Motor works and then gets sluggish and slow

Ingredients:

• ½ cup nopal (cactus pads cleaned, spines removed), julienned.
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped.
• 1 lime, juiced.
• 1 cup water.
• Crushed ice (optional)

Licuado de Nopal (Cactus Smoothie) - Muy Bueno Cookbook

muybuenocookbook.com/2011/01/licuado-de-nopal-cactus-smoothie/ Recepies for the cactus smoothie Google Search

If you can visually see the rod, use a few drops of cooking oil. If it leaks into any drink, you wont get sick. Don't use mineral oils.

It means it's working very hard,
I suggest to put items that are thick in first and blend them then add the other ingredients after , the smell is the coating on the motor getting hot , if you see smoke coming out, drink your smoothie wash it out and take it back for a new one.

You're blending at a high speed and air is getting introduced. Try a slow blend speed. This should solve your issue.

You may need smaller ice chunks, this is usually a physical issue, look at it and see if ice is stacked in a manner to block more ice from getting to the blades.

Ice floats, if you want to add more ice pour almost all of it out into separate container, add ice to remaining mixture and blend.

I think the ice was too hard for a hand blender. I think the impact has caused the blade to separate from the shaft or caused the shaft to separate internally. If your blender is still under warranty you might be able to get it fixed. Note: none of the "Smoothy" recipes in the manual call for ice. One uses ice-cream. One uses "partially thawed frozen strawberries" and one uses sherbet.

Frozen elements are generally not recommended for blenders of any brand. They may cause the blade assembly to stop moving completely, or to "bog down," and this may eventually damage the motor. It is recommended that frozen fruits and/or yogurt be thawed when possible before placing into a blender. If this is not a possibility for you, I would use a "pulse" or "chop ice" function to rapidly spin the blades for just a moment. This will chop the contents in smaller, more manageable parts. This should be done before adding other liquid ingredients.

well it looks to me there is some thing not tight enough connection to ur blade.....as u say it works when empty but when u put soemting in its stops....this means ur blade is not tight on the shaft to the motor......or u may have done something wrong when u had the blender open........recheck ur work and make sure its tight,,,,,
if so u will have ur ice cold drink....cheers i hope so for ur shake