Hey guys!
Long story short: 1st day, all calibrated, updated etc. Nice take-off, few minutes to fell the drone, landing. And here we come...
As a newbie I simply tried to gently put it down, after a touchdown I pushed both sticks down and toward each other. Yes, you guess it, it flipped. It stayed on the legs but the left rear propeller hit the grass (I tried it on nice even short grass field). The motor stopped and started making this funny squeeky high pitch sound. After literally 3 sec I lifted it up, motor did not start spinning the propeller still making the sound so being afraid it would burn I simply took the battery out. I noticed a bit of white smoke comming out from the motor just before taking the battery out. To be specific - hit, 3 sec later I picked it up, 4 sec later took the battery out so all took not more then 7 sec (I have a vid on sc card and counted sec)

After inspecting the drone I decided I would turn it on again. I flew it for few more minutes on very low alltitude (max 2 m), did not notice any strange behavior, uneven hovering, tilted drone etc. It started raining a bit so I came back home. I inspected the drone again and noticed there are few marks in the motor (burn marks within the wiring). I took some pics however it looks more severe on the photos then in real life. Also I noticed the motor was much hotter then the others. I have a feeling it does not turn as easily as the others but maybe I'm unbiased due to what I witnessed.

Has anyone had the same experience? Is it bad to fly it again? I'd rather not lose the drone for 1.7k because of the motor for $25. I would appreciate the advice from the more experienced users.

My idea was to turn it on again without propellers and use the rest of the battery to check out if it gets hot abnormally in comparison to the other motors... Is it a way to go?

Thx in advance guys!

That's a new one!  Looks like the motor shorted, I doubt it was your fault. The motor controller should have cut off the motor before it smoked,  I would not fly it at all,  contact DJI for RMA to send it in or hopefully you can take it back and exchange it where you bought it!  Sorry, this happened to you, now you have to mess around to get this straightened out.  

Thank you for the reply! Unfortunately I just got it from ebay (China) and considered sending it back etc. as the last option Do you think it would be an option to go through what I described before? 'flying' the battery without the propellers and seeing what happens? I flew it for several minutes after I 'crashed' it and it seemed fine. Maybe I should just replace the motor?It seems the other motors were cut off when it flipped. I also believe the motor  I am talking about was stopped too - after I picked it up it didn't look like it was trying to continue and as I remember it did not try to continue it's move just after it touched the ground neither - it was not 'glued' to the ground trying to do another spin - if you know what I mean
Thank you for your time

Kubacci Posted at 2015-10-27 12:09
Thank you for the reply! Unfortunately I just got it from ebay (China) and considered sending it bac ...

That motor can never be trusted and will result in a lot more grief for you.Check ebays return policy and send it straight away you will probably get it exchanged quicker than doing a RMA but check with DJI .Do nothing more with that motor whatsoever dont want to give supplier any reason to accuse you of misuse and refuse to authorise replacement.Good luck

sorry for your crash, always pains me to hear someone not able to fly.

yeah, as the others suggested - do not fly it. if that motor fails completely whilst flying, well... i think you know the outcome.

also, when you do get flying again. do not use the CSC command to shut down the engines when landing. (imo - this is to only be used in an emergency situation to shut down the motors. although it can/should be used to start them when taking off) instead,  pull the left stick down gently until contact with the ground, then hold the left stick down all the way for a few seconds and the motors will shut down. (don't worry, it wont happen whilst flying)

The motor is damaged.  From the looks of it, you cooked a winding in the motor.  Motor windings and coils, once overheated, have changed inductive characteristics and don't operate the same.  The motor likely didn't short, it just overheated, melting the varnish that acts as insulation between windings.

NEVER shut down with the CSC command (both sticks to inside bottom).  When you land, keep the left stick pulled all the way down once the landing gear is touching ground, and the right stick centered (hands off).  After three seconds, the motors will shut down without tilting.  Using CSC for shutdown frequently leads to tip-over situations like you experienced.

Replace the motor yourself if eBay won't handle it.  It's faster.  If you aren't competent with disassembly (it's difficult) and soldering, take it to a shop.  Get the right motor when you order.  That is one of the new ones.

Hi.
Also if you are thinking of changing the motors, i think i have read that you must replace the 4 motors at once, not only the one that is faulty.
Check it.
Also a friends phantom 2, months after a crash and changed the motor, his esc went bad and crashed again.
I think you should send it back, so that you will not have to worry about all that.

Roi

Sorry for your incident. As everyone's said only left stick down  for motor shut off. Also , if you were to replace the motor yourself remember to get the correct motor for your flight controller.  

I'd say replace the motor, $25 for a motor and you learn more about the drone. Otherwise shipping and the hassle might be worth more than $25.

Future reference, get some prop guards! I just got mine earlier this week and I told myself I will always use the prop guards, I don't see a con to using them at all plus it protects it in this situations and even if you land on a non even surface! Plus it looks a little bigger

Good luck, I know you'll be flying again in no time!

Live and learn.

Thank you guys for all the replies. To be honest I was counting you would say it's worth trying, but on the other hand the whole toy is too expensive to take the risk...
I am already looking for the motor, I will change it just in case. Soldering shouldn't be a problem, even got the precise soldering gun recently. But - I also came across the information there are two types of motor and is it possible to find out which one I should by without opening the drone to have a look?[I think i found the difference - the top of the motor is either flat or not]
I thought propellers' guards would be in the box - I would have used them for sure... Now I will order them on ebay as well.
Is there anything else you guys would recommend buying to protect/service the drone better in the future? I have different seen gimbal protection thingies, motor silicone caps etc. Do you use any of these things? Any motor/propellers upgardes?

Engine exchange and crash again - THREAD

I almost did the same thing.  except the sales man who sold it to me yelled "Nooo" immediately.  Then proceeded to tell me that I almost flipped it.  He said that the csc has to be practiced in the sim, because you're giving the quad so many commands at once.  He also said he practices and is still sketchy. just holding down on the elevator will sit the motors off too.  sorry this happened to you