5 minutes.

Attempting to launch again I find one of the motors does not operate.  That motor was very hot after removing from the tree.  (all the other motors were cool.  In all prior flights motors have never been hot to the touch at all.)  That motor now will not run...  nothing at all.  All other motors are turning just fine.  The motor turns freely; does not feel like there are any issues with binding.  (The catch in the tree was very soft, nothing that typically would be a concern.)

I'm trying to avoid de-soldering the motor to troubleshoot because the soldering is a pain due to the micro size.  I did not use the motor plugs for the motors on the ESC because the 1204/5000kv motors did not have plugs.  I soldered the motors directly to the underside pads of the plug sockets of the ESC.

Anyone have suggestion on how I can troubleshoot to determine if I have an ESC problem or Motor problem without de-soldering my motors?

Appreciate any guidance.

Sandy

Unfortunately without swapping the bad motor over with one of the other known good ones there is no real way to diagnose the cause of the issue.

(15-Jul-2021, 06:21 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: Unfortunately without swapping the bad motor over with one of the other known good ones there is no real way to diagnose the cause of the issue.

Thanks...  that's what I was afraid of.  Major bummer!

Regardless of a bad motor or a bad esc eventually you are going to de-solder the motor wires and reconnect them so just get in an do it

Can you open the motor bell and inspect the motor windings to check if you have burned through the windings? There is a multimeter method to check a motor windings but this is more involved work.

(15-Jul-2021, 11:35 PM)kafie1980 Wrote: Regardless of a bad motor or a bad esc eventually you are going to de-solder the motor wires and reconnect them so just get in an do it

Can you open the motor bell and inspect the motor windings to check if you have burned through the windings? There is a multimeter method to check a motor windings but this is more involved work.

I guess you are right. I was in denial. I agree, time to take apart.

You mentioned a multimeter method to check windings. Can you point me to any info on this method?

a burned motor also smells differently. it needs a bit more force to spin compared to anotherone.

does they need the same force to spin by hand?
if you desoldered the probably burned motor, spin it by hand, than contact all 3 motorwires while do that feel for a significant increased difference in needed force to spin them.
if it needs more force to turn the bell by hand, its a sign the motor could be still fine. if there is the same force needed, its a sign for a burned motor. its a not very accurate analog continuity test.

signs can just help to get faster to the issue, in case of motor or esc, soldering will be needed anyway :-) you can do that :-)

(16-Jul-2021, 03:27 AM)sdamer59 Wrote: I guess you are right. I was in denial. I agree, time to take apart.

You mentioned a multimeter method to check windings.  Can you point me to any info on this method?

JB did a video on this a while ago:



If interested then its worth understand how the 3 phase motors work in terms of windings in our hobby. Once you understand that part, then you can even repair or rewind your motors assuming the stator/bells/magnets are not damaged (assuming you can source the correct enamel wire diameter and count the number of wire rotations for the windings on the damaged motor if not completely burned up).

If you like web pages then I will point you to this example: https://dronenodes.com/how-to-rewind-brushless-motor/

If you like videos then Pawel has a quick three part series on this: 

https://fishpepper.de/2017/11/10/tutoria...a-br1103b/

another rewind tutorial

Thanks all for the help and info. Well... didn't need to do much troubleshooting; it was the motor. As I removed the failed motor turns out a couple of the wires had broke immediately exiting the motor base from the wire wind and before the heat shrink directly under the motor bell housing. I think this was a manufacturing defect on the motor, the wires must have been under too much stress as they exited under the motor. Makes no sense that getting hung up in a tree would break the wires there, especially since there is no movement in the wires at that location because the wires are taped down to the arm and motor is fixed to the arm with screws.

Ordering a replacement motor. Thanks for the vids on rewinding motor. Considering attempting to rewind the failed motor. Worth giving it a try.

Thanks again for the help!

Sandy

If its the end of the motor winding that eventually connects to the ESC, then you don’t have to rewind the motor as you can scrape some of the enamel off and solder wires to them and heat shrink them.