**Phantom Auxiliary Power & Good Luck Buy Gimbal-Caution****

[CameraGuy]

http://youtu.be/3lwVy9-OhIc


The video says it all, but today, after returning my DJI Phantom back to the original radio set up, I took my Phantom for a flight, only to have it behave badly again, and it ended up having a fire because there was an issue with the power.

I am open to opinions and comments, but my opinion is the power draw from the Good Luck Gimbal is too great on the Phantom, which has been causing my issues. Today, it finally couldn't handle it any more, and overheated, and burst into flames.

Too bad really. Now, I need to see if it fried anything else in the unit, or if I cut the power cable off, will it be clean enough to fly again. Otherwise, I guess I will buy a DJI F450 or 550 kit, and transplant my NAZA to it.

Frustrating. This thing worked well until about a month ago.

Darren

 

[Nwales]

Re: **Phantom Auxiliary Power & Good Luck Buy Gimbal-Caution

not good news that as I just ordered one the other day !

Think I will be running off its own battery now .

Hope it's not too much damage an it's a easy fix

 

[Audaciter]

Re: **Phantom Auxiliary Power & Good Luck Buy Gimbal-Caution

Aside from the burnt wires, things look okay. I would cut out the bad wiring, so things are as they were from factory.
Connect a battery, while the top shell is off, and observe for about 15 minutes, to make sure no more smoke escapes.

I would suspect the auxiliary wires may have gotten damaged at some point, perhaps caught between the top and bottom
shell, or if they ended up laying across the FETs of the ESC, they would burn.

In any case, the auxiliary wires are too small for just about anything other than LED lights. I would install 16 awg silicone
wire instead.

I would also test the gimbal separately. If you don't have a multimeter, connect a Phantom battery directly to it, and
observe for a while.

Overall, I doubt the Phantom is hurt too badly, just needs some 1st aid.

Good Luck.

 

[howardmaryon]

Re: **Phantom Auxiliary Power & Good Luck Buy Gimbal-Caution

Audaciter has a good point. The insulation on the red/grey 12v auxiliary cable is thin and very soft (chinese dont worry about electrical insulation very much) and you might have kinked, crushed, twisted or otherwise compomised the cable causing a short curcuit. I am running a tarot gimbal at the moment, and the current draw does not cause an overheat, the cable stays cold. I will take audaciters advice though, and upgrade that cable as it feeds my gimbal, my fpv transmitter, and now my new flytrax flight logger as well.

 

[CameraGuy]

Re: **Phantom Auxiliary Power & Good Luck Buy Gimbal-Caution

Yes, I did test it, and it appears to be OK.

I agree, you are correct, the wire is not all that wonderful. I might resolder on another set of wires, but for my next flight, I think I'll power it off the other battery.

I did learn though that one of the motors is not turning as easily as it should, so I am about to lube the bearings in all the motors. This may have been my issue with control all along.

I did come close to purchasing a DJI 450 today. All I would need to but additionally is landing gear so my GImbal would work.

Of course, I would have to learn some basic soldering, but....

D

 

[Audaciter]

Re: **Phantom Auxiliary Power & Good Luck Buy Gimbal-Caution

Of course, I would have to learn some basic soldering, but....

It's good to hear that the fire caused very limited damage.

If you don't have a soldering iron already, spend a few extra dollars, and get a decent one.
I originally bought a Weller 25 watt, and it just didn't get hot enough to be effective. If you leave the iron too long,
the heat transfers into the surrounding area of the pcb board, and can damage sensitive components, or even ruin
the solder pad on the pcb board.