Motor Error-Should I be concerned?

[Blucenturion]

I have a perfectly operating 3 mo old Air 2 S and after reaching a point 1/4 mi from takeoff 1/9 (Sun) I received "Motor Error, Please Fly With Caution". I returned and landed, and have downloaded the file, but have no idea what to check or how to do it?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

You could upload the log to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help then post the link to the resulting page here, I don't know what it will show but ........

 

[slup]

Usually a motor error during winter flying means prop icing ... the ambient is somewhere between +4C to -20C degrees & the dew point is where the ambient is when you fly. All this means that you have moist in the air that freezes on the prop blades, creating a shallower prop pitch, leading to that they don't create the needed thrust ... to counter this the flight controller increase the motor RPM, & when the RPM's are starting to come near max the motor error is created.

The log that's needed to say anything more precise is the mobile device DAT log ... the TXT log will not include anything regarding the motors.

*Additional*

Yeah ... you should be concerned if the flight condition was as described above. When the prop icing becomes severe enough the motors will be on max & then your craft will be coming tumbling straight down.

 

[Blucenturion]

You could upload the log to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help then post the link to the resulting page here, I don't know what it will show but ........

iTunes is no longer available on IOS, I'm afraid.

 

[Blucenturion]

I did get this from Airdata. Outside air temperature was 57°F.

 

[slup]

I did get this from Airdata. Outside air temperature was 57°F.

57F ... that's like almost 14C degrees above the freezing point, should rule out prop icing in that case.

The log you got there on Airdata will not include any motor data at all ... all there comes from the TXT log. The DAT log includes motor data ... but it will not give much, most probably we will see a short moment with a rapid increase to higher RPM's then an increase again. This can happen sometimes, especially if yawing fast.

My advice is that you either change your props now or keeping an eye on if this error returns on a more regular basis & change props then.

And if you're using other props than the original ... you change back.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

If you can not find the txt on your phone you could download the txt from airdate to a computer or Mac and then upload it to the phantomhelp page and post the link etc. etc. etc. The csv from PhantomHelp is more extensive than the car from air data.
The txt from Airdata might be zipped so you might have to unzip it

 

[slup]

... the txt...

What are you hoping to find in the TXT log?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Not a lot.
But you did say
"The log you got there on Airdata will not include any motor data at all ... all there comes from the TXT log".
Given that you know your way around these log better than me I thought you might be looking for something in it.
Given your question I assume I misunderstood you.

 

[slup]

"The log you got there on Airdata will not include any motor data at all ... all there comes from the TXT log".
I assume I misunderstood you.

Sorry ... sloppy school English. I was first in the sentence referring to the Airdata picture the OP showed & stated that nothing about motors will be in there. And then referred to my earlier post that it comes from the TXT (which I earlier had said doesn't include motor data).

Nothing in the TXT will reveal anything about the motors ... it will just be a note about that error, not any cause for it.

 

[Blucenturion]

Sorry it has taken me this long, but here is my text file from Monday's flight.

 

[slup]

As said earlier ... the TXT log will not show a possible reason for motor errors, this as no motor data is included in that log. What's needed is the mobile device stored DAT log ... the one from this flight ends with FLY050.DAT & it's stored in a subfolder, MCDatFlightRecords, in the folder that contained the TXT log. (But to be honest ... don't think we will find any conclusive there either unfortunately.)

Below is what's shown out from the TXT log ... & as I suspected, the only indication of a motor error is in the TXT log message stream which have an error flag coming at 108,6sec into the flight. At that point you was hovering & had just stopped a rudder input & followed up with a short throttle blip for descend. Neither pitch, roll or yaw show any abnormalities.

My advice is as before ... either you change props now or wait until later if it turns out that this error starts to show up on a more regular basis. And use the original props ... not some aftermarket ones.

(Click on the picture to make it larger)

 

[Blucenturion]

No idea why, but that folder, MCDatFlightRecords, is empty. But of course I'll change the props; I keep original backups as they were on sale. Thanks very much for your efforts!

 

[slup]

...that folder, MCDatFlightRecords, is empty.

That's usually due to that you've auto sync of the flight logs activated, which is the default setting ... the sync to the DJI cloud service deletes the DAT logs. If you want to be sure that you have all available logs from your flights at hand if something happens I recommend you to deactivate that auto sync ... you do it in the FLY app, Profile/Settings/Sync Flight Data ... & there deactivate "Auto-sync Flight Records"

 

[Blucenturion]

That's usually due to that you've auto sync of the flight logs activated, which is the default setting ... the sync to the DJI cloud service deletes the DAT logs. If you want to be sure that you have all available logs from your flights at hand if something happens I recommend you to deactivate that auto sync ... you do it in the FLY app, Profile/Settings/Sync Flight Data ... & there deactivate "Auto-sync Flight Records"

I see. Thanks!

 

[projectarjun]

Usually a motor error during winter flying means prop icing ... the ambient is somewhere between +4C to -20C degrees & the dew point is where the ambient is when you fly. All this means that you have moist in the air that freezes on the prop blades, creating a shallower prop pitch, leading to that they don't create the needed thrust ... to counter this the flight controller increase the motor RPM, & when the RPM's are starting to come near max the motor error is created.

The log that's needed to say anything more precise is the mobile device DAT log ... the TXT log will not include anything regarding the motors.

*Additional*

Yeah ... you should be concerned if the flight condition was as described above. When the prop icing becomes severe enough the motors will be on max & then your craft will be coming tumbling straight down.

This happened to me today too, even after replacing the propellers. I didn't want to risk it. Can't always rely on the UAV Forecast