j_jones84

First post here, finally found a real active and knowledgeable forum on this awesome little heli!

I was getting fairly competent and flying around the house, landing on tables and whatnot, so I decided to take it around the house. I lost my bearing when it got about 30yards away and it came crashing down on my roof. The clear plastic cover came flying off but everything APPREARED to be in good working order.

Since that crash I haven't been able to get it an inch off the ground. When I throttle up it seems that one of the rotors isn't working well and it seems to surge (for lack of a better description) with the others.

My original thought was very doom and gloom and I imagined that I destroyed something in the "brain" but the more I tinker with it the more I think it's the rotor.

Below is a few pictures and a video I took of the problems I am experiencing. I was hoping maybe someone could take a look at it and be able to determine what I need to do to get back in the air. Maybe even answer some easy questions as I go through the process.

If I can get it back up in the air I'd gladly donate $20 paypal to someone or to the site or w/e

[link=http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e379/j_jones84/?action=view&current=Hike071.flv]Problems[/link]

Old Man Mike

Hi Jones,

I've crashed and repaired my DF quite a few times but have not seen anything like that. It looks like your front rotor is going up and down in power. It interesting that all four motors initially spin at the same rate and that the problem only occurs as the throttle is increased. You might have damaged one of the gyros on the controller board but the effect I have seen from that type of failure was much more erratic behaviour once it got in the air. You could try changing the front motor with the right or left motor to see if the problem moves with the motor. If it does, then you can just replace the bad motor.

If the problem stays in the same position after you have exchanged the motor, try looking at all the solder joints on the printed wiring board to see if you can see any cracks. After that, the remaining choice would appear to be returning the controller board for repair.

Mike

j_jones84

It does some odd stuff when I try and turn it left vs turning it right. Might be helpful in the troubleshooting process. If this becomes too much of a hassle for someone like me I might just sell the entire package to someone more adept in fixing if they wanted to undertake the problem.

Off to record more video and research how hard it's going to be to change the motor

BB_DF

Check to see if the magnet(s) in the motor have slipped down over the vent slots. If so, use a small screwdriver and push the magnets back up into their correct position. That might explain the behavior you're experiencing.
- Bruce

j_jones84

I appreciate the response both Bruce and Mike. I checked the vent slot on the motor looked at both of them on each motor and they all looked the same.. unobstructed.

Considering buying a more traditional RC Heli. I dont want to do rolls or flips are anything.. just flying around the park, living room, backyard with slow controlled movements.

j_jones84

Another video of the symptoms.

Shoddy camera work and narration, forgive me

[link=http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e379/j_jones84/?action=view&current=copter002.flv]Still broken[/link]

Old Man Mike

Jones,

Changing a motor is really no big deal. I assume you have used a soldering iron. If not, time to learn. You can buy a cheap one for less than $10. Plug in the soldering iron and let it heat up for a few mins. Test to see if it wll melt a little bit of solder and you are ready to go:

1) Touch the soldering iron to one of the two wires soldered to the motor terminals and pull the wire off. Do the same to the second wire.

2) There is one screw holding the motor. Remove that and the motor will come right out.

3) Do the same thing for the motor that you want to exchange it with.

4) Put the motors back into mounts. Notice that there is a slot where the wires are coming out of the motor mount. Pull the wires down so that they are inside the slot allowing the motor to be pushed into the motor mount easily.

5) Solder the wires back. The color wire of each motor goes to the terminal with the red dot.

Fire it up and see if there is any difference in performance. If there is, then your problem may only be a motor. If not, then your controller needs repair. Spectrolutions charges a flat fee of $55 to repair the board.

The board comes out even easier than a motor. Just loosen a couple of the legs and slid them back a little from the board. The board can then be lifted up so that you can reach the single connector on the bottom. The connector has a latch that you have to squeeze a little and then it will pull right out.

Mike

j_jones84

Sounds simple enough, judging from the videos do you think it might be two motors?

BB_DF

Jones,

That's not a motor problem, it's a controller problem. When you do full right, that synchronous pulsing of both the front and rear motors says to me that some damage was done to the controller when you crashed. Look at it logically -

1. Before you crashed it behaved correctly, after you crashed it's acting up, so something got damaged.
2. Both the front and rear motors are synchronously pulsing when you do a full right yaw, so it's not a single motor.

I would try and identify what kinds of bending or shearing motions occurred when you crashed, and look for clues of possible hairline cracks, loose components, etc. You might be able to heat up some solder joints and solve the problem. If you can't find the problem I'd say then try Mike's motor-swapping test as a last resort. Then you might have to send it to Spectrolutions for repair.

- Bruce

j_jones84

Yah I'll revist the visual check. I sure didnt notice anything loose or cracked. If all else fails I'll just sell the entire package and get something that suits me better ( I hear those counter rotating dual-rotar heli's are easy to fly)

Looking up spectrolutions for a cost now.

Old Man Mike

After seeing the second video, I agree with BB_DF. Not a motor problem.

Mike

Nicoleto

I’m about to believe that the problem are not the motors but the main board itself. However there are three things you can do to check if the sensors and gyros are ok. First move the throttle stick to 1/4 or just enough to start the motors then test the gyros by tilting the DF forward, backwards, left and right. By doing these movements, you should notice that the motors should change speed like trying to counteract or correct the movement. Then rotate the heli to see if the third gyro (the one that correct the rotational movement) works.
Second, with the throttle stick at 0, see if the green leds lit when moving your hand or a warmth object around the heat sensors.
Third, try a dummy TI calibration routine. You can do it indoors (do not fly your DF). This “dummy” calibration will reset the entire TI system. It has worked for me. Sometimes my DF has gone crazy after a crash and one of the remedies I’ve found to work really well is the dummy calibration routine.
Hope this helps
Regards
Nick

roxyboby

hi J_jones84, Have u contacted draganfly innovations about this. I believed u can also contact spectrosolutions and they are sure to address your problems.

Roxyboby

j_jones84

I've actually had all the contact with DFInnovations I can stand for one lifetime, I'm going to give spectrolutions a try.

Side not. After a slow inspection of the board it all looks fines. Looks can be decieving though I suppose.