All the wires in brushless motors are coated with some kind of enamel. Water won't get to the conductive copper inside.

Originally Posted by Garry s

Van - opening sentence: 100% accurate, 100% unhelpful, 50% funny OK, 60% funny

As for the rest of it, I understand that but wonder why the water doesn't short out all the bits of leccy what are coming out of the wires ...but then again I was conditioned by my grandma..'steam irons, mixing electricity and water....it's madness'

The wires have an insulating varnish on them. If the wires were bare and touching each other the motors wouldn't work because the wires would short out. Tthe 'lectricity stays in the wire vs jumping across the varnish because it's easier to flow through the wire. Dunking them in water results in no difference with the insulation...they're still insulated from each other by the varnish coating.

FWIW, water is actually a great insulator. It's the contaminants in the water that creates conductivity. Of course, the higher the voltage the more likelyhood of exposed wire ends being able to 'arc' to each other vs flowing through the wire itself. We run at pretty low voltage, relatively speaking, so it's even less likely any exposed wiring would short out unless they were about touching.

Okay, let's try a little analogy. Take 3ft of rubber tubing. The tube material itself is the 'insulator' and the ID of the tubing is the 'conductor'. Blow thru one end of the tubing and all the air comes out the other end because..why? Because it's easier to flow through the tubing than penetrate the walls of the insulator..so 'what goes in one side comes out the other'. Works good in air, right? Now take that rubber tubing and immerse it in water...keeping the open ends out of the water. Now blow thru one end. Does the air come out the other side or does it all bubble up from the water? It comes out the end because the tubing in 'insulating' the air from the water. The same thing happens with the motor wire windings. The current 'flow' goes thru the wire because the insulation on the wire keeps it there..be it in or out of water. In essence, the wires in the motor are in a closed loop. What goes in one end has to come out the other.

Ah, hadn't realised motor wires are insulated. Thank you for that, now I understand.

Very interesting read, thanks for all the info!
So after a motor has been in water, surely this will decrease its life span as the water may dry out and cause some kind of friction or even rust? How would you ever know if the wd40 was doing its job properly

Originally Posted by Garry s

Van - opening sentence: 100% accurate, 100% unhelpful, 50% funny OK, 60% funny

As for the rest of it, I understand that but wonder why the water doesn't short out all the bits of leccy what are coming out of the wires ...but then again I was conditioned by my grandma..'steam irons, mixing electricity and water....it's madness'

You are talking about relatively low voltage and fresh water. Your grandma's iron probably uses 240V.

Originally Posted by Jmm_jammy

Very interesting read, thanks for all the info!
So after a motor has been in water, surely this will decrease its life span as the water may dry out and cause some kind of friction or even rust? How would you ever know if the wd40 was doing its job properly

The armature is made out of iron and that will definitely rust. So you need to clean that out. The bearings may or may not be that bad because some bearings are made out of stainless steel. However there are many types of stainless steel alloy and some stainless steel will rust.

You will never know if the WD40 is doing its job unless you check the motor periodically.

I'm sure you can do one final run of the day out of the water and everything would be dry on the motor, or when you get home blow the motor out with an air compressor.

I like this frame but I dont see the clear one on the website. Is that version not for sale?

Yes the polycarbonate one doesnt show up on shop website?

John

Originally Posted by Jmm_jammy

Very interesting read, thanks for all the info!
So after a motor has been in water, surely this will decrease its life span as the water may dry out and cause some kind of friction or even rust? How would you ever know if the wd40 was doing its job properly

Here's an idea. Buy $10 motors, oil the bearing, fly, dunk, fly, repeat. When the motors start sounding rough buy more $10 motors, oil the bearings, repeat.

the motors are wound with each end joint together to create 3 phase-like ending. and then soldered and joined to 14awg for eg, wire for the length so that you can connect to your esc. Now this part is questionable. I don't think they are conformal coated before shrink-tube covered. spontaneous splashing of water won't get enough inside. soaking in will need a long time to have water lodged in it.
Anyway even if it is shorted, there's no electronic inside the motor, just the ESC is connected.. you get it? I think I do.

Originally Posted by epyonxero

I like this frame but I dont see the clear one on the website. Is that version not for sale?

Originally Posted by Flyrobot

Yes the polycarbonate one doesnt show up on shop website?

John

You are both correct, the clear frame is not up... yet. I have gotten a TON of crap for it. We are trying to get this out as early as we can. If you subscribe to our youtube channel you will be one of the first to know when it is in.

These don't look 100% waterproof, but water resistant. The motor screw mounts don't seem to have any kind of seal like an o-ring. I'd imagine if you held it under the water some water would get in, but hopefully someone who buys one can do some real tests.

AquaCopters, have you guys performed any kind of endurance tests on these yet? i.e having the quad fully submerged for a whole flight ( incase someone flew one out too far, flipped it upside down in the water and had to go get a paddle boat to retrieve it..)
And to answer most our questions is there a particular motor you have done research with that would take on water requiring little or no maintenance?

Originally Posted by Exploding Fist

These don't look 100% waterproof, but water resistant. The motor screw mounts don't seem to have any kind of seal like an o-ring. I'd imagine if you held it under the water some water would get in, but hopefully someone who buys one can do some real tests.

I've been emailed some instructions. It should be 100% waterproof. You need silicone to complete the build, preferably one of the same colour as the shell. You need to drill holes for the motor wires, feed them through to the ESC, then seal the hole with silicone. You also need to put a dab of silicone in every thread where the motor cross mount goes, that'll keep water out.