Well, my little Bebop 2 (BB2) has finally bit the big one.
Wife bought it for me many years ago as a gift and I never did much with it other than backyard flying. Fun and sporty little thing to buzz around with though. It's outfitted with blade guards and extended landing gear, but stock otherwise:
I use it now mostly to check the solar array on the roof, check the gutters and look over the shingles after storms and such. The images aren't the best from the 1080p camera and frame rate, but they get the job done without having to get up on a ladder.
Yesterday, I was checking the roof shingles and some error message flashed on the Ipad I have mounted on the skycontroller 1. I prefer the SC 1 as I used to be an RC pilot and the larger format just makes more sense to my muscle memory instead of a game controller sized thing. Being able to use an ipad on it for a larger picture is also a bonus. I didn't see what the actual error was because it was quick and things started happening really fast at that point.
I heard a "whack" noise at the same time as the error flash, which made me look up and I saw one of the blade guards go flying off. The drone just shut off dead in flight. It dropped to the roof, bounced once, hit the gutter on the way to the ground and ended up in a japanese maple bush. Beeping and flashing.
I recovered the drone and the front left motor was hanging from it's wires. The mounting screws were still in the arm. The camera fairing/shell had also been cracked/smashed in one spot.
I powered it off and then back on and the app now shows motor error on that motor.
Pulled it apart and yep, the motor has twisted its harness all to heck. I cut open the insulation and there it is; the wires are broken off right at the motor coils.
I resolder the motor wires and once powered up, the motor spins again and the motor error clears. That blade had a "ding" in it, but it wasn't torn so I massaged the plastic back to a clean airfoil.
I remount the motor to the strut/arm. The screws went in just fine to the motor mount threads, so they had somehow backed out and allowed the motor to come adrift from the arm. I put them back in with a little touch of threadlocker and do the same to the other three motors, just in case. The motor that came loose likley was loose from the factory and the screws had finally backed out enough to let go and cause the carnage.
I took it outside, hopeful that I had fixed it, but: no joy.
The motor spins up but the motor error returns before the Bebop gets airborne. The solder probably introduces too much resistance for accurate motor sensing and the control board "brain" just shuts it all down. I wasn't super keen on trusting the repaired motor to flight conditions anyways.
I check around online and it seems you can still get new/reconditioned/used motors, but they're not cheap. It would cost me 150-200 CAD to get a four motor kit, 80-100 for just the single motor "A" that I need.
Just as I'm thinking the little Bebop has had a good run but it's over, I check the local online for sale ads. Someone is selling a complete BB2 FPV kit (still with original packaging) for 200 CAD. Only negative thing it says is "needs batteries". I contact them and offer $150. They accept!
I needed to buy new batteries for my Bebop 2 anyways as they have the swelling batt pack "disease". The Lipo's are just too old now and they're done. I'd pay more than $150 to just get replacement motors for my crashed BB2 so this is a worthwhile deal!
So what I'll likely do is use the FPV drone with the skycontroller 1 and put my bebop 2 aside as spare parts. I'll have lots of spare parts now and my blade guards, landing gear etc will transfer right over to the "new" drone.
Another bonus is I can take one of the charger cables apart and make a harness to use my Hobbymate D6 Dual smart balance charger to take care of the new batts I'll buy.
So it started out as a sad story, but ended up not so bad after all! I'll have spare parts to keep them flying for years to come...
Wife bought it for me many years ago as a gift and I never did much with it other than backyard flying. Fun and sporty little thing to buzz around with though. It's outfitted with blade guards and extended landing gear, but stock otherwise:
I use it now mostly to check the solar array on the roof, check the gutters and look over the shingles after storms and such. The images aren't the best from the 1080p camera and frame rate, but they get the job done without having to get up on a ladder.
Yesterday, I was checking the roof shingles and some error message flashed on the Ipad I have mounted on the skycontroller 1. I prefer the SC 1 as I used to be an RC pilot and the larger format just makes more sense to my muscle memory instead of a game controller sized thing. Being able to use an ipad on it for a larger picture is also a bonus. I didn't see what the actual error was because it was quick and things started happening really fast at that point.
I heard a "whack" noise at the same time as the error flash, which made me look up and I saw one of the blade guards go flying off. The drone just shut off dead in flight. It dropped to the roof, bounced once, hit the gutter on the way to the ground and ended up in a japanese maple bush. Beeping and flashing.
I recovered the drone and the front left motor was hanging from it's wires. The mounting screws were still in the arm. The camera fairing/shell had also been cracked/smashed in one spot.
I powered it off and then back on and the app now shows motor error on that motor.
Pulled it apart and yep, the motor has twisted its harness all to heck. I cut open the insulation and there it is; the wires are broken off right at the motor coils.
I resolder the motor wires and once powered up, the motor spins again and the motor error clears. That blade had a "ding" in it, but it wasn't torn so I massaged the plastic back to a clean airfoil.
I remount the motor to the strut/arm. The screws went in just fine to the motor mount threads, so they had somehow backed out and allowed the motor to come adrift from the arm. I put them back in with a little touch of threadlocker and do the same to the other three motors, just in case. The motor that came loose likley was loose from the factory and the screws had finally backed out enough to let go and cause the carnage.
I took it outside, hopeful that I had fixed it, but: no joy.
The motor spins up but the motor error returns before the Bebop gets airborne. The solder probably introduces too much resistance for accurate motor sensing and the control board "brain" just shuts it all down. I wasn't super keen on trusting the repaired motor to flight conditions anyways.
I check around online and it seems you can still get new/reconditioned/used motors, but they're not cheap. It would cost me 150-200 CAD to get a four motor kit, 80-100 for just the single motor "A" that I need.
Just as I'm thinking the little Bebop has had a good run but it's over, I check the local online for sale ads. Someone is selling a complete BB2 FPV kit (still with original packaging) for 200 CAD. Only negative thing it says is "needs batteries". I contact them and offer $150. They accept!
I needed to buy new batteries for my Bebop 2 anyways as they have the swelling batt pack "disease". The Lipo's are just too old now and they're done. I'd pay more than $150 to just get replacement motors for my crashed BB2 so this is a worthwhile deal!
So what I'll likely do is use the FPV drone with the skycontroller 1 and put my bebop 2 aside as spare parts. I'll have lots of spare parts now and my blade guards, landing gear etc will transfer right over to the "new" drone.
Another bonus is I can take one of the charger cables apart and make a harness to use my Hobbymate D6 Dual smart balance charger to take care of the new batts I'll buy.
So it started out as a sad story, but ended up not so bad after all! I'll have spare parts to keep them flying for years to come...
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