How To Find The Short-Circuit In Your Quadcopter

[@biggdogg2800]

You just taught a newb with crappy soldering skills how to stop the smoke! Thanks Josh! R.I.P. J.C.

[@austinmay6415]

Mr. Bardwell I just wanted to say thank you so much, this really helped me when I plugged the smokestopper into the battery and the idiot light lit up. This video helped me troubleshoot this in no time. I would suggest this video to ANYONE who has an FPV drone.

[@hector-fpv]

Dude you are awesome, I recently discovered your channel and I want to thank you for your videos and for the help with noobs like me. Thanks dude

[@michaelwilkes0]

@Joshua Bardwell This guy once showed me a neat trick. If you have a high precision ohm meter, you can find the short faster by testing resistance between various power and ground points throughout the circuit. The lower the resistance, the closer you are to the short. I have done this on a large circuit board and it got me almost to the right shorted chip. I looked at your multi meter and it might not be accurate enough. When I did this I was using someone's high end fluke meter with like milliohm precision. It was a neat trick though, wanted to share.

[@BariFPV]

Brilliant brilliant video! Thank you Sir! That's Electronics 101, and today "I Learnt Something". Keep up the great work :) thumbs up!

[@JJ-pm1zv]

I actually havent heard about a smoke stopper, so i was always using my multimeter and tested for shorts. So i have learnt something today :) thanks

[@jonnitheeagle1153]

Hello I'm late but on my esc the black cabel is broken can it be the issue? Because my motor was smoking

[@krsslim]

Old video but for anyone dropping by, a motor can also be a common point to short to the frame. If the enamel coating on the copper wire melts, it's a bad new winding (shorted to stator) or maybe the powder coating on the stator fails after some use, there might be a short from the esc's motor terminals to the frame (through the motor screws). Pumping motor juice into the frame can manifest itself as video noise on throttle, jitters in flight & electrical noise in BB logs. Unscrewing the motors one at a time & checking for shorts between the frame & either ground or the ESC terminals is worth a try if there's a short to the frame that's difficult to track down, or maybe if there's issues like this which a capacitor should fix but doesn't.

[@coreyandemilymunsell8344]

Hello. Thank you so much for answering my previous questions. I have one more. I have a short some where in my quadcopter (thankfully I knew it was smart to get a smoke stopper). When I first plug in the quadcopter I have no issues. But when I blip the throttle just a tiny bit it blows the fuse in the smoke stopper. I went through one by one and removed esc positive leads and same outcome. I ended up removing all four escs and plugged in the smoke stopper/battery, powered up my transmitter and blipped the throttle with no escs connected and no problem which made me assume that it was the last esc that I disconnected. So i put one of the other esc postiives back on and tried it again, and it blew the fuse. I can't find any wires accidentally touching, and nothing is connected in the wrong place (at least not that I can tell after 5-6 inspections of everything). Is there anything else I can check? I do have the video transmitter connected, but I took that off of another quad and it worked fine on that one. Also rx is connected too. Thank you so much for the great and helpful videos.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Corey Munsell you're blipping the motors. That causes current to flow and blows the fuse.

[@coreyandemilymunsell8344]

Ok I saw in Hobby King's video for the boom stopper that they ran a motor straight through it with no issues so I thought I was supposed to try it. So it's possible I don't have a short then?

[@coreyandemilymunsell8344]

Ok I checked with HobbyKing to see what they would say. They said that it isn't meant to have the motors run through it. It's just to check for shorts up to the escs. They also checked that video and weren't sure how the motor ran through it and saw how it would confuse customers if they saw that. They are in the process of removing the video. Thank you again so much for your help. Keep up the great videos.

[@yorickfpv723]

Thanks Joshua for this video! I'm new to the magic that is the multimeter and today I learned another use for the continuity spell! 👍🏻

[@berberdodo]

i feel you made this video just for me!...im flattered!!.....good job mate!..thanks for the methodical info.....

[@marcsahib6536]

Thank you so much ... found the short and the copter came back to life

[@PatrickGuerrisi]

what if your using a 4 in 1 esc and youve checked with a multimeter on all battery connections and and each motor pad and there's no continuity ? I am confused because my smoke stopper is still going off

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnS0cmiahbKMgLM

[@PatrickGuerrisi]

@@JoshuaBardwell my problem is different to that. Did a quick video to show and explain kzbin.info/www/bejne/epXJm4Fjgtt-Z5Y

[@rajaahmadzahin9040]

Hi, seems like my 4in1 esc shorted with all the pins (positive, negative, motors) is there any way to figure out which part is faulty?

[@FlySavageFPV]

If you touch ground on the Lipo lead and the other on the frame and there is Continuity is that a problem I'm asking because I'm having some issues with not hot but really warm motors on test hover and started poking around found out my frame and ground are connected.

[@garthodonnell3661]

Fly_Savage FPV hey savage is you FC mounted on nylon stand offs Are your esc's, receiver, vtx and so on heat shrunk? You might be getting inductance through your motor bottoms via the stators? A noob guess.....?

[@FlySavageFPV]

garth odonnell I got it worked out I a stater wire was lose and barely touching a motor screw. Thank for the reply

[@Streamer20four7]

I caused the short after a housing screw pierced both red and black feed to one of the drones motor's, the two wires still have conunitty from circuit board to motor. Motor tested and working from other motor power connection. But from it's own power connection it has no power. I have a multimeter, how can I find where the fault is. I'm guessing it's a component within the circuit board nearest to where the short circuit happened, that needs replacing. Hopefully you can help!

[@insane8103]

Hello i need help can you tell the solution of my problem my drone left back moter is not working i checked it manualy by a battery and its fine and still works but when i use it with my drone it wont turn on and when i connect the wires of the moter the back lights turn on without turning on the drone i don't know what happend to it, it was working fine i had it for a whole 1 year and now its doing this all 3 moters are fine just this one can you help me pls.

[@christophergran8313]

Can we get an updated video for 4 in 1 ESC’s , mine shorting out using VIFLY 1A threshold

[@JoshuaBardwell]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnS0cmiahbKMgLM

[@norb4152]

Not sure if you still read comments on these older videos, but I have a question! Why do I need a smoke stopper if I can test continuity on the xt60 plug with a multimeter? If the smoke stopper went off, wouldn't I always have continuity there? What extra information do I get from the smoke stopper?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Smoke stopper can protect against things that continuity check doesn't catch. Like a damaged FET on an ESC that only short-circuits when you raise throttle. Smoke stopper acts as current-limiting so it makes it safe to plug in the quad with props on, since the quad cannot pull enough power to spin the motors hard enough to hurt you.

[@norb4152]

@@JoshuaBardwell Thank you so much for the answer! So glad to be getting into this hobby before all the good people explaining stuff get too popular to reply to comments:)

[@adamk.3946]

great video joshua, one thing that will cause your multimeter to show continuity even if there isn't a short is having capicators on escs or a capicator on the + and - terminal. just an FYI for people getting continuity and freaking out for no reason :)

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yeah, but that will end after a second or two at most. I discuss this in the Continuity video.

[@adamk.3946]

Forgot to mention it will go away after a few seconds! Thanks for all you do Joshua. I really am enjoying the more constant flow of videos from you, it's always a pleasure to watch what you have to say.

[@HuntAndFishExchange]

I have a Emax Babbyhawk flew I it about 9 battery packs and on the last battery, it does a bakflip and dropped out of the sky. I picked it up and could not see any physical damage. I tried to re-arm it and I only get the first half of the tone. the VTX has power & my receiver has power but nothing else is working. I tried to connect it to betaflight but it won't connect now?

[@MERCURYMAD]

I took your suggestion and turned on the air conditioner for my recordings. I also made sure the upstairs apartment neighbor flushes the toilet every two minutes. ;)

[@p010fpv]

great video! man you're puttin these out almost just as i need them. great work!

[@calel14]

Somehow my xt60 short, I checked the wirings all the wirings were right, but when I check my continuity on my pcb in beeps for a second then turn off, is that normal?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yes that's normal. That's the capacitor charging up.

[@Zanofpv]

Thanks Joshua, so just to confirm i should have continuity between battery positive and negative in a normal healthy circuit? thanks

[@JoshuaBardwell]

No you should not.

[@sosquadcopter6634]

I have a question. I got the xjb 145, very first fpv quad, Have not flown yet but when I connect the battery, the tower circuit gets too hot, its just sitting there and getting hotter to the point I cant touch for example the usb metal part. Is that normal or would I have to search for a short-circuit? Thanks in advance for any help.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

It sounds like there is a short, yes.

[@sosquadcopter6634]

I just veryfied and it is the VTX, the 2 black squares get to hot to the touch, so much that it heats the other parts. What could it be, it just have 3 cables and a pig tale antena attached =(

[@LordBrajopie]

Hi Joshua, Could you please make a video about inverted prop direction? At this moment I have seen some videos, but you always explain in a brilliant way making me understand the matter!

[@tibib4029]

Hello! Can a 4-in-1 ESC be connected to an aircraft receiver (FS-2A) to control 2-4 engines instantly so that it weighs less?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

The 4-in-1 ESC is basically just four ESCs on a single board. You could feed the PWM signal from the receiver into the 4-in-1, sure.

[@droneslinger]

What would cause a component to smoke before the stopper lights up? Happened to me the other day.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Whatever it was, was on the edge of burning out, and when it burned out it failed short so the smoke stopper lit up.

[@droneslinger]

Joshua Bardwell right on man. it was an ESC and I had to use this exact technique to solve for x. Baader-Meinhoff stuff right there.

[@birutaishere]

Hey Joshua I burned up an esc (like it caught fire) due to short, I ordered a new one soldered it up and blheli suite doesn't read there is a 4th esc, AND, I did your Vbat wiring and I lost VTX power completely, any ideas??? Spent about 6 hours working on it today just to have it still be broken and more so than before...

[@JoshuaBardwell]

If Suite doesn't detect the ESC, then 1) Verify the ESC has power. Check with a multimeter to see if there is vBat voltage on the ESC power pads. 2) Touch the motor with your fingers while you plug int he battery. Do you feel the motor twitching as the ESC plays the startup tones? If no, the ESC does not have power. 3) With your multimeter, check for continuity between the ESC signal pad and ground. There should not be any continuity. If there is continuity, either the FC or the ESC may be damaged. I couldn't say what went wrong with the vBat wiring to cause the vTX to not have power. It's too open-ended a question.

[@birutaishere]

Joshua Bardwell thanks for the reply! yeah I'm at a loss as to why the box isn't getting power, but neither is the esc for sure, more less my original esc shorted and caught fire, everything else seemed fine. But now I don't know. going in with a multimeter today so hopefully I can find the culprit!

[@Freedomflyerscraig]

Hi. Sorry to trouble u again. I got my quadcopter finally flying and everything working. Went through a few battery's and loved every second. Got home plugged quad back in and I'm only getting 3 beeps from the esc's. But the board doesn't seem to light up. So I plugged back in to laptop and the board seems dead. I don't understand what's happened. I didn't crash. As far as I new it was all good. But now It seems to have fallen asleep. It won't connect to laptop. But vtx and camera r working and esc's only beep 3times. Do u have any ideas pleeeease

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+Craig chivers flight controller is definitely dead. No led even from USB is pretty definitive. Is your quad a Wizard with the SPRACINGF3 clone? Thru are notorious for dying out of the blue.

[@Freedomflyerscraig]

Joshua Bardwell in I haven't had much luck. I had everything all working perfect flew some packs brilliant. Then I got home. Thought I'd show my little girl my quad all working and it was dead. Iv been researching all the time. Watched all ur vids. Got it all working and now this. That's 3 bff3 now. Don't think I'm Gona get another. Would u recommend another board. And do u have an idea y it died on me

[@Freedomflyerscraig]

Joshua Bardwell plus. Still use my spracingf3 on another quad. But I want osd to change pid

[@AldoSoeprayogi]

so actually we dont need any smoke stopper if we already have multimeter? just plug multi meter into XT60.. if it's beeping then we have a short circuit? is it correct josh? please reply

[@JoshuaBardwell]

A smoke stopper is still valuable because it continues to protect the whole time the battery is plugged in.

[@ProModzCustomz]

Thank you Joshua! This helped a lot. It's not tedious! This is half the fun :)

[@ldsams1]

Is it possible to have a short and not burn something up. When I plug in the battery I doesn’t give me the normal beeps, it only does it once.I get all the lights but motors don’t spin up they just glitch a little bit. Even in calibration the computer is showing them spin up but there not moving.. please help me

[@JoshuaBardwell]

When you plug in the battery, the ESCs and motors should make the three-note startup tone. This should happen even if the FC is not plugged in. This should happen whenever the ESC receives power, as long as 1) the ESC gets power, and 2) the ESC is wired to a motor. That's true for BLHeli ESCs anyway. If you plug in the battery and you don't hear the startup tones, then the ESCs are not getting power, or the ESCs are not wired to the motors right. But this is pretty weird if so, because what are the chances that all four are wrong? At least one should finish the startup tones. That's where I would start the troubleshooting.

[@ldsams1]

Joshua Bardwell thanks I’ll start there.. thanks again

[@ldsams1]

Also I’m running kiss fc gets power and esc’s blue lights come on but no three tone most confusing thing ever

[@slingitsideways]

Hey there Joshua, Josh, JB... Nice informative easy to follow video. But I have a confusing one for you to try and figure out. Or may be as simple as a dodgy board but here goes... I just completed a build using the Matek f405 ctr, Tekko32 esc's, T-motor F40s. I meter checked every connection during the build up, over the top I know, but its only my second build and I wanted it to be right. Anyway, Visually no bridges, meter showed no signs of continuity between any given solder joint or wire, so all should have been good right? Nope.. went to plug my battery in to bind the receiver, got the XT60 in about 1mm, then big spark and smoked FC, the amp draw must have been HUGE because it de-soldered the 0m50 current sensor and let it move. Yes I know now, should have used a smoke stopper, but i hadn't heard of them until now. But here's the confusing part, even now after smoking the board, there's no continuity anywhere there shouldn't be. The meter is working fine, I'm a mechanic by trade and use the meter almost every day chasing electrical faults on cars, so I ruled out that one. Any ideas on this? or come across it before? I got a new board on order, just hope that's all that needs replacing, I'm just curious as to why it happened when every thing looked and still seems to be ok.

[@davidfont2596]

@0:01 When you say "you are going to learn something today," I think that you have greatly underestimated my stupidity.

[@marksherman630]

Just to test my understanding, if you continue to get continuity at the battery terminals after you disconnect the wires from the ESC to the PDB, that would mean the PDB (or something else connected to it) was causing the short?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

When you disconnect the ESC + or - wire, you remove the ESC from the circuit. If you now have continuity, the fault is up-stream of the ESC. So it could be in the ESC wires, the PDB, or the battery lead. So now you desolder the ESC wire from the PDB. If you still have a fault, it's in the PDB or the battery wires. Etc.

[@marksherman630]

Thanks!

[@slothFPV]

I upgraded my motors, tested for shorts, then on plugging in i smoked an esc. My guess is it just was soldered one too many times, but after replacement my video feed has started blacking out after around 15v. The vtx power is filtered vbat, and its operating voltage is 6.5 to 24v. Any ideas? Could the esc smoking ruined the lc filter?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Hard to say for sure but if you suspect the LC filter, remove it and see if the problem goes away.

[@slothFPV]

Joshua Bardwell thanks for the feedback. That supports my own theory, ill try it with raw vbat. Hey noisy video is better than no video eh?

[@lonnyharris9037]

I made a major mistake and can’t find the problem. Long story short, I was measuring voltage on two sides of my FC. The leads touched and board arched twice (ya not good). I still have voltage to my FC, but the FC will not power on with battery or when plugged into Betaflight. Is it possible I fried the FC?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yes that seems likely. If you don't even get the board to power on from USB, it's likely fried.

[@callumrose9605]

How do you make the smoke stoppers

[@JoshuaBardwell]

www.google.com/search?q=how+to+make+a+smoke+stopper&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS715US715&oq=how+to+make+a+smoke+stopper&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l2j69i59l2j69i60.2652j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[@callumrose9605]

thanks man

[@lalithkishore3774]

I'm am a beginner I need a good lipo charger which you might suggest which can be bought from bangood not complicated as imax b6

[@cooperlane7147]

What if my multimeter doesn't beep (no continuity?) between pos and neg in my XT60, but my smoke stopper lights when I actually plug it in?

[@msmith7341]

Hey Joshua, love your channel. I couldn't have gotten into this I'll be without you. I'm sure you've gotten tons of requests to review the runcam split. I would love it if you talked about the pros and cons of excusing using it over a go pro or equivalent. Is the river situation where a separate Hd cam would be a good idea? I just got to the point in my skills where I think it would be beneficial to have recordings and I'm not sure which way to go. The split or an old go pro. Not super concerned about ultra high video quality. I was looking at getting the run Cam three for an old GoPro before the split at the scene. You were advice on the matter would be much appreciated.

[@danielkatic529]

My esc get really hot after I arm quad..Its not the motor because i change the motor and its still hot...what should i do?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Definitely test for a short circuit using the method shown in this video.

[@danielkatic529]

Joshua Bardwell tnx Il do that tumorow

[@bergfpv6486]

I've got a strange thing going on with my quad. As I'm testing for continuity with my analog multimeter at the battery leads, I'm getting continuity when I'm positive to negative but no the other way around. I've sent over two hours checking all of my solder points, and while some are of questionable quality, after desoldering one at a time nothing changes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@bergfpv6486]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3PHkpyHp9Wqr7c

[@JoshuaBardwell]

This is probably just a capacitor charging. If it beeps briefly then stops, that's a capacitor. If you seriously get continuity one way but not the other, that might indicate a diode is present.

[@bergfpv6486]

@@JoshuaBardwellThanks for the response Joshua. It turns out I just don't know how to test for continuity with an analog multimeter. In desperation, I finally just plugged in the battery and it lights up just fine. In other words, there was no continuity. I'm an idiot. Lol

[@rateau-789]

Hi Joshua, I'm a student in programmable electronic !! I tried to understand how do FC works but it's impossible to get the schematics !! Do you know where I can find "advanced" explanations of FC engeniering. Sorry for my english I'm french native !!

[@bragee]

Joshua I need your help for a very very stupid question relevant to my PDB. It has VBAT pad very close to ESC#1 positive pad. Since I'm very bad at soldering (especially 12AWG cables) I've made a sort of monster blob directly connecting mentioned pads and "short-circuiting" them. I'm quite sure it does not affect anything at all (+ with + at same voltage) but "someone" told me that I definitely should avoid it for "some" reasons. Any concern about it? Again, forgive me if the question is too silly... Many thanks in advance.

[@bragee]

Maybe it was too silly...

[@garthodonnell3661]

I'd say they were right to warn you, although your common species PDB is usually not much more than $10 at a stretch, if you solder your esc's directly to your battery what your doing is essentially eliminating the need for the PDB in the first place, ......... And that's just a damn waste of 10 clams isn't it!! Trolling tonight 😄😄

[@andrewweaver9246]

Ok so I just built the Helix ZX5, used a smoke stopper all was good, went and done initial set up on betaflight then plugged in a battery to do switch test and got a pop sound followed by motors spinning up erratically... Long story short I have now found a short in the FC but impulseRC are saying the probable cause of it's FC failing is a bad ESC which has put 5v back through the signal wire. My question is how do I test my ESC's to see if which one if any are faulty.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Hmmm I guess it would be the one where 5v is on the signal wire. Desolder all ESCs from the FC and from each other, then measure voltage on the signal pad with a multimeter.

[@andrewweaver9246]

Joshua Bardwell Thank you for your reply, really is appreciated. So I know this must all seem very basic to you but I'm just worried about the process of testing. So to test the signal pad for 5v it would be safe to directly hook up a battery to each ESC individual and test? Sorry again if this seems dumb... just first time quad building and already failing.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yes, you can connect the ESC directly to a LiPo.

[@krishnacharan8723]

i am using clracing f4s ...new to this hobby..crashed my quad only once after that my motor1 is not rotating..found that my ecs and motor is working by connecting it into another motor pad 2 on my flight controller.Nw the problem is my motorpad1 on the flight controller is not working what should i do now..all other motor pads2,3 and 4 are working ...please help me

[@JoshuaBardwell]

+krishna charan kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKrWgXuubLd_b9U

[@krishnacharan8723]

still motor 1 is rotating

[@Siphtor]

Hey J.B., I added some new ESCs to my quad last night and I used my smoke stopper to test it out. When I plugged it in the quad started continuously beeping and the lightbulb dimly lit up. What I don’t understand is that I first checked for continuity at the XT60 and there was no continuity. Any thoughts on how that could happen?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

If anything is trying to draw current, the smoke stopper will light. Make sure you used a 25 watt bulb and not a smaller bulb, or normal background current will cause the bulb to light. The beeping???? I don't know...

[@Siphtor]

I believe it's a 25w bulb, it's a tail light bulb that was recommended on build guides. I've used the smoke stopper many times before and it has never lit up like that before, it was dim though not full brightness. Is it possible for there to be a short and not get continuity on the main power leads or is it possible that one of the new ESCs are bad?

[@zzathros]

do you have a vid on how to check motors. i believe one of my motors is not working correctly all the time. copter crashes after few min in flight. can not tell which motor it is. oh i know i crash alot but this in in just hover mode. lol

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Whichever arm dips and the quad falls that direction, that is the one that's damaged.

[@itsjustchill93]

Hey josh, I just shorted my BFF3 board from a piece of solder bridging the +ve and -ve pads of an ESC connection on the board. Didn't have a smoke stopper (facepalm) so I got some magic smoke and unplugged quickly. Now I still get power to my cam, vtx and reciever through the board, but the FC itself doesn't seem to be working (e.g. non responsive to inputs, won't pick up on computer etc..) I just don't know how I would have fried the board but not the PDB from this? Any insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks as always for the awese content!

[@JoshuaBardwell]

I dunno but don't overthink it. You smoked it and it's dead. ☹️

[@itsjustchill93]

Joshua Bardwell time to make me a smoke stopper😆 thanks for the help

[@davinator225]

so i got my eachine x220 wizard in the mail yesterday, plugged in the battery, and smoke came out of the drone... What should I do? i havent flown it yet, and the company still hasnt replied please help

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Very sorry to tell you, but the ESC on the X220 Wizard are just trash. Sometimes they are fine forever. If you are unlucky, they smoke for no reason at all. You didn't do anything wrong but you're in a bit of a tough situation now. Contact Banggood support and see what they can do for you. They will probably offer to send you replacement ESCs but you will have to install them yourself. If I were you, I would start a dispute with paypal or your credit card company immediately.

[@davinator225]

@@JoshuaBardwell man thats upsetting...

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Unfortunately this is a risk of buying bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. Sometimes it just dies on you. If you look at the Wizard X220 from Grayson Hobby (located in Georgia, U.S.) you'll see it's about $50 more than if you buy from Banggood, but they test each one before shipping it, and they have an actual U.S. based support line if it dies on you. You saved $50 by buying from Banggood, and in doing so you rolled the dice, and unfortunately, you lost. You probably will get your money back eventually. If you can find somebody near to you who knows about quads, it's probably easy to repair. But you bought an RTF quad because you wanted to get into the air without any hassle, and I'm sorry to say that's not in the cards.

[@richardt1]

Would it pay to put a switch in the smoke stopper so turning off power is quick and easy? Sometimes I fumble with the battery connection when it is tight. If yes, what switch would you use given the smoke stoppers we are using? Would help if it is phrased as a searchable term for Amazon.By the way, thanks for the series on multimeters. It is my next subject with which to become familiar and making a smoke stopper will give me an opportunity to try some of it.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You would need a 12v switch, only rated for maybe 3 to 5 amps at most.

[@_4alex4_55]

What is the setting for the sensor?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

I don't understand

[@seanbittner7136]

Fine video Joshua. As I work my way towards half of your level I found that investing $30 in a decent quality large, self standing adjustable, with an led bank, magnifier has proactively saved me from tedious troubleshooting much. One should not break their arms patting themselves on the back on what looks like a very pretty solder job on your pdb or esc units until it is put under the magnifier. Also high quality tools (cutters, crimpers, etc), soldering iron at the correct temperature and media type for it are imperative. Do you have anything that talks about any rules of thumb or methods to avoid overloading (putting too many devices) on any given BEC? When the new build one is very tedious about getting all correct randomly fails the list of culprits and responses can grow seemingly thin. Also I would suggest taking a non-flightworthy PDB with functioning BECS (maybe an esc pad tore off) and FC (the gyro is ganked) mount them onto a wooden board for use in component level testing. Anyhoo....... sorry for the long comment but would like your advice on BEC loads. Thx,

[@DangerDavefpv]

could i have a bad pdb? i just got my boltrc kraken 5r wired but soon as lipo hooked it smoked somewhere ive tried unhooking everything

[@JoshuaBardwell]

If you've desoldered everything else it must be the PDB. It's possible you damaged it soldering on it. This is why you should always use a smoke-stopper when working on the bench, and ESPECIALLY the first time you plug in a new build.

[@DangerDavefpv]

Joshua Bardwell u ever had new f.c have short on power input ??

[@DangerDavefpv]

Omnibus f4 pro v3 from rdq

[@JS-op5gk]

I've got a very weird problem: after the last (pretty gentle) crash my copter started smoking just when I got there (after half a minute). I directly had lost rx and vtx. Now I wanted to check what is wrong. When I did so my dongle (Speedybee adaptor 2) did go out the moment I plugged it in and when I did pull it out the Micro USB Port ripped of (seems to have been loose from Crash, idk.). Now I carefully tried it with a battery (yeah, risky, I know): the Led indicating power on the FC did light up but still neither the rx nor vtx worked. When I touched the vtx after that it was pretty warm. Now I'm wondering which Part(s) need to be replaced. If anyone has experience this before I would be gratefull to know. 😔

[@Sylo2Nice]

could this method work on a 4 in 1 esc as well?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

With a 4-in-1, there isn't really anywhere for there to be continuity other than the ESC itself, because there's no wiring.

[@Sylo2Nice]

Joshua Bardwell thanks

[@olivierboss974]

and without esc connected , i m connet the smoke stopper to my drone and the light turn on directly , what s the prob?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

most likely you have a short.

[@olivierboss974]

Joshua Bardwell ok, but where nothing is soldering to the bord(fc). im testing the continuity it s ok but when i put the smoke stopper light is on

[@sqlacademy]

I am one of your follower and I have a situation where I made a quadcopter using KK 2.0 configuration board, Sinmonk 30A ESC, 1400 KV Brushless motor I am using FlySKy FS CT6B transmitter and CT6B FS-T6 FS-TH9X receiver. Situation is while using this TR/RX, I am only getting 30 meters range, where FlySky said it has 300 meter range. Due to getting the low range it has crashed twice. I am using X mode for quadcopter that means my first motor moving clock-wise and 2nd motor counter-clock-wise and 3rd moving From then clock-wise and 4th counter-clock-wise. So the ESC on 2nd motor has burnt thrice in last 10 days, it is heating up and then burning. Please suggest what could be wrong. I saw some of the videos of yours that seems helpful but Why only one ESC is heating and burning if there is short-circuit. Also it would be helpful if you can post a video for increasing the range of FlySky FSCT6B controller.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Probably the receiver is messed up. I would swap out the receiver and see if that fixes the range issues. Are you sure you're not in range check mode by accident? The ESC burning is probably because your motor screws are too long. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6CVpJ2Kg7hjpsU

[@sqlacademy]

@Joshua Bardwell when Motor is not connected then also the esc is heating up and burning. The moment I plugin the battery one esc starts heating up.

[@jvalken178]

just to add, when im building i have my multi meter ready, after i add a component i check continuity, that way it saves me the even longer proccess of having to back track and make things messier.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

It's not a bad idea, honestly. Then you know exactly where the fault is. In my specific case, I had an ESC fail after a crash and I didn't know which one it was.

[@jvalken178]

Joshua Bardwell you? crash? never......lol

[@DangerDavefpv]

joshua bardwell ive got something wild happen ive got your version 1 f.c and today i had a flip of death so i came in house to see what happen becouse my spedix is30 4.1 ripped to motor wires off...so i soldered back on and went to betaflight and it wouldnt even turn the f.c on so i started taking apart and i found a drop of solder on top of the esc in middle where caps are but above it is the sd card reader and i found a strand or almost small metal ribbon inside slot? what could this be? i removed and now f.c connects to betaflight but when i solder i always use wide electrical tape over top of my esc to make sure nothing falls onto it, but i found some weird metal ribbon inside sdcard reader

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Sounds like you broke a part of it off in the crash right?

[@DangerDavefpv]

think board is okay but this makes second spedix is30 4.1 these damn motors killed zmx finx40 2633kv DO NOT BUY im switching to motors ive always liked f40 pro 2600

[@DangerDavefpv]

esc has continuity from negative power lead to both rear motor pads? not sure why the motors would do this

[@spikex41]

What about if it’s a motor wire that’s crossed?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Motors are wired to a Y configuration where the phases are connected to each other inside the windings. So motors will always test as having continuity. You can't tell if a motor wire is crossed by testing continuity.

[@Silor]

I tested the continuity of my tongue and that's how I found out the multimeter sends power to test the continuity. Should I be careful what I poke with the continuity (eg a chip other sensitive components)? Or is the multimeter safe enough to poke anything with?

[@damedaE90]

Silweror Should be save... measure the voltage applied wünsche measuring resistance with an other Multimeter... Should be around 1 Volt..

[@JoshuaBardwell]

It's safe. The current/voltage used is extremely low. However you should not measure continuity on an energized circuit. I'm not 100% sure why but I think it could mess up the multimeter? I don't know, that's just what I've always heard.

[@dauntlessfpv]

I’m saving this it’s great advice

[@calel14]

Can I connect my battery to the pcb, without the flight controller and receiver?, I tried to connect mine and nothing happens

[@JoshuaBardwell]

You can connect the battery to the power distribution board all by itself. The ESCs should make three startup tones. The ESCs need the motors to be installed or they won't beep.

[@calel14]

I'm going to make a smoke stopper, cause when I tried to connect the battery to the power distribution board the xt60 burn a little is that normal?, I'm using a 3s lipo battery

[@calel14]

Hey can I use a 12v led light instead?

[@RectifiedMetals]

No shit on the smoke stopper. I do use a meter however dead short isn't the only thing that can over-draw amperage. A part can fail and short after power is applied. It saved my bacon, thank you Joshua.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yep. I don't trust just a multimeter. Another failure mode that a smoke stopper is good for is wrong firmware on an ESC. Multimeter won't catch that.

[@RectifiedMetals]

That's exactly what happened to me that made me build one.

[@fpvwizard2115]

can u use a normal bulb

[@pitlanevlogs]

Hey my quadcopter's motor starts moving own its on when i plugged the battery in. What should I do??? please reply

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Let's discuss it over email. [e-mail]

[@ther1rida]

SO USEFUL! THANK YOU JOSH.

[@dieguerson]

When I saw that thing I literally stopped the video, put the other video of the smoke stopper bulb, went to my local store page, bought a bulb, came back, and THEN I heard Joshua saying "don't watch this video, go to the other one". Hehe.

[@kyoz1984]

Will you do a review of the new Fortini F4?

[@coachk7674]

do you ever share tutorials on regular stock motors or is everything brushless only?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Almost all quads use brushless motors. Only micro quads like Whoops use brushed.

[@coachk7674]

Joshua Bardwell Almost? Given the number of new drones every few weeks, not to mention the countless clones of drones right behind them. Yes/No but not almost. The real answer is No, you don't share tutorials about stock brushed motors.

[@redeemed1228]

Do you still check these older videos. I have a question I would like to ask but not sure if you will see it so let me know if you do by answering this thanks.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Well I did see this comment, but if you reply, it is fairly likely that YT won't show it to me. So ...

[@gus8378]

Can't you test continuity with the wires still connected?

[@bluecavemen]

Be nice if you show a live. I love to see real world with a drawing on the side. Might be long but very useful

[@paulwilson8470]

Smoke stopper lights up, but I don't have continuity at the battery lead, no beep. What now?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

The smoke stopper lights whenever current is flowing. If you have a lot of LEDs or a big vTX that can pull enough current to light the smoke stopper.

[@barry.anderberg]

I had a strange experience. The issue turned out to be the ESC, but the way I found it was odd. I desoldered a wire from each ESC and still had conductivity at the battery terminals. It was only after I desoldered the wire on the offending ESC from the PDB that the conductivity stopped. Which you'd think would suggest the wire was exposed and grounding out. So I desoldered both wires from the ESC, and lo and behold there is conductivity between pos and neg on the ESC itself. I would have expected that the first time I simply desoldered the single wire from the ESC that the conductivity would have stopped since the short ended up being in the ESC.

[@nickpawsey]

I plugged my battery in and it started sparking and I immediately unplugged it, hopefully I didn't ruin anything, but I'm definitely going to build one of these smoke stoppers

[@berberdodo]

Joshua bardwell i had a stupid thing happen to my F3 motolab i resoldered my battery leads and soldered them backwards! i know LAME!...i know it fried my esc all 4 of them but FC still works i think! ....thats my question!...is that possible ?..i plugged it in to bataflight and it works! but not sure if i should solder up some new esc and motors! i dont want to fry the whole dam quad!..what do you think?....

[@Gurrapurrasnurra]

I did the exact same thing to my Racerstar StarF3S, my xt60 fell off and resoldered it without thinking... Havn't started troubleshooting yet but it works in Betaflight.. Have you found a solution yet? how did it go?

[@tomforstmann5051]

Hey Joshua, great video as usual! I know, this is a little old already, but if you happen to read this: i have an issue with my battery voltage droping instantly after punch out (to 8V on a 4s bat...). Its a completely new (and kind of my first) build, only the motors are age-old. Do youve got an idea what could be the cause? Im guessing it might be some "gray" soldering which shortens on high power, but im not sure wether realism or how to point out breaking point since i have a hard time reproducing failure apart from flight tests out of town. I would appreciate any kind of help since im pretty much desperate about it already :D

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Could be a bad battery. Have you got more than one to try. If the battery isn't at least 75 or 80 C rated then, that's also a problem.

[@tomforstmann5051]

@@JoshuaBardwell i figured it out, youre (kind of :D) right: my batteries are ok, but i am using an old charger that was set to LiFe. This somehow caused the batteries being charged to nominal voltage without being actually charged... Anyway, everything is working just fine now! Thanks for the reply, and thanks for all your work!

[@dronealone5651]

It's taking me to long to find a short ...clever buddy

[@richardt1]

Very helpful. Thanks

[@edgaraskal7716]

hi Joshua. As usually, good job :) I got short on my quad... I am plugging battery, and one of my esc's starts to heat without load (starting motor). Is it mean that esc is dead ? I checked all wires, looks fine... thanks for answer :)

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Yep, the ESC is probably dead. Either there is a short in the circuit board itself or more likely you have a dead FET that is failed open or something like that.

[@edgaraskal7716]

Thanks, gonna start on esc :)

[@GUILLERMO.NESPOlO]

joshua ...i dont know if u get to see any videos of a guy back in the rc helicopters days ...his name was finless bob ...great teacher hi was at his time a great source for tips ....just like you now ...i gonna see if i can get u boths together ....did u know finless bob ?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

No, I never heard of him.

[@2253glen]

Being a retired electrician, I always put my meter on any hot and any ground and check for continuity. Any continuity and you have a short. Don't plug in battery til you find it. I'm surprised more "pros" on you tube don't take this simple step.

[@6teeth]

Hello,Im jan and i`m gonna learn something today. :)

[@marcelmathis3933]

Which laptop is that to the right of you?

[@JoshuaBardwell]

amzn.to/2uap0J3 It's the one I use for video editing on the road. It's pretty solid.

[@ArsiPilot]

I can't figure out how a "Smoke Stopper" works. I would love to see a video about it !

[@goku445]

Energy goes into the lamp instead of burning up electronics/battery.

[@marcmc9304]

Thank you for sharing....

[@PowerScissor]

I wish ESCs & Motors just had a standard pin layout so the would be plug-n-play.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

The DJI Snail may be up your alley then.

[@chrispearson7303]

What happened to JC? Didn't hear.

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Motorcycle accident. :-(

[@cameronjacobs3144]

Chris Pearson he passed away in a motorcycle accident. rip jc

[@simonbe]

I am not stopping this Vid to get a smokestopper. I stop it to write that its not neccessary. I always put my Multimeter on the xt60 connector before plugging in the battery when I changed stuff on the quad.

[@ponyboyfpv3552]

Agreed

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Sorry, but that's not a perfect solution for these reasons: 1. Sometimes a part can not-quite-fail. Multimeter shows no continuity, but as soon as you plug in, you get smoke. 2. Multimeter does not protect against faults such as wrong firmware flashed to the ESC. 3. If you use a smoke stopper, you can safely choose to plug in the battery with props on, because the bulb will prevent enough current from flowing to do any damage. Do what you like, of course, but a multimeter is not a substitute for a smoke stopper.

[@basetau3200]

Joshua Bardwell Thanks for the comment. I don't want to agree with your 3rd comment "plug the battery with props". Even with the smoke stopper for the first time. Smoke stopper only consumes 0.3 Amps.

[@youngfyah]

great vid

[@propabilityfpv303]

lol im just autoplaying your videos while i build friends quads so i know fixes in advance

[@j.finesseflights1403]

I built my first Kwad without a smoke-stopper, and knowing what I kno now , thinking back it scares the hell out of me!! Lol #SMOKE-STOPPER FOR LIFE

[@handle_and_gretel]

on an unrelated sidenote, you have 7days13hours21minutes23seconds worth of public youtube content at this point :-)

[@JoshuaBardwell]

Only??? LOL.

[@jack00scarecrow]

for a second i read your comment wrong and thought Joshua was going to close his public access in 7 days and counting , i briefly had a massive panic attack , re read it, its all good and yes that is a lot of content, imagine how many hours it took him to make all that content ?

[@BillyGriffiths]

Smoke stopper...done!

[@InFrontOfYourBack1]

Ok ok ok. I'll build my smoke stopper. I've had the parts for months now and haven't gotten around to building it.

[@marceldube5487]

Hurray you changed your avatar. cooolll :)