Hi all!
I had a small incident with a tree yesterday about 5' off ground, now one motor will not spin.  Any ideas? ESC or Motor? Also could someone please direct me to removing the top half of the airframe it's a phantom 3 pro.

Thanks in advance!

I think I would send it in to have it serviced. That's just my feeling. Then again I'm not much of a wizard when it comes to fixing things. Good luck!!

does the motor turn freely by hand or not?  It should be free spinning but with a notch as iyou feel each magnet.  check against the others which work.  Does it feel the same?

You should change the title to "Phantom 3 Motor stopped working!? After hitting tree"

jon.jongodfrey Posted at 2015-5-29 07:29
does the motor turn freely by hand or not?  It should be free spinning but with a notch as iyou feel ...

Yes it feels just like the other ones

So I'd suggest it's not physical damage.  it's perhaps electrical.  I've not taken one apart but I have seen a tear down on the web.  There's a connect to the main PCB which is soldered and glued or tied, I forget.  There will also be a cable which runs down the arm to the motor.  The connection will be to the middle of the motor on the bottom as it is with brush-less motors.  That's where I would start.  It could be the controller but that controls all four channels so it's less lightly. It could also be a failed motor but they are pretty robust and changeable even if it is.

If it were me I'd have a go at it but if you are not comfortable with taking things apart and soldering better get it to a service centre. It shouldn't be too horrendous.... let's hope you have been lucky. :-)

jon.jongodfrey Posted at 2015-5-29 17:59
So I'd suggest it's not physical damage.  it's perhaps electrical.  I've not taken one apart but I h ...

So I removed what I thought was the failed motor last night and moved another from the other corner of the unit into it's location and soldered it in that one worked perfectly where the other one did not thus confirming the motor was damaged.  I've ordered the 2312 motors and I am hoping these are correct for the unit.  I found something interesting, when I was testing the unit with a multimeter the three good motors with the drone on read 0.0012 V at rest but the one motor which was bad read 0.0532 ohms of resistance and no Voltage.  Just food for thought on future diagnostics I guess!  

Getrekdent Posted at 2015-5-29 21:36
So I removed what I thought was the failed motor last night and moved another from the other corne ...

Nice fix, great job.  Really interesting that a motor would burn out with a tree impact.  They must run pretty hot.  Probably one of the coils or rather the thin insulation which is over the copper coils will have burnt out and that is giving you the resistance difference.  I saw a video somewhere which showed these wound by machine but perhaps somebody somewhere might be able to repair.

So I’m guessing rotor stuck in a branch but the motor still under load and no airflow caused it to overheat… but that’s just a guess. :-)  

you've just saved yourself a load of money and time by fixing it yourself by the way.

Yes, well done. I would have ended up paying someone else to do that for me.