Overheated rotor motor

Twisterdink · May 31, 2018

I've had an ongoing issue with my H not responding correctly to the left/right stick inputs. I discovered the problem when it flew into the high tops of some very tall pines, totally without my permission. I repaired the minor damage to props and gimbal mount, and over the next several months worked my way through all the remedies I could find, cleaned all the sticks thoroughly, did a factory reset, etc.

Right now the hardware monitor shows all inputs working correctly, but I'm still noticing some hesitation and slow responses when I send the drone to the right or left. I took it up Memorial Day, as soon as it shut down I started taking the props off and discovered one motor was way the **** hotter than the resT, so hot to the touch that I let it cool down several minutes before I tried taking the prop off again. My engineer son-in-law had a look and it may be the windings are bad or damaged.

I'm wondering now if this bad rotor hasn't been the root problem all along. I'm not sure which is the chicken and which the egg here, i.e., is the motor overheating in response to the drone's erratic operation, or is the drone not responding properly because of an overhot motor? Or is the overheating motor nothing to do with the control issues? I'm going to replace it regardless, I'll do some video browsing to see if my skill set is adequate since the H is out of warranty now.

Just wondering what y'all's opinion might be, on both the flight response/hot motor, and the "pain in the arse" rating for the rotor motor replacement.

Eagle's Eye Video · May 31, 2018

See CraigCam's posting in this thread...

Motor swap

Twisterdink · May 31, 2018

Eagle's Eye Video said:
See CraigCam's posting in this thread...

Motor swap

Okay, yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to know! I've got my engineer SIL to fall back on but this sounds like more fun than even he cares for. I'll be checking into the fully assembled rotor arm replacement mentioned in the post. Thank you, much appreciated.

paulscott · May 31, 2018

Twisterdink said:
I've had an ongoing issue with my H not responding correctly to the left/right stick inputs. I discovered the problem when it flew into the high tops of some very tall pines, totally without my permission. I repaired the minor damage to props and gimbal mount, and over the next several months worked my way through all the remedies I could find, cleaned all the sticks thoroughly, did a factory reset, etc.

Right now the hardware monitor shows all inputs working correctly, but I'm still noticing some hesitation and slow responses when I send the drone to the right or left. I took it up Memorial Day, as soon as it shut down I started taking the props off and discovered one motor was way the **** hotter than the resT, so hot to the touch that I let it cool down several minutes before I tried taking the prop off again. My engineer son-in-law had a look and it may be the windings are bad or damaged.

I'm wondering now if this bad rotor hasn't been the root problem all along. I'm not sure which is the chicken and which the egg here, i.e., is the motor overheating in response to the drone's erratic operation, or is the drone not responding properly because of an overhot motor? Or is the overheating motor nothing to do with the control issues? I'm going to replace it regardless, I'll do some video browsing to see if my skill set is adequate since the H is out of warranty now.

Just wondering what y'all's opinion might be, on both the flight response/hot motor, and the "pain in the arse" rating for the rotor motor replacement.

Remove replace fly it. Note the temp with a temp gun, feel it and decide whether or not to move on or further trouble shoot.

Eagle's Eye Video · May 31, 2018

Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly A

Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly B

Twisterdink · May 31, 2018

Eagle's Eye Video said:
Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly A

Yuneec Typhoon H Folding Arm Assembly B

Thanks, just left that site. From what I've been reading and seeing, it may be worth the extra $40 to get the full arm assembly (as opposed to the motor alone). It would depend on what you prefer to invest, time or money. Do I want an interesting challenge to hone my repair skills and up my knowledge base? Or do I just want to fly the **** thing? Stay tuned.....

CraigCam · May 31, 2018

Twisterdink said:
Okay, yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to know! I've got my engineer SIL to fall back on but this sounds like more fun than even he cares for. I'll be checking into the fully assembled rotor arm replacement mentioned in the post. Thank you, much appreciated.

Any good prop strike can damage motor windings. The pine tree love did not help for sure. I believe you will get back proper control when you replace that motor. The OEM blades break sometimes before the motor takes damage but I’m suspect of any strike and usually end up changing that motor. It’s a good idea to pop it open after any crash anyway just to make sure everything is proper.

I would not fly that motor anymore as you could damage the ESC because it’s getting overheated as well pushing the extra power. That’s a full tear down to replace that main power and speed control board if that happens. It’s unfortunate the ESC is surface mounted and not its own board. Once you fix that motor, verify it’s running correctly with the GUI and your computer before flying it. All the motors should have the same whine when turned on by the control in the GUI. They should all stop together as well if you run all at once.

CraigCam · Jun 1, 2018

Twisterdink said:
Thanks, just left that site. From what I've been reading and seeing, it may be worth the extra $40 to get the full arm assembly (as opposed to the motor alone). It would depend on what you prefer to invest, time or money. Do I want an interesting challenge to hone my repair skills and up my knowledge base? Or do I just want to fly the **** thing? Stay tuned.....

Both jobs require opening up and getting to the motor wires. I did it once with only removing the top
and the pre built arm with motor. It was a bit of a fight to remove the arm hinge main screw with the bottom still held on by the light and camera power. Since I usually work something else into those repairs like antenna mods, I’ve gotten used to taking both halves off for any bench work.

PatR · Jun 1, 2018

Opening one up is not difficult, just don’t try to force anything.

Twisterdink · Jun 4, 2018

CraigCam said:
Any good prop strike can damage motor windings. The pine tree love did not help for sure. I believe you will get back proper control when you replace that motor. The OEM blades break sometimes before the motor takes damage but I’m suspect of any strike and usually end up changing that motor. It’s a good idea to pop it open after any crash anyway just to make sure everything is proper.

I would not fly that motor anymore as you could damage the ESC because it’s getting overheated as well pushing the extra power. That’s a full tear down to replace that main power and speed control board if that happens. It’s unfortunate the ESC is surface mounted and not its own board. Once you fix that motor, verify it’s running correctly with the GUI and your computer before flying it. All the motors should have the same whine when turned on by the control in the GUI. They should all stop together as well if you run all at once.

Twisterdink · Jun 4, 2018

CraigCam said:
Any good prop strike can damage motor windings. The pine tree love did not help for sure. I believe you will get back proper control when you replace that motor. The OEM blades break sometimes before the motor takes damage but I’m suspect of any strike and usually end up changing that motor. It’s a good idea to pop it open after any crash anyway just to make sure everything is proper.

I would not fly that motor anymore as you could damage the ESC because it’s getting overheated as well pushing the extra power. That’s a full tear down to replace that main power and speed control board if that happens. It’s unfortunate the ESC is surface mounted and not its own board. Once you fix that motor, verify it’s running correctly with the GUI and your computer before flying it. All the motors should have the same whine when turned on by the control in the GUI. They should all stop together as well if you run all at once.

More good information. I was pretty sure flying the drone as it is wasn't a great idea but it's good to know more specifically why it's not advisable. I thought I noticed a dissonance in the rotor whir the last two times I flew it, but I couldn't pin down what exactly sounded "off". I will check out the other rotors now too, this bad motor wasn't the only one chewing on the tree, although it's the only one running hot. Actually, I'll have Paul do the checking, he would know better than I would if something's out of order.

Can I ask, when you changed motors, did you replace just the motor or have you replaced the entire arm assembly also? I'm kind of surprised, given the thousands of YouTube Typhoon videos out there, that that there aren't dozens addressing this topic, but I've only found one on replacing just the motor, one on replacing a broken arm only, none on replacing the entire arm/motor assembly.

NorWiscPilot · Jun 5, 2018

Maybe the lack of videos is more of an indication replacing motor assemblies in the H are not all that common. I’ll take the glass half full perspective.

[emoji2]