P2V+ Piles of junk... Totally P***ed off with DJI

Again your right, P2 manual v1.1 on page 21, section 5, does not read "...'before every flight".

It actually reads: "Please carry out the calibrating procedures in the flight field before flight".

I interpreted that differently you.
 
Please view this video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCT1rRE_UIg[/youtube]
 
I hardly ever fly in the same place back to back. I'm always in a new location.

BlackTracer said:
jalpert said:
I always do a compass calibration when I start the session

You need to stop doing this IMO. It does not require compass cal on every session. Only if you move to a different distant location where the earth's magnetic field is significantly different. You are putting undue stress on S1 with the constant rapid switching. You are also wasting your time. Just check the heading on the radar to see if it makes sense. Touch the icon to see the needle and the phantom in an enlarged detailed view. Remember north for the Phantom is magnetic north not true north. Which I believe is true for your phone as well.
 
jalpert said:
I hardly ever fly in the same place back to back. I'm always in a new location.

BlackTracer said:
jalpert said:
I always do a compass calibration when I start the session

You need to stop doing this IMO. It does not require compass cal on every session. Only if you move to a different distant location where the earth's magnetic field is significantly different. You are putting undue stress on S1 with the constant rapid switching. You are also wasting your time. Just check the heading on the radar to see if it makes sense. Touch the icon to see the needle and the phantom in an enlarged detailed view. Remember north for the Phantom is magnetic north not true north. Which I believe is true for your phone as well.


By new location he means where the Earth's magnetic field declination is significantly different. Generally, this means a new location 100's of kilometers from your last location.
 
2163.jpg
 
DrJoe said:
Phantom_Menace66 said:
As some of you may be aware my first P2V+ fell out of the sky, camera/gimbal destroyed. Well....

I've just received the so-called 'new one' I ordered.... Took it out of the box & sat it on the kitchen bench top, put batteries in the controller and took it outside (no props fitted) to check things were working. Took the plastic gimbal lock off, lens cover off. Turned on the controller, range extender and finally the P2V+.... Or tried to... Nothing, dead as. Replaced the battery with a fully charged one, ahhh that did it. Camera did its little dance thing on the gimbal but didn't settle horizontally. It's leaning down to the L/H side. Got my laptop out, plugged it in & did a calibration of the transmitter then the same plugged into the Phantom. Camera still tilted down on L/H side. Then I notice when I moved the left stick to the left or right, the camera is turning left & right, WTF? It will not stay pointed straight ahead. I thought ok, maybe it's in FPV mode on the app... Nope. So I thought ok, I'll come back to that. Put both sticks in CSC to start the motors.... Nothing. Again I thought ok, I'll come back to that. Flipped the S1 switch a few times to activate calibration mode & the rear lights went solid yellow, ahhhh something works! Did the ballerina dance, lights still solid yellow. Did this 4 times & my blood started boiling. Turned everything off, grabbed some props & put it all in the car. Went down to the local park, huge open area nothing but grass for hundreds of metres (incidentally, the same location as the ill-fated crash of my first P2V+). Went through the whole routine again, nothing, Solid yellow lights & motors won't spin up.
I begin using words Richard Pryor himself had probably never heard before... Plugged the mongrel into the laptop, did an IMU cal & advanced IMU cal, stick calibration etc... (Also noticed unable to set lower S1 switch position to failsafe in non-NAZA mode) Nothing. Solid yellow lights & motors as dead as convent on a Friday night...
I began wondering how far I could actually throw the thing but common sense prevailed... Put it all back in the car, got home put it all back in the box & flung it in the cupboard with the first P2V+.
So now I have a cupboard with $3000.00AUD worth of junk in it....

Not a happy chap....

Ok, lets get that thing working.
#1. Take off props
#2. Power up wifi extender, transmitter (place S1 and S2 switches in full up position), phone, then Phantom.
#3 Connect app to Phantom: Do you have connection? Does it give you a warning box? Do you have satellites? I suspect that solid yellow is a compass calibration error. Fix it and she should start up.
How to calibrate: hold Phantom level and slowly spin 360 degrees until light changes. Hold Phantom at 90 degrees (front facing ground) and slowly spin 360. Light will change. If you followed this exactly, it should work. Slow down, relax and try it. Let me know where you get to. If this does not work, we will next visit the computer and look at the DJI Assistant info.

The Phantom CSC will not work (and engines will not start) if you require compass calibration. Not knowing that tells me your not really up on the operation of your Phantom, which is OK, just relax an realize its probably user error. Probably.

Hello Dr Joe.... Well I was messing around with it for several hours today, yellow lights still solid, no motor start up. (yes, I was aware motors will not spin up if compass not calibrated) I've had Phantoms for 14mths or so.
When I turn on the Phantom power, it plays its little tune & red(front) & green(rear) lights flash then they all go off. When I flip the switch to get it in calibration mode, the lights turn solid yellow & stay like that. I can turn a 360 400 times and the lights will not turn green. Have tried it in 8 different locations now.
I even took the compass off the 1st P2V+, still the same. I put the compass off the new one on the old one and it works fine. Even tried swapping over the transmitters (re-bind).... Nothing.
Yes,the app is working on my phone, can move camera up & down, showing 9 satellites, all that works. I'll hook it up to the assistant software & take some screen shots of the values etc. Also noticed in the assistant software I can not assign failsafe to the lower position of S1 in PHANTOM mode. everything is greyed out!?
 
Even though I have put the PV2 back in the box 2 weeks ago (to scared to fly it now after coming here) I'm a bit confused why everyone says "put both switches to "up" "

The videos I watched would say...on startup "up down about 8 times on the right hand switch"

I would always do this and then leave S1 and S2 in the middle position as told to do...btw I've never had a problem with it and I have done the usual stupid things that new people do, I've just been lucky it was idiot proof.
 
If you have your Phantom in the default Phantom mode then the switch positions don't really matter. However if you have switched your Phantom to Naza mode in the Phantom assistant then both switches should be up for normal flight mode.

It's good practice to always have the switches up and add it to your check list. If in the future you do switch to Naza mode you are already accustomed to checking the switches are in the correct position before take off.


my 2 cents
 
Phantom_Menace66 said:
Hello Dr Joe.... Well I was messing around with it for several hours today, yellow lights still solid, no motor start up. (yes, I was aware motors will not spin up if compass not calibrated) I've had Phantoms for 14mths or so.
When I turn on the Phantom power, it plays its little tune & red(front) & green(rear) lights flash then they all go off. When I flip the switch to get it in calibration mode, the lights turn solid yellow & stay like that. I can turn a 360 400 times and the lights will not turn green. Have tried it in 8 different locations now.
I even took the compass off the 1st P2V+, still the same. I put the compass off the new one on the old one and it works fine. Even tried swapping over the transmitters (re-bind).... Nothing.
Yes,the app is working on my phone, can move camera up & down, showing 9 satellites, all that works. I'll hook it up to the assistant software & take some screen shots of the values etc. Also noticed in the assistant software I can not assign failsafe to the lower position of S1 in PHANTOM mode. everything is greyed out!?

I would open up both the phantom and controller and make sure everything is properly connected.
After that's confirmed, maybe try a firmware reinstall as stated earlier (if you havent tried it already)

Good move testing out the compass with your old one. At least one variable has been nixed
 
Geoelectro said:
Have you opened it up to see that the compass cable is firmly plugged into the GPS board?

Geo

No i haven't. I'll pop the top off this morning and have a look inside, see if anything is loose. Mind you, shouldn't have to if it was indeed tested before it left the factory... So much for quality control...
 
Ozzyguy said:
Check with DJI first as opening it up may void warranty

Check with DJI? If I send them an email, I'll be waiting a month for a reply.... Last time I called them they put me on hold, hung up after 13mins on hold.... International call and they put you on hold, that's brilliant customer service!?
 
**Update**

Took the top off the new, never flown P2V+ and when I lifted the top shell back to get to the connector, it simply fell out. I plugged it back in, but there was nothing holding it in, it just slid in and out with no effort at all. So I figured it probably wasn't making contact with the main board. It's so small & has a black plastic plug so I couldn't access the connectors inside. I took the top off the original P2V+ and put it on the new one. Plugged it in and it 'clicked' into place. (Good thing I kept the other for spares).
Put it all back together & turned it on, this time the yellow lights were flashing. With renewed hope I took it outside, flipped the S1 switch a few times and the lights went solid yellow. Holding my breath, I picked it up but before I could do the Phantom dance, the lights started flashing fast green then slow green.... I put it on the ground (No props on it) did the CSC thing and to my delight, the motors started spinning... But it is too windy to take it anywhere today, not going to risk it....
 

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