Very Frustrated

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I've had my DJI Phantom for about two weeks now. First, after a flyaway and a crash, I had to recalibrate. Took about a whole day before the props started working again. Now it seems every other day the props won't fire up and I have to go through the whole calibration exercise about 1500 times before it starts working again. Also, my H3-3D gimbal has never worked, it's constantly moving up and down, up and down during flight.

Due to gimbal issue I fitted the DJI Phantom with anti-interference board, and guess what - the props won't start again. I am now in the middle of yet another day trying to get the thing to work. The Phantom is now constantly flashing yellow, but have connected both TX and Phantom to PC and calibrated about a billion times. I am a (very busy) videographer and was hoping this would add something nice to my films, but I haven't got the time for this, and am seriously thinking of selling it.

A very frustrating experience.
 
Sounds like you got a lemon.
if you've already experienced a legit (non user-error) flyaway with it, and now experiencing further difficulties, I would highly recommend contacting the dealer you bought it from and try to get a new replacement.
-or at least have them check out out throughly.
 
Welcome to the board! Sorry to hear about the crash and the predicament. What were the circumstances of your flyaway? I assume you have prior mutirotor experience, either with DJI equipment or otherwise?

If you can't get it to arm and don't have the experience or time to troubleshoot, definitely contact your dealer and see what they can do for you, some have in-house repair capabilities. If you are experienced in or interested in troubleshooting the problem further yourself, there are a lot of knowledgeable people here who can help, but will probably need a lot more information as to what exactly is happening.
 
Thanks, guys, for all your kind replies. I have been having a very frustrating experience with my Phantom. My H3-3D gimbal has never worked (moving up and down throughout flight, unprompted). So last night decided to fit the anti-interference device. Since then I haven't been able to initiate the props - being unable to initiate the props is an ongoing problem. I'll calibrate, and recalibrate, and recalibrate, and then they will suddenly work days later.

I have followed instructions to a T. There's nothing much I can say other than I hook the TX up, calibrate it, the hook the Phantom up and calibrate it. Everything working as it should. Phantom powers up, flashes to green, I hold controllers down inwards and toward each other, and nothing.

I'm just going to return it to my dealer.
 
When you have the Phantom connected to the PC and the controller powered on, do you see the sliders in the software move through their full range when you move the sticks between the endpoints? I know you calibrated the controller itself when you connected that to the PC, but did you also calibrate the controller response in the Phantom assistant software?
 
OI Photography said:
When you have the Phantom connected to the PC and the controller powered on, do you see the sliders in the software move through their full range when you move the sticks between the endpoints? I know you calibrated the controller itself when you connected that to the PC, but did you also calibrate the controller response in the Phantom assistant software?

Yep. I first calibrate the controller - everything moving as it should. I then connect the Phantom to the PC, and everything is moving as it should - all sticks, gimbal, etc. Everything reaching end points, etc.

Power on Phantom, calibrate compass, goes to green... but props don't initialise.
 
Hi and welcome, when you power on your phantom what lights are coming on?, is it a cycle between red, green and yellow?, phantom motros wont start when i do an advance IMU calibration and i dont let it finish, and i get the light cycle described beforehand

Sana
 
I didn't see if you did it or not but have you tried to reset to factory settings?
 
griffinmill said:
I am a (very busy) videographer
Can you post a link to a video of your startup process and videos of your screens while calibrating the main unit and controller?
This will help members of this forum help you quickly.
 
griffinmill said:
I've had my DJI Phantom for about two weeks now. First, after a flyaway and a crash, I had to recalibrate. Took about a whole day before the props started working again. Now it seems every other day the props won't fire up and I have to go through the whole calibration exercise about 1500 times before it starts working again. Also, my H3-3D gimbal has never worked, it's constantly moving up and down, up and down during flight.

Due to gimbal issue I fitted the DJI Phantom with anti-interference board, and guess what - the props won't start again. I am now in the middle of yet another day trying to get the thing to work. The Phantom is now constantly flashing yellow, but have connected both TX and Phantom to PC and calibrated about a billion times. I am a (very busy) videographer and was hoping this would add something nice to my films, but I haven't got the time for this, and am seriously thinking of selling it.

A very frustrating experience.

Definitely understand your frustration GriffinMill. I've been flying Phantoms since the Vision 1 was released. There's not a whole lot to do. RTF is exactly what it says... ready to fly. For the most part, all 4 Phantoms I have owned - I open the case, turn on the RC and the Phantom, wait for GPS lock and away I go. You're paying for that functionality. If we wanted to DIY the crap out of something, we'd buy the bare F550 and outfit it whatever way we wanted to and pray we did it right each time we flew.

I have (finally) a working P2 with FPV (working) and H3-3D gimbal (working) and a working Phantom that doesn't take off or circle the drain any more. I swear I saw it take off the other night - heading away from me towards the ocean and once I fought it back and landed it, I swore I was selling it and washing my hands of DJI forever. I'm giving it another go, I've gotten some neat stuff so far, but tonight will be a proper Phantom, flying with a proper gimbal. If you can swap it out with your dealer, that's all I would say do. Otherwise you might have to send to DJI for warranty repair. Unfortunately, I hear that's anywhere from 4-6 weeks turnaround.

I just wouldn't dicker with it too much on your own. A non working gimbal should NOT make your Phantom fail to power its motors. Ever. You should not have to unravel this mess. Keep us updated if you can.
 
Hi guys,

Thanks to everyone who responded. I have been in contact with the seller and am sending it back to them for a repair or possible swap. I spent another day calibrating over and over but props still will not initialize. I am however going to try reverting back to factory settings, as one user suggested, as a final attempt.
 
griffinmill said:
Thanks, guys, for all your kind replies. I have been having a very frustrating experience with my Phantom. My H3-3D gimbal has never worked (moving up and down throughout flight, unprompted). So last night decided to fit the anti-interference device. Since then I haven't been able to initiate the props - being unable to initiate the props is an ongoing problem. I'll calibrate, and recalibrate, and recalibrate, and then they will suddenly work days later.

I have followed instructions to a T. There's nothing much I can say other than I hook the TX up, calibrate it, the hook the Phantom up and calibrate it. Everything working as it should. Phantom powers up, flashes to green, I hold controllers down inwards and toward each other, and nothing.

I'm just going to return it to my dealer.

I'm confused. In your first post you said that the P2 only flashes yellow (most likely in failsafe, so obviously won't start or calibrate), but here you say it is flashing green.
 
griffinmill said:
Yes, I finally got it green, but the props still will not initialise.
Hi GM. I fear you are not providing enough detail for people to effectively help. Not a criticism, it's hard as a new pilot to know what is important to relay. I would second the suggestion that you video your entire powerup sequence and show what is happening when you try to CSC.
 
I hook up controller to PC and calibrate, all buttons and levers working as they should.

I hook up Phantom to PC and calibrate, all command sticks and sticks monitor working as they should, and lined up. Gimbal lever reaching both end points. Control Mode Switch is set to "normal fly". I sometimes do an advanced Cali. I have all of the latest firmware.

I unplug and take outside... switch phantom and TX on. Everything powers on. I calibrate the compass until its green. I then flick top switches up and down repeatedly before moving sticks south and toward each other.... and nothing.
 
And just to get the question out of the way, are you powering up within a mile or two of an airport?
 
ElGuano said:
And just to get the question out of the way, are you powering up within a mile or two of an airport?

Nope.

The props failing to initialise happens at random... sometimes they'll work, sometimes they won't. This is the longest time they haven't initialised. The gimbal not working has also been a problem - it moves up and down of its own accord. I've sent it back to distributor for repair or a possible swap as I can't waste any more time on it.
 
So I returned the Phantom 2 (total cost of "repair" and postage close to 70 bucks). They tell me everything perfect on their end, all properly calibrated and flying fine. I received it today, took it out of box, attached props, switched on, calibrated compass, turned joysticks toward me and inward, and...

...nothing.

What is going on/am I doing wrong?
 

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