Clicking motor?

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P2 P330Z
Remote is NDJ6

Picked up this P2 in non-op condition for a very good price, so I expected it would need a bit of work.

Got it hooked up to the Assistant software and everything looks good. Calibrated the remote and checked out my battery stats. No updates showing as needed.

Startup goes fine, remote connected, all LED's doing what they should, gimbal (H4-3D) powers up. The only part that doesn't work is motor start up, Both sticks down & in and all I get is the left rear motor clicking and seeming like it is trying to rotate, but it can't. The rest of the motors do nothing.

Bad ESC on that motor? Bad ESC's on the other three? Bad motor or motors?

Help!
 
P2 P330Z
Remote is NDJ6

Picked up this P2 in non-op condition for a very good price, so I expected it would need a bit of work.

Got it hooked up to the Assistant software and everything looks good. Calibrated the remote and checked out my battery stats. No updates showing as needed.

Startup goes fine, remote connected, all LED's doing what they should, gimbal (H4-3D) powers up. The only part that doesn't work is motor start up, Both sticks down & in and all I get is the left rear motor clicking and seeming like it is trying to rotate, but it can't. The rest of the motors do nothing.

Bad ESC on that motor? Bad ESC's on the other three? Bad motor or motors?

Help!

That motor may have the wrong screws mounted after previous owner removed the prop guards. Prop guards used longer screws so take a screw from another motor and use it to compare all four screw are the same length on that motor.
 
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The front arm red leds will come on and stay on if a successful motor start happens. As said above if the wrong motor mount screws are used the motors will be jammed. If the front arm leds do not come on then the motors are not trying to start.
 
Still has prop guard mounts attached. Front LEDs do not come on beyond the initial red-green-yellow-red-green-yellow boot up sequence.
 
Should the motors be free spinning when powered down or do they have a notchy feeling to them?
 
Should the motors be free spinning when powered down or do they have a notchy feeling to them?
Slightly notchy but should spin easily
 
Still has prop guard mounts attached. Front LEDs do not come on beyond the initial red-green-yellow-red-green-yellow boot up sequence.
Then the system is not starting up the motors.
 
Should the motors be free spinning when powered down or do they have a notchy feeling to them?
Loosen the screws holding the prop guard on and see if the motor will turn freely.
 
"Then the system is not starting up the motors."
Probable electronic issues then? Any way to test for the bad part?

"Loosen the screws holding the prop guard on and see if the motor will turn freely."
Motors turn freely, just feel notchy to me (aka not truly free spinning like a bicycle wheel, but easily turned either direction by hand), not much worse than than the P1 or P3 I also have. That said, whoever put the prop guards on succeeded in stripping half the screw heads to the point that they are round. Yet another project to figure out.

On to the P1 project for now...
 
"Then the system is not starting up the motors."
Probable electronic issues then? Any way to test for the bad part?

"Loosen the screws holding the prop guard on and see if the motor will turn freely."
Motors turn freely, just feel notchy to me (aka not truly free spinning like a bicycle wheel, but easily turned either direction by hand), not much worse than than the P1 or P3 I also have. That said, whoever put the prop guards on succeeded in stripping half the screw heads to the point that they are round. Yet another project to figure out.

On to the P1 project for now...

That's normal. Those are brushless motors and there's only one moving part which is the stator and each time you rotate the stator it comes in contact with the next magnet. Now either one of the screw is or in the wrong hole. Are all four screws used to mount the prop guard or just two? I haven't used guards on mine since crashed and broke one back in 2014 when I first started so i'm not familiar with how there mounted any longer. In my opinion of prop guards there useless. If you decide to remove them replacement screws are between 4 - 5mm and they metric.

With those screws loose see if that motor run with the rest if it doesn't you may have damaged the ESC module. To do this take the props off.

If you answer by using the reply as i do it will highlight the bell to the right avatar in the info bar.
 
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That's normal. Those are brushless motors and there's only one moving part which is the stator and each time you rotate the stator it comes in contact with the next magnet. Now either one of the screw is or in the wrong hole. Are all four screws used to mount the prop guard or just two? I haven't used guards on mine since crashed and broke one back in 2014 when I first started so i'm not familiar with how there mounted any longer. In my opinion of prop guards there useless. If you decide to remove them replacement screws are between 4 - 5mm and they metric.

With those screws loose see if that motor run with the rest if it doesn't you may have damaged the ESC module. To do this take the props off.

If you answer by using the reply as i do it will highlight the bell to the right avatar in the info bar.
Sounds like the motors are not binding then, but I'll wait until I get the guards off to finalize that thought. The guards are held on with 4 screws each. The one motor that clicks is the only one that tries to do anything, the rest don't move, make noise, or even vibrate at all.
 
Sounds like the motors are not binding then, but I'll wait until I get the guards off to finalize that thought. The guards are held on with 4 screws each. The one motor that clicks is the only one that tries to do anything, the rest don't move, make noise, or even vibrate at all.
Check your PM. The envelop to the right of you avatar will be highlighted on the info bar.
 
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Check your PM. The envelop to the right of you avatar will be highlighted on the info bar.
Pretty sure I found my problem.

After using a small SpeedOut to get the screws out of the motors (please don't use Loctite on the screws on a drone), I was able to have a look inside the airframe. Everything looks good with two notable exceptions. One ESC has a completely destroyed chip on the board (Right front, melted chip, scorched plastic) and one that appears to be well on its way to the same fate (Left front, slightly melted chip,). Both rear ESC boards look fine, no overheating noted. Motors acted

My current question is would there be something happening elsewhere that would be causing these chips to overheat this badly? Anything else I should be checking?

My plan is to order all 4 ESC boards and replace the front pair and go from there.
 

Attachments

  • P2 Right Front ESC.jpg
    P2 Right Front ESC.jpg
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  • P2 Left Front ESC.jpg
    P2 Left Front ESC.jpg
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Pretty sure I found my problem.

After using a small SpeedOut to get the screws out of the motors (please don't use Loctite on the screws on a drone), I was able to have a look inside the airframe. Everything looks good with two notable exceptions. One ESC has a completely destroyed chip on the board (Right front, melted chip, scorched plastic) and one that appears to be well on its way to the same fate (Left front, slightly melted chip,). Both rear ESC boards look fine, no overheating noted. Motors acted

My current question is would there be something happening elsewhere that would be causing these chips to overheat this badly? Anything else I should be checking?

My plan is to order all 4 ESC boards and replace the front pair and go from there.

DJI used blue Loctite of all screws to insure they didn't come loose. Never had a problem and had mine apart many times using the same screws. Of course if red Loctite were used it would be a problem to remove those screws.
 
Pretty sure I found my problem.

After using a small SpeedOut to get the screws out of the motors (please don't use Loctite on the screws on a drone), I was able to have a look inside the airframe. Everything looks good with two notable exceptions. One ESC has a completely destroyed chip on the board (Right front, melted chip, scorched plastic) and one that appears to be well on its way to the same fate (Left front, slightly melted chip,). Both rear ESC boards look fine, no overheating noted. Motors acted

My current question is would there be something happening elsewhere that would be causing these chips to overheat this badly? Anything else I should be checking?

My plan is to order all 4 ESC boards and replace the front pair and go from there.


if all 4 motors are having an issue, you need to suspect that all the ESC's and motors have failed, unless the NAZA has been damaged, the only way is to replace one motor and ESC at a time until you end up with all 4 working.
 
Sounds like the motors are not binding then, but I'll wait until I get the guards off to finalize that thought. The guards are held on with 4 screws each. The one motor that clicks is the only one that tries to do anything, the rest don't move, make noise, or even vibrate at all.

Here's a cutaway photo of a brushless motor and it should explain why there is resistance when the props are slowly turned.
 

Attachments

  • Brushless motor cutaway.jpg
    Brushless motor cutaway.jpg
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