Know when your drone will die

[Sojourner60]

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/march/05/guessing-when-your-drone-will-die

I read this article today. I was surprised to learn that some motors only last 30 to 40 hours. When they start to die they will smell like they are burning. I log my flights to keep track of my flight hours and for maintenance. The props are supposed to be replaced after 50 hours.
I fly a P4. For those of you that have been flying the P4 longer than I have, how many hours do you have on your bird? What problems have you experienced? I've been driving Toyotas since 1985. Most of them the starter and alternator brushes have to be replaced around 100,000 miles. I'm guessing that there will be similar problems with a drone that crop up after so many hours. This thread is a good place to share your routine maintenance or unexpected maintenance.
Help make drones safer and share your experience.

Thanks!
Don

 

[R.Perry]

My phantom has 96 hours, (based on my logs, may be off a little) and have had no problems with it. I think one of the differences is I don't run my batteries below 30%, sure it makes for shorter flights but extends the battery life, and reduces heat in motors from low voltage. I"m on my second set of batteries on the Phantom.
The inspire 2 I'm not sure because I'm the second user and the previous didn't keep records. I fly the Inspire twice a week for about three hours each day. I'm beginning to see some battery issues on the Inspire.

 

[BigAl07]

We have aircraft with well ABOVE the hours you mention with the factory set of props on them.

I have Inspire1 V2, Mavic Platinum, Phantom3Pro(2), Phantom 3Standard as well as some custom and older off the shelve sUAS. None of them have an "equipment life" chart and all of the ones specifically listed above fly at least 1x-7x a week. One of my P3P has over 100 hours on it's airframe and all I have done is replace the props (after resetting one of the arms that was badly deformed in an "incident").

 

[Sojourner60]

BigA thanks, that's good bews

 

[Tim Jones]

that is what I love about Pixhawk based units. I do a log review after every session, you can literally see motors working too hard long before they fail.
I just do a total frame review after every 50 hours, tighten all the screws, check all the connections.
I caught a bearing going bad clear as day, replaced it and kept on flying

 

[Graham Degg]

Guessing when your drone will die - AOPA

I read this article today. I was surprised to learn that some motors only last 30 to 40 hours. When they start to die they will smell like they are burning. I log my flights to keep track of my flight hours and for maintenance. The props are supposed to be replaced after 50 hours.
I fly a P4. For those of you that have been flying the P4 longer than I have, how many hours do you have on your bird? What problems have you experienced? I've been driving Toyotas since 1985. Most of them the starter and alternator brushes have to be replaced around 100,000 miles. I'm guessing that there will be similar problems with a drone that crop up after so many hours. This thread is a good place to share your routine maintenance or unexpected maintenance.
Help make drones safer and share your experience.

Thanks!
Don

Don,

Far less need to replace brushes on brushless motors. The only thing to wear out in these are the bearings which usually give plenty of warning (graunchy when rotated by hand, heating during flight etc.) so shouldn't be an issue. Batteries are probably the biggest issue, both maintenance and ensuring they are fully clipped in place - particularly where they side-load like the phantom series.

 

[Geoff G UK]

You can review each motor's current consumption after a flight - this may well highlight a motor with bad bearings or other faults. I'm basing that on the fact that in a zero wind hover they should all be similar.