Motor Temperatures

[Allspice56]

I was waiting for a sunset shot with my P4 and after about 15 minutes and many shots I brought it back down. Shut everything off and started to disconnect the props when I noticed how warm the motors were. If fact they were almost hot. So just curious if hovering versus moving generates more heat with the motors? Is hovering for long periods detrimental to the motors?

Thanks for any feedback!
Allspice56

 

[AeroMirage]

They shouldn't get hot. I have hovered for long periods and also flew it like I stole it and it always comes back just slightly warm.
Now, the battery will get pretty warm, but not the motors.

 

[wa5tef]

Yeah, all four of mine get almost hot. Not so hot that you cannot touch them but very warm. This is always after long flights of 15 to 20 minutes. I also did some load lifting measurements a few weeks ago and then also noticed them getting very warm. I figured by that experiment that it was not good on the motors to put them under that kind of sustained load for a lengthy period of time. As I added more weight to the hoovering Phantom 4, the prop noise grew louder and louder and the tone or pitch increased. I figured this indicated added stress on the entire power train and body. I also noticed that the fairly short flight (hovering) which lasted maybe 6 or 7 minutes, drained the fully charged battery to about 55%. All this spent energy went into heat for the motors, propelled air, and noise to mention a few. I plan on doing some more testing fairly soon and I will add some additional items to monitor and test and I will add motor temperature to that list! I will also monitor this thread to see how others post about their Phantom motors heating up. Thanks for getting this started!
Jim
WA5TEF