Phantom stability

[SamBischoff]

A friend of mine inherited a phantom that the owner could never get to fly or turn on for that matter. Being a p3 owner, we got it in working condition relatively quickly. When we went to fly and deciphered the meaning of the lights, we were ready to take off. We turned it on and it was very unstable (stock props) and immediately went down in my yard. It was fine and we went for another go. I better mention it had prop guards as well. This time I flew. Being an experienced phantom pilot I thought I could be successful. Boy was I wrong. After a successful takeoff it seemed stable in the air. It went out of control and I dodged the power lines. I figured the best thing to do was bring it down in my field across the road. It quickly lost what little altitude it had and went down hard in the field. I knew I couldn't perform a controlled landing. The prop guards were broken, battery out of the compartment, and quite muddy. The GoPro was fine. After that fateful day one motor spun up slower than the rest and it never flew again A local hobby shop determined the wiring is fried and motor replacement is necessary. What caused this? Any tips


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[gianni_BT]

What caused this? Any tips

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To try to answer your question, it is necessary to add more technical details in addition to the place you were fliing and crash.

1) what Phantom are we speaking about(I suppose P1, but what version)?
2)Did you calibrate IMU and compass before flying the first time?
3)What color was your led when you took off and when you landed(or crashed)?
4)Your right switch was selecting GPS-ATTI(top position), ATTI(intermediate position)?
5)The right switch bottom position was programmed for ATTI, Manual or return to home?And, for any reason was the bottom position selected at the take-off?
6)Can you post the settings of your gains?
7)What kind of power line did you mention in your post: high voltage?And how far you were from these lines?

 

[SamBischoff]

To try to answer your question, it is necessary to add more technical details in addition to the place you were fliing and crash.

1) what Phantom are we speaking about(I suppose P1, but what version)?
2)Did you calibrate IMU and compass before flying the first time?
3)What color was your led when you took off and when you landed(or crashed)?
4)Your right switch was selecting GPS-ATTI(top position), ATTI(intermediate position)?
5)The right switch bottom position was programmed for ATTI, Manual or return to home?And, for any reason was the bottom position selected at the take-off?
6)Can you post the settings of your gains?
7)What kind of power line did you mention in your post: high voltage?And how far you were from these lines?

1) I've no clue
2) the compass was properly calibrated not sure of the IMU.
3) The LEDs where proper(green and red) I believe
4) It was in gps (Sats Locked)
5) I'm not sure as I only held the controller once
6) I do not have access to the settings
7) the power lines were not high voltage ( residential area ) I fly near them with my p3 without incident



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[gianni_BT]

1) I've no clue
2) the compass was properly calibrated not sure of the IMU.
3) The LEDs where proper(green and red) I believe
4) It was in gps (Sats Locked)
5) I'm not sure as I only held the controller once
6) I do not have access to the settings
7) the power lines were not high voltage ( residential area ) I fly near them with my p3 without incident



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From your answers, the following possibilities can explain the unstable behaviour.
-IMU needs calibration: unfortunately this can be done only if you connect to the bird with the Naza Assistant software.
-You were flying in GPS mode but the led was blinking green and red: this means that the number of locked satellites was not > 6 that can give you all the performances of the GPS stability mode. It is true that the Naza should automatically revert to ATTI mode, with a limited stability based on the barometric sensor(only vertical stability, not horizontal), but there are some posts in various forums that say that if you leave the switch in GPS mode and you do not have enough satellites(enough satellites are indicated by LED flashing Green, no red), the stability is compromized. If you have red flashing you should put the right switch in intermediate position to assure at least the horizontal stability.
-Gain not appropriate (too high for your quad configuration); this can be verified only by connecting the Naza assistant software.

You can exclude IMU and GPS problems if your quad maintains the hovering at a quote of a couple of meters , with negligible wind and with the sticks in neutral(central) position.
If the instability happens only when you start to move from the hovering, it is possible that your radio needs calibration or gains are really too sensitive(too high).

Obviously there is always the possibility that one of your motors/ESC have some problem after some time they work, but before coming to this conclusion you should exclude the "software" possibilities using the Naza Assistant.

 

[Pilot_FML]

Based on your answers, its probably a good guess to say stability problems probably occurred because of IMU problems (lack of confirmed calibration) and maybe even the fact that you might have been mistakenly flying in ATTI mode (or even Manual Mode) without realizing it.

Multiple crashes could have also hidden other problems that wouldn't show up until you got into the air.

Very hard to give better answers without better replies to the questions....

 

[750r]

First let me say take off the prop guards but DO NOT USE THE SCREWS you need the stock screws .
You need to do a Advance IMU calibration .
Get a set of new props DJI brand not knock offs .
As far as being in manual you would know it

 

[750r]

 

[Deleted member 56578]

Props are 7 bucks a pair at best buy now, the phantom 3 props fit my p1 without a problem.