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Well, I have proven one thing, the stock motors are NOISEY!!
Changed the motors to T-Motor 2216 800kV and spun them up and they are smoooooth as. Night and day difference to the stock motors. Vibes are GONE.
Actually, the vibes were competely gone without the self tightening prop adapters, once the prop adapters were fitted a tiny amount of vibes can be felt, but it is very minor, and I cant feel anything at all in the gimball with all 4 motors running, even flat out..
I'll post a few picks of the change over, but for now these are just teaser pics.
Due to weather and work / travel commitments I probably wont get to fly this setup for another 3 weeks, so I wont be giving the full assesment for a while yet. Someone else may even jump in and do their own motor change and write up a review before I can.
There is a minor mod that needs to be done to the plastic motor carrier for the T-motors to fit, but otherwise they go straight in.
A word of caution, this is not a super simple modification, it does require some technical and soldering skill, other than that its not too complicated. This isnt a blow by blow tutorial on how to do the change, its just a few pics on what I did, and found, whilst changing the motors..
I chose to go with the 800kV version of this motor as I am going to be using the APC 10x4.5MR(ST) props that will generate more thrust than the stock props (and are still the conveninet self tightening type) so I thought Id use the slower motors to limit any current increase from those props. I also have a set of these motors in 900kV, 2 sets actually, so if 800kV still proves to be too slow or lacking control authority, I will change to the 900kV version.
I measured the stock motors on a kV meter and they read a little higher than the stated 880kV, at 890kV and the T-motor read a little lower than stated at around 790kV. Thats a fair difference, time will tell how it all goes.
I also noticed when I pulled the stock motors out and spun them, they 'cog' differently. Not sure why, but the magnetic resistance was different between the motors. Maybe a QC issue there. The TMs are a smoother cogging, like a higher resolution, and all the same.
So here we go...stock pods removed
I used a portasol gas soldering iron, with no tip installed, as a sort of miniature heat gun, to melt the plastic rivets to release the motor carrier from the ESC circuit board.
Note the size of the hole in the center, its just big enough to clear the circlip.
Remove that one silver screw and desolder the wires and the motor is out.
The stock motors have 1/8" (3.2mm) shafts and 9mm bearings, T-motors have a 4mm shaft and 11mm bearings and a bigger circlip on the end of the shaft (and heavier gauge wires) , so the hole in the plastic motor carrier needs to be reamed out to provide clearence for that circlip. Below, Tmotor on the left, stock motor on the right. Exactly the same external dimensions.
Reaming out the hole for clearence, using a prop reamer, about 2mm more was needed.
T-motor in motor carrier, hole widened for circlip clearence.
Below - the T-motor wires soldered onto the ESCs.
Because the T-motors have prop adapters you can fit a LH or RH adapter to any motor. What does matter here is the direction of rotation. I tried something at this point, I copied the wires phase rotation from the stock motors, making notes of what I pulled apart and soldering the new motors in the same way. I get every one right the first time and didnt have to resolder any wires to change direction of rotation.
If you do this, be careful with the size of your soldering, those motor pads have tight clearances from the surrounding ground on the PCB. Keep it neat.
Thats one done, 3 more to go...
I didnt bother melting the motor carrier posts back onto the ESC PCB, I just used a little glue that will be removable if needed in future. Once the pods are back in place the mountinfscrews hold everything tightly in place anyway.
With the self tightening prop adapter fitted, as this was one for the silver hub prop I have put a silver marker dot on the top as well. I was disappointed to feel a little vibration coming from the prop adapters once they were installed,when there was absolutely no vibes from the naked motor, but it is very minor and Im just being pedantic.
All 4 done...
Very tidy, very quiet and very smooth. Cant wait to get this into the air. It sounds completely different now, like it should in the first place.
The prop adapters are slightly higher than the stock prop threads, but they still fit in the backpack and GP case with no problems.
The adapters are specifically for P1&2 props and the threads will hit the top of the hubs inside the stock Solo props. Its not a big deal and they will work ok like this, or, the threads could be trimmed down 2 turns and they would fit perfectly.
I am leaving them unaltered as the APC props (still coming in the mail) will suit these adapters perfectly. I'll keep the stock props as spares. They may even be better for filming as they are softer and will damp out turbulance.
Changed the motors to T-Motor 2216 800kV and spun them up and they are smoooooth as. Night and day difference to the stock motors. Vibes are GONE.
Actually, the vibes were competely gone without the self tightening prop adapters, once the prop adapters were fitted a tiny amount of vibes can be felt, but it is very minor, and I cant feel anything at all in the gimball with all 4 motors running, even flat out..
I'll post a few picks of the change over, but for now these are just teaser pics.
Due to weather and work / travel commitments I probably wont get to fly this setup for another 3 weeks, so I wont be giving the full assesment for a while yet. Someone else may even jump in and do their own motor change and write up a review before I can.
There is a minor mod that needs to be done to the plastic motor carrier for the T-motors to fit, but otherwise they go straight in.
A word of caution, this is not a super simple modification, it does require some technical and soldering skill, other than that its not too complicated. This isnt a blow by blow tutorial on how to do the change, its just a few pics on what I did, and found, whilst changing the motors..
I chose to go with the 800kV version of this motor as I am going to be using the APC 10x4.5MR(ST) props that will generate more thrust than the stock props (and are still the conveninet self tightening type) so I thought Id use the slower motors to limit any current increase from those props. I also have a set of these motors in 900kV, 2 sets actually, so if 800kV still proves to be too slow or lacking control authority, I will change to the 900kV version.
I measured the stock motors on a kV meter and they read a little higher than the stated 880kV, at 890kV and the T-motor read a little lower than stated at around 790kV. Thats a fair difference, time will tell how it all goes.
I also noticed when I pulled the stock motors out and spun them, they 'cog' differently. Not sure why, but the magnetic resistance was different between the motors. Maybe a QC issue there. The TMs are a smoother cogging, like a higher resolution, and all the same.
So here we go...stock pods removed
I used a portasol gas soldering iron, with no tip installed, as a sort of miniature heat gun, to melt the plastic rivets to release the motor carrier from the ESC circuit board.
Note the size of the hole in the center, its just big enough to clear the circlip.
Remove that one silver screw and desolder the wires and the motor is out.
The stock motors have 1/8" (3.2mm) shafts and 9mm bearings, T-motors have a 4mm shaft and 11mm bearings and a bigger circlip on the end of the shaft (and heavier gauge wires) , so the hole in the plastic motor carrier needs to be reamed out to provide clearence for that circlip. Below, Tmotor on the left, stock motor on the right. Exactly the same external dimensions.
Reaming out the hole for clearence, using a prop reamer, about 2mm more was needed.
T-motor in motor carrier, hole widened for circlip clearence.
Below - the T-motor wires soldered onto the ESCs.
Because the T-motors have prop adapters you can fit a LH or RH adapter to any motor. What does matter here is the direction of rotation. I tried something at this point, I copied the wires phase rotation from the stock motors, making notes of what I pulled apart and soldering the new motors in the same way. I get every one right the first time and didnt have to resolder any wires to change direction of rotation.
If you do this, be careful with the size of your soldering, those motor pads have tight clearances from the surrounding ground on the PCB. Keep it neat.
Thats one done, 3 more to go...
I didnt bother melting the motor carrier posts back onto the ESC PCB, I just used a little glue that will be removable if needed in future. Once the pods are back in place the mountinfscrews hold everything tightly in place anyway.
With the self tightening prop adapter fitted, as this was one for the silver hub prop I have put a silver marker dot on the top as well. I was disappointed to feel a little vibration coming from the prop adapters once they were installed,when there was absolutely no vibes from the naked motor, but it is very minor and Im just being pedantic.
All 4 done...
Very tidy, very quiet and very smooth. Cant wait to get this into the air. It sounds completely different now, like it should in the first place.
The prop adapters are slightly higher than the stock prop threads, but they still fit in the backpack and GP case with no problems.
The adapters are specifically for P1&2 props and the threads will hit the top of the hubs inside the stock Solo props. Its not a big deal and they will work ok like this, or, the threads could be trimmed down 2 turns and they would fit perfectly.
I am leaving them unaltered as the APC props (still coming in the mail) will suit these adapters perfectly. I'll keep the stock props as spares. They may even be better for filming as they are softer and will damp out turbulance.
