Motor Replacement Instructions Starling 2 Max

[griffin]

Hey all,

After an unfortunate crash the 2 front motors on our Starling 2 Max are damaged (they stick in one portion of the rotation) and need to be replaced. I have ordered 2 new Tmotor 2203.5 1500kv motors but it looks like the motor cables go under the main VOXL boards to the ESCs.

Are there any disassembly or repair instructions for the Starling 2 Max?

Kind regards,
Griffin

P.S. Do not command the drone to do a position change with a simultaneous 1m xy reposition and a 2m z change. The drone commanded a 10m/s acceleration and flew into a wall

[griffin]

The starling 2 max datasheet lists the motors as 3000KV 1504 motors, the motors on the aircraft we have appear to be 1500kv not 3000kv. Which number is correct?

[griffin]

@tom Any updates or assistance available here? According to Motor Damaged @Jeremy-Schmidt is the best person to ask?

Kind regards,
Griffin

[tom]

@griffin I'll ping the team

[Jeremy Schmidt]

@griffin
For Starling MAX, the correct motor is the 2203.5 1500kv.

Did you order them from us? We customize the length of the wires for the Starling MAX specifically, so an "off the shelf" version of that Tmotor will have shorter wires.

[griffin]

@Jeremy-Schmidt thanks for the response. Unfortunately, I didn't see the starling 2 max motors on the modalai website and ordered directly from a supplier. Is the cable adjustment difficult or tooling intensive? How would I order motors directly from you?

thanks,
Griffin

[Jeremy Schmidt]

@griffin
To extend the wires, you only need to solder splice the correct length of extra wire.

I'm looking into our custom version being available to you. Probably won't have an answer until the morning

[Dobry Kolacz]

@griffin Take a look at the drone and realize each motor has 3 wires and 3 pads on the ESC board they get soldered to. Each motor must be soldered to it's corresponding set of 3 pads. Once you get the wires long enough to be mounted to the frame and solder up to the pads, make sure you match your new motor wires to the correct set of pads for that motor (reference which pads your motors are currently soldered to). However, you won't have to worry too much about which wire goes to what pad (within the 3 pads available for your motor). If a motor is spinning the wrong way, you can reverse the motor rotation within QGC in the "actuator" menu. Alternatively, you can swap 2 of the wires with each other within the 3 pads/wires that are meant for that particular motor.
https://drones.stackexchange.com/questions/80/how-can-i-reverse-the-direction-of-a-brushless-motor
This link describes the same process, just in different words

[Dobry Kolacz]

Easiest way to get to the ESC would be remove the connectors that are circled in red

Remove the circled screws [PH1 drive] and cut the zip tie with the arrow pointing towards it

Remove these 2 screws [PH1 drive]

Remove these 2 screws [PH1 drive]

And finally, to get the board stack removed, you'll unscrew these 4 hex screws [1.5mm Hex Drive]

WHEN REMOVING THOSE HEX SCREWS, BE SURE THE CIRCLED STANDOFFS DO NOT ROTATE AT ALL, THIS COULD CAUSE THE SCREWS COMING FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STANDOFF TO GET LOOSE
Keep these by rotating by carefully holding them in place with needle nose pliers or something similar

When re-assembling, just make sure all screws going into those standoffs are nice and snug (coming from both the top side and bottom side)

[griffin]

@Dobry-Kolacz thanks for the detailed instructions

[griffin]

@Jeremy-Schmidt any update on being able to get the custom version? Thanks.