Mini Error Code 30210 - After I cleaned hair out of one of the motors

[S2005]

Morning everyone

I'm a newbie. This is my first drone, and I've had it for maybe a week I haven't even logged 4 hours of flight time yet.

I was hoovering it around trying to be fancy, and I should have known better. One of the rules of rookie pilots is not to fly near objects. I flew it right into my own head, and had to trim my hair to get the drone off of me. I shut the drone down, and pulled the battery out. Then I removed the prop guards, and then the props. I took some tiny scissors and trimmed off all the visible hair I could find. I put it all back together, and it flew around fine.

Next day, I flew around, and when I brought it back down to change batteries, I noticed a little more hair wrapped around the motor. I took it apart again, but this time, I went a little further. I took the earlier steps, plus I loosened the three screws that hold on the motor. I was able to pull it out just enough to pull out the rest of the hair.

However, when I put the battery back in, and got ready to fly, I now get the Power System Error 30210.

I have two schools of thought from here.

One, I love tinkering, and fixing things, but we see how that's gone so far with the Mini. :\ I've read online it could be the ESC board, which I can find for pretty cheap... however, it could also be from a disconnected wire somewhere. (Probably near that motor I was attempting to clear of hair). Should I try to take it apart again, and see if there are any loose wires, and maybe go as far as replacing the ESC board?

Second, should I just bite the bullet, and send it off to DJI? I've read it takes a while, and it can be expensive. Any idea about how much a repair like this costs?

Any input is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[old man mavic]

welcome to the forum,sounds like you had a hair raising experience ,
have you spun the motor to see if it is as free as the others could still be hair in there
it is possible that it has damaged the ESC ,but if you do fix it yourself then you will invalidate the care refresh

 

[S2005]

Haha indeed. Luckily, (I assume) the Mini detected resistance on the motors, and shut off the props so the damage wasn't too bad. Lost some hair for sure though.

Motors all spin fine now, and when I first power the drone on, all 4 of them do that little twitch (I assume again, part of pre-flight system diagnostics?)

What is care refresh?

Thanks for your response!

 

[old man mavic]

Haha indeed. Luckily, (I assume) the Mini detected resistance on the motors, and shut off the props so the damage wasn't too bad. Lost some hair for sure though.

Motors all spin fine now, and when I first power the drone on, all 4 of them do that little twitch (I assume again, part of pre-flight system diagnostics?)

What is care refresh?

Thanks for your response!

it is a DJI drone replacement scheme that covers crashes or faulty products and gives you two replacement drones in the first year of ownership
unfortunately you have to purchase and activate it within 48 hours of the drone being registered
it can be done after that time ,but DJI then require you to send them a video of the drone flying ,to show if there is any issues and they then decide if you can get the refresh

 

[S2005]

Ah, I bought it second hand, so that option is already out for me I imagine

 

[dirkclod]

Hey it was better to loose some hair than a eyeball.?

 

[Jeff A]

welcome to the forum,sounds like you had a hair raising experience<SNIP>

I see you are maintaining your sense of humor!

 

[old man mavic]

I see you are maintaining your sense of humor!

thanks its very important during these troubled times to lighten the mood ,apart from that i just cant help myself

 

[S2005]

If you're an example of the type of folks that hang around this hobby, I think I've found the correct hobby.

I'm about to start watching some videos about how to properly disassemble the mini, and I'm going to look for anything obvious. Here's hoping a cable coming loose is the culprit!

 

[scro]

....sounds like you had a hair raising experience....

Or even... a hair razing experience

 

[S2005]

Well, I just started where I did last time. I opened up that one motor, and looked REAALLY closely.

There is a black, and a red wire coming out of the arm, to the motor. They both have tiny single strand copper coming out, and connecting to the coils inside the motor. ONE of the little strands appears to be broken.

Not sure I'm equipped to fix this, but I don't think its the ESC board. Just one tiny lead needs to be reattached.

 

[S2005]

Attempt at a picture

 

[S2005]

Whelp, I figured, for $30 I can replace the entire arm with motor, so I went for it!

Dropped the luckiest bead of solder in my entire life, and she flies!

Thanks gents!

Attached the obligatory photo of the sacrifice to the sky gods...

 

[old man mavic]

@S2005 boy thats some tough hair to snap a wire like that so glad you fixed it
i would advise that although you have restored power to the motor, it would be from a safety and reliability standpoint a good idea to replace the arm +motor as soon as you are able
it clear you are able to solder so i am sure you could replace the arm (from now on fly in the air,not in the hair)

 

[S2005]

Copy that!

I read somewhere that it's possible to fit the Mavic Air's motors instead? I might look into that if it's an upgrade! (Of course, then I'd have to do all 4...)

Might just get the new Mini arm/motor.

 

[DanMan32]

Refresh is associated with the quad S/N, not the owner, so it is automatically transferable. The original owner may have purchased Refresh. You can track Refresh coverage by S/N on DJI's support site.

 

[S2005]

That's good to know! I may look into that now also! I'm sure they'd do a better job than just dropping a bead of solder on it.

Pulled up the S/N on the DJI site, and this is what it shows. Does this mean I have 2 replacements left, or that previous owner used it twice?

After soldering on the motor, does this void my ability to send it in? Also, any idea what the fee would be?

 

[S2005]

Decided to go ahead and replace the motor.

Found the entire arm assembly with motor for ~$30 so it'll be here Friday.

I think even with DJI Care Refresh, it would have cost substantially more, and all I have to do is solder 3 leads, and turn a few screws. (I'm still not sure if I have 2 replacements left, or if it's already been used twice. Waiting to hear back from DJI support.

For now, I found their Flight Simulator software! I'm going to try to play around with that until the new arm gets here!

 

[Xanadu]

I'm still not sure if I have 2 replacements left, or if it's already been used twice. Waiting to hear back from DJI support.

Just checked the status of my care refresh (havent used any of the 2 replacements) and it shows up exactly like yours. So you have your 2 replacements available

 

[S2005]

That is awesome news! Thank you!

So, how much do you think it would cost to send it in for repairs? I can't seem to find a consistent cost via googling it... and the arm/motor is only $30 for me to repair myself...