Phantom Vision 2 Suicide

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I'm currently recovering from my loss. It's been a week since I bought my Vision 2 and I've had lots of fun with it until today it just went crazy and crashed.

I'm posting here to bring attention to other fellow PV2 owners and to try to understand what went wrong. I have a few theories I'd like to share.

So basically I've been playing with it out of the box. Right on the first day I did some nice flying in Germany, where I bought it (I've posted a few videos on the personal videos thread). I've had fuel airplanes and some indoor helis, and this was my first multi rotor toy.

I took my time and read thoroughly everything for my first flights. Compass calibration, both switches up, everything connected, and slow green flashing lights before take-off.

After around 10 flights, 3-4 battery chargers I got the calibration error and and tried to calibrate it again. It took some time, because many times after trying to calibrate it, it would just give me the red-yellow error. It was a little bit stressing trying to calibrate the compass repeatedly without success. After a while I did get it to calibrate and had no problem at all.

I was in Germany visiting my girlfriend for a week and when I returned to Brazil, where I live. I went to fly it in my garden at night. I had the compass problem again and was again having trouble getting it calibrated. I went online and checked whatever there was documented about this issue and found the video of the guy at DJI teaching how to troubleshoot using a magnet.

I did the procedure with the magnet and on the next calibration trial It worked. I then flew it for around 10-15 minutes and everything was fine.

I charged again the battery and went for some night videos/shots of my city and got beautiful images. I did two short flights and had half the battery left. I Then met a friend and a few hours passed. I tried to fly it again and I the GPS-mode just wouldn't work. I believe it was because it was very overcast and raining a bit. I also couldn't get the camera to work for some reason. Anyhow I went on and flew it out a bit and it was perfect, without GPS.

I got home and left the battery charging overnight, as soon as I woke up I went to my garden again for some day flying. It didn't require a compass calibration. I turned on the transmitter, the range extender and the PV2. Both switches up. As soon as I got the slow green blinking lights I flew off fast. I looked at the monitor and then to the phantom and suddenly it started to drift very quicly in one direction. I let go the sticks and it just continued flying fast to the side. I tried regaining control of the thing with no success. It then just flew VERY VERY FAST into my neighbors roof. I freaked out and was very nervous. My neighbors wife started screaming and I was afraid I had kill someone since it just flew like a rocket into her house. I quickly ran into the wall that separates our houses and looked over. And it had hit the roof and rolled 30 feet away. All propellers shattered, on of its arms bent, camera disconnected.

I took everything apart to check for all the damaged and I was impressed that It wasn't as destroyed as I thought it would be regarding the great speed that it fell. I think the 3-4 roof tiles broken took a large portion of the impact. The battery took some damage and I the connectors were out of position. I opened it and checked it thoroughly and managed to assemble it back to it's original looks. The shell is broken on top and bent on the bottom. The camera mount also broke. The PV2 wasn't turning on. I then inspected the ESC of the broken arm and it had on the three led lights disconnected from the board, it was rattling inside it's case. After unsoldering the ESC, the PV2 now boots up. So from what I can tell the ESC is damaged and needs to be replaced. I can't tell if the motors are working but the all seem ok. I tested the camera and it also works, the gimbal also works. I remember that the last speed that was on my screen of my phone being 34m/s.

All the firmware were updated to the latest.

Trying to understand what went wrong, I think there are a few possibilities
1 - System malfunction
2 - Compass calibration problem
3 - GPS loosing lock and PV2 trying to stabilize in position.

I have a few questions regarding the GPS lock, and I hope you all could help me understand how it works.
It was very overcast and I took off with the minimum satellites (6). What happens if it looses the GPS and is flying in GPS mode?
I've read somewhere that maybe the android app has a flight log. Could anyone confirm this?

I'm now in need to buy the ESC and I can't find anywhere that have these in stock. I'd also like to know if the shell of the PV2 is the same as the Phantom 1.
 
That's really too bad man, you had some cool vids. I have to say if that happened to me I would probably contact my dealer and at least talk with them about a refund.

I don't understand how that could really not be covered by Dji, either way its not gonna be as fun as flying over the next little while. Good luck to you and hope you get back in the air soon.
 
Hi there demianmoura,

Trust this reply is not too late to be useful.

1.heli-pal.com will have all the parts you need.
They ship fast 3-6 days to Aust. Ship schedule seems to be similar to USA, as noted from other forum posts.
Brazil maybe same-same or maybe longer - point is, you can get every part from them, including PV2 replacement shell.

2. If the top part of the PV2 shell is "broken" - most likely the GPS is damaged.
Open the clam shell - un-plug the compass flat cable (grey) and the GPS flat cable (red, range, orange, brown) to the "mother-board" and unscrew the GPS off the top shell (you will need to peel off the grey adhesive protector first).
Check the GPS disc, for signs of damage. If damaged - Strike 1.

3. The GPS board (disc) contains sensitive components - like the accelerometer, gyros and compass data gets sent to it for the NAZA to figure out which way is up :).
My simple golden rule for these sensitive electronic units with "moving parts", is - "if in doubt - throw it out".
If you connect your PV2 up to the dji Phantom Assistant v1.08 --> go to the "Tools" tab ... I can't remember exactly which one of them, anyhows, at the bottom of the page it will tell you like "No GPS". Strike 2
(My PV2 is in "Naza" Mode and it maybe different in PV2 Mode).

In the dji Phantom Assistant also check the gain on your sticks - if set too high the quad may move to quickly to retrieve from a swiftly unfolding tragedy - that happens, in slo mo over and over again, in your head for a bit :(

I agree with you the PV2 is pretty robust.
The stock std. PV2 props are a bit thin and brittle - if this is an issue - go to carbon fiber ones.

Trust this is helpful

Cheers
 
quarternion said:
Hi there demianmoura,

Trust this reply is not too late to be useful.

1.heli-pal.com will have all the parts you need.
They ship fast 3-6 days to Aust. Ship schedule seems to be similar to USA, as noted from other forum posts.
Brazil maybe same-same or maybe longer - point is, you can get every part from them, including PV2 replacement shell.

2. If the top part of the PV2 shell is "broken" - most likely the GPS is damaged.
Open the clam shell - un-plug the compass flat cable (grey) and the GPS flat cable (red, range, orange, brown) to the "mother-board" and unscrew the GPS off the top shell (you will need to peel off the grey adhesive protector first).
Check the GPS disc, for signs of damage. If damaged - Strike 1.

3. The GPS board (disc) contains sensitive components - like the accelerometer, gyros and compass data gets sent to it for the NAZA to figure out which way is up :).
My simple golden rule for these sensitive electronic units with "moving parts", is - "if in doubt - throw it out".
If you connect your PV2 up to the dji Phantom Assistant v1.08 --> go to the "Tools" tab ... I can't remember exactly which one of them, anyhows, at the bottom of the page it will tell you like "No GPS". Strike 2
(My PV2 is in "Naza" Mode and it maybe different in PV2 Mode).

In the dji Phantom Assistant also check the gain on your sticks - if set too high the quad may move to quickly to retrieve from a swiftly unfolding tragedy - that happens, in slo mo over and over again, in your head for a bit :(

I agree with you the PV2 is pretty robust.
The stock std. PV2 props are a bit thin and brittle - if this is an issue - go to carbon fiber ones.

Trust this is helpful

Cheers


Pssst he wrote this back in November...
 
demianmoura said:
I tried to fly it again and I the GPS-mode just wouldn't work. I believe it was because it was very overcast and raining a bit. I also couldn't get the camera to work for some reason. Anyhow I went on and flew it out a bit and it was perfect, without GPS.

I /quote]

You flew in the rain? Not to mention several other things you had mentioned (camera stopped working). I know how much fun these are to fly, but it appears to me your Phantom was experiencing several alarming symptoms prior to the crash. I'm new to this, but since there is very little moisture protection in these thing I'm not sure I would fly in even a light rain.

But I guess we're all Monday quarterbacks trying to guess what happened. Hope you get it fixed up soon
 
I /quote]

You flew in the rain? Not to mention several other things you had mentioned (camera stopped working). I know how much fun these are to fly, but it appears to me your Phantom was experiencing several alarming symptoms prior to the crash. I'm new to this, but since there is very little moisture protection in these thing I'm not sure I would fly in even a light rain.

But I guess we're all Monday quarterbacks trying to guess what happened. Hope you get it fixed up soon[/quote]


My thoughts exactly, and I'm guessing you may have thought of this by now,(after the fact of course). Moisture is obviously not a friend to the phantom. I think many of us may make similar mistakes without realizing we are doing something risky. I fly at the beach often, and near sunset time. The other day, when I landed and got ready to pack up and leave, my carrying case was totally wet from the moisture in the air. Then I thought of how moist it must be at altitude in the evenings, (near the coat at least). So far no issues, but it's got me a bit more cautious in the evenings and early mornings for the time being. I can't imagine you actually lifting off with a drizzle?

Good luck getting her back up,

Rich
 

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