just finished R&R of my main motor tonight. i was flying with my original motor today (10mph wind, 100F) and noticed slightly lower headspeed from liftoff but continued the flight anyways. i landed to relax my thumbs and cool the motors after 6min of flight. when i spun up and lifted off again, i noticed a very sharp drop in headspeed so i headed down again nearly tipping it before executing a half*****ed auto-type landing thingy. upon inspection, i noticed the jps connector on the motor was melted. when i removed the motor it clicked like a tin can when i spun the spur. [sm=thumbdown.gif]

i was lucky that my main went out only 3' high. i plan to start a detailed flight log and implement routine motor replacements. my first lasted about 5hrs of flight.

i'd appreciate any advice as to how many hours of flight i should go between both main and tail motor replacements. i'm using the gws dd motor btw.

Truglodite,

The article below claims 100 flight and still performs well.. Let's say each flight is 15 minutes, times 100 flights, that equals 1500 minutes, divided by 60 minutes in an hour, equals 25 hours. Hmmm.. not that aweful bad for 10 bucks.

I talked to the guy at the local hobby shop awhile back, about the tail motors. He said it's the same motor that is a lot of RC Cars. Said you could get 20 hours on them. I've never had a tail motor last that long, I'm on my fourth one now, with maybe 30 hours on the heli.
Oh, after those thirty hours, I just noticed a couple days ago that the main motor does seem to be loosing it's power. I'll be replacing it as a maintenance item later today. I always have at least 1 spare of everything that normally breaks, skids, blades, motors, etc. See Picture.

One of my buddies keeps a detailed log of everything. He uses a timer when flying so he knows exactly how long each flight is.
He keeps records of every crash and parts needed to repair. Keeps track of his repair time to.. Guess he's a data geek.

Gets expensive, doesn't it[&o].

Hope this helps



Main Motor, Pinion, Heat Sink, Battery and Main Blade Configurations

When using the recommended main motor, pinion, heat sink and battery configurations we have experienced very good main motor life (better than any other models in this class). We have main motors in stock and Aerobatic Enhancement Kit equipped models with more than 100 flights that continue to perform very well.

For those who may be experiencing premature main motor wear, it is likely the result of excessive current draw causing damage to the motor rather than brush wear. Excessive current draw can be the result of using the wrong main motor, pinion, heat sink and battery configurations, improper gear mesh or constant power on blade strikes and crashes (shock damage). For these reasons you MUST follow the power system configurations recommended to achieve expected motor life

i think he means 100 degrees outside?

That's to hot outside to fly

Dave / Choppersrule

OMG what are you saying????????? Satan could be having a BBQ on the hood of my car and Ill still be flying. As long as my planes or Heli dont spontaneously combust youll see me out there. Maybe a little blistered and dizzy from dehydration , but ill STILL be out there.

LOL... one night last week, I was driving home from work at about 10:30pm, and the temp outside was still 101F at that time (I live in Texas)

It's NEVER too hot to fly!

CT420 and all:

But it's dry heat right. You guys are to tuff for me, give me the old AC..

I live 10 miles south of Indianapolis, IN. When it's 95 degress here it's unbearabe, the humidity here is so high.. You can just stand there doing nothing and be wringing wet.

Just having some fun, that's what this is all about, fun. fun. fun

Dave / Choppersrule

thanks dave, that's exactly what i was looking for. 100hrs does seem high, but my motor went through a chicken dance, idle-up style. lol. i'm a file farmer by nature, so entering detailed post-flight data is strangely enjoyable for me. however i don't know whether i'm ocd enough to log repair hours too.

i prepared for the scorching weather by hacking cooling holes in my 4n1 and canopy and adding heatsinks, but the motor did have badly worn brushes (9T, symm blades, stock lipo). i figure 100hrs is not happening with the weather we've been having lately. regardless, i think i must've underestimated the 5hrs and it's more like 12hrs now that i'm thinking about it (flown ~1.5mo, average 1 flight/day). since it varies so much, i'm going to try and use the drop in headspeed to indicate the need for replacement.

lol ct420, 101F after 10p! ***it!!! and i thought i was getting cooked, jeez.

dave, i lived in Ann Arbor, MI for 4 years. i know exactly what you mean about the humidity. the 98F/100% humidity i experienced in MI when the AC went out felt more miserable than any 110+F i've dealt with in CA. i needed a cold shower every hour. my sleep was limited to 2hrs between showers. no exaggeration here, that humidity is pure misery.

i've had my worries about heat related failures, but i have successfully flown in 113F under the afternoon sun. my canopy has been slightly warped ever since, but it was well worth it. maybe i can make up for the $$$ in fried motors by charging my buddies to hover over their heads for a minute. no more freebies guys, pay up.

edit: since we're on the subject of flying in extreme heat, has anyone measured the temperature of their lipos after flying in 110+F weather? i might add this in my flight log when it's hot out. i hope i don't find my packs near critical after landing in such heat. btw, what is the max safe temp for lipo cells?

Truglodite,

Maybe you misunderstood my post, it's 100 flights and about 25 hours on the motor.

10 bucks a motor, still cheaper than bowling.

Humidity sucks[].

Dave / Choppersrule

Here in Central New York we have the cursed humidity you speak of. My brother-in-law moved up here from North Carolina and he says every summer that it's way worse here. Not to mention the winter... It's like the worst of both worlds! Ohh and it's windy or raining most says to top it off. To tell you the truth, when I run my 3s Lipo, I'd be happy with like 5 hours of use on those motors. They're only designed to handle between 3 and 6 volts, so 11 really pushes them hard. Honestly I never expect either motor to last long on the heli. I do want to get a dual tail motor setup though. Ohh, I am thinking of trying another motor I have next time the main goes, I started a thread about it. If I actually do it and it works out well I'll let you guy know what motor and where to get it. I have high hopes.

sorry for the confusion. i understood the post but mixed up hrs and flights my response. 25hrs, 100flights. affirmative.

good luck with that new motor Loswave. i was thinking mini-t brushes/cans/arms might work too.

btw, i got my first flight with the fresh motor today and i was in heaven. not only were the gears quieter, but the heli had way more power and flew very smoothly compared to my last flight. the old pinion was worse for wear, and i never broke the original motor it in (not like they do at the factory before thier test flight anyway). i made sure the brushes were seated on this motor by running it for an hour on a 2cell (2.4V) battery before i installed it.

maybe the decline in performance was so gradual i didn't notice. whether it was the new pinion, better meshing, or seated brushes that did it, i'm much happier with how smooth and quiet my heli is now. it's making my itch for brushless even worse.[:@]

btw, ny does have some harsh winters too, but i have no sympathy. think about how cool your motors run, not to mention the air density you get in the winter time. i'm jealous.

LOL, that's nice if you can fly without getting frostbite. I learned to fly over the winter. I very nearly had got my fingers frostbitten a couple times. I mean, you can't fly with gloves on !!! Yea, I can remeber having to run my hands under hot water for like 10 minutes a couple times just to get feeling back, that kinda sucked. But I can't just not fly, that would be insane!!!!