In for Repair!

Joined
May 8, 2014
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Age
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Location
Indian Rocks Beach, FL
I have never had much trouble with my Phantoms in the past, but this latest upgrade proved to lead to trouble.
The craft updated fine. But I kept getting messages that the controller needed upgraded. I downloaded the update on the ipad mini 4 and did the update. I had to do this several times because I kept getting the same message that it could not connect to the aircraft. I resolved this be plugging the battery back into the ship and restarting things. Since I tested all of this without the props, I had to wait until the next evening to do a test flight. I went to the beach. I had everything ready to go, but got the same message that I needed to update the controller. So I did that again. Once complete, I got the connection and the good to go signal. I started the motors and lifted off, but things were strange. The sticks did not operate properly. everything was different. Here is the lesson. When I updated the controller, it must have defaulted to a different stick configuration than what I had set. I managed to land but could not shut down the motors right away and the craft tipped over, driving one of the props into the sand. The other motors stopped but the one motor continued to operate. Since it was bound by the sand, it made a horrific screaming sound. The motor became extremely hot and started to smoke. All I could do was pull the battery to get it to shut down. When I got home, the motor was still too hot to touch. I was able to restart the Phantom (props off) and all motors ran. The one that was buried looked a little too close to the plastic housing, so I figured that the extreme heat probably melted the mounting base inside the shell. I sent the whole thing into Drones Made Easy for repair and probably a new shell. Here is a question for any of you. When I was testing the engines back at home after the incident, I noticed that if I brought my left stick all the way back, the engines stopped dead. I always stopped the engines the way I started them by bringing both sticks down and to the inside corners like when I start the craft. If this is wrong, then I am very lucky because when I use the left stick to lower the craft, I actually could have shut the entire Phantom off. Is this something new with the latest update? How do you start and stop your Phantom 3 Professional.
Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to provide good info that might prevent you from having the same experience I have. Always check your stick configurations after an upgrade.
Phil H.
 
When I was testing the engines back at home after the incident, I noticed that if I brought my left stick all the way back, the engines stopped dead.
The engines will only stop after the Phantom stops descending.

I always stopped the engines the way I started them by bringing both sticks down and to the inside corners like when I start the craft.
It's best to hold the left stick down after landing. If you do a CSC after landing, your Phantom could tip over.

Always check your stick configurations after an upgrade.
It's a good idea to check all settings within DJI GO after installing new firmware.
 
The engines will only stop after the Phantom stops descending.


It's best to hold the left stick down after landing. If you do a CSC after landing, your Phantom could tip over.


It's a good idea to check all settings within DJI GO after installing new firmware.
Thanks. That is exactly what happened. It is not a cheap repair when you add the shipping cost, but a great lesson learned. Thanks for the comments and advice. I also filmed some shots at the beach last week before I updated to latest software and noticed bad flickering. From what I have read, it was a software issue and the latest update should have fixed the 50Htz error.
 

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