My Bixler (v1) started smoking!!! WTH?

Hey Guys.
So I picked up a Bixler and it arrived today... yeah... like the day after V2 was put on sale. Ug.

Anyhow - overall I found it kinda "cheap" feeling compared to parkzone, FMS, and those type of planes. But given the price - well - I suppose that's the be expected.

Instruction say put a 20a ESC in, I didn't have any that small laying around so I put in a 30A.
Put everything together and threw in a 3cell 2200 and tossed it into the wind.
Right off the bat I noticed the tail seemed a little wobbly so I just did some level stuff to get it trimmed out and basically took it easy.

Well no more than 2 minutes into the flight the motor stopped. "Crap - I probably put in the wrong (used) battery". (Although this was the first flight of the day with a few more in the back of the suv and I could have sworn all my batteries were freshly charged).

No matter - I just dead sticked into some tall crass about 10 feet beside me - nice and gentle like.
So I walk up to it and I'm getting a wiff of smoke and I swear I could see a puff of smoke come out from the motor.

I quickly open the hatch and disconnect the battery. Puff - I could swear I saw the remnants of a bit more smoke coming out of the fuselage. I check out the ESC. The thing was crazy hot - too hot to touch. I couldn't be sure if the smoke was coming from the motor or drifting up through the crack above the ESC (below the motor).

So - I am wondering what could be wrong...

-ESC?
-Motor?
-Battery?

All three are quarantined for the moment. Any ideas?
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Yes, yes, and perhaps, yes. Most likely it is a bad motor. I've had two esc's mysteriously go up in smoke for no good reason. I've had many cheap motors die for no good reason. Cheap electronics and motors suffer this, I guess.
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
Yeah, hard to tell. Usually smoke is plastic or glue burning off. You should be able to smell whether it was the motor or the ESC. It's easy to check your battery and make sure it isn't over-charged.

Personally I've always found the Bixler/Skysurfer motors to be pretty reliable.
 
I think I'll try this - throw in an eflight 40a ESC, charge the battery, and just sit in the backyard and run it (holding it on the ground)... and just see what happens.

Given the heat of the ESC, I don't think it was just a case of glue burning off.
 

glydr

How many letters do we ge
ESC is my guess. Not much chance of cooling in that nose area so you really need to overspec the ESC. I use the HK 40Amp ESC.
 

Nonamerc

Arman
30 amps esc will work fine inside. Yes you can use the 20 amps if you mount it outside. I had the 30 amps esc with the heatshrink cut away mounted outside (stock engine) And now I have an 40 amps plush turnigy esc mounted outside the fuselage. ALWAYS buy turnigy esc's never buy those redbricks or hobbyking esc's. One redbrick esc's are bigger, also if you buy hobbyking esc's always get bigger ones then you need. So if you need an 28 amps esc buy an 40 amps esc. Better safe then sorry!
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
I run a 40A HK SS OPTO with a separate UBEC. The ESC has a great heatsink (exposed and finned) and doesn't get more than warm on constant throttle. But I'm only using this ESC for the UBEC to run the rx with FPV stuff.

I used to run a HK 20A fixed wing (no heatsink) with no issues, but a mate stuck an over-charged battery (his charger was on the blink) in and it caught fire!
 

Nonamerc

Arman
By how much was the battery overcharged? I personally dont like an esc that will just work since sometimes when i want to launch my plane on high trottle if i fly in tight spaces.
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
Don't know how much, but apparently the fixed wing ESCs are VERY sensitive to voltage. As in, will fry at 12.8V
 

DumbAce

Junior Member
I had both the ESC and the Motor blow up on me on my first flight, replaced it with a 30A red brick and the 2826/6 2200kv motor from hobby king and havent looked back since... Bit pays to go Kit instead of ARF or better
 

airhawk

Crashing Ace
which one did you buy arf or pnf . because even I had some problems with the motor too it kept chipping the foam . also when I made a turn with it the battery slide and locked up where my motor was and then it stared to heat up and started to smoke up so I hit the safty
switch and we glide in safly