Still just twitch after replacing motor and ESC

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Hello, I'm new to the sport and know next to nothing, but am learning.

I purchased a Phantom 2 Vision off eBay. When trying to fly it, only one motor spins up when I start the Motors. The rear left. The other three just twitch.

I updated the firmware, but still same issue. So I tried to research and from what I learned I first replaced one of the Motors to see if it would fix it, it didn't. So I then replaced the ESC, still no change.

So new motor and ESC just twitches, still.

I don't know where to go from here. I don't have a lot of money and I'm starting to get disheartened. I hope I didn't buy a completely busted drone. It was cheap...... but not that cheap.

I would like someone that knows what's up or some sort of resource or something that can help me go through and troubleshoot.

I really appreciate any time and help anyone could give me.

Thanks.
 
Hello, I'm new to the sport and know next to nothing, but am learning.

I purchased a Phantom 2 Vision off eBay. When trying to fly it, only one motor spins up when I start the Motors. The rear left. The other three just twitch.

I updated the firmware, but still same issue. So I tried to research and from what I learned I first replaced one of the Motors to see if it would fix it, it didn't. So I then replaced the ESC, still no change.

So new motor and ESC just twitches, still.

I don't know where to go from here. I don't have a lot of money and I'm starting to get disheartened. I hope I didn't buy a completely busted drone. It was cheap...... but not that cheap.

I would like someone that knows what's up or some sort of resource or something that can help me go through and troubleshoot.

I really appreciate any time and help anyone could give me.

Thanks.
Did you solder the replacement motors to the ESC? Or cut and solder the wires?
 
Ive only replaced one motor, because I wanted to be sure it was the issue before I bought all three. I cut the wires, and soldered wire from esc, to wire from motor, trimming them to be approx same length as before.

Just curious, but why? Like I said, I'm learning.

ThNms for the reply by the way.
 
Ive only replaced one motor, because I wanted to be sure it was the issue before I bought all three. I cut the wires, and soldered wire from esc, to wire from motor, trimming them to be approx same length as before.

Just curious, but why? Like I said, I'm learning.

ThNms for the reply by the way.
That won’t work if it’s anything like the phantom 3 and 4. There is at least one other thread on this. The individual conductors inside the insulation are coated with a varnish so you can’t solder them. Some have written about having some success by sanding off the varnish and then soldering.
 
That won’t work if it’s anything like the phantom 3 and 4. There is at least one other thread on this. The individual conductors inside the insulation are coated with a varnish so you can’t solder them. Some have written about having some success by sanding off the varnish and then soldering.
...but the real solution is to solder right at the board
 
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When I stripped the wire back, I tinned the ends before I joined them. They took the solder well. I'll take a look at it and see if that could be an issue though.

Thanks.
 
This may seem random and unrelated but I’ll take an opportunity to mention it here with regards to damaged motors...

A fairly common mistake is to remove prop guards and put the same screws back in. These screws are too long to be used without prop guards and the original screws must be used. Else the longer screws will pierce the windings of the motor from underneath and ruin it.
 
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When I stripped the wire back, I tinned the ends before I joined them. They took the solder well. I'll take a look at it and see if that could be an issue though.

Thanks.
From what I’ve read, that won’t be enough.
 
Okay. At least that gives me a direction. Thanks for the quick reply. I will update the thread with what I find.
Could it be that simple???? Would be awesome if so.
 
Okay! So I went out and cut the heat shrink off, and used iron to pull apart the splice. I remember now the solder not sticking when I replaced the motor. Sure enough, after scraping the stripped end with a razor blade I was able to tin the stripped end really well. The other wire had tinned up good, but I checked it with a meter to be sure and there was no resistance.
So I respliced and am confident of the solder joint.

No time to test, my wife says my turn to feed the baby, but I'm excited and hopeful!

Will update test results as soon as I can
 
Okay! So I went out and cut the heat shrink off, and used iron to pull apart the splice. I remember now the solder not sticking when I replaced the motor. Sure enough, after scraping the stripped end with a razor blade I was able to tin the stripped end really well. The other wire had tinned up good, but I checked it with a meter to be sure and there was no resistance.
So I respliced and am confident of the solder joint.

No time to test, my wife says my turn to feed the baby, but I'm excited and hopeful!

Will update test results as soon as I can
Can’t wait :)
 
Hallelujah!!!!

Now, I've got two Motors that spin up like normal!

I've already ordered replacements for the other two bad ones and think I'll go ahead and order a fourth since the existing Motors are all 2212's and the the newer 2312's. My gut says they should all be the same.

Wow. I am SO glad I joined this forum! I went from thinking the whole thing might be junk to hoping to fly in a few days!

I couldn't be more excited!!

Now that I've figured that out, my only other known issue is that I can't get a preview picture in the Vision app.

App connects fine and shows accurate information for the drone, but no preview.

I'll take what I can get, but would really like to have that FPV experience to help with capturing pictures and videos.

Once I'm in the air, if I haven't fixed it I'll make a new thread.

Thanks again bsartist. I really owe you one!
 
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Hallelujah!!!!

Now, I've got two Motors that spin up like normal!

I've already ordered replacements for the other two bad ones and think I'll go ahead and order a fourth since the existing Motors are all 2212's and the the newer 2312's. My gut says they should all be the same.

Wow. I am SO glad I joined this forum! I went from thinking the whole thing might be junk to hoping to fly in a few days!

I couldn't be more excited!!

Now that I've figured that out, my only other known issue is that I can't get a preview picture in the Vision app.

App connects fine and shows accurate information for the drone, but no preview.

I'll take what I can get, but would really like to have that FPV experience to help with capturing pictures and videos.

Once I'm in the air, if I haven't fixed it I'll make a new thread.

Thanks again bsartist. I really owe you one!
Awesome. What did we do before the Internet. ;-)
 
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The individual conductors inside the insulation are coated with a varnish so you can’t solder them. Some have written about having some success by sanding off the varnish and then soldering.

This is a frequent topic of discussion but, as bsartist indicated, there's nothing to tell you that you have to remove the varnish on the wires in order to get a good solder connection. Again, as bsaris said, the best approach is to solder the connections directly to the board.
 
UPDATE!! After researching and worrying and learning. After trial and error and the awesome information from this forum, I've finally flown my Phantom 2 Vision for the first time!!!!

I want to thank bsartist for replying to my thread and getting me off the ground.

Now, if I could just get my FPV to work......
 
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Why are we talking about Varnished copper wire? I've just desoldered and resoldered motors and all of them had standard multi-strand wire. The copper wire with varnish is back toward to the motor itself. The three standard leads from all the motors I've fitted to numerous quadcopters have all had multi-strand wire. I can't imagine anyone removing the rubber type insulation where it joins the motor's windings. I've removed motors from both the P1 and P2, I hope DJI hasn't gone cheapskate and aren't using that multistrand. :)

As for the original fault, I've always found it's either due to an open circuit phase of the motor and if that happens it often takes the ESC with it. A common fault if the motor is stalled for some reason (crash or tip over on take off), the best way to avoid taking the ESC as well is to kill the throttle ASAP. Coincidentally each motor I've removed from either the P1 or P2 also had the ESC U/S as well, especially when that Long bolt has been screwed into the motor's windings. In fact I have a P1 on it's way from Canada which has had long bolts screwed into all 4 motors. Luckily I have 4 used replacements waiting, plus ESCs just in case.
 

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