My Nemesis :(

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Last evening I took a late flight it was still light but would be fading within half an hours so I thought there was time for a 2O minute flight to a local hill
ImageUploadedByPhantomPilots1451330832.493713.jpg

I was about 1.3 km away when the FPV was breaking up quite badly and I was near the steep face on the left so I decided to climb to maximum height 120M and as I'd lost FPV I pulled home lock to fly home. In A brief flash of FPV I saw a grassy hill top approaching so I left to sticks to hover. Sadly it seems I did this too late as the last thing I saw was tumbling video. I drove to the hill and climbed in the fading light and with my FPV gear switch back on I picked up video from the gopro and was able to find it quickly

I was relieved to see it all in one piece with no obvious damage to be seen but the motors were still running with the props stuck in the grass. On returning home I checked a local map and realised the hill was 121m higher than the take off point so it looks like I lucked out by a few feet as the quad was set to max out at 120M (400 ft)


Today a spent time to check it over and recalibrate everything from scratch IMU, compass, RC alone and again through the Phantom. Then too a short flight. gimbal seems fine though it seems to be off level slightly but the flight and hover seemed a little erratic I had 10 satellites but the quad seemed to drift more than ever before and the blades seemed to out of balance to I changed them back to a set I'd used before a knew to be ok the next flight was quieter but the quad still drifted more while hovering than I'd experienced before. There seems to be more imbalance between the four motors so I suspect the time on its back has damaged one or more as the motors were still live when I picked it up last night and the motors sped up till I shut the battery off. I guess it was on its back like this for about 20 minutes before I found it

So what are your thoughts? Is there anyway to confirm a faulty motor or are there other possible causes maybe a damaged gps? Though it does still report 10 or more satellites

Any suggestions?
 
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I'm not sure how easy is would be, but try your hardest to see if all of the props spin at the same speed, especially the ones that were in the ground when the motors were still running. There's a high probability that one or two motors got damaged.

Glad that there wasn't any major damage though... could have been a LOT worse....
 
Thanks Ken. It was actually flat on it back so all four motors were stuck. I had tried to cut them when I first realised it was down but it must have been out of signal range or shadowed by the hill as it hadn't responded.

I'll have a Google to see if there are any handy tips for checking motors
 
I don't have a tachometer so I tried slo mo on my iPhone to see if there was any major differences in the motors. I'd be interested to hear anyone's opinion as to what I should expect here. I think the top right motor isn't right?
 
To me, yes, the top right seems wanky... but the bottom right seems a little weird too. Towards the end it looks like it slows down, then speeds up, then slows down... a few times... Watch it again to make sure I'm not seeing things...
 
I'm not sure how easy is would be, but try your hardest to see if all of the props spin at the same speed, especially the ones that were in the ground when the motors were still running. There's a high probability that one or two motors got damaged.

Glad that there wasn't any major damage though... could have been a LOT worse....
Maybe a variable strobe light?
 
For future reference use HL/Home Lock it saved me at 750m out when my black pearl died
Thanks but if you read the original post I did use home lock. The problem was the direct route home took me over the highest point which was 1 meter above the 120m ceiling set into the quad
 
Maybe a variable strobe light?
Yep I have one on order thanks :)

Thought I've just taken off the top cover and reseated it, as I thought it was rubbing the motor. This seems to have helped but the laser will tell when it arrives
 
One thing that clued me in to having a bad motor was watching the motors spin up at startup and down when shutting them down. My right front motor always started last, and stopped spinning first at shutdown. I ended up replacing all four motors anyway - but at least I think I had a clue as to which one was bad.
 
Thanks for the input. I can definitely see a difference in start up and stopping between the motors and even when running
 
Just fitted new 2312 and V2.1 ESC all round. Seems so much smoother and that's just idling first flight tomorrow if the weather improves :)
 
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It did briefly. So got a short 4K film. Will post it soon
 

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