Blade Nano QX getting sluggish. Doesn't work unless on full throttle.

[pungbjoern]

I have a Blade Nano QX. I've had it for perhaps a month or two. I've put maybe 100 packs through it. When I was out flying yesterday (though I've seen it before as well), it would not be as willing to behave and fly well as it has in the past. Normally I'd be able to fly it at just over half throttle, but now there's only one throttle position that works, and that's full. And quite frankly, often not even that. It'll start falling and settle on the ground, propellers spinning, at full throttle, and not manage to take off again. There's nothing stuck in the props or anything silly like that. It looks like it should be in top shape, but it it's.

I have 8 different packs, and while some behave slightly better than others, there isn't really a difference. They are purchased at different times.

My question is this: what has happened, and what do I do about it? Is it new batteries? New motors? Throw it all away and go for a 6S monster? =)

 

[Greg2B]

GO FOR A 6S Monster.

But really I had similar issue after flying it for a while and it getting banged up. I did replace two motors i think and that did help. Thou now it back to have issue that make me use more throttle then normal to get it off the ground and it isn't quite as stable any more, it wobbles a lot in stability mode or acro. It's probably more of a flight control issue in my case maybe.

It seems like you just not getting enough thrust maybe a motor change might help.

 

[TexasTeacher]

I was having issues and found a hair wrapped around a prop shaft, only way i found it was when i pulled a prop to switch it out for a new one that was not missing a chunk.

 

[pungbjoern]

The wobbling could be due to the PCB no longer being correctly glued to the frame. Get a ziptie and wrap it around the pcb and the battery cage to secure it. If I ever get my hands on the person who thought the equivalent of double-sided tape was sufficient in R/C, it's not going to end well for them...

 

[pungbjoern]

TexasTeacher: I've learned to look for those things already. =)
It's nothing like that. I've cleaned it, new props etc, and it's still being difficult.
But it's a good point none the less. Something you might not notice unless you look closely and/or remove the props.

 

[Darkback2]

I've had similar happen with my hubsan in the past. Most of the time it was something simple like a hair wrapped around the motor shaft. In a few cases I found swapping a motor out solved the problem. The odd thing is that the problems didn't necessarily arise right after the crash, but perhaps a few packs later, and not all at once, but more like something is slipping or stripped and slowly gets worse and worse until it wouldn't fly anymore.

In one case it was two opposing motors on either side of the quad which was especially hard to diagnose because "it just doesn't want to fly" isn't really a good criterion for evaluating a problem. In that case I had to swap out one motor and then see the whole thing begin dipping in one corner before I could figure it out for sure.

Another problem could be damaged batteries depending on how old they are, how they are stored, and how deeply you use them when flying...

Best of luck!

DB

 

[jipp]

i have had this same experience.. and it always came down to hair etc getting wrapped around the shaft.. and me just using the battery's.. my bet its your battery's.. that is what i have concluded.. if your props do not need to be changed i did wear one set out already..
these battery's are simple 1s pos junk.. no balance ports etc.. so you are not gonna get good battery life.. they are just not the same quality to say a 3s? i have worn out 6 battery's and need to buy 6 more.. just because of your problem. new battery's will fix this.?
i will not buy more than 6 battery's at a time as i figure you only get 60 flights out of a pack?

i think im gonna ditch my 1s 150mah 25c standard battery for some 180mah 45C.. i even found some 200mah 45C 1s for the nano.. but, i think i will try 180mah.

i just think these 1s battery's are junk .. and you use them till you experience what you have and then buy more?

chris./

 

[pungbjoern]

I suppose I could just get more batteries and see if there's a change. I considered connecting two of them serially to force 2S into the thing, but I don't know if it'll even start if I do that. Maybe I'll try that on Saturday...

 

[jipp]

thanks to this thread i orders some more nano qx goodies.. heh.. 6 180mah 45c battery's and a 6 port charger i can just plug into my regular battery charger no more doing it one at a time yay.

normally i would not worry about this but with 1s they are cheap and i not to concern unlike say a 3s battery...

i have a decent charger than can charge 2 battery's at a time but i only have the USB charger thing for the nanno qx. but i think 10.00 is worth the convenience of charging 6 of the little guys at a time.

chris.

 

[HawkMan]

these battery's are simple 1s pos junk.. no balance ports etc..

no balance port on your 1s batteries... now that's just bad quality

 

[jipp]

heh. quality control was sleeping that day.

 

[pungbjoern]

No, the joke is that you don't need balance ports on 1S, as you only have a single cell, and thus nothing to balance. Balance ports only make sense for 2S and up.

As for your multi-port charger, where'd you find a 6-port charger for $10? I can only find a 4-port charger for ~40€.

 

[murph]

It is just a parallel battery charging adapter.
http://hobbyking.com.au/hobbyking/store/__31923__Micro_Paraboard_Micro_JST_JST_PH_Connectors.html

 

[pungbjoern]

That's very interesting. I might get something like that...

 

[jipp]

i was joking about the balance port. i just bought this one off ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HYPERION-6-...372?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item541b9afe6c

you will pay more for the hobbyking version tho because of there 6.00 shipping.. its to bad they do not offer free shipping like every other big company in my other hobbies..

i can not remember the last time i had to pay for shipping on a guitar related item.

chris.

 

[razor02097]

I actually just replaced all the motors on my Syma X5C-1. I hammered the crap out of it the past year... I've flown it at least once a day, used larger batteries and even experimented with carrying a Mobius!

Well after about a year I noticed flight times weren't as good and eventually one of the motors started failing intermittently causing a wobble and the quad would lose altitude severely if I did a right yaw.

If you have a lot of flights on your nano the motors may need to be refreshed (replaced). However I would try a brand new battery first if you haven't already.

 

[pungbjoern]

My plan is to pop by my LHS tomorrow and pick one up. If that solves the problem, I think I'll just retire my whole batch and get new ones.
Or just move to a different machine altogether. Something I'm considering anyway.

 

[jipp]

you want good practice strap some LEDs on your nano.. turn the lights off in your bedroom, take off and try not to look at the LED strait on or you go blind and lose your location... talk about fun! so a night time flying tip.. do not look at the LED lights them self.. and keep the quad above head level.. this will help keep your eyes in a position where you can fly with out needing to pop some aspirin and wash your face..

 

[pungbjoern]

you want good practice strap some LEDs on your nano.. turn the lights off in your bedroom, take off and try not to look at the LED strait on or you go blind and lose your location... talk about fun! so a night time flying tip.. do not look at the LED lights them self.. and keep the quad above head level.. this will help keep your eyes in a position where you can fly with out needing to pop some aspirin and wash your face..

I considered doing exactly this, but out in the park outside my apartment instead. The park is normally filled with parents and children, but at 23.00 the gate is locked, so then the residents have it to themselves. It's at this point I'd take it out and have some LED light fun =) Add to that a camera with long exposure, and you can have yourself an interesting light painting session =)

 

[pungbjoern]

Ok, so I took your advice and got some new batteries. Brand new 25C batteries, same as my others. The behavior? Identical!
Not only did I have to maintain almost full throttle to do anything, but if I used the rudder at anything less than a snail's pace, the thing just fell out of the sky. Clearly the batteries are not the culprit. That basically only leaves the motors, as the board seems perfectly fine.

I now have to decide whether I buy four new motors for it, or if I simply let it rot once I get my 450. I still enjoy flying it, though, so maybe I'll see if I can find some motors. Are there any recommendations for after-market motors, or should I just get factory replacements?