Align 600MX motor shutting down

[Granpappy]

Hi there,

I just flew the second flight on my new X50E and I was getting power failure after about 4 mins. I'm using a CC Ice2 HV 80 amp controller and an Align 600MX 510Kv motor.

The ESC is getting up to about 50 deg C, but the motor is getting really hot. Below is a log graph showing Throttle in, motor power out and esc temp. Between 4 and 5 minutes I had 3 power failures I then shut everything down and waited a couple of mins. I brought it back into the hover and then another power failure, so I packed up and went home.

All the ESC settings are as they should be but the PWM is set to 'Outrunner Mode' instead of 12Khz. I don't know whether this makes a difference or not.

Any ideas please, otherwise I'm gong to get a new motor.

Cheers

[trillian]

That motor came out of my Beam Avantgarde and worked perfectly for many flights. I was using a Jive 80HV. Unfortunately I don't know what pwm frequency or timing as the Jive sets those automatically.

I think timing of about 7 and pwm either 8 or 12khz. The motor is 10 poles. --- Just looked at a couple links to Castle setup info and they show 8khz for the 700mx/510 and show 12khz for the Align 600EFL which I assume is the 600mx? But you can still try 8khz.

But if you're not happy with it for any reason just send it back to me and I'll refund you. I had three to choose from and sent you that one as I was the most certain of its reliability

[Granpappy]

That motor came out of my Beam Avantgarde and worked perfectly for many flights. I was using a Jive 80HV. Unfortunately I don't know what pwm frequency or timing as the Jive sets those automatically.

I think timing of about 7 and pwm either 8 or 12khz.

But if you're not happy with it for any reason just send it back to me and I'll refund you. I had three to choose from and sent you that one as I was the most certain of its reliability

I know you sold the motor in good faith and I have no intention of sending it back because the deal is done.

If I was totally convinced that the motor was at fault then I would not have made this post but just swapped it with a new one and you would never have been any the wiser.

I'm just asking advice from the forum because I don't know what the problem is. It just seems to point toward the motor but I could be wrong.

Please don't be upset. These things happen.

[trillian]

Well, my suggestion would be to start with 8khz and 7 degrees of timing, make sure it's set to 10 pole and the low voltage cutoff is set correctly etc.

I have had a few Castles and often found myself constantly fiddling to find the right settings and eventually I moved over entirely to Kontronik, sooooo I am a bit biased against Castle but perhaps a Castle expert could shed some light on it. I suppose it's possible that a motor that worked perfectly on a Jive might have gone bad for some unknown reason but I suspect something in the ESC settings first.

Whatever the case I am more than happy to take it back, it's really no biggie If I had the other two sitting here I'd just post one to you to try because that would tell instantly if it's the motor, but it just so happens that both of my spares are with someone that is going to rewind one of them so they're not here at the moment. I do have a 700mx/470 you could try though.

I'm not at all upset.

[10x]

Hello Grandpappy
I have run the same combination motor and esc in a align 600 and it works very well. Here is a link to castle website with info on the same mix....http://www.castlecreations.com/suppo...lign600efl.pdf
Hope it helps, I run mine at 12khz. Make sure you have current limiting at insensitive(140a)

[Granpappy]

Hello Grandpappy
I have run the same combination motor and esc in a align 600 and it works very well. Here is a link to castle website with info on the same mix....http://www.castlecreations.com/suppo...lign600efl.pdf
Hope it helps, I run mine at 12khz. Make sure you have current limiting at insensitive(140a)

Thanks. It was already set up using that data. The only difference is that I have PWM on Outrunner mode instead of 12Khz. I've now changed that to 12Khz and set the current limiting from 'insensitive' to 'disabled' just in case any ripple voltage is causing motor shutdown. (Grasping at straws). I'll try again tomorrow and see what happens. It's not much fun when your motor keeps cutting out. The only way is down......

[10x]

Have you the castle graph for voltage and current and ripple voltage? Or the castle file....

[Granpappy]

Have you the castle graph for voltage and current and ripple voltage? Or the castle file....

I do but the site is no longer giving me the option to insert an image file.

[10x]

Just insert the castle file...

[GIXERMAN]

Thanks. It was already set up using that data. The only difference is that I have PWM on Outrunner mode instead of 12Khz. I've now changed that to 12Khz and set the current limiting from 'insensitive' to 'disabled' just in case any ripple voltage is causing motor shutdown. (Grasping at straws). I'll try again tomorrow and see what happens. It's not much fun when your motor keeps cutting out. The only way is down......

be careful with disabling current limit as you will have no protection = castle cremations

[philipjdall]

Have you checked all of your solder joints? Most importantly the motor side bullets.

[Granpappy]

It works now.

[Granpappy]

Have you checked all of your solder joints? Most importantly the motor side bullets.

The motor side bullets look good but I can't validate them without resoldering them. The rest of the soldered connections are good.

[Granpappy]

be careful with disabling current limit as you will have no protection = castle cremations

If I pull that many amps whilst flying then I will be a happy man. (unless it's a short circuit).

[Grumpy]

I've run the exact same combo without any issue. the Align motors run very hot at the best of times, so unless it's literally hot enough to brand you then it's normal. Personally I now always set the PWM to the highest value available (24kHz on the Castle) and use default timing, but I've ran lots of different settings and never experienced any cut outs. Set low voltage cut to 'Slow down' (though voltage looks fine in the log).

i think you can rule out over-amping the ESC if you were only hovering, and the log file supports that.

I think a motor fault unlikely. Brushless motors are very simple things and generally they either work or they don't. If it's an intermittant problem then most times the problem is elsewhere. As already noted check the connections and also check that a sharp edge hasn't cut through the insulation on the motor wires causing an intermittent short.

Do you still have control of the servos when the motor cuts?.. That would be the first thing to check because it could be a brownout (if so the servos will freeze momentarily when the motor cuts). How are you powering the FBL / servos?