Could the engine 614S LIPO 160A have burned out?

Build, Repair & Mod
1

Hi everyone!

I bought an eFoil in January and tested it once for about 15 minutes. It was running, but it showed an error saying the battery was discharged: “Battery power of ESC is less than 0%!! Please charge!!” —even though the battery was at 100%.

The second time I tested it, it rode around for about 20–30 minutes and shut off right in the middle of the ocean.

I got scared, caught a passing boat, and was delivered to shore.

It hasn’t turned on since. Here’s a video showing what it looks like -

After that, I opened a claim, but the Chinese side refused to resolve anything, so the eFoil stayed with me and now it needs to be fixed somehow.

The board is non-standard -

I chose it because when I previously rented a Flite, I really liked it, so I wanted a bigger battery. That’s why I got the eFoil with the largest battery I could find.

I didn’t find any instructions about what might not be working. I unscrewed everything that could be unscrewed on the board itself—didn’t find any “mechanisms” / “motors” or anything that could break :slight_smile:

Then I disassembled the lower part (the wing, or the leg—what’s the correct name for it?)

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And found this kind of mechanism there—

614S LIPO 160A - Is this a motor? There seems to be a slight burnt smell… Could something have burned out in there?
How can I check?

I have a multimeter. Which wire should I cut, what should I connect to what, and what should the reading be?

Is this the problem? Is it the reason it won’t run?

Can it be repaired separately? Can it be replaced? Can it be replaced with something more reliable? What’s the cause of the failure?

P.S. special thanks to the creators of this forum for making the post without media, because “An error occurred: Sorry, new users can only put one embedded media item in a post.”… :woman_facepalming:

1 Like
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The part with the wires is the ESC, it is the motor controller. 14S means input can be max 14x4.2V ~ 60V.
It can be replaced but it need to be the same (or one that fits with the same specs) and it might have to be programmed first to fit the system. Reason for failure is hard to say but likely water ingress, as it is built into the fuselage, which is below the water line.
Best would be to get a replacement part from the vendor. If that is not possible, replacing it with a diefferent ESC that fits might be possible but not easy without documentation.
Or sell it as is to a tinkerer an buy something from a local dealer with warranty and service, like lift, flight, or what is abailable where you are located. More expensive but you spend the summer on the water if something breaks, instead of waiting for parts from :cn:.