Motor life expectancy

[Nightowl702]

Hi all. I was watching some videos on youtube of drones that fall out of the sky and someone suggested that some of the crashes may be due to motor failure since on some of the videos you can clearly hear the aircraft has power while its falling. It got me thinking about my Mavic. What is the life expectancy on these motors? Is there any warning of an impending failure? Has anyone here had a failure on a Mavic or any other drone? I usually give the motors a spin during my preflight to check for free spinning but Im not sure what a motor close to failing would feel like. Im interested in hearing your thoughts. Happy flying

 

[MavicScot]

I flew a lot of electric fixed wing and Heli's some years ago now , all were brushless motors similar to those used in the Mavic and out of 6 models I was flying at the time I had 1 failure . Plus it only failed immediately on the first flight, so with some of those aircraft having considerable usage I would think they will be good for years as long as they are looked after.

 

[Rplanas]

Motors may fail when they hit against a tree or a wall or if sand or dirt gets inside the magnets.
Beware, DJI does not sell brushless motors or other vital components as spare parts for the mavic pro and DJI service is slow and expensive.

 

[Kilrah]

If bearings grind or the whole thing vibrates due to a bent axle following a crash then you should worry, but that's about the only thing.

Most crashes are due to flight control system oddities (controller, sensors, algorithms, ESCs,....pilot), motors are powered and work perfectly fine but the rest makes them do meaningless crap.

I don't think I know of any motor-related crash. All that could be is a seized bearing but that's an extremely remote possibility.