Wizard X220 broken motor or ESC?

[Frisbee]

Hi All,

I flew my Wizard X220 using FPV for the first time today and somehow managed to damage it when landing. : (
Now, when I give it a little throttle the prop twitches a little bit and the ESC gets immediately hot. (The other three props spin like normal, and their ESCs do not get hot.)

Does anyone know how I should repair it?


BTW, I'm very new to this. I practiced for a few months with several different nanos, and with the DRL simulator for learning FPV. And I actually made it through two batteries without any problems... Flying FPV for the first time today was the most amazing and surreal experience, dream-like, and literally like a real life out of body experience where I could see myself as I flew away. I want to fly again so badly.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Does the motor seem normal when you spin it by hand? It is most likely either a bad motor or ESC. You can swap two motors to diagnose.

 

[Frisbee]

Does the motor seem normal when you spin it by hand? It is most likely either a bad motor or ESC. You can swap two motors to diagnose.

Hi TheGreenOrange,

Yes, all motors, including the questionable one, seem to turn freely in ~30 degree increments. So you think this would indicate the ESC is damaged?

So I'm guessing I should purchase some spare motors and ESC, and then learn how to replace them?

 

[theGreenOrange]

It still could be the motor. Easiest way to check is to just swap two of your motors and see if the problem follows the motor or stays with the ESC. You just need a soldering iron, some solder and preferably a desoldering wick or bulb.

 

[Frisbee]

Well, almost three years later and while in coronavirus lockdown I finally tried to fix this. (Because I have no soldering skill, and because work has been too hectic, this had been too daunting to attempt.) I bought a cheap soldering kit and items from amazon, and watched some soldering technique videos. I replaced the motor, and that did not work. So I harvested an ESC from my second Wizard X220, and that worked! My soldering skill is terrible, so I don't know how long it will hold up, but at least I am past the biggest hurdle.

 

[tevek]

Sorry late to this thread due to other ’shopping issues’ (Anyone got any pasta.)
The esc’s on the wizards are notorious for failure (motors not far behind). I’ve had them them catch fire, fail and generally misbehave. From memory I changed them out to 30A BLHeli S and fitted 2205 2300kv motors. Problem gone.

 

[Frisbee]

Sorry late to this thread due to other ’shopping issues’ (Anyone got any pasta.)
The esc’s on the wizards are notorious for failure (motors not far behind). I’ve had them them catch fire, fail and generally misbehave. From memory I changed them out to 30A BLHeli S and fitted 2205 2300kv motors. Problem gone.

Do the esc's typically fail out of the box, as two of mine did? Since repairing my quad, I've had a few long flying sessions, maybe approaching what seems like an hour of air time. It's actually flying great now, and the esc's are all cool after each flight.

So I'm wondering if the esc's were faulty because they were manufactured poorly to begin with, or if the other esc's will randomly fail the same way at some point. I've got 4 spare motors and 3 esc's which I can cannibalize from my second Wizard X220. But after that, I should plan ahead since shipping is so slow from Banggood.

PS and pasta is all sold out at my local grocer as well.

 

[tevek]

Do the esc's typically fail out of the box, as two of mine did? Since repairing my quad, I've had a few long flying sessions, maybe approaching what seems like an hour of air time. It's actually flying great now, and the esc's are all cool after each flight.

So I'm wondering if the esc's were faulty because they were manufactured poorly to begin with, or if the other esc's will randomly fail the same way at some point. I've got 4 spare motors and 3 esc's which I can cannibalize from my second Wizard X220. But after that, I should plan ahead since shipping is so slow from Banggood.

PS and pasta is all sold out at my local grocer as well.

I’m suspecting that there may have been a poor production run with the original wizards as there were literally hundreds of issues being reported on the web. Obviously I had bought one of them and became extremely good at repairing mine; to the point where I simply replaced the esc’s and motors with better units and it’s been fine ever since. I also bought another rig from a chap who couldn’t figure out how to set it up in cleanflight and gave up. A bargain at $100 and this one had the better esc/motor combo and never missed a beat.
Still no pasta and now there are limits on alcohol sales, so it’s downhill from here I guess.

 

[HighTechPauper]

Wizards use super cheap ESC's, some last a good long time, others burn on the first battery or slight crash. Fly them till they blow and change them, or just change them. The motors have all lasted me a pretty long time, they are not great quality but I have about 50 hours on 3 different sets and have only bent bells and never any other issue with them.

 

[Wrecked]

Original wizard ESCs are 20amp which is just enough when flying. But the moment you crash, it will burn up unless you disarm within seconds. Get som 30amp and they will hold up in a crash. Personally I haven't had any problems with the motors. They seem durable, but lack power when you are over the beginner stage.

 

[Frisbee]

Original wizard ESCs are 20amp which is just enough when flying. But the moment you crash, it will burn up unless you disarm within seconds. Get som 30amp and they will hold up in a crash. Personally I haven't had any problems with the motors. They seem durable, but lack power when you are over the beginner stage.

That's really interesting. I noticed that they did that right after a very mild crash both times. Do you know why that is? Does it happen if the motor can't spin, but power is still being sent? I will try to ingrain a response to disarm after any crash.

Tevek also mentioned upgrading the esc, so I think I'll have to get some 30A BLHeli S. Will the standard Wizard X220 motors work with the 30A BLHeli S esc's? I have ten motors (since I bought two spares), which I'd like to use up before buying more.

 

[tevek]

That's really interesting. I noticed that they did that right after a very mild crash both times. Do you know why that is? Does it happen if the motor can't spin, but power is still being sent? I will try to ingrain a response to disarm after any crash.

Tevek also mentioned upgrading the esc, so I think I'll have to get some 30A BLHeli S. Will the standard Wizard X220 motors work with the 30A BLHeli S esc's? I have ten motors (since I bought two spares), which I'd like to use up before buying more.

As mentioned above, the earlier esc’s (maybe a production issue?) would cook up real fast when the motors were in a stall position. I had them smoke up just arming the quad. They were probably underpowered except when running in ideal conditions and then in the event of extreme punch outs or hitting a stationary object, the current surge would overwhelm them.
The motors were probably fine but I found a special online and changed them anyway (2205 2300KV), upgrade the esc’s to 30A and you’ll be laughing.
Instill
Learnt real quick to disarm the quad before a crash rather than wait a critical second or two following one.

 

[Wrecked]

That's really interesting. I noticed that they did that right after a very mild crash both times. Do you know why that is? Does it happen if the motor can't spin, but power is still being sent? I will try to ingrain a response to disarm after any crash.

Tevek also mentioned upgrading the esc, so I think I'll have to get some 30A BLHeli S. Will the standard Wizard X220 motors work with the 30A BLHeli S esc's? I have ten motors (since I bought two spares), which I'd like to use up before buying more.

Like Tevek wrote, the ESCs are too small for this quad. When a motor stalls it will draw more than the ESC can handle, and the esc will burn. It's a designflaw.

No problem in using 30 amp ESCs, or higher. It's the motor that draws the amps, not the ESC that deliver. Rather have some headroom, so 30 amp is minimum for wizard motors.

The racestar 30 amp blheli_s esc is a good replacement for the original. Its almost identical to the original, just can handle more amps, and it can be mixed, so just replace the escs as they burn up insted of replacing all.

Remember to protect the escs from the propellers striking it in a crash. Many use a cut piece of propeller taped on top of the esc. Otherwise the capacitors will get knocked off or worse.

 

[Frisbee]

Great to know I can mix and match the 20 amp esc's with the 30 amp esc's, otherwise I thought I'd have to buy 6-8 esc's to have spares. (And then I'd have 3 of the 20 amp esc's left over.)

I just saw the propeller-esc shield recently by Joshua Bardwell:

Thanks everyone for the help. After basically giving up for the past 3 years, I'm excited to be moving forward. I failed at garage flying the other day (I'm not ready for that), but I did manage to fly acro mode for the first time today, both LOS and FPV. (With my finger on the Level/acro mode switch which I did have to use a few times.) As a middle-aged guy, I didn't think I could manage that. I should be getting a USB cable for my FlySky FS-i6 to practice on a simulation soon.

 

[Frisbee]

In this video he mentions that ESCs can also short-out and fry if they come in contact with the carbon fiber. I vaguely remember the heat-shrink being melted, although that could have been an effect rather than cause. In any case, I'm following the advice above which should sort the problem.