Re: crash aftermath
Nvr2fst said:
Ok, tell the story and we might help............
Ok all you folks with a case of
SCHADENFRUEDE here is my "Rookie Bonehead mistake that cost me a replacement P2V camera $499 & battery $150"! I have 100's of hrs of experience with 4&6 channel R/C helicopters. And after 4 flights with my new P2V in the front yard I was totally at ease with flying her. I started getting a bit cocky with my flying skills buzzing around a street in front of home buzzing my neighbors pets and small children (kidding about kids).
Anyway a buddy of mine who bought several of my used helo's and destroyed them all after 1st few flts, came over to see this new craft that I was bragging about, telling him a monkey could fly it without crashing. Well I did a demo for him flying in front yard circling 120 ft pine trees in front yards of neighbors, putting on a flying clinic of sorts. He asked me to demo the "fly home" funtion I kept boasting about. Why "of course, thats the best funtion for idiots like yourself"! So the craft was hovering in neighbors yard at about 30 feet. I said "watch this dude" as I turned off the controller and set it on the ground.
Then my jaw hit the ground (same place my cocky Simeon knuckles were resting, lol) the bird did exactly what it was supposed to do. It shot-up 50-60 feet to the safe altitude it is programed to.
DIRECTLY INTO A NEIGHBOR'S PINETREE!!! The craft went through the branches trimming the pine needles, then dropping out of the sky like a brick! The bird hit the street HARD! The camera went north,, the battery went south, the craft cartwheeling east, the memory card...well still looking for that, and 2 of the rubber grommets off the camera went bouncing like superballs.
My buddy looked at me and said sarcastically"Wow, that was worth it, you are the man!" I slowly walked over to pickup all the parts from the carnage, my knuckles dragging the ground...
AFTERMATH;
I noticed the crafts main chassis looked ok, the props were pretty scuffed up. My buddy picked up the camera yelling "Dude, this thing is F'ed up"! This guy is the king of "Schadenfruede"! I looked at the camera giving it a quick inspection. (**I will post some pic's later). He was accurate in his crude description of the cameras condition and damage from the impact. He then picked up the battery 15 feet from the other parts,holding it like it was a newborn, presenting it to me like an A-hole. "Is this normal" the battery was bulging out at the end (opposite end it plugs in to charge). My brain had a vision of a cash register ringing up $$$$ after inspecting each part we gathered up. Defeated, I carried it al into my workshop.
I have worked with LiPo batteries 1000's of times, and have never had one get this type of damage. It was still on when I was handed it back on the crash site. I used a scapel and did some exploratory surgery. Behind the plastic cover the battery was a bit squished, but looked ok. I put the battery in a vice and VERY gently & slowly applied pressure. I was able to form it back to a shape I felt would fit back into the craft. I tried to push it in the battery compartment, but a piece of plastic was catching, preventing it from fitting in the slot. I took out my trusty scapel & trimmed off the wonkee stuff,and Tadaa, it fit. I took the camera and reinstalled it on to the craft, plugging both connectors back in. I turned it on and was able to get a wifi link no problem. All systems were go except no camera, no FPV. All the telemetry was good to go. I didn't have the camera or video recording during the crash, but it took a photo of it crashing into the branches of the pine tree?? (Riddle me that one geeks??lol) As mentioned the memory card came out & was never found. However when turned it on I could see how it took 1 pic of it trimming pine needles?? My guess is that a branch pushed the button located on the camera bottom....
The gimbel movement was normal, basically everything was operational except the camera recording & FPV funtion. I charged up the battery, and cranked it up. I let it idle awhile waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting to see what else is wrong. I spooled up the motors abit, and could tell that the scuffed props were causing some engine cavitation. I had seen this many times with my Helo's, scuffed props go out of balance. So I replaced those with the extras that came with the P2V. I cranked up the craft again and it purred like a kitten, time for a testflight.
Took her out and flew it for 10 min's( 50% of the battery life), and safely landed. The bird operated same as it did before my FU. The controls responded perfectly, the telemetry signaled back all the crafts operations normally. I have made 5 more flights and everything is cool.
Upon close inspection of the camera, I noticed that one of the plastic rods that rotate the camera had snapped off. So the camera us hanging on with just one, but the movement of the gimbel was still working normal, but a bit cockeyed. I put in a new memory card and tried taking a pic, but all it does is send a "sensor error" message to my phone?
I ordered a new camera & battery today. Even though the battery charges up & operates ok, I know I shouldn't use it. I am going to take it to a local hobbyshop who has a whiz kid working there who works on my toys all the time. I'm going to see what he thinks about using the battery in the future. As far as the damaged camera, I thought I would send it to a shop that works on the P2V, and see if it could be repaired.
I learned a humbling lesson from all this. A PERSON WITH ENOUGH FREETIME TO POST A SHORT STORY ABOUT CRASHING HIS EXPENSIVE TOY, SHOULD HAVE TIME TO THROUGHLY READ THE OPERATING MANUEL
Hope this was entertaining and for you schadenfruede freaks, hope this did it for you. I will post the damage pics to help round out the experience! I actually had fun writing this, plus it helped me laugh at the $675.00 FU!!! Thanks to those who helped me track down a new camera!
PEACE OUT.....
MOOSE