Overnight in a tree

HeliRy · Feb 4, 2014

Well.... I've officially joined the club of Phantom pilots who've lost their bird in a tree. Not the end of the world, it's only a few houses down the road along the street. Just glad it came down there (auto landing + I lost sight of it) and not on top of people or property!

So long story short, I was trying to get some night footage so I'll have to wait till morning to try and get it out of the tree. Not sure if this poses a problem though as it will likely be below zero tonight. Will the Phantom's lipo need to be replaced after prolonged exposure to sub zero temps?

The GoPro should be recording for another hour or so lol. Hope it catches something good.

ElGuano · Feb 4, 2014

Yeah, if the battery drains down to zero (there's no undervolt protection so that's very likely), it may be unrecoverable. If it happened to me, I might attempt to recharge it VERY slowly (0.1-0.2A) but I'd do it outside in a big flower pot just in case.

reALIGNed · Feb 4, 2014

I would not trust the battery, it will be discharged to the point of no recovery, and they are cheap enough to replace.

HeliRy · Feb 4, 2014

****, hadn't even thought about the battery being totally drained in the morning. Was only thinking of the cold. Good call, I'll play it safe and replace it. Good excuse for an upgrade anyways!

gordhunt · Feb 4, 2014

Battery will be fine I lost one in a snowy field at my house for days and it still works great

Sent from my S4

EMCSQUAR · Feb 5, 2014

HeliRy said:
Well.... I've officially joined the club of Phantom pilots who've lost their bird in a tree. Not the end of the world, it's only a few houses down the road along the street.

gordhunt said:

Battery will be fine I lost one in a snowy field at my house for days and it still works great

Sent from my S4

Click to expand...

Only a DJI Phantom could get you to write this stuff publicly ...

HeliRy · Feb 5, 2014

I don't want to trust it. Worst case scenario.... I burn my house down lol.

Just went down the road to double check which tree it's in. Yeah I have my work cut out for me. Sitting pretty much at the top of a skinny pine tree about 40' up. Probably won't be able to shimmy my way up it, or the ones beside it. Fingers crossed a big wind picks up overnight and knocks it to the ground. If not I'll have to provoke my inner MacGyver to come up with a plan.

HeliRy · Feb 5, 2014

EMCSQUAR said:
Only a DJI Phantom could get you to write this stuff publicly ...

Lol yeah, I guess we've all eaten enough humble pie with these things that it's almost a right of passage. Just glad I didn't precede my impromptu landing with everyone's favourite "Hey, watch this!"

Not quite sure how I'm going to coax it from the tree though. Went and had another look... it's parked about 40'' up a skinny pine. No way my sexy butt is gonna shimmy up that tree. Might have to invoke my inner MacGyver.

LeoS · Feb 5, 2014

buy 2 more phantoms, strip them bare, attach a pair of hooks on them...

HeliRy · Feb 5, 2014

I should just go borrow my buddy's JetRanger lol. Down wash from that should do the trick :lol:

Big Ben · Feb 5, 2014

Easy.

EMCSQUAR · Feb 5, 2014

Hire these guys -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5ElGt6iAYw

htownphantom · Feb 5, 2014

The same thing happened to me,landed at the top of my neighbors tree right across the street,about 11 at night.At first I was in disbelief and stared at it for 1/2 hr wondering how I was going to get it down,lol.It sat there overnight,I would get up every couple hrs and look out my front door and I could still see the light blinking on it,it didnt quit blinking till about 5:30 am.
It was up about 30" I guess.My first attempt was with a fishing pole.thrwing a weighted hook up in the tree trying to snag that branch the phantom was on then reeling it in with pole and shaking the limb,that didnt work,my fishing line kept breaking{it was old}
2nd attempt was getting on 12" ladder with one of those branch cutters that the pole extends out of,but I couldnt reach it.
3rd attempt was trying to throw a basketball at it to knock it down but i couldnt throw the ball that high.
So I drove to hardware store,purchased 30' of pvc pipe in 10' sections.Got home and put them together,got back on the 12' ladder and was able to reach it to knock it down,yay!.
Battery was completely dead,at first it would not take a charge but when I tried it again later that day it did charge.First time I used it after that it didnt last as long as normal and when it started flashing red it drained quick,like within 20 seconds of first red flash,it started to land itself,luckily it was only 10' away when it did that.I think ive used that battery one time since then,its just a backup battery now.

HeliRy · Feb 5, 2014

Yeah I had the same idea about connecting some pipe together too and make a big poker. That's about the only option really. Will go grab what I need today and get to it.... the camera is in the housing with the open back on it. Don't want it exposed when it starts to rain!

flyshasta · Feb 5, 2014

Add PVC cost to the "how much have you spent on your Phantom" thread. It would be interesting to see what members have purchased for "incidentals."
Grappling hooks, fishing line and weights, bogus trackers, pool noodles, etc.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OI Photography · Feb 5, 2014

EMCSQUAR said:
Hire these guys -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5ElGt6iAYw

Or these guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQQsG-xauAg

htownphantom · Feb 8, 2014

flyshasta said:
Add PVC cost to the "how much have you spent on your Phantom" thread. It would be interesting to see what members have purchased for "incidentals."
Grappling hooks, fishing line and weights, bogus trackers, pool noodles, etc.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lol yep except when I was finished I was able to dismantle all the pipe and there was nothing wrong with it so I took it back to hardware store and got my money back

So heliry did you get it out of the tree and how'd you do it?

HeliRy · Feb 8, 2014

Not yet, it's still up there. Going into night 4

Bought a telescopic pole that extends to 20', and about 50' of rope. Going to tie the rope to the base of the pole and try a caber-toss method to get it out. That way if the pole gets stuck I can yank it out lol. Keep trying to get to it but the property owner is never home. Gonna try in the wee hours tomorrow morning. My luck is bound to run out eventually and it'll start raining... it's tomorrow or nothing!

Big Ben · Feb 9, 2014

Youse people in Canadaland have some serious snow on occasion right? So people will have roof rakes right? Find the longest roof rake you can. Or find two or more of the same type/brand with segmented poles so you can make an even longer pole.

The longest telescopic pole I quickly found is 30ft. If you can only reach the branch to shake it.

Good luck.