I posted this for some folks that were having a hard time getting going. Sometimes if we think we understand something but we got it just a little wrong, things will not work until we figure out what we are doing wrong. Hope this helps ya.
1., Charge battery, plug both connectors into the charger, not just one, when it is done charging you will have a green light. You cannot over charge.
2. Make sure you have new batteries in the transmitter, all the same type.
3. To Calibrate your Phantom and prepare it for flying here are the basic steps. I do this at my work table in the house. with props removed so I can check and possibly set the control sticks.
a. turn on transmitter, listen for beeps. Make sure both switches are in the up position!! Look for solid green light on the transmitter.
b. plug in battery to phantom with the phantom sitting level and still, don't lift it up or move it around at all, just slide the ol battery in and close the cover.
I think if this is the first time doing this process you might need to do the compass dance at this time. So flick the right switch all the way down and all the way up, a bunch of times until the light blinks yellow. then pick up the phantom and holding it completely level (or pretty close) turn the phantom 360degrees until the light goes green, then point the light towards the floor and again rotate the phantom 360 degrees keeping it level and true during this process. If you have done it correctly there will be no yellow lights, if there are still yellow lights check your switches and make sure they are both up and if so, do the dance again.
c. plug usb cable into phantom and open the software,under the view button check your stick function, are they moving on the screen when you move them? Are the motors doing what they should do as you move the sticks?
d. At this point you might be tempted to do a calibration under basic but I would recommend you skip to the Tools button and do both check imu and do a basic cali. That should work or at least it should not fail, if it does lets talk about what did not work and how the process failed. but assuming it seems ok click on the advanced tab in the middle of the screen and click on advanced cali... you will get a error message saying your mc is hot, after it gets back to ready don't wait 5 minutes just click it again. It should work after a few tries. At least that is what I have found that works.
Under the Advanced button you should enable intelligent orientation control and check that the switch works through the settings.
e. Ok, now the question is do you want prop guards or not. Well all that needs to happen is the thing tilt over and the props will hit the ground and quickly be damaged. So as a new pilot I find them valuable.
f. take your phantom outside. Me, I have a 4 gig memory card in my fc40camera that is good for at least one hour of recording time I guess, so the first thing I do is turn on my camera (which I found will only charge with my phone charger) get my phone connected to the camera then I put the phantom where I want to call home and I place the transmitter on the ground next to the phantom. Turn on transmitter everytime making sure both switches are in the up position. after beep (s) plug in battery insert in battery case and close without moving the aircraft. Wait for all green, 2 times it blinks green fast, the first time it might still be blinking red, but it will also blink green fast when it is done blinking red. This shows it has found and marked home. If this is your first time flying at this location you might consider a compass dance, but that can be determined just by getting airborne.
g. lets assume we have all green blinking lights, it blinked the found home signal and then for me at least 8 green blinks with no red. I press record on my phone and then both sticks down start the props. I give a little throttle to see if it wants to climb straight up or tilt over, if it wants to tilt over I might do the compass dance at this time. right switch up and down until the light on the phantom goes to yellow, 360degrees until the light goes green, point the nose at the ground (or the sky) and go 360degrees. make sure both switches on transmitter are up.
h. I do not just give a little throttle to take off, I have to give quite a bit in order to take off and not tilt over, so i give enough to take off, get maybe 6 or 8 feet in the air and watch for drift. If it is drifting a lot, land and compass dance again.
I. at first fly close to yourself, (not too close you just want to observe the light on the nose that speaks to you) get used to seeing the blinking green light and learn to see a red or yellow blink. After you have used a couple batteries you might consider testing home lock by flying some distance away from you, pushing down the left switch and pulling all the way back on the right controll, the aircraft should return to you if you enabled ioc in settings.
Ok, last thing is don't forget to stop your video recording before turning the camera off, it might not save. good luck!
