About to start flying my drone again after it's sat for awhile

[EJY]

Title kinda says it all, but I just wanted to know if there's anything I should do if the birds been sitting in its case for a few months, untouched.


Obvious things I've thought of would be updating the drone and battery firmware, as well as the DJI app, charging the battery was another obvious one.


Is there anything else that I am missing?

 

[tevek]

I would charge up the battery for both the drone and RC, connect up the app and see if flies firstly and look for any warnings. At least you have a base to work from before you start updating firmware and the like. I've read many threads regarding owners who end up in all sorts of bother thinking that they have to run the latest firmware and in some cases brick their bird when it wasn't necessary. Maybe the app once you are happy if the update warrants it (improvements etc), but many here still run firmware that is two to three iterations behind and have no issues flying.

 

[Kunjaba007]

Calibration of everything

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Title kinda says it all, but I just wanted to know if there's anything I should do if the birds been sitting in its case for a few months, untouched.


Obvious things I've thought of would be updating the drone and battery firmware, as well as the DJI app, charging the battery was another obvious one.


Is there anything else that I am missing?

And enjoy

 

[EJY]

I would charge up the battery for both the drone and RC, connect up the app and see if flies firstly and look for any warnings. At least you have a base to work from before you start updating firmware and the like. I've read many threads regarding owners who end up in all sorts of bother thinking that they have to run the latest firmware and in some cases brick their bird when it wasn't necessary. Maybe the app once you are happy if the update warrants it (improvements etc), but many here still run firmware that is two to three iterations behind and have no issues flying.

Ah okay. That's fair. I've bricked my fair share of android devices in the past and I'd hate to do it to my drone haha.

 

[solentlife]

Calibration ? If the model has been carefully stored and not knocked or bounced in any way ... then all should be fine. No real need to do this. But if it makes you feel confident ... go ahead but make sure you do it in clean good area well away from magnetics / errors.
You may find that GO tells you to update App and will not fly unless you do ... then fine - latest Go is better than the rubbish that was out not so long ago.

Latest FW - you can leave till proven flight. Latest FW is fine also ...

Personally if the gear fires up OK and no warnings ... I would give it a short distance fairly low level flight check ... if all goes well ... smile and go enjoy.

I have plenty of models that sit for ages before getting dragged out to fly again ... charge up ... test and fly !

Nigel

 

[Kunjaba007]

Of course I can not know how the model was stored. That's why, in good faith, I can calibrate

 

[Pharm]

Mine has been sitting in its case all winter. I charged everything and took her for a flight (no firmware updating, no re-calibration, etc.) and all went well. I'm leaving things as is unless I have an issue.

 

[EJY]

Mines been sitting in a pelican case with custom foam cutouts for the bird, controller, battery, etc. the case has probably been accidentally kicked once or twice in the span of 4 months.

 

[solentlife]

Charge up and go fly !!

Nigel

 

[Pepino Grande]

Let us know how it goes. It could be good information for all of us.

 

[jwmcgrath]

I recently bought a used P3S that had reportedly sat since November untouched, until I went to look at it a coupe of weeks ago.

It would not connect or start. Since the flashing light pattern was not all red, I took the chance and bought it as is.

Once home, the aircraft took quite a while to reconnect but didn't need any special attention to finally get there (10-15 min).

After that, it wouldn't start until I updated the firmware, and it prompted for both IMU and compass calibrations.

After that it was perfect and has flown perfectly ever since.

 

[120CCPM]

I would add one small check, based on a post I recently read: visually inspect each propeller and make sure it doesn't have any odd bends caused by improper storage over a long period of time (like being jammed in a box with a couple batteries on top). I would also start the motors and look at the props from the side to confirm everything is ok, before taking off.