Brand new and already a broken motor

[LukeWebber]

First, let's just get it out there that I am not a seasoned drone pilot. But then, that's why I bought the Tello, as an entry-level choice.
Anyway, as stated in the subject, I took my new toy out for its second flight today, and clipped a few leaves on a tree while taking it up. It fell maybe four metres to packed earth, and when I retrieved it I found that the rotor motor had broken off at the base (see pic below). All of which prompt me to consult my betters (that's you) to ask the following questions.

1. Is it right that this should happen so easily, or have I been sold a unit with a manufacturing defect?
2. If I have to replace this with my own fair hands, and at my own expense, should I upgrade to a better quality (brushless?) motor? And would those be more robust?

Many thanks for any answers, insults or discussions of my ancestry.


Note that the motor is not attached, it's just leaning next to the mount point.

 

[Zeno]

You better talk directly to Ryze customer service.just search Ryze robotics.. support chat live with one of them... then,tell
About what happened...be ready when they ask your flight log...so don't uninstalled your Tello application...
Good luck

 

[lieronet]

I have seen two reports that when bumping into something with the prop guards they somewhat pry the tin motor out like this.
About the motor upgrade, the brushless is impossible without swapping the whole internals.
And about just better motor there are few posts , but generally they are 8520 motors .
With some care and luck they can live plenty of hours. Mine have 20 hours and still working. Only minor crashes in the grass.

 

[Pollax]

In some ways it looks like your motor is ok, that said I mean you could fix it. With some tinkering and alot of harsh words it could be done. I hope you have better luck with Ryze then me and my motor failure. They kept on going about Calibrations.. Gaaaah... So I dropped this frustrating conversation and swapped motors myself.

 

[LukeWebber]

You better talk directly to Ryze customer service.just search Ryze robotics.. support chat live with one of them... then,tell
About what happened...be ready when they ask your flight log...so don't uninstalled your Tello application...
Good luck

Thanks for that, Zeno. I gave it a shot, but it was about what you'd expect. Send it in for repair and we'll determine whether it's a manufacturing fault. And I can guess where that would end. With me paying fgor transport both ways as well as a shop repair on a low-priced drone.
I'll source some spare motors myself and break out the soldering station. Probably burn the house down - I'm no better a solderer than I am a pilot. <g>

 

[LukeWebber]

In some ways it looks like your motor is ok, that said I mean you could fix it. With some tinkering and alot of harsh words it could be done. I hope you have better luck with Ryze then me and my motor failure. They kept on going about Calibrations.. Gaaaah... So I dropped this frustrating conversation and swapped motors myself.

Thanks, Pollax. I suspect that any repair would be short-lived, so I'll go the replacement route, but thanks for the thought.

 

[LukeWebber]

I have seen two reports that when bumping into something with the prop guards they somewhat pry the tin motor out like this.
About the motor upgrade, the brushless is impossible without swapping the whole internals.
And about just better motor there are few posts , but generally they are 8520 motors .
With some care and luck they can live plenty of hours. Mine have 20 hours and still working. Only minor crashes in the grass.

Since I need to replace the motor anyway, I might well go with the 8520s. One question though. Can I replace just one motor with an 8520, or do I have to replace all in one go?

Thanks again to everybody for the helpful replies, BTW. I'm already impressed with this community. <g>

 

[Pollax]

Cant speak about life span quality yet, but racestar 8520 motor that I am trying now I just swapped 1 motor. Flying just like before. Around 8$ for 4 motors.

 

[Zeno]

Thanks for that, Zeno. I gave it a shot, but it was about what you'd expect. Send it in for repair and we'll determine whether it's a manufacturing fault. And I can guess where that would end. With me paying fgor transport both ways as well as a shop repair on a low-priced drone.
I'll source some spare motors myself and break out the soldering station. Probably burn the house down - I'm no better a solderer than I am a pilot. <g>

I feel you man... tello is awesome but at the same time is Pain...
My worse fear are like your problem... I'm not also skills on soldering...if my motor die.. that's end of tello to me...
Tello motto... feel the fun or should change to tello feel the pain ???

 

[LukeWebber]

I feel you man... tello is awesome but at the same time is Pain...
My worse fear are like your problem... I'm not also skills on soldering...if my motor die.. that's end of tello to me...
Tello motto... feel the fun or should change to tello feel the pain ???

Heh. If it gets too tough, I'll ask my neighbour to help. It's not the end of the world. And I used to be pretty good at soldering, back in the day, but it's been a long time since I was called upon the whip up an RS-232 serial cable. <g>

 

[Pollax]

I feel you man... tello is awesome but at the same time is Pain...
My worse fear are like your problem... I'm not also skills on soldering...if my motor die.. that's end of tello to me...
Tello motto... feel the fun or should change to tello feel the pain ???

I flew 3 battery without soldering, just twist the cables togeather and some tejp. Works as good as soldered but looks more like hack jobb

 

[LukeWebber]

Cant speak about life span quality yet, but racestar 8520 motor that I am trying now I just swapped 1 motor. Flying just like before. Around 8$ for 4 motors.

Excellent. Thanks for that, Pollax. I'll place an order now.

 

[Zeno]

I have seen two reports that when bumping into something with the prop guards they somewhat pry the tin motor out like this.
About the motor upgrade, the brushless is impossible without swapping the whole internals.
And about just better motor there are few posts , but generally they are 8520 motors .
With some care and luck they can live plenty of hours. Mine have 20 hours and still working. Only minor crashes in the grass.

Do you think? much better to fly without props guard.. aside from longer flight benefits... because the pry motor are scary.

 

[Zeno]

I flew 3 battery without soldering, just twist the cables togeather and some tejp. Works as good as soldered but looks more like hack jobb

Yeah thanks I see some youtube video...but looks messy after repaired lol..
Other guys use only electric tape no soldering...i might do like that if ever my motor die.

 

[LukeWebber]

Do you think? much better to fly without props guard.. aside from longer flight benefits... because the pry motor are scary.

Ah, well I'd rather not be whipping out the soldering iron too often. My luck is bound to run out. In fact, I've just ordered a wrap around prop guard precisely to avoid this ever happening again. ;^)

 

[Zeno]

Ah, well I'd rather not be whipping out the soldering iron too often. My luck is bound to run out. In fact, I've just ordered a wrap around prop guard precisely to avoid this ever happening again. ;^)

So with props guard you're flying? what type you ordered? like this?

 

[LukeWebber]

Looks like it.



Click on the pic to go the the eBay item.

My priority at this point is to avoid damaging the drone further once I've repaired it. If the "trainer wheels" affect battery life (and I can see that they will), so be it. Batteries are easy to change.

 

[Zeno]

Looks like it.



Click on the pic to go the the eBay item.

My priority at this point is to avoid damaging the drone further once I've repaired it. If the "trainer wheels" affect battery life (and I can see that they will), so be it. Batteries are easy to change.

Thats same im using now...good ordered.. that's much better than the original tello guard ?

 

[BKKKevin]

I used this guys technique to replace a motor - Took me 20 minutes with a usb soldering iron... I found the motors on eBay... look for the sets that have the same wire color as original (see video)...

 

[Davenwolf]

First, let's just get it out there that I am not a seasoned drone pilot. But then, that's why I bought the Tello, as an entry-level choice.
Anyway, as stated in the subject, I took my new toy out for its second flight today, and clipped a few leaves on a tree while taking it up. It fell maybe four metres to packed earth, and when I retrieved it I found that the rotor motor had broken off at the base (see pic below). All of which prompt me to consult my betters (that's you) to ask the following questions.

1. Is it right that this should happen so easily, or have I been sold a unit with a manufacturing defect?
2. If I have to replace this with my own fair hands, and at my own expense, should I upgrade to a better quality (brushless?) motor? And would those be more robust?

Many thanks for any answers, insults or discussions of my ancestry.

View attachment 1292
Note that the motor is not attached, it's just leaning next to the mount point.

My Tello has taken some pretty hard crashes and come out unharmed each time. One was full speed into a tree trunk.