How should I replace my back left motor?

[Joshmastro]

I recently crashed my mavic and my rear left arm cracked open. I have seen replacement arms online, but my question is: Is this something I can fix by myself? This fix would involve taking off the arm (which involves taking off the top shell of the mavic) and then detaching the wires from the inside. Which in pictures appear to be welded on. I will post pictures of the damage and also what I'm referring to about the wiring on the inside. HELP! I really don't want to send it to someone and drop hundreds.

 

[mfarris2]

Well, soldering a wire back to a board is not really that difficult. But if you do not feel comfortable with a soldering iron,.....they do make solder-less terminals. You could cut the wire from the board and strip the wire for the new motor and put on a barrel type coupler then crimp the wires together. Soldering would have been the best repair,......but these type of connections are used in millions of applications,....including automotive, industrial, and aeronautical fields.



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[Joshmastro]

Well, soldering a wire back to a board is not really that difficult. But if you do not feel comfortable with a soldering iron,.....they do make solder-less terminals. You could cut the wire from the board and strip the wire for the new motor and put on a barrel type coupler then crimp the wires together. Soldering would have been the best repair,......but these type of connections are used in millions of applications,....including automotive, industrial, and aeronautical fields.



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I actually was wondering if that would be a possibility. The replacement arms come with the three wires hanging out. If I cut the preexisting wires that are already soldered onto the board and then couple/splice them to my new wires, that should work fine? Do you know of a specific brand of wire connector I can purchase? I would only need three. Thanks for replying to my thread.

 

[mfarris2]

Any brand will work. Go to your local hardware store and pick up a package. Important,.....buy the size color appropriate for the wire size. Pink are for small wires, blue for medium size wires and yellow are for larger wires. I am not positive what size these wires are,.....but I am thinking pink will be correct,...certainly no larger than blue. These are pretty cheap and each package should cost you less than $5.00. And yes they will work just fine if installed properly. Because of room in the Mavic,...make sure you stagger where you cut the wires and install the couplers. (One cut a few inches from the board. The next cut an inch or so longer than the first cut,....and the finale cut longer than the second) This way you can tuck in the wires with the connecter without issues. Pay attention to this issue and you should not have any issues. Make sure you have a good crimper available.
Something like these are what you are looking for.
Hilitchi 100pcs 22-16 Gauge Butt Insulated Splice Terminals Electrical Wire Crimp Connectors: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
They make another style,....but they take up more room.
Good luck.


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[Kilrah]

It's going to be very tight to fit those in there.

 

[HumanShield]

As a person who just recently used a soldering iron for the first time on an old, cheap drone, I can tell you that it's actually pretty easy to solder even the tiniest of wires. I'm not very handy, at all, but I practiced just a little and was able to solder with no issue.

Just be careful to keep the iron away from the body of the drone, I did manage to melt some of the plastic of the housing...

 

[Joshmastro]

Any brand will work. Go to your local hardware store and pick up a package. Important,.....buy the size color appropriate for the wire size. Pink are for small wires, blue for medium size wires and yellow are for larger wires. I am not positive what size these wires are,.....but I am thinking pink will be correct,...certainly no larger than blue. These are pretty cheap and each package should cost you less than $5.00. And yes they will work just fine if installed properly. Because of room in the Mavic,...make sure you stagger where you cut the wires and install the couplers. (One cut a few inches from the board. The next cut an inch or so longer than the first cut,....and the finale cut longer than the second) This way you can tuck in the wires with the connecter without issues. Pay attention to this issue and you should not have any issues. Make sure you have a good crimper available.
Something like these are what you are looking for.
Hilitchi 100pcs 22-16 Gauge Butt Insulated Splice Terminals Electrical Wire Crimp Connectors: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
They make another style,....but they take up more room.
Good luck.


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Awesome. Thanks for the input. I appreciate it

 

[mfarris2]

Welcome.


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[AlwaysAWOL]

If you're not comfortable soldering the wires to the board, I'd be more inclined to solder the wires where you were planning on using the connectors. Slide heat shrink tubing onto the wire first, stagger the three solder points, solder, then heat the tubing over the join and you won't have to worry about the connectors fitting. While soldering put something under the wire so you don't drip solder on anything. Practice on some old wire if you haven't done it before. Always a skill worth learning!

 

[iride4u]

Since you are not comfortable soldering on the board. Cut the wires near the arm. Replace the arm and motor then take the bird to a local computer or CB store. Many techs can do the soldering for you. If you take it to a chain store they will have to charge a minimum service charge

 

[TRP]

Its pretty easy imo. I would recommend you try it on some scrap wiring and learn soem soldering because it can be extremely handy. Now try replacing a motor on a Tarot 810 though.. talk about complete body disassembly. Thankfully years of drone building will polish up anyones soldering skills!

 

[jasperthewonderdog]

Very helpful thread with pics. I am going to stagger solder the wires when I replace my rear right arm. I'll leave the connections on the board.

 

[CyberNate]

View attachment 6882 View attachment 6883 I recently crashed my mavic and my rear left arm cracked open. I have seen replacement arms online, but my question is: Is this something I can fix by myself? This fix would involve taking off the arm (which involves taking off the top shell of the mavic) and then detaching the wires from the inside. Which in pictures appear to be welded on. I will post pictures of the damage and also what I'm referring to about the wiring on the inside. HELP! I really don't want to send it to someone and drop hundreds.

Send it in to DJI. The cost is minimal for arm and motor replacement. You'll be surprised. It's less than $200 total and that includes parts and shipping.

I know because I crashed mine in the 1st week and they replace motors, arms, and even the gimbal had to be re-attached. In the end they charged me $180. The most expensive part was gimbal repair.

In reality they don't fix it. They simply send you a refurbished one.

 

[Starz]

Awesome. Thanks for the input. I appreciate it

Thunder-drones I'm sure would do a repair. Contact him through this site.

 

[Beemer533]

To could also use the crimp/solder style of connector . You crimp mechanically as normal , but then you use a heat gun to melt the solder and shrink the tubing .

Amazon.com: 22-18 Ga. Solder and Crimp Heat-Shrink Butt Splice Terminals - (pack of 10): Home Improvement

While these work really well, I personally would recommend learning to solder as others have suggested . It really isn't too difficult .