I've been noticing on my last couple flights that 1 motor is getting so hot that I have to wait a little bit before I can touch it to take the blade off. Should I be concerned?
Hot motor
- Thread starter ChadCloses
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Chad I know youve been to Yuneec a numbwer of times, if it's close enough I'd let them check it and if it's bad they can just replace it for you
Ok I'll give them a call on Monday and see if they have time to replace it while I'm there. Thanks guys.
Update: Called Yuneec this morning and told Mitch, whom I think I've spoken to a couple times, nice guy, I told him of the issue with the hot motor and he said it could be caused by that motor working harder due to wind and suggested I do an accelerator calibration, but I had already done that, and told him the same engine is still getting hot, but he told me it wasn't cause for concern, but he did log my concerns so if anything happens due to that motor they have a record of it. Not sure if I should push the issue or not.
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If it were me I would replace it Chad, you're the PIC and if something goes wrong (heaven forbid) and you have to file a report? I would push the issue and replace the engine. Have you been able to get a temperature difference from an infrared thermal gun reader?
Pat
Pat
FlushVision
Premium Pilot
If one motor is getting noticeably hotter than the others then something isn't quite right. And, I don't buy what he said about the wind since I would imagine that in those circumstances more than one motor would be working harder.
If it goes down and hurts someone, then you are the PIC. If it were me, Chad, I'd push it further.
Funny you should say that because I was thinking after their response that I wish I had a temperature gun to see the reading. I might know of someone that has one. I'm going to find out.
It's supposed to be windy here the next couple days so I fly my batteries down to a high 14v but I also wanted to make sure I knew which motor keeps getting hot. I wrapped a twist tie around it and I'm thinking about driving out to Yuneec tomorrow because it's the same motor every time and today it was 90° and my drone and batteries were cool to the touch but that motor was still burning hot.
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If its so hot you can't touch it, (say about like a black car in bright sunshine on a hot day) its going to be F 170 degrees or more, I am just guessing, but I just flew in 85 degree temps just now and after the flight the motors were probably around 135 or so at best.
Pat
Pat
I can touch all my motors after flying for 15-18 min and can't feel any heat. I can put my fingers on them to hold the motor still so I can twist the propellers off but this motor I can't do that with. Although I didn't see any signs of trouble during flight today. But it only takes that one time. I need to have confidence that everything is right if I'm going out and flying over people's homes for work.
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Yeah, I would change for sure, even if it is not under warranty, 30 bucks for piece of mind isn't too bad. Curious, how much time approximately on it, has it ever been in a tip over or crash?
Pat
Pat
It is under warranty not a whole lot of time on it maybe an hour or 2. It was in a crash. Luckily I was able to minimize the damage fought to land it for over 5 minutes, felt like an eternity! Only option I had after receiving multiple low battery warnings was to get it close to the ground and kill the motors it landing in a tall bush but it's forward momentum caused it to roll off and land on its top. Broke 1 prop and one of the arms. But Yuneec repaired everything. I didn't have any motor errors in GUI so I bet they didn't replace that motor.
PatR
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It could be the ESC for that motor is going bad. If that is the motor that broke a prop stopping the motor can cause an excessive current condition and cause the Field Effect Transistor to start going bad.
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No brainer -- change it. Not an EE here, but I'd be concerned about the load it's putting on the main power distribution board. I noticed each motor has a capacitor on the board. If something isn't right with the motor and it still flies and operates -- something is doing a whole lot of compensation I would think. Also, if you can't touch it when not running, imagine the heat being generated while in flight, but being cooled by the prop itself. Again, not an EE here but sounds to me that some of the motor coils may have fried and the other coils are making up for it -- bound to fail sooner or later. One last thought -- the pastics that make up the prop connector must also be taking a beating with all that heat. I'd be wary that the prop connector module will also end up failing due to heat induced fatigue. So let me ask, if you're sitting on the tarmac waiting for your commercial jet liner to take off and you hear the pilot say "wow -- right engine is way over heated -- but let's take off anyway" would you be concerned?
PatR
Premium Pilot
I don't know how Yuneec establishes power distribution for the H but ThunderChicken has a great point. The speed controller for that motor could have taken the hit when the prop broke.
I picked up IR thermometer at Harbor Freight for about $20. to monitor the motors
