Hello Tello Pilot!
Join our DJI Tello community & remove this banner.
Sign up

Motor issues

Nimadtray

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Messages
9
Reaction score
3
Looks like I need to replace a motor on my new tello drone after 1 week of lots of fun use...do I need to solder in this task...the motor still works but does not rotate freely when not running...when I try to launch the drone it just rolls over...any advice or good place to purchase motor would be a help...also is this gonna be a common problem?
 
There are three main concepts for changing the motors that are all on YouTube. Solder the new motors straight to the board as the originals are, cut the wires pretty close to the motor and add (solder) a permanent connector for easy future changes, and the easiest no solder method of cutting the wires pretty close to the motor and simply hand twisting the new motor wires together. All three methods have pluses and minuses that you can deduce and decide what is best for you. I personally think it is very easy and quick to install new motors but it will depend on your abilities and experience.

I estimate 30 to 80 flight hours until the motors need changing depending on when, where, and how used. These types of small brushed motors have the potential to be instantly damaged with any type of crash or bump that stops the motor from spinning for even a nano second. So to answer your question at least for my heavy and risky flying habits of using the drone as a scout for my adventures, I will probably change out the motors four to eight times until I will probably need a totally new Tello or the Tello 2 has came out.

These are the ones I personally like and it is 4 motors for $12.

 
Last edited:
Thanks flight815 that is very helpful and exactly the info I was hoping to hear. I have been new to the drone flying and have crashed quite a bit. I am definitely getting better and started to use the tellofpv app as well which seems to keep the drone more stable
 
  • Like
Reactions: Flight815
When replacing 1 bad motor, is there any concerns with aftermarket motors being heavier in weight or performance where drone does not keep stable due to differences in specs of replacement parts?
 
Nope, the 14 core Intel processor is able to effortlessly make the Tello do a flip in the air and it can compensate very well for small deviations in the motors. I would estimate that after 10 hours of flight time, the 4 motors are already in various states of readiness/decline and the Tello handles that absolutely perfectly. Now is it possible that one of the new motors are out of spec and causing some issues... sure. But that would be the exception and not the rule.

For me personally, if the 4 motors have 50+ hours on them and one goes bad I would change all four. If the motors have less then 30 hours flight time I would only change one. If it was between 30 and 50 hours it would be a judgement call.

Edit: of course I am assuming you are buying from a reputable dealer with reviews/feedback from previous owners of the Tello.
 
Last edited:
I’ve flown mine 10 or more times a week, often outdoors for 3 months with no sign of deterioration. It’s more likely a bump has done some damage.
 
These are the ones I personally like and it is 4 motors for $12.

+1 for these motors. I busted mine after just few flights and a friend bought this for me from US. I have simply soldered the wires and tucked them in motor arm. Compared flight performance with another stock Tello and no visible difference in flight/battery characteristics.
 
There are three main concepts for changing the motors that are all on YouTube. Solder the new motors straight to the board as the originals are, cut the wires pretty close to the motor and add (solder) a permanent connector for easy future changes, and the easiest no solder method of cutting the wires pretty close to the motor and simply hand twisting the new motor wires together. All three methods have pluses and minuses that you can deduce and decide what is best for you. I personally think it is very easy and quick to install new motors but it will depend on your abilities and experience.

I estimate 30 to 80 flight hours until the motors need changing depending on when, where, and how used. These types of small brushed motors have the potential to be instantly damaged with any type of crash or bump that stops the motor from spinning for even a nano second. So to answer your question at least for my heavy and risky flying habits of using the drone as a scout for my adventures, I will probably change out the motors four to eight times until I will probably need a totally new Tello or the Tello 2 has came out.

These are the ones I personally like and it is 4 motors for $12.

I just replaced the rear CCW motor with this exact RCGEEK motor. After replacing it, flight time went from about 11-12 minutes down to about 7 minutes and the motor was very hot. Also, the Tello was bobbing up and down, while hovering and also slowly yawed to the right. I tried both CCW motors that came in the set, same problems. Did you replace all 4 motors or just one, using the RCGEEK motors. Thanks for any help.
 

New Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
5,690
Messages
39,934
Members
17,023
Latest member
Repiv

New Posts