dual battery mod

[gtomko]

I suspect that as the motor bearings wear over time, there may be more electrical noise created. Especially at certain rpms which cause resonance in the worn bearings. The refurbished solo I received has one motor which is slightly looser than the other 3. It's possible that the bearing wear/resonance may be why some solos work perfectly while others have more random errors.

 

[User Name]

In my experience, even between brand new motors, and even from high quality brands, it's very common to see some spin more or less freely than others. Not sure if that's an accurate way to judge wear. And if it was, the fact that one of yours is looser than the others would suggest that the other 3 were replaced with newer ones, which seems less likely on a referb than having to replace a single motor.

Motor wear is definitely concerning. It's the one wear item, it's hard to really judge lifespan, replacing them arbitrarily is expensive and/or difficult, and a pending failure could go from undetectable to total within the duration of a single flight.

I have yet to have a drone just fall from the sky (from something other than my own tomfoolery), but I know it's just a matter of time!

 

[gtomko]

I am also not sure if how freely a motor spins has a direct relationship to the wear on the motor. The motor I am referring to being loose has a slight amount of play side to side in the bearings. Its almost imperceptible, and it does also spin slightly easier.

Its not the motor physically failing that concerns me, as bearings tend to loosen over time naturally. Its any wobble or resonance that could affect the magnets orientation relative to the coils, and the timing of the h-bridges. I'll get an oscilloscope on the drone some day for some in flight measurements.