Rotorpixel gimbal for Phantom Vision

[tedw123]

Worst day ever..

Yesterday the rotorpixel gimbal wasnt good.. and today i had a flyaway! :evil:

I did everything the same as all of my flights.. must have been 60 flights or something. Didnt do anything strange. And i had 8 satellites. leds were green and i was like 30 meters up and suddenly i saw 4 red flashing leds and i couldnt stop my PV anymore! Now it's gone! Find my vision doesnt work really good.. bye bye Phantom. Havnt got money for a new 1. So that's it

****!

Just curious, were you flying in Naza or Phantom mode?

 

[Schenso]

Worst day ever..

Yesterday the rotorpixel gimbal wasnt good.. and today i had a flyaway! :evil:

I did everything the same as all of my flights.. must have been 60 flights or something. Didnt do anything strange. And i had 8 satellites. leds were green and i was like 30 meters up and suddenly i saw 4 red flashing leds and i couldnt stop my PV anymore! Now it's gone! Find my vision doesnt work really good.. bye bye Phantom. Havnt got money for a new 1. So that's it

****!

Just curious, were you flying in Naza or Phantom mode?

Phantom mode

 

[pyrophantom]

Here is the video.. i hope some1 can help!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvWhdDYCbC8

I noticed your gimbal was not sitting all the way down on your thumbscrews so you probably were not getting the best damping. Almost looked like it was losing power and resetting, beyond my knowledge in these things.

All a little irrelevant now tho, feel for ya m8 !

 

[FlyingFox]

Flashing reds is usually a battery problem from researching the net

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2039022

Similar one on the link.

Sorry to hear your loss,

 

[Schenso]

yup thats what i'm reading aswell.. what the hell, i didnt have any problems before!

btw: Keri emailed me back and he sorts it all out. So thx to rotorpixel for that!

 

[EricT]

Worst day ever..

Yesterday the rotorpixel gimbal wasnt good.. and today i had a flyaway! :evil:

I did everything the same as all of my flights.. must have been 60 flights or something. Didnt do anything strange. And i had 8 satellites. leds were green and i was like 30 meters up and suddenly i saw 4 red flashing leds and i couldnt stop my PV anymore! Now it's gone! Find my vision doesnt work really good.. bye bye Phantom. Havnt got money for a new 1. So that's it

****!

Just curious, were you flying in Naza or Phantom mode?

Maybe I am missing something, but why wouldn't most people fly in Naza mode as it enables GPS/Attitude/RTH on the right hand switch and Normal/Course Lock/Home Lock on the left hand switch? I know when I started, my son and I researched the Phantom Vision versus Naza mode extensivley and the Naza mode fit the bill for us, especially with the RTH feature. Does the Phantom Vision mode have RTH and would it have prevented the fly away?

I know sometimes I have become somewhat disoriented as to the P2V's orientation, so by switching to course or home lock, or in the worst case, RTH, I regain control with respect to the P2V's orientation and all ends well.

 

[EricT]

yup thats what i'm reading aswell.. what the hell, i didnt have any problems before!

btw: Keri emailed me back and he sorts it all out. So thx to rotorpixel for that!

So what was the your Rotorpixel issue in the end?

 

[Pull_Up]

Worst day ever..

Yesterday the rotorpixel gimbal wasnt good.. and today i had a flyaway! :evil:

I did everything the same as all of my flights.. must have been 60 flights or something. Didnt do anything strange. And i had 8 satellites. leds were green and i was like 30 meters up and suddenly i saw 4 red flashing leds and i couldnt stop my PV anymore! Now it's gone! Find my vision doesnt work really good.. bye bye Phantom. Havnt got money for a new 1. So that's it

****!

Just curious, were you flying in Naza or Phantom mode?

Maybe I am missing something, but why wouldn't most people fly in Naza mode as it enables GPS/Attitude/RTH on the right hand switch and Normal/Course Lock/Home Lock on the left hand switch? I know when I started, my son and I researched the Phantom Vision versus Naza mode extensivley and the Naza mode fit the bill for us, especially with the RTH feature. Does the Phantom Vision mode have RTH and would it have prevented the fly away?

I know sometimes I have become somewhat disoriented as to the P2V's orientation, so by switching to course or home lock, or in the worst case, RTH, I regain control with respect to the P2V's orientation and all ends well.

You can switch the tx off to initiate RTH. Some people don't fly beyond line of sight and therefore disorientation isn't an issue, or they fly using the radar view on the app which alway shows orientation and bearing (and is a fantastic tool which I always have on screen unless I need to line up a shot and want to see maximum detail). If you aren't a brand new flyer and you have researched and learnt about it as you did then switching to NAZA is a great option. Switching over without being competent at basic flying (including nose-in) and how to keep orientation without the IOC is probably not a great idea - if you get fewer than 6 sats locked you will lose home lock and will be in trouble if you have come to rely on it. Also with your shiny new Rotorpixel gimbal there's not so much need to switch to atti mode to level the horizon by wind-drifting in an attempt to get smoother video!

 

[Schenso]

yup thats what i'm reading aswell.. what the hell, i didnt have any problems before!

btw: Keri emailed me back and he sorts it all out. So thx to rotorpixel for that!

So what was the your Rotorpixel issue in the end?

Well i have send it back so he will investigate it.. He thought it was a problem in balancing. But i dont think thats the problem.. Ill post it here when he's done.

DJI really should make work of the Fly always. Its happening to alot of people

 

[Scottrod]

yup thats what i'm reading aswell.. what the hell, i didnt have any problems before!

btw: Keri emailed me back and he sorts it all out. So thx to rotorpixel for that!

So what was the your Rotorpixel issue in the end?

Well i have send it back so he will investigate it.. He thought it was a problem in balancing. But i dont think thats the problem.. Ill post it here when he's done.

DJI really should make work of the Fly always. Its happening to alot of people

So you found the quad then?

 

[Ryan Nelson]

I was testing my RotorPixel setup last night and I switched into manual mode (using naza mode), and it fell quickly and kissed the ground before I recovered. It knocked the gimbal out of whack, but the gimbal recovered level slowly on its own. I'm loving the rotorpixel setup so far - pretty nice stuff.

Video
http://youtu.be/My4BpXXz3-k

 

[Schenso]

i have been looking for hours but cant find it.

And i didnt have the RP on it because it didnt work so i sended it back 3 hours before the flyaway. And i feel like a complete idiot because there were people watching me flying the quad, so i was pretending i was still flying but i totally lost it allready Total panic in my head pfoehh

 

[Helveticus]

Worst day ever..

Yesterday the rotorpixel gimbal wasnt good.. and today i had a flyaway! :evil:

I did everything the same as all of my flights.. must have been 60 flights or something. Didnt do anything strange. And i had 8 satellites. leds were green and i was like 30 meters up and suddenly i saw 4 red flashing leds and i couldnt stop my PV anymore! Now it's gone! Find my vision doesnt work really good.. bye bye Phantom. Havnt got money for a new 1. So that's it

****!

I received my P2V+ a couple of weeks but have not flown it yet as I have had little time and bad (Swiss) weather etc...

Nevertheless I tried to turn on the bird for a "dry run" (between two showers) and found out it could not get enough satellites locked (4 or 5 max) to get green light on.

So I searched the net a little and found this : http://satpredictor.navcomtech.com/ :!:

And indeed, at the exact time of my "dry run" there where very little sats overhead (6 sats max according to http://satpredictor.navcomtech.com/) I did a second "dry run" at a time when the site predicted about 8 or more sats over my head and got green lights in no time.

Could this have played a role in your flyaway : Many sats at take off time, then suddenly several sats disappear and boum, the bird is gone...?

It would be interesting to check the sat coverage (at the sat prediction site) for the day and time you had your flyaway... If your flyaway coincides with low sat coverage we may have a lead in what causes them : a sudden drop in sat coverage :?:

Will add that where I live there are no close mountains but my house has its back against a hill (in a kind of very small and narrow valley) that may make it more difficult to get good sat lock. I'll be cautious and wait for a very good coverage prediction before my first flight.

Oh, and for those of you who have IOS devices (iPads or iPhones) : I learned that there is no IOS app that can show how many sats your IOS device is hooked to (no api, devs cant build this in and show the info in their apps) but there is a free app (GPS Status) that will show the precision of the GPS coverage at current time : http://appshopper.com/navigation/gps-status

Also note that (for my area) the bad coverage period moves to an earlier time every day, about 10 minutes earlier every day. Go to the prediction site, enter your address/position, time etc and then click NEXT day several times and you'll see the red or yellow bars (6 sats max) move to the left...

Hope this helps but I'm very sorry for your lost bird...

Here is a screen shot of the sat prediction site for my area :

 

[pylon]

LOL, had I ordered the rotor pixel gimbal when I was going to I would still be 2 months away from getting one.

In that time the Vision plus was released:

I sold my original vision with 1 battery for $1000.

I paid $1299 originally and got 2 batteries.

Bought a Vision+ with 2 batteries for $1499.

So Vision @ $1299 + Vision+ @ $1499 = $2798.

Less resale of vision $1000 = $1798

Less value of 3rd battery @ $150 = $1648

Less cost of Vision+ $1499

It cost me an additional $149 for 3rd axis and a much more reliable, gimbal, not an aftermarket kludge job, slower speed and a greatly reduced flight time .

Plus I now have enough DJI points for another battery, so it is a total wash.

Going with Rotorpixel, you now have a more expensive setup than a vision plus.

Had I order from rotorpixel, I would still be at least 2 months away from stabilized video. Rotorpixel dropped the ball huge on this thing. I feel bad for you guys waiting this thing out.

 

[Old Gazer]

LOL, had I ordered the rotor pixel gimbal when I was going to I would still be 2 months away from getting one.

In that time the Vision plus was released:

I sold my original vision with 1 battery for $1000.

I paid $1299 originally and got 2 batteries.

Bought a Vision+ with 2 batteries for $1499.

So Vision @ $1299 + Vision+ @ $1499 = $2798.

Less resale of vision $1000 = $1798

Less value of 3rd battery @ $150 = $1648

Less cost of Vision+ $1499

It cost me an additional $149 for 3rd axis and a much more reliable, gimbal, not an aftermarket kludge job, slower speed and a greatly reduced flight time .

Plus I now have enough DJI points for another battery, so it is a total wash.

Going with Rotorpixel, you now have a more expensive setup than a vision plus.

Had I order from rotorpixel, I would still be at least 2 months away from stabilized video. Rotorpixel dropped the ball huge on this thing. I feel bad for you guys waiting this thing out.

Time will tell. There are plenty of people posting problems with the gimbal on the Vision +. The ribbon cable is thin and easily breaks. The camera and gimbal motor can separate. Whatever you do don't crash it.You cannot purchase a replacement gimbal or camera individually. You have to purchase the whole thing, if you can find one. $1000.00 on EBay. I hope you have better luck with yours, but I'll stick with my Vision and RotorPixal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[pyrophantom]

Well its done, the anticipation is over, the box was opened, the customs boys got their xmas money, and I have finally recieved and installed.....the rotorpixel.....da da.....is now neutrally balanced, and is thankfully silent with no buzzing, other odd noises, or apparent issues, so hopefully I will get some time to try it out if ever the weather sods off !

Haven't tried it with the app yet indoors so may do that next and see if the camera tilt all works OK.

Be interesting to see if the latest DJI firmware update concerning the ability to lift heavier loads makes any difference at all to the aircraft.

 

[Seahorse]

Had the builders in replacing the bathroom...

These looked close enough.

Off to the shed, don't forget the safety glasses.

Two minutes later...

hacksaw time

Result!

All results...

Test.

Close up

tested OK

 

[jjwags]

How did you secure them? Glue?

Nice idea!

James

 

[Seahorse]

They clip on, which means no alterations to my case, cost nothing if you lose them and I have some pipe left... :lol:

 

[EricT]

They clip on, which means no alterations to my case, cost nothing if you lose them and I have some pipe left... :lol:

The inner edge of the landing skids is "U"-shaped so one side of the clip fits nicely in that slot. No problem with mine so far and they are easy to put and take off as I have a GoProfessional carrying case.