Super CP With No Power

[jps4t]

Relatively new bird with no real crashes and both original batteries were not providing even 2 minutes of flight time so I bought 2 new 480 mah fro Wowhobbies. These batteries did not provide even 2 min of flight time either, so I replaced the main motor. Still has low poser for a short time. Out of the box I got a consistent 5-6 minutes with good power. Anyone experience similar or have any ideas? Thanks!

[hoghead5150]

what charger are you using? sounds like that could be your problem.

is the motor (main or tail) getting really hot?

[jps4t]

I'm using the charger that came with in the BNF package ... so Walkera I guess. The original tail motor had what sounded like bearing chatter on first flight, so I replaced that and it is okay. The main motor does get very hot. I can't say definitively that it did from first flight, but I have replaced that as well. It does seem to get hotter that it should. I've gotten a blister on my finger tip.

So you are thinking the charger is not fully charging the batteries?

[hoghead5150]

i would charge a battery and then check it with a meter to make sure your charger is fully charging the battery.

[jps4t]

Fully charged reads about 4.25 volts, no load.

[mclarkson]

That's very slightly overcharged, so it's definitely full.

[hoghead5150]

well.. lets see. motor gets really hot, battery is slightly overcharged. terrible runtimes.

first thing i would do is check the entire bird for binding. i would pull the main gear off and see if the head rotates smoothly.

how is the tail motor?

you could be having battery problems. IF your charger is overcharging the batteries it could kill the battery really quick. IF the battery is going bad and can't hold charge the motor will try and pull power from the battery and if the battery can't supply the power, the motor will still try and spin everything. could cause the motor to get hot, but i doubt it.

my guess is something is bent/binding up and causing your motor to work extra hard to overcome it. that would heat the motor quickly, and drain a battery very quick.

[jps4t]

I've had it all apart and checked for binding, but it's just not there. The batteries are brand new from Wowhobbies. I tried a cheaper brand because I had them, but no better with the new ones. So, six batteries and they all act the same, new motors and everything is free. I'm stumped. Thanks for your effort, though! I'll be trying something non-Walkera, since this has been trouble from day one ...

[hayofstacks]

Check to see if there is a bunch of tension on the gears. Even a very slightly bent shaft will cause a lot of extra effort on turning the motor. It getting hot enough to burn you shouldn't be normal for any motor.

[pizzano]

jps4t...

From everything you've stated...no gear binding, new batteries charged full, no crashes.......sounds like an electrical issue related to one of three things

1) One of the motors have an issue....tail motors on this model have been a problem more than the main.

2) The ESC is not functioning properly. These little integrated power/gyro/rx systems are very sensitive and practically impossible to repair (unless you've got micro electronic skillls and access to the parts).

3) The "new" Devo TX/RX systems have not been around long enough to have all the bugs worked out....Walkera is still beta testing many of the common problems.

I'd contact WOW Hobbies and get some tech help.......I'ts been awhile since I've dealt with them, but they were very helpful and not to hard to get a hold of the last time I had a problem.......couple of years ago.

[jps4t]

I'm inclined to agree with your ESC comments, and have considered that something on the board would likely get hot/self-destruct in order to pass or handle enough current to drain the battery so quickly. Still, it seems the only thing left. I replaced both tail and main motors. I understand gear geometry and was careful to observe pressure angle and backlash, erring on the 'loose' side.

I went right for battery as the issue (easy), but in retrospect, I believe the change was more sudden than would be expected from batteries, i.e., one flight was 5 - 6 minutes, all the following were less than 2 minutes.

I've been emailing Wow for almost two weeks, with far less progress or thoughtful responses than I've had here. They have the ESC for $78, so clearly I'll either sacrifice this on ebay or buy a second one for $100.

Thanks for your thoughts!!

[pizzano]

No problem jps4t.......I gave up on those little critters long ago........they were fun to learn on, good to play with indoors and inexpensive.....but the bigger birds caught my fancy and fly so much better.

Sorry to hear about the WOW lack of response.......they must be getting to big for their britches now. Maybe a little bad press will stir them up........I'll check into that!

[myxiplx]

Hi,

I know this is an old thread, but your symptoms are exactly what mine was getting: Huge loss of power 2-3 minutes in just from hovering in one spot, and the motor was getting red hot to the touch.

I made a few changes to solve that, and it's flying without any problems for 4-5 mins now. I'm not 100% convinced it's not just luck though, so am interested to see if this helps with yours too:

- Changed the blades, they were a bit battered, and the tail blade was bent.
- Set the throttle curve to flat 90% from the midpoint onwards
- Limited the pitch curve to 50% at full stick
- Giving it 4 mins between batteries to cool.

I'm pretty sure it was setting the throttle to a fixed lower rate and reducing the pitch curve that did it the most good. I've not had any significant bogging down since, and I can practice hovering for a solid 4m30s.

[pizzano]

With a new 480mAh battery, I would expect better flight times than 4.5min....even when just hovering.....around 7min's.......especially after relaxing the pitch & throttle curves to accomodate better handling characteristics. These small (mini) CCP's are so senstive to pitch and throttle ratios, any high rates will consume power faster due to the stress put on the control surfaces that over task the range of optimum controllable mobility.

[myxiplx]

Thanks, I'll see if I can stretch it out. After so many problems I've been worried about the motors and batteries so have been running short flight times until I'm confident it's all sorted out, just being able to fly for more than 2 minutes without it dropping to the floor is a huge relief.

[myxiplx]

Hey folks, looks like I posted too soon. Not long after I posted the above, the motor died completely. The model would power up, but didn't so much as attempt to spin the main blades. I bought a new main motor direct from Walkera and the difference is night and day. The new motor has far more grunt than the old, and barely gets warm after a 4 minute flight on stock batteries. The old motor was red hot and struggling by then.