My motor wires keep breaking

[JJ2]

Sorry for the little bit misleading title but I was building and found out that unless the wire is in the exact right spot my XL-motor does not work What makes me so mad about this, is that it has happened to me MANY times (4 times) before and the motors are only about a year old. It first happened to my servo motor and I contacted Lego about it and then they sent me a replacement and I was happy about that, then a few weeks l was using 1 of my M-motors and the same thing happened, but the wire was already damaged from another project so I let it slip. About 2 months later I was using my other M-motor that was in perfect condition and found out that it had happened that that motor too, and then just now as a already described it happened to my XL-motor.

I am wondering what should I do at this point, I want to contact Lego to get replacements but I don't think they will believe that within a year 3 of my motors have had the same problem and they have already sent me a replacement servo. Should I contact Lego and find out if they will sent me a replacement, or just suck it up and hope it dose not happen to my 2 L-motors?

Sorry if this topic is kind of useless.

[Zerobricks]

I only had 2 or 3 such cases in my 8 years of power functions use and I own some 20-30 motors. The biggest problem is janking the wires and twisting them in the motor output. Never pick up your motors by the wire, dont allow the wires to twist in any direction too much and just generally be gentle with them.

[matthewclso]

Yes, you should contact Lego Customer Service. I recently bought 3 ea. Power Functions IR Transmitters, and they didn't work. I sent them back free of charge, and the replacements didn't work either, so I sent them back in their pre-paid envelope. They ended up refunding my money. Don't accept subpar quality in Lego products.

[JJ2]

I only had 2 or 3 such cases in my 8 years of power functions use and I own some 20-30 motors. The biggest problem is janking the wires and twisting them in the motor output. Never pick up your motors by the wire, dont allow the wires to twist in any direction too much and just generally be gentle with them.

Thanks but I have been very careful about grabbing the motors by the wires and I have only used the M-motor indoors and the XL-s outdoors for short periods of time when filming videos. The only time I can remember grabbing the wire is when I knocked one off the table and caught it by the wire.

[andythenorth]

I have more than 30 PF motors, receivers and switches, the full range from servo to train motor, and none of them have wire problems. My kids have been playing with them since they were 2 years old or so, and haven't been gentle. The parts have been in and out of models, and also stored loose in boxes with no particular special handling.

PF motor wire issues are not commonly reported on this forum, doesn't mean they don't happen. Sorry that doesn't help solve your problem, hope it's useful background info though.

Edited February 1, 2016 by andythenorth

[Zerobricks]

Well I know that Lego changed the wires and plugs to softer verisons in 2012 I think with the 9398 and later the 41999. with exception of the 41999 all of my PF is the older version with harder wires. What about yours?

Edited February 1, 2016 by Zblj

[JJ2]

Well I know that Lego changed the wires and plugs to softer verisons in 2012 I think with the 9398 and later the 41999. with exception of the 41999 all of my PF is the older version with harder wires. What about yours?

I got mine in 2014 and my replacement servo in 2015

[cookiedent]

Yes, you should contact Lego Customer Service. I recently bought 3 ea. Power Functions IR Transmitters, and they didn't work. I sent them back free of charge, and the replacements didn't work either, so I sent them back in their pre-paid envelope. They ended up refunding my money. Don't accept subpar quality in Lego products.

That might be the reason, why there are no IR Receivers in the shop at the moment.

[andythenorth]

ith exception of the 41999 all of my PF is the older version with harder wires

Mine too, nearly all of it is from before 2012, although I have 12 or so L motors which are newer and don't yet show any problem (crossing my fingers)

Edited February 1, 2016 by andythenorth

[ScottyF4i]

IR transmitters have an issue with certain batteries not making contact on the positive side. Try different batteries, bending the tab, or etc.

Lego still hasn't gotten back to me about it. They aren't broke, just poorly designed.

[JJ2]

IR transmitters have an issue with certain batteries not making contact on the positive side. Try different batteries, bending the tab, or etc.

Lego still hasn't gotten back to me about it. They aren't broke, just poorly designed.

Thanks but it is not the IR receivers at all, I have tried with Sbrick and it has the same affect.

[Tommy Styrvoky]

The only case I have had with something like this is that a single M motor went bad and stopped working, I took it apart and checked the connections, and attempted to shorten the wire to see if that was the cause, But I think the motor just went bad.

[SevenStuds]

This is exactly the reason why I wish all the PF motors had NXT type connectors.

The small PF wires are really fragile. There are videos on YT showing how to repair this, but if you can get replacements from LEGO, that's probably better.

[JJ2]

This is exactly the reason why I wish all the PF motors had NXT type connectors.

The small PF wires are really fragile. There are videos on YT showing how to repair this, but if you can get replacements from LEGO, that's probably better.

Thanks I think that is what I'll do but I will have 9 motors and only 2 ir recievers and 1 sbrick.

[dr_spock]

This is exactly the reason why I wish all the PF motors had NXT type connectors.

The small PF wires are really fragile. There are videos on YT showing how to repair this, but if you can get replacements from LEGO, that's probably better.

The NXT RJ12 connectors can be a weak point. The tabs can break off. Snagged it on something while trying to untangle a bundle of NXT cables and it's bye-bye. It is not easy to find a crimper for RJ12 and blank RJ12 connectors. They are not as popular as RJ45 or RJ11.