Quadcopter Hot Motor | REAL WORLD TROUBLESHOOT 

JB thank you for what you do! You posted this 2 years ago and it is still saving developing pilots days and days of head scratching. Got me back in the air again, keep up the great work!

Just earned a sub. This saved my bacon 5 years later.. Never would have thought about checking the screws for current but low and behold, the screw for the motor was touching the coils and after i found it and replaced with shorter one.. works like a charm..

"Walnut tree branch hit my power line" We all know you hit it with a quad. :)

the pendulum effect of having the battery under will also give you warmer rear motors. slide the battery forward a bit to help compensate a little for that problem.

You just diagnosed my hot motor problem, I thought it might be a screw touching but never even thought to get the multimeter onto the frame. Big thanks!

holy shit. I just built a 4'er with the same motors and the back left one is getting hotttt. Thanks for the vid

Educational that’s an understatement! You just saved a very expensive drone that I just built and noticed all four motors were heating up and so was my frame! On the first hover test I noticed and I honestly thought it was the drones weight! I discovered all the screws were touching the windings of the motors!! This guy is an absolute god of quads, thanks Joshua you saved me yet again!

Really interesting. Have to check one of my quads later where I was not able to found the issue. EDIT: Checked out one of my quads and found out that this issue caused me a bad video signal. Changed the screw to a shorter one and all is fine. Thanks again.

I got hot motors and tried using the multimeter and low and behold it was the screws, just as you described. Thank you so much.

Thats pretty dedicated right there. Power is out for over a day and STILL making videos so we can learn something today. *ThumbsUp* I received the ThinkTank FPV Session backpack today and it is all the rage! I wore it at work right after it was delivered heh, with all my gear in it and one quad strapped to it. Yeah!

I thought I had a bad esc on my walkera rodeo 110. After watching this video It made me realize it might be the motor screws are to long cuz the landing feet broke off on a crash so now the screws are to long without the legs. I was able to mod the motor mount and now shes fine. So I just have to say thank you for this!!!!

Thank you Joshua, after a crash i had desynchs and a hot motor, thanks to this video and a multimeter i found the solution immediately.. i used to long screws, they damaged the insulation and made contact to a motor cable after the crash... thanks again

wow, thanks again. you saved me a bunch more headaches getting this one back in the air. this completely solved my issue.

Power outage and you still deliver a troubleshooting video. You're the man!!! Thanks!!!

I absolutely learned something today. I couldn't figure out a year or so ago what the problem was with my RMRC hellbender 204 frame was. I h ad 1 motor that got stupid hot, and always. I thought my tune was bad, or something else was wrong. I also had the VTX causing issues with "smoke" where the 90 degree adapter went through the CF frame and made contact, so I thought I had a short somewhere, I rewired EVERYTHING, but the problem persisted. Never was able to diagnose that quad, and I junked that frame thinking it was crap. I bet money now that the problem was exactly this, and all along I blamed that frame! I need to buy a new one and build it out, and tell it how sorry I am.. hahaha Thanks man, as always, love your videos, and your dedication to our craft and teaching everyone!

This older video helped me in a huge way. Thanks JB! Brand new Babyhawk II HD was crashing right out of the box. Turns out the motor screws were too long and there was continuity from three sets of motor screws to the FC. Final crash broke the frame and bent a motor shaft. Noted this in my warranty report to EMax :)

Again you have saved my butt, i just rebuilt my quad and put pads under the motors and one started to get very hot so the first thing i did was search your videos and yes my screws were to long :) thanks Joshua

It's crappy outside today so putting around the house to practice acro. Just checked and my rear motors were indeed hotter also. Must be because we are usually on forward tilt so rear are usually working slightly harder. Another excellent video as usual

You're my hero Dude! Had a very warm motor, looked up "drone hot motor" on RU-vid, watched your video, and Bam!! Never would have thought a short to the frame would be the issue after a very careful build of a new drone. Thank You!

thanks a lot for this video! built another 5" with the new version Racerstar 2207 2400KV and after a minute of maiden flight two of the motors on the opposite sides were super hot and that's when i remembered your video. Just checked them with the voltmeter a surprise surprise both motors were showing continuity. Unscrewed the screws next to the wires and that fixed an issue. Thanks a lot for your help!

My kwad was all good,and one day like you said. It fell out of the sky randomly, i was like wtf. First i thought maybe a bad esc or because i removed the notch filters. But your video helped because i couldn't figure out why one motor was hot as hell. Thanks keep up the good work.

Wow....thats professionally done...JB I think you're beyond your time...but Im sure you just study harder than the rest, dont take what you do for granted my friend, you take a lot of stess out of newbie quad operator....long life and blessings be upon you and your lineage, keep safe fly high👍

Wow!!! You saved my butt with this information. Thank you so much Joshua! I am not sure how bad I was about to burn everything up after replacing a motor and did't notice the 1 mm difference in screw length. Watched your video and pulled out the Fluke. Problem solved.

You just fixed my quad. Thank you. You really do make me learn something every time I watch.

Thanks for this video. I had 2 motors with this motor to esc connection! I wouldn't have neven known such a thing was possbile without this video. All fixed now!

You just saved me from desoldering a motor and do an entire wrong troubleshooting!!!

Watched your video and 'just for fun' ran those tests for myself. I had just switched to new motor protectors and eyeballed the required bolt length using the back two bolts (because they were easier to see, and it never crossed my mind that the clearance on the front could be different). Sure enough it showed continuity on all 4 motors to the frame because the front bolts were just long enough to touch while the back bolts were fine Great timing posting this video :-) Thanks!

Good Work Joshua, I just discover the problem with my hot motors, it just a too long screw on it, and i should have a spare motor that I thought it was burned, but It was the same problem certainly. Thank you. ***** :)

Thanks for these videos Joshua. Although you said that carbon fiber conducts electricity, I was dumb today and fried my ESC after replacing a dead motor :D I was like, let's just plug in the battery to see if the new motor works - ESC was not yet installed just rested against the frame, making contact between the battery pad and I think the current meter. Smoke came out LOL

You. Are. A. God! Thanks so much Joshua Bardwell! this is exactly the problem I had. I was forced to use longer screws due to my frame and Im 99% sure this is the cause. Thanks so much!

Totally solved my problem, screws were leaking power into the frame!! Great video , never would of worked that out

Hi Joshua, Just a quickie to let you know that my esc's checked out it was my flight controller. I've ordered another. Thanks so much for your thoughts and time. 👍👍

An easy trouble shooting and build technique that'll save a lot of time & energy. The lead up to is very useful for understanding a variety of potential issues. Thanks!

6 years old now and still helpful!

thanks joshua, coincidentally just ran into this issue. i will go back because now what i thought was the solution may not have been. back to the bench!

How could I have possibly not been subscribed to the literal source of all quad's power and greatness?!?! Done! :) ...love those Tornado 1407's btw, absolutely amazing! I'm running them on my Shrieker 130 :P

Great video! Never thought of checking screws touching the winding like this.

Great vid. Helped me solve an issue on one of my builds that I could not figure out what the hell was going on and I also got myself a multi-meter. Great stuff as always

Brilliant, I had 2 quads doing exactly that and I thought I had dodgy esc's, cheers dude, saved me some money there!

Incredible, this video solved an issue I've dealt with on a new custom build. Never would have thought that was the issue! Wile E Coyote! Super Genius!!! Thank you so much!!!

I like to say thank you sir you are much help I was going to give up until I realized I needed to take out all my screws and then ran my drone again and come to find out thats exactly what it was I was grounding my motor with my screws

One of the best videos I've seen in a while. Super helpful.

Dude, thank you so much. Having issues after attempting to soft mount my motors and sure enough I have continuity from my frame to TWO of my motor! Thanks!

Dear Joshua, thanks a lot for this great advise! It helped me a lot! Greatings from Germany Jan

Thanks! I like your videos. In my opinion the back motors get slightly warmer because they have to catch up with the front in every turn you make. Inertia also makes the quad want to do a backflip in every fast turn, which the back motors have to counteract.

Just bought an inductance meter to test for internal stator shorts, but this is a great tip for that cheeky hot motor.

Good information! Definitely learned something today. Thanks for sharing this, Joshua.

Great vid, always good to learn something or get a duh reminder. So many things to watch for and I've seen a bunch of quick sloppy builds be big problems, checks like this would help save parts, time and frustration.

Thanks JB, been having trouble with a product line from GEPRC the Crocodile 7, motors overheating on 4s, and smoking on 6s and can't help wonder if there isn't a relationship. Great work bro! Ya Ramblin' Wreak!

Awesome Josh, I've been wondering forever why my rear motors always came down a bit warmer than the fronts. Thought I had an issue with all my quads lol.

Josh for the save once again.. +1 Karma +1 Love

Thanks for sharing this info sir, no wonder the motors were getting hot and I was having only about 5mins flight time.

Thanks for this. I had one motor getting very hot. Going to check it now. I learned something today.

One of the most useful videos I’ve seen in a long time. Thank you so much for your advices!!

EPIC tutelage going on here bud!!

It's my experience with rear motors that because the default settings rotate the props inward or counter clockwise on rear left and clockwise on rear right it overrevs the motors on yaw bank hard turns. Swap the prop rotation in betaflight cli, the yaw directions and in bl heli reverse the rotation. Of course it's not your topic here but I'd love to see a video of your experience after doing this. I believe more people would as well. I only build quads this way now I find it makes flight caricature better, don't pin rear motors at high rpms, and it doesn't throw mud or grass on camera's lens

This was my exact issue, my motors even have plastic to guard from that but my bolts were just 2mm too long. Only one was shorted though, and this was after a motor replacement!

I love this guy the man is a professor of fpv

Hey I wanna say thanks so much for the video, ALL FOUR WERE DOING THIS!!! You seriously saved my ass, thanks so much.

Thank you so much - I thought my motors where getting hot, but it was the screws touching the windings. I almost returned the motors ...

Great video Josh thanks for uploading, didn't realize it was that easy to troubleshoot

As always a helpful video:) What's crazy is that for the first time time happened to me last night and of course I'm on the road. What's puzzling to me is that I lifted up the motor and ESC (screws all the way off) but it still tones from the frame to the motor wires. Odd.

Thanks Josh. Fixed my hot motor issue. was easy once you know what to look for.

Its nice every time I watch ur videos I learn something new very nice thank u.

Great information, I had the same issue and now its sorted.... Big thumbs up.

Great video. Learning more about my quadcooter everyday. Thanks

Thanks dude, my back two motors were totally shorting. fixed!

Thanks for this. I have a quad that has a frame screw that is heating up like crazy, now I know why.

All my motors and esc's are very hot when plugged in without props. ???

Yes, very very educational. Thank you so much for the effort you put in.

Thanks, as always super useful stuff!

I had the same thing only when i use betaflight motor test, rear motors are hotter then the front motors without props. They both make a squik sound and stalls when hitting the throttle stick. After replacing both problem was solved and i can hit the sky again and not the ground 😎

Just as a frame of reference I find the threshold of pain at about 55 to 60 C (yes I know everybody has a different threshold of pain). I worked in a lab for a few years that had a 55C water bath and I had to add and remove samples from it constantly so I have a pretty good idea what 55C feels like. It is uncomfortable but not truly painful. But once you get to about 60C it gets truly painful for me. Motors can still handle 60C without being damaged. So I agree with Josh, if you can still touch them without drawing away in pain, you aren't damaging the motors.

Great troubleshooting video and explanation. Thx for posting.

rear motors RPM are higher at forward momentum as front rotors mostly keeping the quad stabilized. The only time all 4 motors spin at same RPM is when its going strait up. Rear motors are your main motors for going forward. You can check your RPM and see the ration during forward fight with no altitude change.

Awesome vid just switched my esc and motor left rear same problem

Well i've learned something, off to check my quad

just wanted to check and see if I was right. And I was. I had 3 Motors doing it and going out of sync right away on the dys elf after I replace the frame

I have some of those motors. I had to cut the screws down with a dremel as they were at least a millimetre too long, maybe 2mm.

Thanks man! helped me figure out why ive been getting desyncs after burning my finger on a motor lmao.

Had the same issue . But dint figure cuz of my shitty eachine wizard x220s frame . Its got fibre glass with carbon fibre .Nc conductivity. Bummer . Thamks for the help

Thanks this fixed my overheat issue I had on the build I just did that i sent you a video of.

Wow this was one of the most helpful vids ever awesome... I HONESTLY appriciate everything you do for us. One

had a similiar problem with my VTX. i screwed it into the frame and as soon as i powered it up the PDB started smoking. below it the frame was burnt afterwards, right below the positive battery terminal. it was quite weird, the pdb didnt had contact with the frame since there was plenty of soldermask and there wasnt any components on this side., none of the wires was damaged. just the Camera and VTX was touching the frame with its grounded parts.

we say ground using DC but it's really negative and positive DC electricity travels out the negative Pole and in the positive Pole like a magnet pushing and pulling negative pushes positive polls a complete circuit. it seems the opposite of the way I've always understood it the fuses are always on the positive side which means we basically control the return electrons

my eachine lizard had hot motors and it looks to be this problem. I've only taken it for 3 flights and am wondering if i have done permanent damage to my quad. thanks for the great video.

Joshua - you are a life saver! Thank you!

Great video! I most definitely learned something new today. Thanks bud.

U are really great bro. Love all ur video. So many fix my problem with ur vid

Educational as allways. Thanks!

Thanks for idea. I had same problem... Now Its fix IT... Good work

I have one hot motor since a few crashes I think. But this isn't the problem :( I already swapped the motor with a brand new one and that also didn't help. Could it be a damaged ESC?

A small tip. I just now had 2 hot rear motors. T-Motor F20 v2. I changed props, messed with PID's and some other stuff. Read this post and someone mentioned screws too far into windings: www.reddit.com/r/fpvracing/comments/6himkh/why_are_two_of_my_motors_overheating/ I knew my screws were slightly long. Changed them out with shorter ones, and the motor heat went away. Boom.

This video kicks ass. Nice stuff!

Though you sometimes go on a bit......today you saved my ass!!! Thank you sir!!

I have a dji fpv. Was inspecting it last night and noticed just one of the motors looks like the coating on the coils melted... looks like glue on half the coils of the motor! Is the motor damaged? Safe to fly? Sooo ya was told about the coating by posting a video of the motor on a drone community. Also just learned from this video that's its an enamel coating! So ya, this stuff is melted over half the coils... is it no good now?? Scared to fly my drone!

This was so helpful ,thanks

Hi Joshua My motors are spinning up correctly only when put through BLHeli when calibrating ESC the rest of the time they just twitch. Can you help me? Many thanks. Richard Ward

Always educational..!!!

wow this is awesome!!!