Help with analyzing .dat file

MrHappy · Jan 14, 2018

Hi there!

I had an incident with my Phantom 3 Pro when i took of the propeller guards and accidentally screwed wrong screws into the drone. So it has damaged the lining inside the motors. I tried to start the engines and it just moved one sec and the message with fault esc came up. I don't know if all 4 of the motors is destroyed or only some of them. Is there any way to check which motor is bad or working? Maybe by measuring the resistance in the coil?

I have downloaded the flight data and will post 2 .dat files. Maybe someone could be kind and take a look at it. In one of them it says motor start fail i think. And in the other one i think it is system check. But all seems ok there i think. The ESC is not broken i think?

But i am not sure and need your expertise

Would be great to be able to check which motors need replacement?

Thank you so much for helping me out!!

Motor fail: Uploadfiles.io - FLY073.DAT

System check: Uploadfiles.io - FLY074.DAT

MrHappy · Jan 15, 2018

Anybody? Waiting for reply so i can order new engines for my Phantom 3 Pro. Please

Steve7777 · Jan 15, 2018

I can't tell you if any ESC has failed but I would think that the easiest way would be to remove the incorrect screws (if you haven't already) then screw in the correct screws, fire it up (props off) and see what happens.

The motors are pretty cheap anyway. If you buy 4 you will have reserve motors for any so-far-unseen faults which might develop in the future.

BudWalker · Jan 15, 2018

MrHappy said:
Anybody? Waiting for reply so i can order new engines for my Phantom 3 Pro. Please

I took a quick look. The failure is not specific to a particular motor. This from the eventLog stream

.000 : 8433 [M.Start]REQ_RC_NORMAL FAIL, esc error!
2.480 : 8557 [M.Start]REQ_RC_NORMAL FAIL, esc error!

The motor speed, current, PWM, etc is all 0s for all of the motors. This suggests to me that the problem is not with a particular motor but the ESC board itself. You probably didn't want to hear that

. Sorry.

MrHappy · Jan 15, 2018

Steve7777 said:
I can't tell you if any ESC has failed but I would think that the easiest way would be to remove the incorrect screws (if you haven't already) then screw in the correct screws, fire it up (props off) and see what happens.

The motors are pretty cheap anyway. If you buy 4 you will have reserve motors for any so-far-unseen faults which might develop in the future.

Really, thank you so much for taking the time to check it up for me. The screws are already removed from the copter. And I have tried just now to fire it up without the screws inserted at all. But I only get the message that there is a as error in screen. But it don' spins any motors at all. No response. Maybe it won't start the motors unless all 4 is working? Or maybe all 4 motors is broken?

But I can clearly see in the lining that the screws has damaged some of them. Just don'
Know if all is broken.

Can I test the resistance in motors without removing them from board?

I will upload a new .dat file where I'm trying to start motors without screws mounted. So you can check again. But is says in log under all ESC that there is firmware installed in all of them. So they must me ok? Or it shoud say failed Maybe?

MrHappy · Jan 15, 2018

BudWalker said:
I took a quick look. The failure is not specific to a particular motor. This from the eventLog stream

.000 : 8433 [M.Start]REQ_RC_NORMAL FAIL, esc error!
2.480 : 8557 [M.Start]REQ_RC_NORMAL FAIL, esc error!

The motor speed, current, PWM, etc is all 0s for all of the motors. This suggests to me that the problem is not with a particular motor but the ESC board itself. You probably didn't want to hear that . Sorry.

Yeah that is not what I want to hear. But there is no rpm or such thing because it is not turning any motors. Only get message esc fail on display. No movement on any motors.

But when error came motors moved a little then only message is appearing. Many other users get this message and just replace motors then it is working again.

But I want to be sure if it only motor failure and not the esc, so I don' buy new motors when the board maybe is broken. Can't I solder a new esc chip if that is the one broken?

By the way. What is the leanght of the original screws?

BudWalker · Jan 15, 2018

MrHappy said:
Yeah that is not what I want to hear. But there is no rpm or such thing because it is not turning any motors. Only get message esc fail on display. No movement on any motors.

But when error came motors moved a little then only message is appearing. Many other users get this message and just replace motors then it is working again.

But I want to be sure if it only motor failure and bit the esc so I don' buy new motors when the board maybe is broken. Can't I solder a new esc chip if that is the one broken?

I really don't know much about the hardware part of the P3P although I have one. And the data isn't very specific so it's hard to say. But, it does seem like something besides the motors is broken. E.g., the data shows no voltage at each of the motors. But, that might be caused by a non-operative sensing circuit.

I suggest you get in touch with @Thunderdrones who has a lot of experience repairing P3Ps. Good luck.

EDIT: Let me re-phrase this. I didn't mean to say the motors weren't damaged, But, that something in addition to the motors was also damaged.

With The Birds · Jan 15, 2018

As has been said, for the cost involved replace the 4 and be done with it. Given the mechanical dimensions are so close if you have managed to butcher the field coil windings for one all four are probably cactus. Your main board is probably fine, you either have an open circuit or decreased DCR- a dead short which might kill the mosfets in the inverter stages of the speed controllers is unlikely.

MrHappy · Jan 15, 2018

With The Birds said:
As has been said, for the cost involved replace the 4 and be done with it. Given the mechanical dimensions are so close if you have managed to butcher the field coil windings for one all four are probably cactus. Your main board is probably fine, you either have an open circuit or decreased DCR- a dead short which might kill the mosfets in the inverter stages of the speed controllers is unlikely.

Yes I will order new motors. But just want to be sure first. I have tried to see if any component on the board is hotter than the other. That will indicate shortage maybe. But can' find any component that is warmer. By the way. Any recommendation from where I could buy motors? Live in sweden so it is hard to get them over here.

MrHappy · Jan 15, 2018

BudWalker said:
I really don't know much about the hardware part of the P3P although I have one. And the data isn't very specific so it's hard to say. But, it does seem like something besides the motors is broken. E.g., the data shows no voltage at each of the motors. But, that might be caused by a non-operative sensing circuit.

I suggest you get in touch with @Thunderdrones who has a lot of experience repairing P3Ps. Good luck.

EDIT: Let me re-phrase this. I didn't mean to say the motors weren't damaged, But, that something in addition to the motors was also damaged.

Ok. But do you know if one motor is bad and the rest is working. That you can start the motors anyway. The 3 working ones? Or all 4 has to be working to make them turn?

If it is working then it must be something more than just the motors I think. I will also make a new .dat file again and post where I try to activate the motors. Maybe it will show something more?

Thanks for helping me! Really thank you

With The Birds · Jan 15, 2018

I wouldn’t keep tuning it on, it is evident that at least one motor is damaged so you will definitely need to replace motors. If the main board is fried that will also need replacing but it may not be- you have a better chance of it staying that way if you don’t keep trying to start the motors.

BudWalker · Jan 15, 2018

MrHappy said:
......
I think. I will also make a new .dat file again and post where I try to activate the motors. Maybe it will show something more?
..

You've already done this with FLY073.DAT. There was no change in the motor data - it was all 0s.

MrHappy · Jan 15, 2018

I have now created 3 more precise logs with a little more detailed information, looks like all the motors are listed. I am only posting the.log file as text. Easier downloading for you. Maybe it is showing more precise what is the possible failed component. Hopefully

MrHappy · Jan 15, 2018

With The Birds said:
I wouldn’t keep tuning it on, it is evident that at least one motor is damaged so you will definitely need to replace motors. If the main board is fried that will also need replacing but it may not be- you have a better chance of it staying that way if you don’t keep trying to start the motors.

I am just turning it on to get the log file. The motors are not even fiering at all. Only gett error message on display that there is problem with esc. Standard message. So nothing happens. But i get log information for solving which is the faulty component. So i don't buy the motors only if the board is broken. Then i can buy instead a used board with motors maybe. But hopefully it is only the motors.

With The Birds · Jan 16, 2018

There is a good chance your main board is ok. Think about what is going on here. Driving the long screws into the motor windings will have either broken one or more windings (open circuit) and/or shorted turns by damaging insulation (reduced resistance). The SOC will throw an error for both during the initialisation routine.

If you really want to be satisfied remove the motors and inspect visually, the damage will be obvious. You can also measure the resistance between motor windings, all readings should be very close.

RodPad · Jan 16, 2018

I have one question, it has been said that the four beeps that occur when you power up your Phantom, this is the coils in each motor, are you getting those beeps?

Rod

RodPad · Jan 16, 2018

With The Birds said:
Sorry for the double post- internet issues today.

You been here a long time, you do know you can delete your own posts?

Rod

RodPad · Jan 16, 2018

You just can't delete a post that started a thread.

Rod

MrHappy · Jan 16, 2018

RodPad said:
I have one question, it has been said that the four beeps that occur when you power up your Phantom, this is the coils in each motor, are you getting those beeps?

Rod

Hi Rob. First i want to thank you for contribuating to solve my problem. At first i did not know what kind of beeps you where talking about. So i looked att youtube videos where people turn on their copter. And now i understand.

No. I dont get the 4 beeps at startup. It is just booting up like normal but without the four beeps in the beginning. Does it mean something?

RodPad · Jan 16, 2018

So yours used to do the four beeps, correct?

It was just a thought, may be if you had three, you could figure out which one wasn't working, but none I guess your back with the birds.

I believe the beeps are self test / statement when you power it on.

Rod