How to remove motor plugs and direct solder the motors on tiny whoops | Square One FPV

[@fpvcruzer]

Thanks for such detailed information on how to remove the motor plugs. I really liked your specific information on soldering iron tips and your advice on temperature settings and not letting the tip linger on the board. Such specific information is so valuable. Thanks

[@SquareOneFPV]

You're welcome. That's such a nice comment, thank you very much 😊. Take care buddy!

[@kronkite061]

really enjoyable presentation! subscribed!

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thanks, appreciate it!

[@CheeseFriesAndCoffee]

Thank you for making this and all of your videos. A+ job

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thanks man, awesome comment! I'm happy to hear you find my vids helpful, take care. 👊

[@JALFPV]

Thank you for the motor plug instructions. I’ve been thinking about that for my TH2 Indoor. I’ll have to get better with solder first! Great whoop!

[@SquareOneFPV]

You're welcome and thank you😃. Yes the first time I did this it was nerve wracking, just try to stay calm and take your time. Goodluck!

[@chibikaiju922]

Sweet video! I usually just bridge the three motor wire connectors with solder and pull the connector out from the bottom. Haven't damaged a board yet but your method looks so much safer! thanks!

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thanks buddy! So you pull out the connector with the pins at the same time? And it works? Nice 👊!

[@chibikaiju922]

@@SquareOneFPV Yup, connector comes out clean in one piece. Then I solder sucker or wick the pads clean. Actually stole this idea from one of AngryDonFPV's videos about 2 mins in: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2LGhn2herugrNk Your method is probably safer overall though! And awesome whoop by the way, haven't gotten any of my 75 whoops under 20gs yet.

[@SquareOneFPV]

AngryDonFPV has got some great tips, and his way is great too, looks a bit easier actually. Thanks man, yeah it's a great whoop, try it, it flies amazing! And if you do, let me know what you think of it 👍.

[@rafaelpadilla7341]

Dude thats dope ive always wondered if it was possible to solder directly

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thanks dude 👊🏼

[@AsgardStudios]

Another great video! I really appreciate you sharing all your designs and tips - very helpful.

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thank you! 👍

[@Mikey19962]

Very helpful I just subbed to your channel

[@SquareOneFPV]

Awesome, happy to hear you liked my vid, thanks for the sub buddy!

[@pgabrieli]

sorry, one question, keep in mind I'm a total newbie: you said to take notice of which motors go where to maintain the correct (CW or CCW) direction. isn't that totally controlled by the FC and ESCs? I always thought that the motors themselves had to "setting" for the direction within themselves. thanks! (and you have a new subscriber!)

[@SquareOneFPV]

Hi buddy, sorry for the late response(s), we moved into our new house recently and it's been keeping me very busy getting everything unpacked and all...😬. Anyway, you can change motor direction multiple ways 1) you can change motor direction via "ESC software like JESC, BLHELI, Jazzmaverick, etc 2) The latest Betaflight (4.3) should support changing motor direction in the "motor tab", or it should in future update. 3) If you switch any 2 motor wires you will change motor direction. Thank you for subbing! 🙌😀

[@pgabrieli]

@@SquareOneFPV thanks! so, okay, there is no need to mark which motors spun in a particular direction to put them back in their original position, right? that’s the point I was making: which direction they turn is determined by the FC/ESC

[@SquareOneFPV]

@@pgabrieliWell if you don't mind checking motor direction and correcting it in software there is no need to take note of the motor wire order. It's just a tip I gave for people that don't want to go through the process of checking and correcting after direct soldering the motors. I'll give you an example, let's say we direct solder motor 1 and it turns clockwise (CW). If we take of the plug and solder the wires in the same order as they were when in the plug it will spin CW again. But if we swap any two wires it will spin counter clock wise ( CCW).

[@OliFPV]

Great rewiev 👌💚 thxxx and ceya

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thanks! 😃 Take care!

[@OliFPV]

U too 🍀✌️ lg

[@Takeover738]

Whats the advantage of building a whoop with frame upside do?

[@SquareOneFPV]

That would be an excellent question for Chris Rosser 😂. No but serious, I'm not an engineer so I can't explain the science behind it. The way it feels in the air is different, putting the battery on top ( above the prop line) changes the center of gravity. To me it feels like it responds faster to stick inputs. It also has less propwash, but maybe I just got it tuned better... Best way to find out, is building one yourself 🙃

[@Maxhotgo]

would you say that soldering the motors directly to the fc gave you the most efficiency? ty for sharing :D

[@SquareOneFPV]

Hi, you're welcome 👍. Yes it definitely is more efficient. It even gives the feeling the motors are slightly more powerfull. The less internal resistance the better, so I also use a bt 2.0 battery connector, these 2 combined are a great upgrade, you'll have less battery sag, and a little bit more flighttime.

[@MrSo6]

Thank you so much, i was thinking about it but didn't found anybody actually doing it. Have you noticed a difference about flight time or power when soldered ? I was wondering about connector that could "bottleneck"/dissipate some of the power sent to the motors.

[@SquareOneFPV]

I'm not an electrical engineer or anything like that, but I would suspect any connector would increase resistance. My whoops are a lot lighter, my 65mm is about 17.5gr, and my 75mm weighs 19gr so they already feel different from standard whoops. I can say you will save about 0.5gr when removing them, and on a whoop every gram counts.

[@JackalFPV]

Nice man, thanks!

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thanks! 👍

[@fpv_panda7961]

nice

[@SquareOneFPV]

Thanks!

[@IAmTheOceanWhosWatersOverflow]

Thank you for the video I was just curious if I have a motor that stopped working but when I plug in the same motor to any other plug on the same flight controller the motor works so I was thinking something with that plug may be bad wood desoldering the plug from my flight controller and soldering that motor directly to the board fix it or if the plug stop powering the motor does that mean it's the flight controller?

[@SquareOneFPV]

Have you tried checking your esc's? connect to jesc, jazzmaverick, bluejay or whatever you use to configure your esc and check if al 4 esc's show up.

[@IAmTheOceanWhosWatersOverflow]

@@SquareOneFPV they did all show up but is a all-in-one flight controller from my data fpv 85 pro 2 whoop. I accidentally flashed new ESC firmware from Blue Jay or something. I thought I could just try it and the CLI dump from my drone would reset it but I was mistaken and I don't know how to reset my ESC firmware back to default.

[@SquareOneFPV]

@@IAmTheOceanWhosWatersOverflow if you used bluejay the firmware you flashed onto the esc's should be the right one. And your esc's should be fine. can you spin up your motors in the betaflight motor tab?

[@IAmTheOceanWhosWatersOverflow]

@@SquareOneFPV all except 1. i used a multimeter and tested the pins for that motor plug. a few guides said that if i found continuity while testing the pins that the esc is shot. but the esc configurator detected 4.

[@set.adrift.somewhere]

Thank you for this video series! I would like to know if I can use this FC for this build: HappyModel Crazybee F4 Pro V2.0 1-3S Brushless flight controller FrSky

[@SquareOneFPV]

Hi, thank you, just happy to help, and trying to inspire fellow pilots 👍. Yes you could use that FC. But, I just looked at the specs, if I understand correctly you'd have to add your own vtx. If you plan on making your whoop inverted like I did you'd have to place the vtx between the board and the battery bay, depending on the frame that could be a challenge. For a 'normal' whoop setup it will definitely work, if you want to make an inverted whoop I think a FC board with build in vtx and receiver would make your build a more easy. Good luck with it!

[@set.adrift.somewhere]

Thanks for pointing this out. I will buy one with VTX. I have URUAV UZ85 with a fried FC. So when I buy a new FC, I will re-build it inverted. Would your settings be applicable to my whoop? I really appreciate your channel and your explanations are easy to follow. Most builds from other YTrs offer either power, speed and distance. I am looking for smoothness of flight and I found it here.

[@SquareOneFPV]

@@set.adrift.somewhere Now that's a cool project 🤘, please let me know how it turns out! Yes my 75mm build guide is applicable to your whoop (kzbin.info/www/bejne/joaWhK2kbNCap6M) you can follow the steps to -remap the motors -correct motor direction -correct FC ( board) orientation in BF if you have issues feel free to let me know, I will help you as best I can. Be sure to make a back up of your FC before starting so you can easily revert! I'm looking at some pictures of your whoop, the props and screws stick out of the frame, so you will need some self adhesive foam to stick to the bottom of the whoop- maybe even 2 layers- to keep them of the ground,. Try not to cover the entire FC board, as it will act as an insulator. Oh and for smoothness of flight, I've recently switch to Emuflight and it flies even better! It's very similar to BF so the guide applies to Emu as well. Emu has pre-sets for pid's and filters so very easy to tune, I love it! Thank you for the kind words, really appreciate it 😍. Sorry for the long write up, got carried away here 😂.

[@sburnham3]

Curious, are you flying in Angle mode?

[@SquareOneFPV]

I always fly acro

[@nickmccollum1196]

I tried soldering for the first time, first I knocked the vtx out, then I brought it back but broke a wire. Re-soldered that whole motor and vtx went out again. Also the startup-sound only played the first few notes. Did I overheat the board? Did powering the whoop with an accidental bridged pad (that I may not have noticed) cause it?

[@SquareOneFPV]

Sounds like my first soldering experience 😆, it's ok you'll get better at it. I believe first few sounds are for the fc starting the last ones are esc's starting... so yes esc's are probably fried, due too overheating, soldering on such small pads has to be fast, because the heat transfers to nearby components very very fast. On tinywhoops I put my soldering iron on 300 to 340°C and I try not to touch the pad longer then 2 seconds. -Pre tin both the pad and wire -Give the board a second after pre tinning -Hold the wire onto the pad -use flux if you have it -hold the wire onto the pad -clean iron tip and put a tiny bit of solder on it -now solder! The wire should be soldered onto the pad almost instantly. -when done soldering, clean the board with isopropyl alcohol and tootbrush to make sure there no small solder residue that could cause issues.

[@nickmccollum1196]

@@SquareOneFPV wow, super helpful! Thanks for the tips! Definitely need to focus on being quick with the heat

[@BHARGAV_GAJJAR]

Ok ? Hell no My loved ones (drones) are always crashing ! good video btw

[@SquareOneFPV]

Haha 😂 same here, poor things 😅. Thanks Buddy!

[@markogania1891]

Hello. What would happen if you accidentanlly bridge the motor connection and not check it? Does it damage the motors or esc?

[@SquareOneFPV]

Hi 😄, good question. It didn't happen to me ( yet) but I'd say, yes and yes, there's a chance you damage both a motor or esc. Chance of damaging an esc is probably bigger.

[@amerulwahid]

may i know why you remove the connector & solder it direct to the board?

[@SquareOneFPV]

Sure 😊 -first of all, for shedding some more weight, a lighter build flies better, much much better. -second because the connectors are a point of resistance between the esc and the motor.

[@jake730]

Just a tip, I know you said you don't use flux because you had a 5" board short on you but for people new to soldering cover that bad boy in as much flux as you can and use a healthy amount of alcahole to clean after. Thank me later 👍🏻

[@SquareOneFPV]

Well you'll be happy to hear I actually started using flux again 😊. Not on everything, specially bigger pads and wires. But soldering without flux ( I do use solder with a resin core) teaches you to be fast when soldering, because the resin core evaporates in an instant. And yes I clean with isopropyl alcohol, lots of it! Anyway thanks for the tip!

[@pgabrieli]

thanks for this video series, much appreciated! BTW, here's a little tip from a great master of lightweight, hi-performance whoops (angrydon) on how to make the frames stronger (now that the beta75 frame is no longer available): kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6nLg4ptltucfMk (english subs are available if you don't speak french)

[@SquareOneFPV]

Hi there, I'm happy to hear you like my vids 😁! Ah yes angrydon he always has awesome content, I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks for the tip buddy. Et oui je parle un petit peu Francais :p