Phantom 3 Professional Fly Away

[JayB]

I've been following the thread all day, lots of theories flying around, I am not going to add to these but would comment that after a failure it would take quite a few flights to build my confidence enough to fly at full tilt over water, but I guess we all have differing opinions on this.

Many comment on the importance of IMU calibration, one thread suggested putting the phantom in a fridge for 20 minutes before IMU calibration to prevent the need for it to warm up when you switch it on. I'm wondering if this is advisable and could in anyway lead to the phantom acting erratically or actually damage components.

 

[TYCORP]

This Is crazy, The horizion does not look straight from the beginning? Gimball still going crazy. something has really messed the compass up bad!

Are you sure there was no previous crashes to this? And are you doing the flicking between modes? Or is it all automatic?

Did you try to flick modes yourself and try to take control?


Blade what should we do event like this? If it does not hold it in atti mode, we are more less screwed?

I tried flicking modes, but they GPS stuck as I hadn't enabled ATTI yet. button bashing at its finest

 

[TYCORP]

No, its about the known normal values before take off. Taking off from surfaces that have metal in them can really play with compass values.

Do you work for DJI? half of the @dji emails I've used come back delayed or undelivered.
Would they even look at my "case"?

 

[blade strike]

This Is crazy, The horizion does not look straight from the beginning? Gimball still going crazy. something has really messed the compass up bad!

Are you sure there was no previous crashes to this? And are you doing the flicking between modes? Or is it all automatic?

Did you try to flick modes yourself and try to take control?


Blade what should we do event like this? If it does not hold it in atti mode, we are more less screwed?

Try not to take off from concrete.. 2nd is you wouldn't see this type of behavior unless something really played with the compass.

 

[blade strike]

Do you work for DJI? half of the @dji emails I've used come back delayed or undelivered.
Would they even look at my "case"?

Yes, I do.. Please call and dont email.

 

[Turbazz]

I tried flicking modes, but they GPS stuck as I hadn't enabled ATTI yet. button bashing at its finest

Sorry I'm confused so the flicking is all done by you? I don't get it why were you flicking ?

 

[Turbazz]

Try not to take off from concrete.. 2nd is you wouldn't see this type of behavior unless something really played with the compass.

Would be able to fly the bird with a bad compass in atti?

 

[dalebb]

Nice night to show off my Phantom at the family BBQ.

Calibrated. 14 Sat's All green to go.
30M away climbing slow i gave it full throttle pointing straight when it then started drifting and losing nose orientation. (in GPS auto mode) Red GPS Compass ERROR lit up.
it slowly responded irrationally and then slammed into a 45 degree told on screen and
landed in some bushes (Flight Record will be posted)

Tracked it down, cleaned it up and took it to a park to test.
enabled multi flight mode (to enable some manual input)
all functions seemed normal, no damage, Calibrated, 17 Sat's gimbal was level and balanced slow low level flights around the park were all checking ok.


As soon as I gave it full throttle it immediately again threw a red Compass error and nose was drifting.
Pressed return to home with little response other than it pointing in the wrong direction.
tried to predict and compensate the orientation it was choosing and got it swung back towards me
(All of this over a Lake!)
the return to home looked to work then it violently threw itself into another 45 degree tilt accelerting at different directions, erratic patterns then i assume it flipped over as i heard it loudly accelerate into the lake
and crash hard.

I had a P2v+ for 1 year prior and never had an of this trouble.
I would lean to a software issue as I was advised to recalibrate (cold ) the IMU, Gimbal from DJI tech support a few days prior to "resolve" a gimbal drift issue that I noticed after the latest firmware 1.9
Definitely and issue that I bet we will se more of.

If any of you are seeing compass errors more recent after 1.9 speak up!

not sure if DJI will RMA without the Drone as its in 50feet of water. (i can provide GPS if anyone wants to dive)

Credit Card company offers purchase protection for damage, theft, within 90 days. lets hope it works.
Ive already ordered a replacement but hope if it is a software issue, it can be fixed before more of this happens.

Flight Tracker Video.

updated with Director Video Cache added

full screen


First Failed flight

GPS compass errors round 1

Amex wont cover it, been there done that.

 

[Apparition]

First basic rule to always follow is to hover at least 30-40sec after took off. If something is wrong with the compass like if you took off from a wrong surface, you will clearly notice that with bird behaviour.

I hover until I'm sure it has a stable hover then I check all the flight controls to make sure they do what I want them to. Then fly it like I stole it.

 

[blade strike]

Amex wont cover it, been there done that.View attachment 20834

Wow a CSC in flight...?

 

[Coldfire]

Man, I take off from concrete everyday. .

 

[Turbazz]

I've been following the thread all day, lots of theories flying around, I am not going to add to these but would comment that after a failure it would take quite a few flights to build my confidence enough to fly at full tilt over water, but I guess we all have differing opinions on this.

Many comment on the importance of IMU calibration, one thread suggested putting the phantom in a fridge for 20 minutes before IMU calibration to prevent the need for it to warm up when you switch it on. I'm wondering if this is advisable and could in anyway lead to the phantom acting erratically or actually damage components.

Exactly Jay! It's ridiculous how these people are putting it in the fridge lol.warming up literally means warming up. You may as well have your dinner for tomorrow,so you don't need to eat it tomorrow.

Actually like my waiting time in warming up it gives me time to set up!

 

[blade strike]

Would be able to fly the bird with a bad compass in atti?

If it went into degradation mode.. But the multiple flips in and out of atti, I don't know.

 

[dalebb]

It's 50 feet under water. You going to swim and get it?

Mine is underwater too.

 

[blade strike]

Exactly Jay! It's ridiculous how these people are putting it in the fridge lol.warming up literally means warming up. You may as well have your dinner for tomorrow,so you don't need to eat it tomorrow.

Actually like my waiting time in warming up it gives me time to set up!

The fridge is taking it to the extreme but it wouldn't cause any issues. All this does is give a wider temp operating range.

 

[blade strike]

Man, I take off from concrete everyday. .

be careful, most concrete has tons of rebar. This is one of the hardest thing to do while flying at places like CES or NAB. Finding a good spot between the metal in the concrete so we can safely take off.

 

[Coldfire]

be careful, most concrete has tons of rebar. This is one of the hardest thing to do while flying at places like CES or NAB. Finding a good spot between the metal in the concrete so we can safely take off.

Thanks for the info. I'll be more cautious

 

[Motorotor]

Man, I take off from concrete everyday. .

I wonder how folks are flying indoors, and in big warehouses built on concrete slabs....

... I mean, I get the idea and all.

I'm learning it, absorbing it, just not quite understanding it....all.

 

[StevenQX]

be careful, most concrete has tons of rebar. This is one of the hardest thing to do while flying at places like CES or NAB. Finding a good spot between the metal in the concrete so we can safely take off.

An hard case is always a good place where to took off for me...

 

[blade strike]

I wonder how folks are flying indoors, and in big warehouses built on concrete slabs....

... I mean, I get the idea and all.

I'm learning it, absorbing it, just not quite understanding it....all.

Like I just posted, it takes some time to find the right spot that wont degrade the compass. Even in the flying cage @ NAB, If I got to a certain area of the cage, something metal caused the craft to do a 90 degree spin.. I could replicate each time.