How to fix a small Whoop motor that won’t spin when armed.

If your Tiny Whoop’s motor refuses to turn or just twitches when you mount your quad, the problem is often related to the ESC settings. In particular, the motor may not receive enough starting power. Fortunately, this problem is easy to fix. In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through a quick fix using the Bluejay ESC Configurator.

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Check out this guide for the best Bluejay settings for Tiny Whoops: https://oscarliang.com/bluejay-blheli-s/#Best-Settings

Diagnosing motor problems

Test Tiny Whoop to check for any issues before making any changes.

Here are some simple things to check:

1. Connect the battery: Connect a LiPo battery to power your quad.
2. Tested on Betaflight:
   • Go to motor Tabs in the Betaflight Configurator.
   • Use the slider to rotate the motor.
   • If one or more motors are not spinning, you have a more serious problem, perhaps a hardware problem (such as a faulty ESC or motor). It may need to be replaced.
   • If all motors spin fine when using the sliders, but do not spin when mounting the quad, the problem may be related to the ESC settings. Read on!
3. Quad Equipped: Unplug the USB cable and flip the arm switch on the transmitter.
4. Motor observation: If the motor just twists or doesn’t spin smoothly, it may not have enough starting power.

Connect to ESC Configurator

Once you’ve identified the problem, let’s try to fix it by adjusting the ESC startup power in Bluejay.

Connection steps:

1. Connect the USB cable: Connect Tiny Whoop to your computer.
2. Connect the battery: Connect a LiPo battery to power your quad.
3. Open the ESC configurator: Go to https://esc-configurator.com/ in your browser. This tool allows you to change Bluejay ESC settings.

Startup Power Adjustment

Now that you are connected to the ESC configurator, adjust the “Minimum Startup Power” to fix the problem.

Adjustment steps:

1. Find Minimum starting power Set it in the configurator. This parameter controls the initial power sent to the motor when armed.
2. Increased minimum starting power: Set it to 1100. In my experience this works for most small whoop setups. click Save settingsthen disconnect.
3. Quad Test: Unplug the USB, mount the quad, and check if the motor spins properly.

Once the issue is resolved, you can fine-tune your settings.

• Do not set the minimum starting power too high. If disturbed, the motor can actually be damaged. It is best to set it to the lowest possible value.
• To do this, gradually reduce the amount. Minimum starting power Rotate 10 points at a time until the motor no longer spins, then cycle again.
• now maximum starting power That’s 20 points above the minimum (suggested in the Bluejay documentation), so you should be good to go.

final thoughts

Adjusting the minimum starting power of your Tiny Whoop can often solve problems with the motor shaking on start or causing the motor to become unresponsive. This is a quick fix that any pilot can perform with minimal tools and experience, making it a valuable problem-solving skill. Now that Tiny Whoop is running smoothly, you can get back to the most important task: flying!

Checking and fine-tuning these settings regularly will help prevent downtime and keep your quad in optimal condition.