P3A Floats

Mjk

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I have seen a few threads on this and discussion of necessity.

After watching my first advanced drop out of the sky into the water (never recovered) and spending several months awaiting for a replacement i did not want to go through this process again. The floats are just for retrieval i wouldn't attempt to land on water. They do however keep the craft flowing with the camera above the water line. If the P3 did lose connection and auto land than i have a possibility of it landing upright in the lake. If it fell out of the sky again then it would most likely be floating upside down. Dropped my iphone in the lake before. took about a half hour to retrieve it and dried it out with success. So if it takes a splash again at least i have a chance.

Floats weight is about a 12% add and looks like i can get 17 minutes of flight time based off the last flight. It was a little windy around 15mph. I think anything above this would greatly effect the performance and not be a good idea to fly with those floats on. I was able to minimize the floats showing up in the video as well. (22 angle on the tips on the pool noodles) So for now i will continue use and see how they perform.

Anyways just sharing my add. Anyone ever coat there electronics to help if they get wet or exposed to moisture? I am new to this and looking forward to improving my video quality and skills

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Are you talking about those WaterStrider floats on KickStarter? I personally wouldn't use those.
But I am going to be flying over Big Bear Lake this summer, so I just purchased the GetterBack that has been talked about on this forum. Won't keep it from getting wet if there is a problem, but will increase the odds of recovery without adding a lot of weight.
 
image.jpeg
No I just made them with a pool noodle, carbon fiber and ABS plastic. Coated the noodle with plastic dip spray. I did consider that as well but didn't want to wait 15minutes for it to deploy. I can scoop it out of the drink rather quickly.
 
What caused your first one to fall out of the sky?


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DJI never did say only that it didn't appear to be user error. Took over 3 months to get back with me. They sent me a new craft only. That one was DOA. So I had to send that back. This time with everything and I received my thrird replacement. 5 month process in all. Here is video of it demise

Video by mjkkemper
 
Lol, love the tongue in cheek humor you put in the video. So you've had a great user experience with DJI so far huh? Yikes. My gimbal is on the fritz but I'm afraid to send it in out of fear I won't get it back until fall.... I put a Getterback on mine so I can retrieve it if (when) mine takes a dip.


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That could have been several things. But from the very calm flight to such an abrupt manner, it appears a bird took you out.

Unlikely a prop loss. Sorry it took so long to get it straightened away. Hopefully that was a once in an RC pilots lifetime occurrence.

RedHotPoker
 
This water noodle is interesting, I'm thinking of getting one of those walmart water noodles they sell for a few bucks, cut it, attach it and try some water take offs and landings, they are really weightless hmmmm..........:rolleyes:
 
That could have been several things. But from the very calm flight to such an abrupt manner, it appears a bird took you out.

Unlikely a prop loss. Sorry it took so long to get it straightened away. Hopefully that was a once in an RC pilots lifetime occurrence.

RedHotPoker
It was not a bird. It was in sight and if you have been to south Florida the birds are as big as the craft its-self. Also it did so many tumbles you would have seen a bird in the video. I decided not to complain nor upload this at that time give all the speculation that usually ensues. Dji did take care of the situation. Took them a while. Maybe it was a Gama Ray burst from a type II supernovae explosion near the galactic center of the milk way. :) But ya hopefully it was a freak thing.
 
I thought of the idea that if you had a 3D printer - make new hallow legs.

I'd need to do the math on it to see just how much air space would be needed per weight of the craft. But that'd be (if small enough) a easy way to add floatation 24/7

But the pool noodle is a Grade A idea - Great for beach/lake trips! I'd use one
 
The floats have to be large enough to displace a greater amount of water, in weight than the Phantom itself weighs, which results in a surprisingly large volume.
 
The floats are a nice idea but are not ideal it seems like they would create alot of extra drag in the air


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looks awesome... has it been floatation tested? or you just hoping it would just float enough for retrieval??
 
Did they replace it for free under warranty ?


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If your Phantom falls from the sky like in the video and you have those floats on it it will likely end up floating upside down in salt water. It will be useless. Your P3 would have to land itself straight down in a controlled manner like when it does at 10% battery but even then it'll probably flip over. On the water with waves it's likely it won't know that it has landed and the props will remain on and may interpret the waves as wind thereby tipping over. Only way to see is to test it preferably in fresh water.
 
Good deal there,if you fly over water a lot you need something like this..
Not quite
If you need to land on still water they could be useful. (how many really need to do this?)
But for flying over water the only problem is a psychological one.
Lumbering your Phantom with stuff like this will handicap its flight performance and eat your flight time.
Your Phantom will fly better and longer without being handicapped like this.
 
Yes they did replace it under warranty. Both. I fly mostly over the Great Lakes which are fresh water. I doubt I will fly if over salt water again when I am down at our place in floridia. Yes it floats please note the statement in the thrird sentence of my origanal post. Yes it degrades flight time. 17 minutes in 15mph winds. I am more interested it shooting short durations of us out on the boat or the scenery around me. If I want to get close to something interesting I will drive the boat there. Long distance flying you guys have fun. Short and safe for me. No these are not ideal. But given its only a matter of time even when you do everything correct it drops like a rock or goes crazy on you I have a chance of recovery (or a bird nocks it out of the sky)
 
...
But for flying over water the only problem is a psychological one.
...
Your Phantom will fly better and longer without being handicapped like this.
+1

It's mostly new pilots who are concerned about flying over water. I was one of them. I did the research early last fall trying to figure out how to attach styrofoam and pool noodles. It's all basically a waste of time. That stuff seriously encumbers the phantom's flight and promotes problems.

The veterans who have knowledge and experience know their aircraft is not going down.
 
+1

It's mostly new pilots who are concerned about flying over water. I was one of them. I did the research early last fall trying to figure out how to attach styrofoam and pool noodles. It's all basically a waste of time. That stuff seriously encumbers the phantom's flight and promotes problems.

The veterans who have knowledge and experience know their aircraft is not going down.
I have no issue with these being considered training wheels. For me my intended purpose is as aerial film platform of activities in my surroundings. 17 minutes is more than fine. i did not see any issues with degraded performance as indicated in the video footage. Battery temp was at 105 degrees. The flight i had before that without the training wheels hovering to take the battery down to 10 percent to correct the issue with it not fully charging (same ambient temp's) 127 degrees. It would be interesting to see a temp on the motors but both flights i notices no difference. I plan on using the Litichi app to follow the boat on plan (18mph) and have it orbit it. This will be a good test on any decreased performance issues.

I do not prescribe to the notion that this piece of fine Chinese technology is impervious to system failure. No expert would have had any probable, predictable and/or anticipated warning to the failure that incurred. Dji and I belabored this and they indicated that it was not user error. They did take of it so I have no issues with that. The second craft (D.O.A) was so ridden with bugs I have reservations it would pass any quality checks so it is suspect if any were performed. But again they took care of the situation.


Given the previous experience and my desire to use this over fresh water this retrieval system only is a option i am currently entertaining. Not ideal but if it drops like a rock again I can scoop it out of the water within minutes. Pull the battery and stick it in the rice bag for a few days and see if it will live to fly another day
 

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