Brushless ESC smoked

[cobalt220]

I have had the Nano for about four months now. I had been on the fence about upgrading to the more powerful brushless motor. I was at my LHS today and some guys were there talking about how happy they were with the brushless upgrade, so I decided to purchase one.

I read the included in instructions and made quick work of the install.

Upon throttle up, the ESC began to smoke. The motor was running but had no power.
I examined all connections and confirmed all was proper.

I re-installed the original motor and flew it without issue.

I switched back to the Brushless, and the motor would run, but power would go completely dead and a split second later come back. I did not try to fly this way.

Anybody else have this sort of issue right out of the package?

My LHS is about an hour away, so I think I will call HH tomorrow and see what they say.

[neuroticindian]

Someone had the same problem a couple weeks ago:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=613945
or more specific:
https://www.helifreak.com/showpost.p...1&postcount=12


I'd say call HH, and they should send you a new one. Not sure if LHS would replace it, so you could get it faster, would have to ask them.

[headless_monkeyman]

Mine flamed. "On the third day, smoke rose from the ESC unto the heavens, and the Nano flew no more". March 6th I made the call and was promised a replacement kit within a month. Yesterday (the 21st of April) I called again to ask where to send a nano that would fit in a letter sized envelope because that was how small I was ready to stomp it (it has burned two more brushed motors since I purchased the flaming BL to get it to stop) from sheer frustration before sending it to them as a message. (I need my Nano for therapy, and fly it five minutes out of every 30. You wouldn't like me without my flying toys). I pointed out that they had been stocking dealers with full kits after being transferred to some sort of very nice "oops, mia culpa" agent, and he thought for a minute and since what I probably need the most to get off the ground is the ESC he sold me (well, comped under their generous warranty policy) the full kit, but by placing multiple orders, so the ESC left a warehouse at a dead run that afternoon, a motor from another state in the morning and wiring probably by camel caravan next week. It was a great solution that didn't require that I think of it and then beat it into him like a lot of customer service.

In all, HH is totally schizophrenic. Brilliant if sometimes unpractical around the bleeding edges engineering (I shudder when I think how many swash plates I have been through. I have a involuntary tremor and the little balls rotate up so easily in that casting. But if they had been over built I'd never have known the true pleasure of flying with a proper Lync swash, So while that adventure cost us almost a hundred dollars in the first month of ownership because we rush and overnight everything for therapy purposes, it still came out as a wash. Cheaper than a visit to the PT).

The engineer then hands the cutting edge plans to a room full of people who will rubber stamp anything and perform 0 prototype and product testing, and then the plans go to a factory full of some kind of monkeys who make the things. My freaking blades flew off the second flight because the spindle nut was that loose. And my first flight was a five second spin up with the training gear on. So I'm not talking about zooming around for a full battery here doing 3d. I am talking about cautiously spooling up for a total of 15 seconds without the skids leaving carpet. I glanced out the window for a shooter. Thought it had been shot, the way it was lying there on its side all spread across the room after that bang! A true PTSD moment.

Since that unboxing I have beaten the crud out of it, and broken every single part but three in five months. It is a steep curve, my experience is around fixed wing (real) and some Robinson time. That does nothing for flying a nano copter inside of a 6x8 box. Oh, the BL does hurt more when you fly into your own face. But that is another story. With it's light weight I find the nano to be almost un-killable. I never buy bling, because even the weight of glue you put on is counted against you in the kingdom of bouncing heli heaven. And I prefer to see a break than guess at bends. Everything looks wavy to me because I have bifocals and an astigmatism. And my daughter accidentally cut one of my corneas once. And the human brain is a fantastic thing that compensates for all of that day to day so that I think I see things as they are. Unless I look closely.

So if the Nano is so great why am I so frustrated with it and even wanting to try other brands just for fun? Well, this forum and others are like little recall boards. You can hear about waves of bad parts, both manufacturing and workmanship errors as they come through the "pipeline". And HH has LOTS. Not only that, they are not isolated and tend to be on large runs of parts that are designed in such a way they have to be replaced to often, like Nano motors and servos. And LANDING GEAR. What is with the landing gear that they just keep burping them out of that machine and stuffing them into bags without at least beefing up the front left corner a little? The problems are broad enough that I have gotten each of them, even when it is supposedly a cure for the current state of the product like the brushless was. I ordered it not because I want to be a hotshot pilot, but because a wave of brushed motors was hitting England the week one of mine burned out that was only lasting as few as three flights for some people. So I said "Uck this" to any more brushed motors and I couldn't cut and glue because of my hands, but the factory drop in BL was obviously made just for me!

And that ESC, I had read other people's experiences from the previous week and was lucky enough to save my (cracked) 3/1 board from fire by slicing the two sided tape into strips and putting the ESC up off of it, with ventilation below it too! And I was impressed when it used the motor to play a cheery tune when my heli was bound! But Ring of Fire or the funeral march would have been more appropriate.

So when I ram into stuff, shame on me. But when I put new stuff out of the package carefully onto the bird and it fails within a few flights, well that happens enough that I can't recommend the Nano to friends even if they can already fly and / or have someone to pay for the parts like I do.

Irony being what it is: to save money on rush service and postage I bought a Estes ProtoX right about March 1st. It turns out that they are using motors that while they list for only six bucks for a pack of four, are only good for an average of thirty flights. 30. And six days later it had to take up duties for my Nano. You can do the math. But amazingly I managed to keep it going for three full weeks! So now I am grounded and despondent. I am trying to find anyone who knows what that factory ESC is based on and how to flash it if need be so I will never have to rely on HH again to fly because of it. And FOR THE LOVE OF DOG, does anyone know the actual specs on these Estes ProtoX motors? They don't publish them, and they have yet to release them to their darned retailers. So i can't even shop electronics and hobbies shops looking for something "close enough".

My old therapy was yacht racing. It cost more, but wasn't so bloody frustrating.

Good luck, and if I can do anything let me know.
Kurt

Ps. The DX4e enjoys none of the complimentary things I said about the engineering of the Nano, but none of the black marks of Nano production. I have heard and agree with the reasons they did it. And move two buttons around and at least your heli and the next one will survive to fly another day (you expect me to take my hand off the part that makes the bird FLY to hit throttle hold? In the Air Force we flew planes that had been designed with great research and thought by people with PhD's who think about that sort of thing for a living. You will just move slower because you will not want to relinquish the control you already have.). Jets have funny shapes and locations for things for that reason. I'll toss the aileron and elevator when I'm feeling they won't save me any more - heck that is almost a habit with fixed wing folks, make sure it isn't pointed at t he ground and let it stabilize for the civilian aviation toys. It's trim is probably smarter than you are (thinking not even of post gps toys, but affectionately of the old red trim wheel between the Cessna seats when I was a boy). So if something has to burst into flames why can't it be the DX4e? It smells awful. Why did it have to be the new BL I was excited about showing the neighbors and my son? Grrrrrr. This took too long to write. Gotta go fly now. Down to a Syma107 as the only working horse in the stable (stolen from my son), but I just made it a rad new Angry Birds canopy for him. So I can't say I'm ashamed to be seen with it tagging around with me here in the house.
Cheerio!
K

[hookedonflying]

Originally Posted by neuroticindian

Someone had the same problem a couple weeks ago:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=613945
or more specific:
https://www.helifreak.com/showpost.p...1&postcount=12


I'd say call HH, and they should send you a new one. Not sure if LHS would replace it, so you could get it faster, would have to ask them.

Yup, that was me. They replaced the motor first for me, but when that didn't work they replaced the ESC. Upon receiving the new ESC, I plugged the new motor into it and it acted just as it did after the original smoked (run with very little power, just like yours). They then sent me a complete set motor and ESC and it is now in the air again. I'm really not sure what happened. Possibly, my esc burned up and killed the motor at the same time, then when I plugged that motor into the new ESC it killed that ESC. Then that esc killed the new motor. I don't really know, but they did replace it all and it is working. I am concerned, though, because they uttered the words "one LAST time" when they sent the final set, so it better last.

[hookedonflying]

Originally Posted by headless_monkeyman

Mine flamed. "On the third day, smoke rose from the ESC unto the heavens, and the Nano flew no more". March 6th I made the call and was promised a replacement kit within a month. Yesterday (the 21st of April) I called again to ask where to send a nano that would fit in a letter sized envelope because that was how small I was ready to stomp it (it has burned two more brushed motors since I purchased the flaming BL to get it to stop) from sheer frustration before sending it to them as a message. (I need my Nano for therapy, and fly it five minutes out of every 30. You wouldn't like me without my flying toys). I pointed out that they had been stocking dealers with full kits after being transferred to some sort of very nice "oops, mia culpa" agent, and he thought for a minute and since what I probably need the most to get off the ground is the ESC he sold me (well, comped under their generous warranty policy) the full kit, but by placing multiple orders, so the ESC left a warehouse at a dead run that afternoon, a motor from another state in the morning and wiring probably by camel caravan next week. It was a great solution that didn't require that I think of it and then beat it into him like a lot of customer service.

In all, HH is totally schizophrenic. Brilliant if sometimes unpractical around the bleeding edges engineering (I shudder when I think how many swash plates I have been through. I have a involuntary tremor and the little balls rotate up so easily in that casting. But if they had been over built I'd never have known the true pleasure of flying with a proper Lync swash, So while that adventure cost us almost a hundred dollars in the first month of ownership because we rush and overnight everything for therapy purposes, it still came out as a wash. Cheaper than a visit to the PT).

The engineer then hands the cutting edge plans to a room full of people who will rubber stamp anything and perform 0 prototype and product testing, and then the plans go to a factory full of some kind of monkeys who make the things. My freaking blades flew off the second flight because the spindle nut was that loose. And my first flight was a five second spin up with the training gear on. So I'm not talking about zooming around for a full battery here doing 3d. I am talking about cautiously spooling up for a total of 15 seconds without the skids leaving carpet. I glanced out the window for a shooter. Thought it had been shot, the way it was lying there on its side all spread across the room after that bang! A true PTSD moment.

Since that unboxing I have beaten the crud out of it, and broken every single part but three in five months. It is a steep curve, my experience is around fixed wing (real) and some Robinson time. That does nothing for flying a nano copter inside of a 6x8 box. Oh, the BL does hurt more when you fly into your own face. But that is another story. With it's light weight I find the nano to be almost un-killable. I never buy bling, because even the weight of glue you put on is counted against you in the kingdom of bouncing heli heaven. And I prefer to see a break than guess at bends. Everything looks wavy to me because I have bifocals and an astigmatism. And my daughter accidentally cut one of my corneas once. And the human brain is a fantastic thing that compensates for all of that day to day so that I think I see things as they are. Unless I look closely.

So if the Nano is so great why am I so frustrated with it and even wanting to try other brands just for fun? Well, this forum and others are like little recall boards. You can hear about waves of bad parts, both manufacturing and workmanship errors as they come through the "pipeline". And HH has LOTS. Not only that, they are not isolated and tend to be on large runs of parts that are designed in such a way they have to be replaced to often, like Nano motors and servos. And LANDING GEAR. What is with the landing gear that they just keep burping them out of that machine and stuffing them into bags without at least beefing up the front left corner a little? The problems are broad enough that I have gotten each of them, even when it is supposedly a cure for the current state of the product like the brushless was. I ordered it not because I want to be a hotshot pilot, but because a wave of brushed motors was hitting England the week one of mine burned out that was only lasting as few as three flights for some people. So I said "Uck this" to any more brushed motors and I couldn't cut and glue because of my hands, but the factory drop in BL was obviously made just for me!

And that ESC, I had read other people's experiences from the previous week and was lucky enough to save my (cracked) 3/1 board from fire by slicing the two sided tape into strips and putting the ESC up off of it, with ventilation below it too! And I was impressed when it used the motor to play a cheery tune when my heli was bound! But Ring of Fire or the funeral march would have been more appropriate.

So when I ram into stuff, shame on me. But when I put new stuff out of the package carefully onto the bird and it fails within a few flights, well that happens enough that I can't recommend the Nano to friends even if they can already fly and / or have someone to pay for the parts like I do.

Irony being what it is: to save money on rush service and postage I bought a Estes ProtoX right about March 1st. It turns out that they are using motors that while they list for only six bucks for a pack of four, are only good for an average of thirty flights. 30. And six days later it had to take up duties for my Nano. You can do the math. But amazingly I managed to keep it going for three full weeks! So now I am grounded and despondent. I am trying to find anyone who knows what that factory ESC is based on and how to flash it if need be so I will never have to rely on HH again to fly because of it. And FOR THE LOVE OF DOG, does anyone know the actual specs on these Estes ProtoX motors? They don't publish them, and they have yet to release them to their darned retailers. So i can't even shop electronics and hobbies shops looking for something "close enough".

My old therapy was yacht racing. It cost more, but wasn't so bloody frustrating.

Good luck, and if I can do anything let me know.
Kurt

Ps. The DX4e enjoys none of the complimentary things I said about the engineering of the Nano, but none of the black marks of Nano production. I have heard and agree with the reasons they did it. And move two buttons around and at least your heli and the next one will survive to fly another day (you expect me to take my hand off the part that makes the bird FLY to hit throttle hold? In the Air Force we flew planes that had been designed with great research and thought by people with PhD's who think about that sort of thing for a living. You will just move slower because you will not want to relinquish the control you already have.). Jets have funny shapes and locations for things for that reason. I'll toss the aileron and elevator when I'm feeling they won't save me any more - heck that is almost a habit with fixed wing folks, make sure it isn't pointed at t he ground and let it stabilize for the civilian aviation toys. It's trim is probably smarter than you are (thinking not even of post gps toys, but affectionately of the old red trim wheel between the Cessna seats when I was a boy). So if something has to burst into flames why can't it be the DX4e? It smells awful. Why did it have to be the new BL I was excited about showing the neighbors and my son? Grrrrrr. This took too long to write. Gotta go fly now. Down to a Syma107 as the only working horse in the stable (stolen from my son), but I just made it a rad new Angry Birds canopy for him. So I can't say I'm ashamed to be seen with it tagging around with me here in the house.
Cheerio!
K

WOW!

[cobalt220]

HH Sent me a complete new ESC and motor. I replaced it and it flies great. Good customer service is appreciated and will keep mer buying HH goods!!

[Soccerjay]

Its funny because everyone on this thread is probably part of .01% of the customer base HH deals with.

They make their money on replacements but offer great customer service, they can afford this because most wont take the hassle of sending it back and waiting so they buy a new one and the free one they sent out is already paid in double (probably even more profit)....not bad business


Sent from my Goblin 125 using SAB

[hookedonflying]

Originally Posted by Soccerjay

Its funny because everyone on this thread is probably part of .01% of the customer base HH deals with.

They make their money on replacements but offer great customer service, they can afford this because most wont take the hassle of sending it back and waiting so they buy a new one and the free one they sent out is already paid in double (probably even more profit)....not bad business


Sent from my Goblin 125 using SAB

They never asked me to send mine back. In fact this is the second time they have sent me a replacement of something without sending it back. Say what you want, but they do offer pretty darn good customer service in my opinion. Plus, do you know of a better micro helicopter out there? I don't. So they make a pretty darn good product, too. Yes, like anything else in life, there are replacement upgraded parts that are better than the original, but that's just life. I'd never spend $300 on a nano right out of the box. I have to "gradually" spend that money on it. lol

[Soccerjay]

Originally Posted by hookedonflying

They never asked me to send mine back. In fact this is the second time they have sent me a replacement of something without sending it back. Say what you want, but they do offer pretty darn good customer service in my opinion. Plus, do you know of a better micro helicopter out there? I don't. So they make a pretty darn good product, too. Yes, like anything else in life, there are replacement upgraded parts that are better than the original, but that's just life. I'd never spend $300 on a nano right out of the box. I have to "gradually" spend that money on it. lol

didnt mean it negatively just a matter of fact...they do have the best micros on the market and the best customer service of any rc company i know...just check my sig..three listed plus a few more bashers i didnt put up there

[hookedonflying]

Originally Posted by Soccerjay

didnt mean it negatively just a matter of fact...they do have the best micros on the market and the best customer service of any rc company i know...just check my sig..three listed plus a few more bashers i didnt put up there

Yea, I get ya. It did come across a bit negative. Really, that's business, though. I mean, like I said, most people wouldn't go out and spend $300 for a micro. Maybe, to your point, though, if they just put really good parts into it to begin with, then it would be priced somewhere in the middle. But then we would not be able to buy blade helicopters anymore, because they would lose their cash flow and shut their doors. lol

In reality, though, as with most things, it has to hit the market for a while to figure out what really needs to be redesigned or upgraded. I suppose I'm willing to cut them a break on that. I won't cut them a break on $12 main brushed motor replacements, though, which last 30 flights. Or $10 plastic main blade grips that are designed with the ball extended out 50% further than necessary creating an obvious leveraged weak point. Grr. They could be plastic and still be much better. I better stop now. I'm starting to fade from my point. lol