The magic smoke!

[Nick B]

Think my 3gx died on spool up on my 450l.

I have tail but cyclics dead,all 3 work when plugged into a mate's plank.

There was a puff of smoke at approx 500rpm on first ever spool up,but nothing smells dead.Could not see where smoke came from :/

My bec is putting out 5v.....have i been unlucky and the 3gx has part failed(still have tail remember) and is it worth risking putting my vbar on it??

Help!!!

[Jez N]

Guess its like Russian roulette nick. Could have been a faulty 3gx and the ESC is fine! Either way I would get in touch with the shop about a new 3gx.

Personally I would stick the vbar on and see. But I'm an impatient bugger!

[Nick B]

Well,I Spooled up again when testing but noticed swash was not level then noticed cyclics not working.I'm 99% sure its the 3gx.

[Nick B]

Now im confused)not hard lol)

I just tried the cyclics and the work now,so i spooled up motor and its not right,it stutters and smell funny lol.

[Jez N]

Well if I could put a £10 on it I would say the 3gx. If it was £100 I would keep it in my pocket.

Still reckon you should go with the vbar and see.

[Nick B]

I'm pretty sure the smoke came from the motor now as there was a funny smell coming from somewhere but not your usual CC esc smell lol.

After the vid above i could smell it again,that along with its jerking tells me the motor is to blame but how come my servos work again,i tried 8-10 times at the field before unplugging them and they never worked!

[Jez N]

Hmm I would take a relit at present from the shop and put it down to a bad experience. It's only been out a few days and clearly not been crashed so reckon they wouldn't argue. More you fiddle the more they could argue.

[heathy]

Buy cheap buy twice. Don't say you weren't warned. Still, gives us something to laugh at when at the club.........you are coming this weekend right? Lol

[Jez N]

Tbh I think 20 minutes in the micro was a little long. Maybe 10 was enough!

[xygax]

check the motor windings continuity to earth and then check the speed controller each motor wire to both + and - you should be able to see a diode on all six tests but no shorts...

[heathy]

Lol, wasn't it the grill?? Maybe not enough Worcester sauce?

[Nick B]

Buy cheap buy twice. Don't say you weren't warned. Still, gives us something to laugh at when at the club.........you are coming this weekend right? Lol

lol gra,nobody said dont buy it because no one knew i was getting it,but know what you mean.....bit like your rc boat!

Jez,no worries on it getting sorted where i got it(local)

Steve,i really wish i was clued up on electrics like your are...your reply is french to me mate

[heathy]

Can't wait to taste it,cough, I mean see it. Lol.

[tourerjim]

When my motor pack up on my 500 3gx would go through its test but soon as I spooled up 3gx led's would flash & no cylic only tail

[Vikki]

If the motor stutters and it's free to turn then the esc is at fault. You've probably smoked a coil in the motor (personally, I prefer tobaco). Motor coils don't generally go on their own unless the insulation was faulty to start with and gave you a short. It could well have gone coil first then esc. The servos not working seems to indicate that the motor was sucking too much current and caused the voltage to sag enough to prevent the servos working correctly.

Something has now blown enough to relieve the short and give you proper voltage to the servos. Unless excess voltage escaped the bec side it is unlikely to be the 3gx. You are probably looking at a new motor and esc.

You could use a dvm and check the resistance of the windings and then check each wire to the motor case. You'll be looking for equal resistance on the windings (which will be quite low) and no reading between winding and motor case. To check winding resistance you need to set the dvm to lowest reistance setting and for wires to case you'll want the highest setting. For winding to case on highest your meter should indicate OL (or whatever your meter shows for no reading, holding the probes apart in the air will tell you want is indicated).

Hope that helps.

Vikki.