Phantom 2 Defect Tracking Thread

ianwood

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This thread is to track all the known issues with the Phantom 2 in one place. Last updated 18 June 2014.

  • Compass Declination Defect - Cause identified, beta software in test.
    Description: Curving and hooking, unable to fly straight, course lock deviation experienced by flyers in areas of high magnetic declination.
    Status: Beta testers have been evaluating the 3.05 beta firmware and sending data to DJI for analysis. Consensus is the beta fixes about 80% of the problem. A second beta will hopefully be issued by 20 Jun 2014.
    More information: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=10317
    -
  • Mid-Flight Shutdown - Cause unknown, no solution, no workaround.
    Description: The Phantom will simply shut down in the middle of flight resulting in a uncontrolled fall and crash. Cause unknown. No known solution. This is not to be confused with VRS. There are two variations of this issue. The "power on" version where the Phantom motors power down to idle or less. The "power off" version is a total loss of power across the Phantom in mid-flight.
    Status: Some incidents have been traced to cold solder joints. A safety circuit in the battery is suspect in the "power off" version. No acknowledgement as yet from DJI. No known defective batteries sent to DJI.
    More information: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=16801
    -
  • Premature Autoland - Cause unknown, no solution, no workaround.
    Description: The Phantom will initiate an autoland sequence earlier than expected and is not consistent. Normally the autoland function only kicks in when the voltage falls below 10.7v which is normally below 15% remaining.
    Status: There are about 12 users reporting the same issue, there is no known cause or workaround.
    More information: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=17324
    -
  • Un-commanded Yaw with the H3-3D Gimbal - Cause unknown, no solution, possible workarounds to be explored.
    Description: The Phantom 2 with the Zenmuse H3-3D gimbal suffers from intermittent un-commanded yaw. It is most noticeable during descent. An exploration into the gain settings has been undertaken to see if they can help or even eliminate the issue.
    Status: Early exploration into the issue. No conclusive information as yet.
    More information: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=14325&start=30
    -
  • Incorrect No FLY Zone Assignments - Not fixed. No workarounds.
    Description: Some small airports are deemed as group A and even smaller ones group B while some big ones are left out.
    -
  • Zenmuse H3-3D Compass Calibration Freakout - Not fixed. No workarounds.
    Description: The Zenmuse H3-3D gimbal jams and generally goes bezerk when you calibrate the compass.
    -
  • Loss of Horizontal Control During Vertical Descent - Fixed in v3.04.
    Description: The Phantom stops responding to elevator and aileron when descending at max rate (2.0m/s) under firmware 3.02. Fixed in v3.04.
 
twitching problems:
when in flight, heli twitches. looks like one motors spins slower for a split second and then cathces up with the other 3

yaw problems:
turning around is a problem, sometimes the turns are tight and smooth, other times the turns are wide and almost uncontrollable

loss of altitude:
it could be hovering ok and then drop a couple of feet or more

loss of control:
cant explain, it'll be flying ok and then the craft goes into a spiral slow motion down to the ground for some reason, hopefully i have managed to bring it back with a full throttle upwards and some luck, lol

Sana
 
ianwood said:
...
[*]Loss of Horizontal Control During Vertical Descent
The Phantom stops responding to elevator and aileron when descending at max rate (2.0m/s) under firmware 3.02 or greater.
Today I did 2 test flights with the latest 3.04 firmware. I was able to descend at full throttle 2m/s AND use forward stick at the same time. This was not the case with 3.02.

Using the software defaults gain button for settings the drifting during/after a fast yaw was almost eliminated.

Also a during a level horizontal run loss of height was also almost eliminated.

This is in marked contrast to recent versions. I am now more confident at close quarter flying - immpossible before.

So basiclly a thumbs up from me...I know your mileage may vary.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8
 
IrishSights said:
ianwood said:
...
[*]Loss of Horizontal Control During Vertical Descent
The Phantom stops responding to elevator and aileron when descending at max rate (2.0m/s) under firmware 3.02 or greater.
Today I did 2 test flights with the latest 3.04 firmware. I was able to descend at full throttle 2m/s AND use forward stick at the same time. This was not the case with 3.02.

Good to know. Can anyone else corroborate this?

Side note: Good to see that DJI possibly fixed it but how about some real release notes that tell us what they really changed in the firmware.
 
ianwood said:
IrishSights said:
ianwood said:
...
[*]Loss of Horizontal Control During Vertical Descent
The Phantom stops responding to elevator and aileron when descending at max rate (2.0m/s) under firmware 3.02 or greater.
Today I did 2 test flights with the latest 3.04 firmware. I was able to descend at full throttle 2m/s AND use forward stick at the same time. This was not the case with 3.02.

Good to know. Can anyone else corroborate this?

Side note: Good to see that DJI possibly fixed it but how about some real release notes that tell us what they really changed in the firmware.


I only did 2 batteries on 3.04 and I am sure the issue was still there for me. When the weather clears up I will test again to confirm.
 
xgeek said:
I only did 2 batteries on 3.04 and I am sure the issue was still there for me. When the weather clears up I will test again to confirm.
I will also retest this too tomorrow if this Irish weather lets up. I'll try and get a video clip if I can too.

Sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk
 
ianwood said:
IrishSights said:
ianwood said:
...
[*]Loss of Horizontal Control During Vertical Descent
The Phantom stops responding to elevator and aileron when descending at max rate (2.0m/s) under firmware 3.02 or greater.
Today I did 2 test flights with the latest 3.04 firmware. I was able to descend at full throttle 2m/s AND use forward stick at the same time. This was not the case with 3.02.

Good to know. Can anyone else corroborate this?

Side note: Good to see that DJI possibly fixed it but how about some real release notes that tell us what they really changed in the firmware.

Burned up 4 batteries today. I can confirm the descending with moving forwards and backwards seems to work on mine with firmware version 3.04. I was trying to get some straight line flying to show my j hook but the wind was blowing me copter all over the **** place. :x
 
OK, xgeek, you retest, confirm you're on 3.04. Otherwise sounds like it's fixed.

Are there any other significant issues I am missing on the list?
 
Will test as soon as the weather clears up but not looking good for the next few days :(. As others have confirmed it's ok I am hoping I was mistaken. I can also confirm I am on 3.04 with the new default gains loaded.
 
IrishSights said:
xgeek said:
I only did 2 batteries on 3.04 and I am sure the issue was still there for me. When the weather clears up I will test again to confirm.
I will also retest this too tomorrow if this Irish weather lets up. I'll try and get a video clip if I can too.

Sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk
2 more test flights on 3.04. Confirming again forward flight on full descent now works. Not sure if its my imagination or not but forward speed in GPS mode is significantly slower that atti than before. Also confirming that drift during yaw is still there but vastly reduced. Overall my confidence is high in this update.

Sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk
 
Good to hear. I also noticed the drift during yaw was improved and the slower flight. Have now updated to the new default gains but still raining so can't test yet.

This was a post I made in another thread when I first updated to 3.04.

Just did a couple of batteries on 3.04 and I noticed a couple of things that were different from 3.02.
1) Stability has always been great on all versions but yaw seems to have been improved on 3.04. If I yaw while hovering it rotates without any lateral movement. :)
2) I am still running the gains as shipped. Basic 120/120/120/200 Attitude 220/220 and after his update my Phantom seem a lot slower. It flies well but not as nimble. May try the new default gains of Basic 125/125/120/140 Attitude 260/260 to see if that makes it how it was before.
 
* 2 m/s fixed descent value is dangerous
While not strictly a defect, the 2m/s descent limit is extremely dangerous IMO. Today while flying reasonably high my observer spotted a microlight heading our way creating the need to get lower fast. I could not do it fast enough for my liking. As it happened our flight paths were parallel so we were ok. I agree that for beginners 2m/s is a good safety net but for more experienced pilots there is a need to have an over-ride in the Assistant software to enable descending much faster by either going into the wind or with forward stick. It also wastes valuable flight time on a battery if you have to spend several minutes just getting down and risk a failsafe landing at a location unintended - again potentially very dangerous.

Anyone fancy a lobby at DJI's facebook page?

In my view this should actually be classed as a DANGEROUS feature.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8
 
Agreed. At least let it be faster in Atti mode or user adjustable in the Phantom assistant.
 
ianwood said:
OK, xgeek, you retest, confirm you're on 3.04. Otherwise sounds like it's fixed.

Are there any other significant issues I am missing on the list?

Weather finally cleared up so I could fly today (flew 2 batteries) :D

Am running 3.04 with the new default gains of:-
Basic 125/125/120/140
Attitude 260/260

I was mistaken and I can descend at 2m/s while using the right stick in any direction. Yaw is locked out though and I can't yaw and descend at the same time.

Can also confirm that the max speed has been gimped. Max tilt as shown on my iOSD mini in GPS mode is now -13 degrees and in atti mode -25 degrees. I struggle to get more than 10m/s in GPS mode in forward flight. I am sure before it was -25 degrees for GPS and -35 degrees for atti.

With the default gains it was really stable though in both hover and yaw while hovering. Overall I am very pleased. Just wish they would put the max speed back to how it was and allow the max descent speed to be adjustable in the Phantom assistant if in Naza mode.
 
I find the 3.04 firmware a lot slower than 1.08 - tops out at about 10m/s for me whereas before I was able to do 15m/s easily. I haven't tried in ATTI mode yet, but will do so soon.

I almost always fly in GPS mode so having the speed back to what it was for that would be preferable for me.
 
noob here!

I had 5-6 flights so far and have experienced one skyfall issue once and apart from that all good.

what I noticed is if I try to rotate the P2 (with left stick)quickly when it is hovering, it makes a move like it is going to go into VRS. is this normal, or shouldnt I rotate it too quickly?
 
mr.goodkat said:
noob here!

I had 5-6 flights so far and have experienced one skyfall issue once and apart from that all good.

what I noticed is if I try to rotate the P2 (with left stick)quickly when it is hovering, it makes a move like it is going to go into VRS. is this normal, or shouldnt I rotate it too quickly?

Stop and think about the dynamics of what you're doing. you're in a hover, there is a mass of airflow keeping it aloft and you're now turning fast within that airflow? What do you expect it to do? ;)

Once you remember that the air you're in is a moving substance, it has mass and affects the airframe. The fact the thing stays aloft speaks volumes for all the calculations that are going on to keep it there.

Have fun

Bmews
 
BMEWS said:
mr.goodkat said:
noob here!

I had 5-6 flights so far and have experienced one skyfall issue once and apart from that all good.

what I noticed is if I try to rotate the P2 (with left stick)quickly when it is hovering, it makes a move like it is going to go into VRS. is this normal, or shouldnt I rotate it too quickly?

Stop and think about the dynamics of what you're doing. you're in a hover, there is a mass of airflow keeping it aloft and you're now turning fast within that airflow? What do you expect it to do? ;)

Once you remember that the air you're in is a moving substance, it has mass and affects the airframe. The fact the thing stays aloft speaks volumes for all the calculations that are going on to keep it there.

Have fun

Bmews

I understand if you rotate quickly it goes under its own prop wash thats no brainer. what I can understand or estimate if it is able to correct itself or would go into VRS and lose control ?
 
mr.goodkat said:
I understand if you rotate quickly it goes under its own prop wash thats no brainer. what I can understand or estimate if it is able to correct itself or would go into VRS and lose control ?

If you stop the input and it has enough time and altitude to recover then yes it will recover. If you keep the input on or it's low? then you'll find it landing in an uncontrolled manner quite quickly :) The best thing is to fly sensibly (i'm not saying that you or indeed anyone doesn't).

Hope this helps

Bmews
 

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