[UPDATE] Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What happened?

[capodrone81]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I would be interested in the source of that information and some more detail, because mine have blue marks. I have probably done 30+ flights so far.

Where did DJI post that information ?

They didn't but I have previously. I called and spoke to them after opening mine and finding the blank labels. Previous threads about them would lead one to believe the marks had no relation to the ESC version or compatibility. Apparently that is not the case.

When I talked to him he asked me what color mark it had. He wasn't concerned with the label, the beeps during start up, serial #, etc just the color of the mark. Red and blue = bad, yellow = good. They sent me a PPD label to send it in.

I spoke to them yesterday. They flew it and confirmed they were in fact wrong and will replace them.

wow. great info. what yould you suggest the original op does now that he has proof his escs were wrong.... and especially since he lost his phantom, go pro, isod mini, tx .. thats a lot of $$ suggestions for OP?

 

[Marlin009]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I would be interested in the source of that information and some more detail, because mine have blue marks. I have probably done 30+ flights so far.

Where did DJI post that information ?

They didn't but I have previously. I called and spoke to them after opening mine and finding the blank labels. Previous threads about them would lead one to believe the marks had no relation to the ESC version or compatibility. Apparently that is not the case.

When I talked to him he asked me what color mark it had. He wasn't concerned with the label, the beeps during start up, serial #, etc just the color of the mark. Red and blue = bad, yellow = good. They sent me a PPD label to send it in.

I spoke to them yesterday. They flew it and confirmed they were in fact wrong and will replace them.

wow. great info. what yould you suggest the original op does now that he has proof his escs were wrong.... and especially since he lost his phantom, go pro, isod mini, tx .. thats a lot of $$ suggestions for OP?

Hell, at this point I don't know. Contact DJI or whoever he bought it from and give it a shot. Can't hurt.

 

[Hughie]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I would be interested in the source of that information and some more detail, because mine have blue marks. I have probably done 30+ flights so far.

Where did DJI post that information ?

They didn't but I have previously. I called and spoke to them after opening mine and finding the blank labels. Previous threads about them would lead one to believe the marks had no relation to the ESC version or compatibility. Apparently that is not the case.

When I talked to him he asked me what color mark it had. He wasn't concerned with the label, the beeps during start up, serial #, etc just the color of the mark. Red and blue = bad, yellow = good. They sent me a PPD label to send it in.

I spoke to them yesterday. They flew it and confirmed they were in fact wrong and will replace them.

Thanks for the info. I have 2.1s ready to swap. I guess I'd better get on with it.

 

[fly-catchers]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Sorry to see that you have lost a second P2 to the occean! I was only watching your "Near Disastrous Phantom Flight - Almost lost at sea" & "Hollywood sign" flights yesterday. I love the way you capture the onlookers comments as you fly. Did DJI help you at all eventually with your first loss? With this second one the FPV video should make a case for you one would hope. I look forward to future flights from you whatever happens...

bill

 

[locoworks]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

all the upgrades and more lift props and motors with more go are adding load to the electronics. I very much doubt there is much spare tolerance built in and some things will get hot and die. much better to over spec on ESC and battery that can give the motors all they want and have something more reliable.

 

[ianwood]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

That really sucks. If it was a bird attack, the bird(s) did an amazing job of not getting caught on camera. Unlikely. I think you had a mechanical failure. Contact DJI. They need to replace it FOC.

 

[Hughie]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

all the upgrades and more lift props and motors with more go are adding load to the electronics. I very much doubt there is much spare tolerance built in and some things will get hot and die. much better to over spec on ESC and battery that can give the motors all they want and have something more reliable.

+1
Quite a few do seem to have gone down whilst being driven hard - e.g. going flat out in ATTI mode, or using GPS as a brake when travelling in ATTI. I do wonder whether these issues would have happened if it were a conventional muticoptor design which could get proper air flow.

 

[terrylowe]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I'm confused. I was asking the OP

Wasn't intending to butt in but I guess I did. Sorry.

I just wanted to point out that not all failures are the ESC. Some are simply motor failure.

 

[jflyer3]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

To answer some questions: When people were first reporting issues with the ESC 2.0, I opened her up and took the ESC picture below (all 4 look the same). I had about 21 flights on my Phantom when it was taken. Note my Phantom was an early V2.0.

I am not sure how to tell what motors are installed. I assume they were the new ones though. I moved the wires off the MOSFETs and checked the solder joints. All was good despite the blue-marked capacitors. No indication of excessive heat. The catastrophic failure seen in the video occurred around flight 52.

Yes, I like to do some risky flights but nothing too crazy. I enjoy the thrill, but I know the Phantom's limitations (Ok, I thought I did). The Phantom should be able to fly in ATT mode reliably or else that mode shouldn't be there.

To followup on the question about my first Phantom loss: I contacted DJI, answered essary-style questionnaire forms, didn't hear anything back until 1.5 months later. Their offer: "Flying near any large amounts of concrete, steel, powerlines, wifi technology, and other man-made sources can affect the behavior of the aircraft. We would like to offer you 30% off a new purchase of a Phantom 2, H3-3D, and iOSD mini for $719.60" (not including a transmitter). However, by the time I received that response, I already had a replacement.

Next step is to contact DJI, show them the video, and see what happens. I will post updates to this thread.

<sigh> Looking at the positive side I have built up quite a collection of spare Phantom parts. :roll:

 

[Hughie]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I have a P2 with a similar ESC (no version but supposed V2) with blue pen mark on capactors.

One distinguishing feature of the ESCs I have, was that there are no beeps (3 or 4?) after the switch on tune. I am pretty sure that these were present in the ESCs before V2.

Anyway as I type, I have three v2.1 ESCs in front of me waiting for the iron to warm up so I can tin the motor connection pads

 

[Marlin009]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

To answer some questions: When people were first reporting issues with the ESC 2.0, I opened her up and took the ESC picture below (all 4 look the same). I had about 21 flights on my Phantom when it was taken. Note my Phantom was an early V2.0.

I am not sure how to tell what motors are installed. I assume they were the new ones though. I moved the wires off the MOSFETs and checked the solder joints. All was good despite the blue-marked capacitors. No indication of excessive heat. The catastrophic failure seen in the video occurred around flight 52.

Yes, I like to do some risky flights but nothing too crazy. I enjoy the thrill, but I know the Phantom's limitations (Ok, I thought I did). The Phantom should be able to fly in ATT mode reliably or else that mode shouldn't be there.

To followup on the question about my first Phantom loss: I contacted DJI, answered essary-style questionnaire forms, didn't hear anything back until 1.5 months later. Their offer: "Flying near any large amounts of concrete, steel, powerlines, wifi technology, and other man-made sources can affect the behavior of the aircraft. We would like to offer you 30% off a new purchase of a Phantom 2, H3-3D, and iOSD mini for $719.60" (not including a transmitter). However, by the time I received that response, I already had a replacement.

Next step is to contact DJI, show them the video, and see what happens. I will post updates to this thread.

<sigh> Looking at the positive side I have built up quite a collection of spare Phantom parts. :roll:

The new ones have black prop studs on them instead of just a dot. The green wire in the windings is also on the new ones I believe. Looks like a 2312.

 

[Happyflyer]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Over the years I cut my finger and never did it again the same way. Burnt my finger on a stove when young and never did that again. Hit my thumb with a hammer and never did that again. I still use all the items that hurt me. We should learn from our errors, not continue doing them. When one quad goes down in the ocean, throwing another one in the same place makes no sense.
I understand they are your quads and you can do anything you want with them. If you can afford to throw them in the ocean one after another, go for it.
It is just very hard to understand, why?

 

[jflyer3]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

We should learn from our errors, not continue doing them. When one quad goes down in the ocean, throwing another one in the same place makes no sense.

Well...it's not exactly like I was throwing them into the ocean. I have flown over that same ocean safely *many* times without incident and have gotten some unique videos that I would not have been able to do otherwise. (I posted a few of them here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk6hcaLR8YbMUbueiixtUOA?spfreload=10.)

I would argue that there are actually fewer hazards flying over large bodies of water than over land-- no obstructions, clean line of sight, no interference, etc. The downside is that if something goes wrong you're hosed. The first loss I chalked up to a random gremlin, but this time I am certain it was a malfunction.

What I've learned is that these Phantoms fly great 99.5% of the time, but a non-pilot error can occur at any moment. One must fly with that in mind and weigh the risks accordingly.

 

[Larry L]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Wow Jflyer3, sorry to hear & see your loss.

 

[Hughie]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I would be interested in the source of that information and some more detail, because mine have blue marks. I have probably done 30+ flights so far.

Where did DJI post that information ?

They didn't but I have previously. I called and spoke to them after opening mine and finding the blank labels. Previous threads about them would lead one to believe the marks had no relation to the ESC version or compatibility. Apparently that is not the case.

When I talked to him he asked me what color mark it had. He wasn't concerned with the label, the beeps during start up, serial #, etc just the color of the mark. Red and blue = bad, yellow = good. They sent me a PPD label to send it in.

I spoke to them yesterday. They flew it and confirmed they were in fact wrong and will replace them.

Thanks for the info. I have 2.1s ready to swap. I guess I'd better get on with it.

This thread gave me the nudge. I have now fitted 2.1s to my P2v2. I also added a second heatshrink tube to each motor wire and routed them down the side of the ESC (at different heights) to avoid the MOSFETs.

One point about coloured pen markings. You say above that Red and blue = bad, yellow = good (reminds me of 1984), but the only ESCs I have seen marked with yellow are 2.1s. If this is the case, are they now admitting that nothing less than 2.1 will do. They have been very slow at sorting this. And the UK suppliers (I checked at least two) have definitely been dragging their feet. One even said that some customers obviously told lies about how they had damaged the ESC, and that they were all pilot error. Not sure what that kind of attitude that is, but it is not what I call Support .

 

[GoodnNuff]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Over the years I cut my finger and never did it again the same way. Burnt my finger on a stove when young and never did that again. Hit my thumb with a hammer and never did that again. I still use all the items that hurt me. We should learn from our errors, not continue doing them. When one quad goes down in the ocean, throwing another one in the same place makes no sense.
I understand they are your quads and you can do anything you want with them. If you can afford to throw them in the ocean one after another, go for it.
It is just very hard to understand, why?

So you think its like a Devil's Triangle that sucks his quads into Neptune's realm?
He'd not have this problem flying over land?

I really don't think it was the water below that caused either of your losses, I have no idea what happened.
I fly over both fresh and salt water as often as I fly over land. I just accept the risk that I may lose my quad and camera if I'm over water, and to a lessor degree, the same risk over land.

 

[dirkclod]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I believe he was just referring to it being lost over water where it could not be recovered as he might have over land ! I fly over land and take the same chance of it going down every time I go long and have gone down and was able to recover it . One of them cow ponds or deep creeks is gonna swallow me up one of these days though !

 

[GoodnNuff]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

I believe he was just referring to it being lost over water where it could not be recovered as he might have over land ! I fly over land and take the same chance of it going down every time I go long and have gone down and was able to recover it . One of them cow ponds or deep creeks is gonna swallow me up one of these days though !

I'm just giving happyflyer a hard time, of course the intended humor doesn't always come through in written word.

Although HappyFlyer said he repeated "the error twice" I don't think the error was flying over water.
But yeah I cross my fingers and say a little prayer every time I fly over one of the local lakes or over Puget Sound.

 

[dirkclod]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

:lol: I know ..Really less to mess with the wifi there and I am always not sure I will see mine again until I hear them props !!

 

[Marlin009]

Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Hughie - That seems to be a reasonable conclusion to draw. When he said that it was the first I had heard of red or yellow markings.
Did the spares you had have any marking?