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[dan]

hi guys,
here's my new little boat that i swapped with another member. I'm planning to put a small brushless motor in it as soon as i get the shaft.  it should be a quick simple little build that i can complete in my easter holidays. ill post pictures of it once i get it running on the water 

[dan]

hi guys,
Ive hit a problem, and basically the motor wont run. i think this might be due to what happened to it while it was in another model.
it was used in a plane, the plane crashed and 1 of the 3 pairs of the connections between the motor and speed controller became disconnected when it crashed. but i didn't cut the throttle for at least 2 seconds. could this had damaged the motor?
the instructions say that the motor should play a tune once the circute is all connected and turned on, this still happens so it shows there is power in the motor, so what is happening? can someone help me?

[Martin (Admin)]

The controller may have reset to default, in which case you'll need to set it up again using the instructions.

[andrewh]

Dan,

Good news - if you have the tune, you have all the coils intact and also the magnets are alive

I was going to run you through the basic electrical checks, but I think you have done that

Right - how does the motor turn over?  Does it turn?  
I suspect that the shaft may be bent, or the bearings doinked.  

How are you trying the motor?  using ESC/battery pack/receiver/transmitter?

If you are doing this you:
Turn on the Tx - put throttle in Off position (important)
plug in the battery pack to ESC (tune plays)
OR  plug in battery and  turn on arming switch (tune plays)
advance throttle a little - motor should try and turn - it will kick, whine and may oscillate

Does it try to do anything?

Turn everything off - is motor warm?  
Can it turn freely?  (you should feel the "cogging" of the magnets but it should be mechanically free
does the rotor go round concentricallly of does it swash?
Does it dismantle?  simple motors just pull the bell off the stator - its retained by the magnet force (even with a air propeller!)
Others have a circlip on the shaft or some other fixing
Replacement shafts and bearings are readily available for most motors - (the "careful" owner can straighten shafts)

Pictures?  Type?

will help more if I can
andrew  

[andyn]

My old brushless I had in my Shock Flyer suffered from a crash, on 7.4v Lithiums it would play the tune, then catch fire, on 11.1v it would just catch fire straight away... Good times with that motor...

The not catching fire part so far is a good indication that all is not lost.

Was typing this and was about to write that if Andrewh finds this he'll know what's wrong... Looks like he beat me to it

[dan]

Dan,

Good news - if you have the tune, you have all the coils intact and also the magnets are alive

I was going to run you through the basic electrical checks, but I think you have done that

Right - how does the motor turn over?  Does it turn?  
I suspect that the shaft may be bent, or the bearings doinked.  

How are you trying the motor?  using ESC/battery pack/receiver/transmitter?

If you are doing this you:
Turn on the Tx - put throttle in Off position (important)
plug in the battery pack to ESC (tune plays)
OR  plug in battery and  turn on arming switch (tune plays)
advance throttle a little - motor should try and turn - it will kick, whine and may oscillate

Does it try to do anything?

Turn everything off - is motor warm?  
Can it turn freely?  (you should feel the "cogging" of the magnets but it should be mechanically free
does the rotor go round concentricallly of does it swash?
Does it dismantle?  simple motors just pull the bell off the stator - its retained by the magnet force (even with a air propeller!)
Others have a circlip on the shaft or some other fixing
Replacement shafts and bearings are readily available for most motors - (the "careful" owner can straighten shafts)

Pictures?  Type?

will help more if I can
andrew  

hi andrew and martin,

ive tried following the instructions that have come with the motor, but nothing seems to happen.

this includes turining off the Tx and putting the throttle in the off possition, and then doing what andrew has stated.

andrew - the motor doesnt get warm, and i can turn the shaft freely and i can feel the cogging.

and the motor dosent come apart  

[andyn]

The motor will come apart, take the large bit of aluminium off the back, under that will most likely be a grub screw, undoing this will free the case.

NOTE: when putting the motor back together, make sure your fingers are out the way, it b**** hurts if it snaps you...

[andrewh]

Dan,

Soyez brave mon gar!  all will (probably) still be well!

The tune means that the output stages of the ESC are fine as well as the motor coils, etc.  its still possible (as martin and andyn say) that the "drive" bit of the ESC is inhibited somehow.

Do you have another ESC to try?  can you borrow one?  (ANY ESC will run ANY BL Motor unloaded (very few exceptions)
Can you try it with a servo tester instead of the RX/TX?

Try the motor on its own - please listen with care - unplug the motor - preferably out on the bench.  You have three dangly motor wires.  Using 3 or 4 alkaline AA cells (NOT rechargable) connect any two wires to the 4.5 or 6v.  The motor should kick one pole round (and WILL be safe on alkalines).  It should kick round a few degrees with any 2 wires connected.

Another odd trial (this has caught me before) - try powering the whole shebang with a different battery - I would strongly suggest a 12V gel cell.  I have had your symptoms that turned out to be not enough volts applied.

To increase enthusiasm suggest you read some gnome's recent post on BL trial boat
 http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=14068.25

Your motor does come apart - honest
If you can post a pic, or description we might be a little more specific

Your boat looks absolutely ideal!
andrew

[dan]

hi guys,
thanks for all the help for now. i just went to try what you've all suggested but the motor is giving off a beep code which is telling me there is not enough power at the moment (i think thats what it is anyway) so ill charge it in now for a while.

but, a couple of days ago i tried the motor and ESC (with a charged battery) and the mottor gave off its tune followed by a "beep,beep" sequence with a 1 second interval and this went on until i removed the power. then i tried it 5 minutes later and there were no beeps at all after the start up tune. but it still wouldn't run. does this information tell you anything because its confused the hell out of me  and the instructions that came with the ESC are pants and are not giving me any trouble shooting questions and answers.

[andyn]

Could you post some pics of the motor and ESC, and also what are they called? Serial numbers etc

Hull looks great, kind of Multi looking, should go very well

[dan]

the only pictur of the motor and ESC i have is in the 4th picture in the first post, i have stuck the motor into the hull without thinking, it can be taken out but it would damage the mount i made.

http://robotbirds.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=3_106&products_id=1378   heres a link for he ESC

http://robotbirds.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=56_102&products_id=941   and heres the link for the motor

[dan]

Dan,

Try the motor on its own - please listen with care - unplug the motor - preferably out on the bench.  You have three dangly motor wires.  Using 3 or 4 alkaline AA cells (NOT rechargable) connect any two wires to the 4.5 or 6v.  The motor should kick one pole round (and WILL be safe on alkalines).  It should kick round a few degrees with any 2 wires connected.




Your boat looks absolutely ideal!
Andrew

success  i tried what you suggested Andrew  and its all working now 
all i need to do now is connect up a servo and its ready to go.

thanks to everyone that helped, its greatly appreciated 

[andrewh]

Dan,

Delighted you have won through

I have to apologise for belabouring you for pictures when you had already done so  
Looks like an ideal motor for the boat - you will just have to find the prop that loads it enough (but not too much) then post the outcome here and on the spreadsheet

andrew
occasional numpty

[dan]

well i took it out onto the lake today, it went well for the first minute until the prop hit a plastic bag sitting just under the water  . luckily the motor and ESC are all still working fine but it ripped the motor mount i made off the hull. the mount was extremely tricky to insert into the hull so i wouldn't be doing it again anytime soon. next time ill try a smaller brushless motor, but for now i think ill try and get my main, scale project completed because everytime i try putting a bit of speed into a boat, everything goes terrably wrong.

[andyn]

Been there, done that...

What you want to do is make your motor mount in liteply or simalar, and then make another couple of shapes, glue them all together, then mount motor into the boat. Use plenty of epoxy resin to set it in, and for ultimate bombproofness set some glassfibre tissue (not matting, it doesn't react to epoxy) into the epoxy. Then you have to remember to be always looking just ahead of the boat, not at it. As soon as you learn to do this, the sooner you will be able to see such obstacles that are oncoming.

Don't give up on it, it looks like a good little boat and the motor looks perfect for it.

Andy