Have searched high and low for maintenance on these birds. All I can find is general clean up and battery maintenance. My concern is the motors and those keep us in the air. There are two type of bearings that can be used. One is sealed bearings that are supposed to be lifetime greased and require no maintenance. The second are bearings which after x number of hours of operation require oiling. Upon examination of the motors in the Phantom I see what looks to be an oil port. Not sure but it appears to be that way. I have sent an eMail of to support at DJI a asking about maintenance. Since there are very few moving part I would guess it would be minimal however, we need to know for sure. The threads I have searched on seem to go toward no oiling. But we need to know for sure. A seized bearing will drop the bird from the sky in a heartbeat. Has anyone gotten info from support on this issue?

Roy,

I hope someone answers because I'm wondering the same thing. I've got quite a few hours on mine now and I'd feel a lot more comfortable knowing the answer to your question.

Jerry

I believe they are maintenance fee.
Adding oil will only attract dust and debris that will make the bearings fail earlier.
My V+ is now 10 months old and has never been touched in any way.

The life of these motors is rated in many thousands of hours.....BUT, since we are using them in dusty and dirty environments it could be much less.
Most pilots should simply make sure they are dust and dirt free (blow them out, but the props do a pretty good job of keeping them clean).

You have to play the odds - and consider what seems to bring down these birds. I'd say that the battery and connections to it are one of the biggest.
So keep your contacts clean - inspect them and maybe use some de-ox cleaner on them.
Taking apart the Phantom every once in a while is a good idea - to inspect for components that look overheated, bad solder joints which may be failing due to flex, etc.

As far as the motors go if a pilot wanted to be really conservative maybe they might replace them at about two years of fairly serious use. That's just a total guess...but why not? If you get two years your bird deserves a few bucks put into it.

I always have a family member to pass my stuff on to...so it will be their problem in a couple years if the bird survives that long (most don't, IMHO).

I have heard of oiling the bearings. Bad idea?

thedjiguy Posted at 2015-5-18 07:07
I have heard of oiling the bearings. Bad idea?

The viscosity of the oil you use can be too low and just wash away the bearing-factory applied lubricant.

Still haven't gotten a reply from DJI. And I see we are still opinionated as to what to do. Do these motors have sealed bearings ? Anyone know for sure?

I also think that these motors do not need maintenance. I think oiling them is a bad idea!! Just keep them clean from dust etc. I check the motors from time to time. How do they sound without props, is one motor hotter than another after flight, etc. I have flow many hours with a Phantom, and only one time a motor made a strange sound when spinning down without props on it. Sounded like a lose bearring, but everything was as tight as it can get. To be sure i replaced the motor, and everything was fine again.
I also think if they needed oil or something, they would put that in the manual.

Im not sure on the older motors but the newer motors on the Phantom 2 Vision plus are maintenance fee for the most part. Blowing them out with caned air and checking them by spinning them with your fingers are some of the best preflight checks you can do. I go a step farther and use a Temperature Gun Like This One to make sure all are the same temp and I do not have one getting hotter then the others. I also use the temp gun to check the temps of my ESC by shooting the laser into the vent holes.
I personally would not apply any grease or oil to the motors cause it could cause sand to stick inside and not blow out.
  

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-5-18 05:47
The life of these motors is rated in many thousands of hours.....BUT, since we are using them in dus ...

I highly doubt these motors would last thousands of hours. They don't have a published MTBF on them. In my opinion they are like ESC's and could go out at any time.

The only moving part and the only mechanical issue would be the bearing. Electric wound DC current motor can last forever as long as they are cooled properly and stay fairly clean. The only issue is the moving friction part which is the bearing. The armature moves but it only spins and of course on the bearings. Just trying to get a professional for sure about the bearings. I would hope they are sealed perminately lubricated but then they would have a recommended replacment usage. Due to the cost of this animal I would really like to know the maintanence standard for the motors. I plan on replacing the motors and ESC after a period of time but was looking for an official maintenance requirement anyone know where DJI buys the motors from. I would even go to the manufacture to see if w e can get info. All aircraft have maintence schedules to keep them flying. The ole saying what goes up must come down... But we want it a controlled coming down!