Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sebastian Gralla on May 15, 2011 at 3:37pm

motors failing when touching the connectors

motors failing for no reason

and so on

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Permalink Reply by Brent on May 15, 2011 at 3:38pm

The connectors spin freely when plugged into each other, it is a manufacturing defect (bad tolerance).

 

Use a drop of solder on the end of the male plug if you want to use them, it solves the problem.

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Permalink Reply by Denny Rowland on May 16, 2011 at 2:41am

It would seem that the problem with bullet connectors is the fact that they have a built in function that allows them to swivel for some strange reason. I do like being able to swop a motor with very little hassle, so I solder that function so that it doesn't move. Thus far no problems.

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Permalink Reply by Nigel on May 16, 2011 at 4:06am

I was at the Blackbushe r/c airshow (in the UK) this weekend and spoke to a vendor about this problem of rotating connectors.  According to him, the problem is this...

 

The male connector consists of a central shaft and a surrounding 'cage' which has an expanded central section (to make contact with the female connector).  The cage part is split along its longitudinal axis.  When the cage enters the female connector it is compressed and supposed to be pressed against the inner shaft.  However, if the dimensions of the cage part are such that its split edges meet before the cage is compressed onto the inner shaft then they take the load and no load is placed on the shaft.  This allows the two parts to rotate with respect to one another.  According to the vendor the 'better' connectors (like the ones he sells!) don't do this.

 

I solder my wires rather than use connectors but this is a nuisance.  I guess we should try and identify a reliable brand which doesn't rotate.

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Permalink Reply by LAIC on May 16, 2011 at 4:01am

solder the connectors !
- problem solved :-)

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Permalink Reply by Lee on May 16, 2011 at 4:17am

Is there a special way that people are soldering their motor wires together? I have a tough time getting them to stick and say straight. Do you need to twist the wires over each other first? A picture would be worth a thousand words in this instance. Thanks!

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AdminPermalink Reply by John C. on May 16, 2011 at 10:06am

something like this helps.

 

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Permalink Reply by Limebear (Rob) on May 16, 2011 at 10:38am

I just twisted the cores of the two wire ends, with about 5mm of metal exposed, and put a 20mm length of heat shrink tube on to one of the wires. Then I heavily tinned each end, so that there was a little excess solder on each part. Then I bent each wire in a right angle so that the tinned ends were parallel ish and close together. Then holding one of the wires I placed the 2 tinned portions side by side and reheated so that the solder flowed nicely over the joint. When it's done right, then it looks smooth and there's no significant misalignment. Then slide the tube over the joint and use a heat gun to finish it off. Only 12 to do!

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Permalink Reply by John Hanson on May 16, 2011 at 11:16pm

I had same prob and replaced all bullets. I had a ESC faiil and do the 'flip of death' too, lucilily low over a bush.I also had a similiar bad crash when ESC cable vibrated loose. A while back I noticed that the ESC powering the electronics was very hot - I now run all electonics off a 10 A BEC.  All units run very cool now.

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Permalink Reply by ARHEXA on May 16, 2011 at 11:20pm

.

this have been proven to be the reason,

have a look http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/first-flight-first-big-crash

 

like everyone, my first flight ended in a big flip, blaming the windy day.... 2 props broken and motors full of dirt

but obviously after soldering the connectors it didn't happen....

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Permalink Reply by Lee on May 17, 2011 at 3:33am

Yikes, as much as it will pain me, I guess I'll have to undo and resolder all the connections on my hexa (18 connections). Unfortunately this happened to me a couple weeks ago and the hexa came down from quite a distance and right through one of the skylights of my house.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Lovett on October 16, 2011 at 4:40pm

I've experienced this flip of death on two separate arducopters. Both after doing a burst upwards, then trying to come down slowly after that, flip, crash. Expensive. I rigged up the quad so it couldn't move and tried the same maneuver and after a while got a repro on my work bench.  One of the motors beeped and stopped mid-flight.  That would definitely cause the flip of death.   I’m using the bullet connectors on both quads, and in both crashes they did not come undone, but may have wiggled a bit during flight.  So now I’m going to solder them and see if that fixes the problem.

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