agraves73

Just took my new Zagi 400X out for the maiden flight this weekend.

Everything was going great until after approx. a minute the motor cut off! I brought the plane down and thought it was the battery or some loose connection. Back up in the air and lo and behold off it goes again. After this kept happening I figured out that the ESC was quite hot and I think may be shutting down and turning back on after it cools down for approx 45 seconds. Ended up cutting another vent hole in the canopy so that I could keep the ESC a little cooler. Extends flying time for a bit but just doesn't seem right that it should keep cutting off.

I'm using a 1700mAh battery and the provided ESC that came with the kit (sorry forget which one it is).

Enjoy flying the plane but the motor unreliability is basically turning my flying session into a game of getting the plane high enough so that I can glide it for 45 seconds to let things cool down when the motor refuses to work without having to land it.

I was flying in 40 degree weather yesterday, can't imagine what's going to happen in the summer in 85 degrees!

Do I need a higher capacity ESC?, have I messed up the wiring somehow?

Any help is appreciated!

Stratotanker

My Feedback: (3)

If you have a gear reduction, I would check that the gear mesh is not too tight or another thing to look at is the possibility that the motor is over propped. Both of these situations would make the motor draw more amperage and cause overheating. I do not own any electrics but ran into similar problems with cars when I was racing. Hope this helps.

Chris

sedunster

My Feedback: (2)

Is everything stock? My 400X and a few friends' have had no problems at all with well over 200 flights on mine. I live in SC and it has been flown in 30 to 105 degree weather without ever overheating.

Where do you have the ESC positioned? My layout has the receiver cut into in the nose, the battery at the front of the tray, ESC with velcro next, and the the motor wire-tied to its tray. The ESC is just velcroed in and doesn't ever get hot. Is your ESC covered?

How long are your overall flight times? Mine gets 7 - 10 minutes max at full throttle. If your overall is less than that, the motor may have a problem and is drawing excessive current. Was the battery hot also? If not, the problem is probably the ESC. If so, it might be the motor...

Good luck....

agraves73

Everything is stock on my Zagi.

My receiver is cut in next to my motor tray, battery up front of the tray with the ESC sitting behind the battery.

I've found that I'm getting good flight times out of my battery, probably 10 minutes full throttle. The battery isn't getting hot either, just seems to be the ESC. Not sure in what way you mean is it covered. The ESC is covered the way it came in black shrink wrap stuff with a shiny zagi decal on one side. It sits loose in the canopy, not covered by tape or anything.

Sounds like my problem may be the ESC, probably got a bad one with the plane or something. Actually the first time I fired up the motor the ESC smoked a bit---thought that may have been sort of normal, just burning off the extra silicone or whatever left in manufacturing. I wrote an e-mail to Zagi but haven't received a reply yet, probably the best thing to do would be to send this ESC back and have them send me another.

My first powered plane (also have a THL) and other than this minor problem, very impressed with the flight times, and it's a fun plane.

Thanks for the help!

agraves73

Ended up calling Zagi. I have to send in the ESC and they are going to bench test it to see if it's overheating. If it is they said they would send me a new one. The only problem with that is I won't have a plane for probably 2 weeks!!! Can't fish because the lakes are frozen!!! What to do now!


Thank you for the relpies, we'll see what the bench test finds.

Aaron