If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 READ!

[hunch]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

I am independent repair shop in MN just like burlbark ( Jeremy) is in Cali

 

[Shuether]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Try and separate the wires like the attached to prevent shorting.

I'm not sure if this is mentioned in the later pages, I just started reading this thread and will read all the way through. According to that DJIforums link, the worst heat comes from the Mosfets so best to keep the wires away from them as well.

 

[Pmcdn]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Try and separate the wires like the attached to prevent shorting.

I'm not sure if this is mentioned in the later pages, I just started reading this thread and will read all the way through. According to that DJIforums link, the worst heat comes from the Mosfets so best to keep the wires away from them as well.

Looking at the board where the motor wires are attached, where are the mosfets (or what do they look like)?

 

[Prylar Bek]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

The sky is falling....the sky is falling...

 

[Shuether]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Try and separate the wires like the attached to prevent shorting.

I'm not sure if this is mentioned in the later pages, I just started reading this thread and will read all the way through. According to that DJIforums link, the worst heat comes from the Mosfets so best to keep the wires away from them as well.

Looking at the board where the motor wires are attached, where are the mosfets (or what do they look like)?

The Mosfets are the bigger black chips beside where the three motor wires connect.

I've caught up on this thread and the DJIforums one. Will be interesting to see where it goes! I'm going to keep flying, but will keep a potential failure in mind and keep it in an area where a DJI falling brick would cause the least damage.

I'm Going to open my V3 and take a look shortly. I've got about 10 hours of flying on it, but its been cold(at or below freezing)for all the flights so I doubt heat is going to be an issue on mine. Yet.
Will take some pics so I can compare later.

 

[Shuether]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Na5n (paul) on the DJI forum seems to know what he's talking about. Is he on here too?

 

[Couchie]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Ya know it it isn't one thing it is another...

I returned by P2V+ v2 due to the issues with the GPS reception. I've got the v3 now and the GPS issue is surely resolved.Now this....

I think since I bought mine through B&H, I'm going to go the route that MacCool mentions. At this point, if it crashes, I still have the box and I'll pack it up and return it. I've got probably ten flights in on this one and don't have issues yet. If it makes it closer to the one year warranty I guess maybe then I'll look at moding it.

 

[Shuether]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

So I took mine apart and as expected, no signs of melting. Yet. But as I said, its been only cold flights so far. I moved the wires a bit so they don't run close over the Mosfets and separated them as much as I could. I'll keep flying and check it every 10 hours or so. Also smell it after each flight I suppose. I've got pics of each motor if anyone wants.

 

[phantomnoobpilot]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

my V3 had an ESC burnt out on my second flight after a soft tip over during landing.

Now with a new ESC installed, it flies like a champ, but I constantly have this fear that other ESCs might suffer the same fate, worse if an ESC burnout happens in mid air, then I can say goodbye to my expensive bird

My country has a really warm climate too that's why I get paranoid sometimes fearing the worst might happen. So far, flights have been pretty good.

 

[Mako79]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

The sky is falling....the sky is falling...

Lol. My thoughts. And I don't want to scare anyone else either..

The discussion is up in the air at the moment.

However,
Is there a pattern emerging?
Tip over = stress on motor = stress on ESC = melt cables = short = fried ESC? Analogically speaking, would be holding the garden hose and making the tap explode. Now lets say the tip over is just the start and of something catastrophic. You might not see the smoke and she'll fly fine today, but tomorrow, she may drop from the skies..

We need numbers/stats from DJI. But that's not going to happen unless these 4 blade turkeys land on someone. For now, just keep smelling your bird and minimise any obstructions to the props and motors.

 

[Luap]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Heres latest post from DJI forum
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=view ... =2&lang=en

I have made numerous measurements, current and temperature sensors on the drive wires, etc. over the past week, including replacing the MOSFETs and intentionally blowing them up to see what can cause a sudden MOSFET/ESC failure. Any sudden interruption of the motor rotation, like a tip-over or striking a small tree branch, will immediately blow the ESC. I'll be posting more details shortly, along with some O-scope waveforms.

Thanks for your comments and insights. I no longer believe the motor wire size is the main culprit. I thought they were about AWG22-24 wires coming from the motors. Turns out, they are the actual wires from the windings; two solid wires from each motor winding covered with colored shrink tubing. After 15-20 minute test runs at full throttle, they only climbed to about 40C - enough to make the shrink tubing "spoungy." However, the MOSFETs get very hot after a 15-20 minute hard run. The best safeguard is to ensure the motor drive wires are not touching each other and lifted above and away from the hot MOSFET chips.
Paul

So now it seems its not only a wire issue (as in any case non stranded wire between motor and ESC is not good practice due to vibrations) but an ESC one as well.

 

[locoworks]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

is it the actual motor that is drawing more current by design, or is it the newer props are loading the motor too much?? would using new motors with older props ( cant remember the numbers of these things ) solve the heat build up in the ESC's?


I too would be looking long at hard if I had a V3 based on all the crash reports from experienced V2 pilots that haven't had issues until upgrading? I have a V2 and haven't had an issue. that said I haven't had lots of flights and haven't 'upgraded' ( do DJI know what upgrade is meant to mean and do? ) the firmware in anything since I bought it 4 or 5 months ago. I feel the need to do the foil mod before I fly again for peace of mind.

 

[eyecon82]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Personally, I think the problem we are having with our quads dropping from the sky, is either current misfires through the wire insulation, or it's something before the motor/ESC combo. Most likely it's the 2nd one I mentioned, with being before the combo.

Not all, but when most drop, they drop by rolling to side. They roll, then drop. Because they seem to share this same characteristic is why I fill like it's in what communicates with the ESC's.

I have a stock v3 and this just happened out of nowhere last week. Perhaps you are correct that there is a hiccup somewhere along the line?

http://youtu.be/ogExIuRQHC0

Whether you apply additional insulation or not, it still leaves you with a relatively thin solid copper wire in a vibrating environment. It is bound to eventually fail while in the air. I think the time frame and failure rates probably has a direct correlation to total flight hours with the new motors -- which widely varies from owner to owner.

I have over 200 hours easily on my stock v3.

suerly dji would have many experts working for them and do many hours of test flights wouldn't they have known this as a possible flaw it's not like this is a new company making an inexperienced oversight.

They clearly had a thicker wire before.

So someone at dji made the active decision to go with a smaller one. I'm sure they thought of the current issue?? They would save what, cents? Doesn't make sense.

 

[robinb]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

This is a video someone else posted of a failure in flight of a v3.

http://youtu.be/ezNo3Tt7ur8

 

[eyecon82]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

This is a video someone else posted of a failure in flight of a v3.

http://youtu.be/ezNo3Tt7ur8

wow. Mine did the same thing, but I was high enough that I was able to recover.


http://youtu.be/ogExIuRQHC0


Opening her up when I wake up

 

[slothead]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Something just dawned on me.

I haven't read all the recent posts that are now on this thread (I don't have that much time), but In one of those sets of photos, I thought I saw a "V2" identification on the ESC. If we know for sure that the motors in that image are the newer V3 version (I can't remember the new number), and they are being driven with the old ESCs, what those images show is exactly what I would expect to happen: ESC overheats and MOSFETs short, allowing high current through the "new" wiring to the motors, and everything looks burned up.

The above may not be the case (I'm not sure what motors and what ESCs were in use there), but whatever the case, I would strongly recommend that you don't use new motors with old ESCs because it is very likely you will experience what those images show. (I think this caution was stated by DJI some time ago.)

 

[Mori55]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

So how come some new v3 owners are having this problem ?

 

[robinb]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Something just dawned on me.

I haven't read all the recent posts that are now on this thread (I don't have that much time), but In one of those sets of photos, I thought I saw a "V2" identification on the ESC. If we know for sure that the motors in that image are the newer V3 version (I can't remember the new number), and they are being driven with the old ESCs, what those images show is exactly what I would expect to happen: ESC overheats and MOSFETs short, allowing high current through the "new" wiring to the motors, and everything looks burned up.

The above may not be the case (I'm not sure what motors and what ESCs were in use there), but whatever the case, I would strongly recommend that you don't use new motors with old ESCs because it is very likely you will experience what those images show. (I think this caution was stated by DJI some time ago.)

From what I understand the V3's are using V2 ESC's though on DJI forum there is mention of a newer software on these.

 

[slothead]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

So how come some new v3 owners are having this problem ?

If you are asking me Mori, I can't say, but it is important to know that the new motors are being used with new ESCs. My concern is configuration control. How do we identify the ESCs? I think new motors can be assured they are new by the thinner wiring, but I don't know how to differentiate the new from the old ESCs.

I had been contemplating replacing my V2 ESCs and Motors (I am already flying with the new props), but I will hold off until we know the results of this. But had I done this, I probably would have (improperly) referred to my drone as a V3.

 

[Pmcdn]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Something just dawned on me.

I haven't read all the recent posts that are now on this thread (I don't have that much time), but In one of those sets of photos, I thought I saw a "V2" identification on the ESC. If we know for sure that the motors in that image are the newer V3 version (I can't remember the new number), and they are being driven with the old ESCs, what those images show is exactly what I would expect to happen: ESC overheats and MOSFETs short, allowing high current through the "new" wiring to the motors, and everything looks burned up.

The above may not be the case (I'm not sure what motors and what ESCs were in use there), but whatever the case, I would strongly recommend that you don't use new motors with old ESCs because it is very likely you will experience what those images show. (I think this caution was stated by DJI some time ago.)

So with that said, are the people who are experiencing the motor problem people who have upgraded their V2 phantom with the new V3 motors OR people who have purchased the brand new V3 Phantoms from DJI?