New Member, need advice!

[J188]

Cheers everyone! Jake here from Toronto, Canada. Been a fan of FT for over a year and have been watching a ton of their videos - recently took the plunge in RC planes and purchased their FT Tutor starter kit. I'm quite new to the hobby but I plan to spend a good amount of time this year getting better, learning more and getting as much experience as I can. That being said, I've run into some issues and if anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd be thrilled!

Had my maiden flight with the Tutor a month ago, in less desirable conditions: Winter, snowy, and 40kph winds. Had it up for a good while but crashed after a strong gust flipped the plane in midair and couldn't recover it. I had it shelved until recently where I got some more materials to repair some of the foamboard pieces. When I plugged the battery into the ESC though it immediately smoked up... following, the ESC got extremely hot as if I just touched a stovetop on high heat. All my connections were good and same as before, and all worked well during my first flight... so what happened?

Did my ESC and motor short? would love to know what I did wrong. I'm guessing the motor is fried but is my ESC toast as well?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, are these sorts of things something I should be expecting to happen often?

For context: All parts from the FT Tutor starter kit - motor, and ESC from powerpack B

 

[FlyerInStyle]

Cheers everyone! Jake here from Toronto, Canada. Been a fan of FT for over a year and have been watching a ton of their videos - recently took the plunge in RC planes and purchased their FT Tutor starter kit. I'm quite new to the hobby but I plan to spend a good amount of time this year getting better, learning more and getting as much experience as I can. That being said, I've run into some issues and if anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd be thrilled!

Had my maiden flight with the Tutor a month ago, in less desirable conditions: Winter, snowy, and 40kph winds. Had it up for a good while but crashed after a strong gust flipped the plane in midair and couldn't recover it. I had it shelved until recently where I got some more materials to repair some of the foamboard pieces. When I plugged the battery into the ESC though it immediately smoked up... following, the ESC got extremely hot as if I just touched a stovetop on high heat. All my connections were good and same as before, and all worked well during my first flight... so what happened?

Did my ESC and motor short? would love to know what I did wrong. I'm guessing the motor is fried but is my ESC toast as well?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, are these sorts of things something I should be expecting to happen often?

For context: All parts from the FT Tutor starter kit - motor, and ESC from powerpack B

were any of the wires stripped? does the receiver still power on and work? can you see burnt in the motor? the motor is most likely not burnt, its hard ot burn one of them. On the esc, try to unplug the motor, plug it into a servo tester (or receiver if you dont have one) and try to power on, if anything gets hot or smoky unplug, if not then its the motor. If it does and none of the wires are touching, its the esc

 

[J188]

Honestly, the wiring and the motor still look brand new. I can't really see anything visually burnt inside the motor. I've plugged the ESC into the receiver and the receiver powers on and connects to my transmitter with no issue, motor connected as well as disconnected. However, regardless of whether the motor is connected, the ESC heats up somewhere on the underside of the board and is extremely hot to the touch. Based on what you said, it's likely the ESC though the ESC really wasn't impacted during the crash, so I don't know how it suddenly started to react. Take a look at the photos for context... but I'm guessing I need to replace it?

Note: The small little hole in the top left of the board is where the heat is coming from.. Im guessing it burned a bit through the heat wrap.

 

[Shurik-1960]

On the first flights in winter and landings in the snow, I lost 4 sets of the engine regulator. Snow, falling on the motor windings and inside the regulator, turns into a drop of water, which can short circuit. Therefore, for winter flights and for seaplanes, I remove the heat shrink from the regulator and disassemble the engine, which I dip into a special varnish for waterproofing electronic boards.After drying, I dip into the varnish 2 more times. A new heat shrink is installed on the regulator. Take a stationery knife and cut the shrink.Take a picture of both sides. Most likely, your power keys and the SMD element on the side of the control board have burned out. The engine is easily rewound in 1-1.5 hours without haste. I do not repair the burnt-out regulator, but remove all the power keys and get an excellent 5 volt power supply for gliders. Power keys are usually more expensive than a regulator.

 

[Shurik-1960]

You should check the motor windings with a resistance tester - it should be the same!!! Where there is less, there is a burnt-out winding. In this case, you will have to rewind the entire engine.

 

[FlyerInStyle]

Honestly, the wiring and the motor still look brand new. I can't really see anything visually burnt inside the motor. I've plugged the ESC into the receiver and the receiver powers on and connects to my transmitter with no issue, motor connected as well as disconnected. However, regardless of whether the motor is connected, the ESC heats up somewhere on the underside of the board and is extremely hot to the touch. Based on what you said, it's likely the ESC though the ESC really wasn't impacted during the crash, so I don't know how it suddenly started to react. Take a look at the photos for context... but I'm guessing I need to replace it?


View attachment 242473
View attachment 242474
Note: The small little hole in the top left of the board is where the heat is coming from.. Im guessing it burned a bit through the heat wrap.

That little hole is the issue. I would say get a new one and everything should work fine. Troubleshoot one hthing at a time

 

[FlyerInStyle]

You should check the motor windings with a resistance tester - it should be the same!!! Where there is less, there is a burnt-out winding. In this case, you will have to rewind the entire engine.

nothing seems wrong with the motor, and rewinding it is more expensive than buying a new one (atleast for me) not counting the pain of the process.

 

[Shurik-1960]

I wind all aircraft model engines with a 0.4 mm wire. I bought a coil of wire on Aliexpress for a penny. To my friend, an aircraft modeler, I rewound 4 engines in 75 minutes.He sat next to me and watched.Then he slowly rewound the fifth engine himself. Here is a video on rewinding a burnt-out engine. Google Translator will help you.

The second video: how to make yourself a model electric motor with a thrust of up to 450 grams from an electric motor from an old CD. I rewound 6 CD engines from this video - they work fine.

 

[J188]

I ended up disassembling the motor... seemed like there was some dirt that was in there that I did what I could to clean out. One of the windings looked like it had burned (appeared nearly black on one of the windings). Also cut open the heat shrink on the ESC.. and that one spot where the hole was, that component appeared to be blown out. With a battery plugged in, I could quickly touch it with my finger and I'd see smoke coming off of it.

I had tried to test it again once I cleaned the motor... the receiver/transmitter was connected and the motor was crackling a couple times.. I did still see some smoke come off the motor as well too. I suspect that in the crash, maybe some of the connections got jostled around a bit?
Sounds like the solution here is:

• Get a new ESC
• Replace the Motor/wire it up again.

Didn't really consider rewiring the motor but could be a good thing to learn. I'll definitely look more into it and consider trying it out and checking the linked videos.

Photos for context:

 

[Bricks]

Your nose will tell you if the motor is burnt hard to miss that smell, it is the easiest way to tell f anything is burned. It is the first thing I do if I expect something has smoked.

 

[Shurik-1960]

Your engine has burned out and do not think to connect it to a new regulator, which will immediately burn out!! I see dirt on magnets in the photo of the engine- it is washed with a solvent. The motor is rewound with a thicker wire. In the second photo of the regulator, there are keys under the black plate (the plate must be removed).My advice is to buy the same regulators, and you will have the burned one as a donor (you can remove whole keys and chips from it). I could rewind the engine for you for free, but sending it to Moscow and back will be very expensive and it will be easier to buy a new engine.

 

[FlyerInStyle]

I wind all aircraft model engines with a 0.4 mm wire. I bought a coil of wire on Aliexpress for a penny. To my friend, an aircraft modeler, I rewound 4 engines in 75 minutes.He sat next to me and watched.Then he slowly rewound the fifth engine himself. Here is a video on rewinding a burnt-out engine. Google Translator will help you.

The second video: how to make yourself a model electric motor with a thrust of up to 450 grams from an electric motor from an old CD. I rewound 6 CD engines from this video - they work fine.

no need fro google translate, I understand it, but thanks, Ill take a look. What wire? I know resistances are important and all that.

 

[Shurik-1960]

1. Winding a strand of wire from the motor, we count the number of turns on one tooth. 2. We measure the diameter of 1 coiled wire 3. We consider the winding resistance: the cross-sectional area of one wire is multiplied by the number of wires in the bundle 4. We select a copper wire with such an almost cross-section according to the obtained value. 5. We wind the wire (thick) and try to put the same number of turns on the tooth.We use a toothpick to seal the coils.We are not in a hurry. 6. There should be the same number of turns on each tooth.If it doesn't work out, it doesn't fit: we wind up all the teeth and wind them with fewer turns 7. We connect the wires correctly , tinker , shrink .We connect it to the regulator .We listen to the melody when turned on and enjoy the live motor. There are a lot of videos and winding schemes on the Internet for different motors (in terms of the number of magnets and teeth). Good luck.I wind almost all motors weighing up to 70 grams with a 0.4mm diameter wire.
Current and wire thickness:
1A - 0.05m, 3A -0.11mm, 10A-0.25mm, 15A-0.33mm, 20A-0.4mm, 30A-0.52mm, 40A-0.63mm, 50A-0.73mm, 60A-0.89mm,70A-0.92mm, 80A-1.00mm, 90A-1.08mm, 100A -1.16mm
Copper enameled wire is used for winding electric motors.
PEV-2
PET-155 (temperature index 155℃)
PET-180 (T. I. 180℃)

 

[FlyerInStyle]

1. Winding a strand of wire from the motor, we count the number of turns on one tooth. 2. We measure the diameter of 1 coiled wire 3. We consider the winding resistance: the cross-sectional area of one wire is multiplied by the number of wires in the bundle 4. We select a copper wire with such an almost cross-section according to the obtained value. 5. We wind the wire (thick) and try to put the same number of turns on the tooth.We use a toothpick to seal the coils.We are not in a hurry. 6. There should be the same number of turns on each tooth.If it doesn't work out, it doesn't fit: we wind up all the teeth and wind them with fewer turns 7. We connect the wires correctly , tinker , shrink .We connect it to the regulator .We listen to the melody when turned on and enjoy the live motor. There are a lot of videos and winding schemes on the Internet for different motors (in terms of the number of magnets and teeth). Good luck.I wind almost all motors weighing up to 70 grams with a 0.4mm diameter wire.
Current and wire thickness:
1A - 0.05m, 3A -0.11mm, 10A-0.25mm, 15A-0.33mm, 20A-0.4mm, 30A-0.52mm, 40A-0.63mm, 50A-0.73mm, 60A-0.89mm,70A-0.92mm, 80A-1.00mm, 90A-1.08mm, 100A -1.16mm
Copper enameled wire is used for winding electric motors.
PEV-2
PET-155 (temperature index 155℃)
PET-180 (T. I. 180℃)

thanks