How often do rotors/motors fail

Stratospheric · Feb 1, 2017

Hi all

I am trying to talk my business partner into buying an inspire instead of getting a custom-made drone for our new business. He is concerned with losing a rotor or motor in flight and therefore wants to get a custom-made hex. He thinks A hex is more favourable to the CAA.

Please could I get some opinions from existing pilots in the business as to what drone they started out with and whether they have lost any drones due to rotor and motor malfunction? Is he worrying about something that might not happen?

Thanks

Jason Woodcock · Feb 1, 2017

No incidents I am aware of ever of a motor failing we have never had a motor fail if your looking for a cheaper inspire contact me as we may be selling one of ours to upgrade to the I2

Sent from my iPhone using InspirePilots

licensed pilot · Feb 1, 2017

Stratospheric said:
Hi all

I am trying to talk my business partner into buying an inspire instead of getting a custom-made drone for our new business. He is concerned with losing a rotor or motor in flight and therefore wants to get a custom-made hex. He thinks A hex is more favourable to the CAA.

Please could I get some opinions from existing pilots in the business as to what drone they started out with and whether they have lost any drones due to rotor and motor malfunction? Is he worrying about something that might not happen?

Thanks

One in-flight failure in Phantom 3 after app. 50 hrs.( why u never fly over people nor moving cars) Never in my Inspire 1 PRO, APP 25 HOURS.

huppe · Feb 1, 2017

I'm flying my Inspire for 2 years now and never had any failure or whatsoever

Bob Stekeur · Feb 1, 2017

I have had P1's, P2's and P3 and I1 and have never had a failure. I did loose a F550, I think it was a motor or esc failure but it was over water and I never found it. The motors and esc's were not DJI.

The Editor · Feb 1, 2017

Stratospheric said:
Hi all

I am trying to talk my business partner into buying an inspire instead of getting a custom-made drone for our new business. He is concerned with losing a rotor or motor in flight and therefore wants to get a custom-made hex. He thinks A hex is more favourable to the CAA.

Please could I get some opinions from existing pilots in the business as to what drone they started out with and whether they have lost any drones due to rotor and motor malfunction? Is he worrying about something that might not happen?

Thanks

Brushless motors almost never fail (there are no moving parts in them). Bearings do however which could be called the 'weak' point of a motor if you had to say there was one.
esc's (notably the FETS) do fail. Usually suddenly and without warning. Although thankfully not that often.
The CAA will always prefer a hex or octo over a quad because of the additional redundancy.
If a corner fails on a quad it comes down (quickly) which is what the CAA get nervous about.

Stratospheric · Feb 2, 2017

We would always have a parachute system on our drone anyway so that should alleviate some of the concern.

Hey look I'm not saying don't get a hex but not straight away for our first drone. I want to start small with a P4P or inspire to get the business going and then we can look at upgrading to a M600 in a few years but he seemed to think we should get a custom drone straightaway that ticks all the boxes.

The guy building it is saying he can complete it in a day but we would need to buy a P4 P or inspire 1/2 to get the image processing/gimbal Out of it. Either that or use a DSLR

Bob Stekeur · Feb 2, 2017

I was watching a video supposedly a quad can recover from 1 motor or esc failure

Quadcopters Never Have To Crash Again Thanks To This Software-Based Fail-Safe System

Djud · Feb 4, 2017

Bob Stekeur said:
I was watching a video supposedly a quad can recover from 1 motor or esc failure.

Is this implemented in Inspire 2? Or any other known quadcopter?

The Editor · Feb 4, 2017

Djud said:
Is this implemented in Inspire 2? Or any other known quadcopter?

Nope.
It's a concept and the power to weight ratio of commercially available platforms do not allow it.
(Imagine carrying an Arri and trying to do this - the off axis weight would just make it go out of control for one thing and the power required to do it would mean you need rediculously large motors and props).

Ralph thompson · Feb 4, 2017

I have over 40 hrs on my year old Inspire 1 Pro and never had any problem with the motors. However I believe u have to take care of them. I used a large sheet of plywood as a takeoff/landing pad but now have a fold up Hoodman landing pad which is very convenient. Brushless motors are reliable but sucking dust & grit into the motor (on takeoff the air is circulated up & down into the motors) does a lot of damage. Also make preflight checklist includes wobbling each motor by hand and just touching each motor after landing, if one is significantly warmer than others then it probably indicates a warn motor.

The Editor · Feb 4, 2017

Ralph thompson said:
.........if one is significantly warmer than others then it probably indicates a warn motor.

Think you mean worn bearing - the motors will not wear (they have no moving parts in them).

fei8820 · Feb 4, 2017

2 years.. on my inspire 1... more than 62 hours 0 problem... hardcore user...

CMS · Feb 9, 2017

Right now is the time to get into a new Inspire 1 V2. The Pro version with the X5 was $2795 last week. The price jumped back up for now but I bet it will come down again. You might want to get the one with the X3 to get started so you can practice. You can get it for $1799 right now. If I didn't already have two and a M600 I would have me one in the mail today. Like many have already said motors rarely fail. They are rated for thousands of hours of use. You will fly it into a tree or building long before parts fail. The easiest decision will be the UAV purchase. Finding work and making it look good is the tough part. I know your are just starting out but if you think you might get a job flying for a government contract they do not like home built UAV's and a lot of other contractors don't either. I'm not knocking the home built UAV, there are some guys out there that really know what they are doing and can build some great stuff. I have gone thru a serious vetting process for a NASA job and NASA safety told me they would never consider allowing me to fly on base with a home built. Just something else to think about. Good luck.