Inspire 1 Motor Noise - Replace?

[Kris Farruggia]

Hi,

I've been flying my Inspire about 18 months and just recently had my first rough landing where the quad sort of tipped off the landing board I had set in a field and tipped over causing two motors to be forced to a stop before I could power down. It was a really gentle "crash" compared to most I've seen and after picking my jaw off the ground I quickly ran over to assess the damage.

I should also say that I've recently upgraded to flying the x5 so upon feeling the motors for heat the felt "warm" but not so much more so than normal. No prop damage / breaking and overall it looked fine despite its spill.

That day however I noticed a slight ringing while flying and have since noticed it a couple times when flying...it literally sounds like a tiny bell is in one of the motors and it doesn't happen all the time. My question is: anyone else experienced this and does this mean I need to replace the motors?

Thanks!
Kris

 

[Kris Farruggia]

Hi,

I've been flying my Inspire about 18 months and just recently had my first rough landing where the quad sort of tipped off the landing board I had set in a field and tipped over causing two motors to be forced to a stop before I could power down. It was a really gentle "crash" compared to most I've seen and after picking my jaw off the ground I quickly ran over to assess the damage.

I should also say that I've recently upgraded to flying the x5 so upon feeling the motors for heat the felt "warm" but not so much more so than normal. No prop damage / breaking and overall it looked fine despite its spill.

That day however I noticed a slight ringing while flying and have since noticed it a couple times when flying...it literally sounds like a tiny bell is in one of the motors and it doesn't happen all the time. My question is: anyone else experienced this and does this mean I need to replace the motors?

Thanks!
Kris

I should also say that I've done quite a bit of reading trying to find an analogous problem to no avail. After the initial spill I pulled the craft out and hand spun the motor (front right if you're looking at the nose). I heard it a bit but it eventually went away.

I'm terribly worried that it'll take a dump on me mid flight and so now don't want to fly. That said if replacement is inevitable I also wonder if anyone has had the opportunity to upgrade the inspire 1 motors to the 3510H motors that come on the inspire 1 pro?

 

[damoncooper]

Likely debris in the motor bell. Don't fly.

Get a can of compressed air and blow out all your motor bells.

Then take a vacuum cleaner and without a brush attached (just hose), go around each motor bell horizontally so debris can exit via the vent holes to the vacuum.

Re-test.

 

[The Editor]

I should also say that I've done quite a bit of reading trying to find an analogous problem to no avail. After the initial spill I pulled the craft out and hand spun the motor (front right if you're looking at the nose). I heard it a bit but it eventually went away.

I'm terribly worried that it'll take a dump on me mid flight and so now don't want to fly. That said if replacement is inevitable I also wonder if anyone has had the opportunity to upgrade the inspire 1 motors to the 3510H motors that come on the inspire 1 pro?

Do as Damon says above.
Also take a test flight of just hovering (so all four motors are near enough the same speed). Hover for around 5 minutes around 10 feet off the ground and a few feet in front of you.
Then land and immediately test the temperature of each motor with your fingers (or of you feel technical an IR thermometer).
If any one motor is noticeably hotter/warmer than the others then suspect the bearings. You may have a flat on one of the bearings which causes the noise when it rotates to a particular position in the race.
If it is a bearing, they are easily replaceable.

 

[Kris Farruggia]

Do as Damon says above.
Also take a test flight of just hovering (so all four motors are near enough the same speed). Hover for around 5 minutes around 10 feet off the ground and a few feet in front of you.
Then land and immediately test the temperature of each motor with your fingers (or of you feel technical an IR thermometer).
If any one motor is noticeably hotter/warmer than the others then suspect the bearings. You may have a flat on one of the bearings which causes the noise when it rotates to a particular position in the race.
If it is a bearing, they are easily replaceable.

Thank you so much! I'll definitely give your suggestions a try to see if I can figure out the problem. If memory serves I do believe one puts off a bit more heat than the others though I might just get technical and go infrared. With $5K in the air I'd rather not risk anything at all.

If it does end up being a bearing, would you happen to know of a resource to purchase them and see how to change them out?

Thanks again...really appreciate your help and time!

 

[Kris Farruggia]

Likely debris in the motor bell. Don't fly.

Get a can of compressed air and blow out all your motor bells.

Then take a vacuum cleaner and without a brush attached (just hose), go around each motor bell horizontally so debris can exit via the vent holes to the vacuum.

Re-test.

Thanks Damon...really appreciate it!
I'll give that a shot this week and let you know how it goes

 

[damoncooper]

Thanks Damon...really appreciate it!
I'll give that a shot this week and let you know how it goes

Keep us posted!

 

[Kris Farruggia]

Hi,
So I've spent a TON of time trying to blow / vac out the motor bells and have taken it up a few times...however I continue to hear it.

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I shot this video earlier today to illustrate...sorta sounds like a cricket or something and you can only hear it when you're lateral to the bird and not when you're on top of it looking down. I'm completely gun shy about flying it and now (of course) have an awesome trip coming up near the end of September that I'd like to be able to fly during...so a two month repair time would really kill me.
Any further thoughts on this by chance?
Thanks!
Kris

 

[m00se]

Are there any vibrations coming from any of the motors?
There arent that many things that can be wrong here, its either 1) debris 2) bearings 3)loose magnet or 4)bent shaft.
if you are serious about fixing it, then buy yourself some nice bearings to replace the ones in there, then open each motor and replace them, blow out the motor windings with air and re test.

You will not lose anything by replacing the bearings, you will also be able to check for a bent shaft while you have the motor apart......

That way you should be sure of the state of the motors when you are done.

 

[Kris Farruggia]

Are there any vibrations coming from any of the motors?
There arent that many things that can be wrong here, its either 1) debris 2) bearings 3)loose magnet or 4)bent shaft.
if you are serious about fixing it, then buy yourself some nice bearings to replace the ones in there, then open each motor and replace them, blow out the motor windings with air and re test.

You will not lose anything by replacing the bearings, you will also be able to check for a bent shaft while you have the motor apart......

That way you should be sure of the state of the motors when you are done.

Thanks for taking the time to reply

Hard to tell if there's any vibration...when I free spin the motors by hand they feel completely normal (and this one like all the others)...really aside from that sound they seem fine.

I've not ever opened the motors up...is that difficult and are there any video tuts out there by chance? Same with replacing the bearings...

I'm pretty mechanically inclined and so could figure it out probably with a little help. Thanks again!


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[licensed pilot]

Having learned the hard way (disregarded noise in one motor flew anyway / motor in P3P froze midflight, $360 repair bill) it is best have an authorized repair station check it out. Better to replace one motor than the whole bird...

 

[Kris Farruggia]

Having learned the hard way (disregarded noise in one motor flew anyway / motor in P3P froze midflight, $360 repair bill) it is best have an authorized repair station check it out. Better to replace one motor than the whole bird...

Agree entirely! In fact I'm thinking I may as well upgrade to the beefier motors anyway.

Have you had experience with DJI's repair services? What was the turnaround timeline like?


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[licensed pilot]

Agree entirely! In fact I'm thinking I may as well upgrade to the beefier motors anyway.

Have you had experience with DJI's repair services? What was the turnaround timeline like?


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I rely strictly on my local DJI dealer, one hour away. Tempe, AZ. I am fortunate...

 

[marti]

hey new to this forum trying to work out the exact same noise on my bird it's only 2/3 months old 110 flights any ideas please help!

 

[Highrpm955]

Mines made this noise from day 1. Never got any worse. 50+ hours so far, no problems. No uneven heat or vibrations.

 

[Kris Farruggia]

hey new to this forum trying to work out the exact same noise on my bird it's only 2/3 months old 110 flights any ideas please help!

Hi Marti,

I unfortunately wasn't able to find a solution other than replace the motors. I have a local shop nearby that was able to do so. It would've been $175 to replace the one v1 motor I knew was bad or $475 to replace all four with v2 motors. Given that I'd upgraded the camera to the x5 I opted for the latter. I figured $475 sucks but better safe than sorry considering I have $5K in the air. $475 isn't too bad either considering I could probably get $50-75 each for the 3 good v1 motors on eBay

Kris


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[Kris Farruggia]

Mines made this noise from day 1. Never got any worse. 50+ hours so far, no problems. No uneven heat or vibrations.

That's interesting...mine was definitely not making this noise originally and did coincide with the day I had a tip over upon landing. Come to think of it that was only the second time I'd flown the x5 so maybe it was caused by the added strain?

I can verify that the one motor did made a ringing noise when spun by hand probably 50% of the time (whereas the others did not). With that in mind I decided to opt for replacements to be safe rather than sorry.


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