DJI Inspire 1 Attempting Repair

I purchased a DJI Inspire 1 as a Spares or Repair. I was told the main problem was a shorted ESC board to one of the motors. I sourced a replacement and fitted it. Battery fully charged, into drone and switched on. Only sign and sound of life is the replacement motor bleeping every second. The rest of the drone is lifeless. I am thinking this is now a main board (where the battery connects) problem. Would appreciate any help. Unusually YouTube has little or no relevant videos.

Hope you find a way to repair it, very nice UAV , good luck.

Usually, if the ESC and motor are known to be good, the constant beeping can be an indication the ESC is not receiving a valid PWM signal. The familiar start up tones are a confidence check that everything is ready.

You say the previous owner claimed the “main” fault was a shorted ESC, a vague explanation at best:

A short in the signal path?
A short on one of the outputs?
Or a short on the Power Input?

As the third possibility involves a relatively high voltage and current the potential for greater damage to other components in the Inspire is a big possibility unless there’s some form of protection built in for such a situation.

So I feel he/she was either guessing or they knew the problem was a lot more severe and they were keeping quiet.

Usually if a fault is attributed to an open circuit there is very rarely consequences for the other components in the circuit. However if the fault is the result of a short circuit then the failure can cascade through the circuit.

Nidge.

Nidge
The ESC at the motor was toast and an easy and not too expensive fix, but you are right, what was the underlying cause? Maybe a crash where the rotor/motor was trying to turn but was restricted?
I will check all the connections out and go from there.
End of the day, if I can’t solve it, I can always “pass it on”. It would be a shame to break it.
Thanks for the reply.

Martin

Thanks.
I already have an Inspire 1 V2.0 which is fantastic to fly. I know several people that are interested in drones but haven’t bought anything as yet. Whether I would sell them something I have repaired or not, is the question? Need to get it flying again, then see how confident I feel. I’ve sold on a couple of repaired Phantom 3 Standards without problems.
Regards

Martin

About the bleeping ESC. I saw something in a Forum post that said the ESC can be set to bleep if the drone is crashed or lost. The beep helps location of the craft. Anyone know if that is right? Does anyone know where that can be found in the setup? At least it will stop me worrying about whether my replacement of the motor and ESC is OK or not. I haven’t moved the repair of this drone on any further just yet. I have some parts on order. I bought another Inspire 1 complete body that had been crashed and the central landing gear drive was well bent. I bought a box of spares recently that included that module. I watched a YouTube video of how to replace the module and gave it a go. It took me about 4 times as long as the video but I successfully removed the bent one and replaced it. Successful in that I didn’t end up with any screws missing or left over and with a battery added, the landing gear raised and retracted. Well pleased. Now I have a “Battery Error”. The batteries I have tried have all been live and powered up the craft. Looking on YouTube I saw something similar with a Mavic. It was a fault in the battery main board. I have already replaced one in the first of my Inspires I’m trying to repair. So got one on order. I will also be looking for a gimbal and camera or just a camera if anyone has or knows of one. L8rs Martin

Update. I sourced and fitted a (used) battery motherboard board. Put a battery in, pressed the On button and…
She came to life, lights flashing, no beeping from the motor and ESC I had replaced. Waggled the right hand lever on the controller, the undercarriage moved up and down. Attached a camera, everything connected, video and telemetry on my phone. Automatic takeoff (no props - in doors), on screen slider to the right - all 4 motors started and responded to the left hand stick. Happy with that. Need to get out and fly.

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Excellent news!