All P1 owners, check your battery connector!

[Meluk]

I have had my trusty Phantom 1 for about a year now, 100's of perfect flights. I went to have a quick flight today and noticed something different. After flying with it so many times you get to know the Phantom inside and out and this I have never noticed.

It started raining so I was in a bit of a rush so I tried to pull of the batteries connector with one hand. Not advised I guess and as the XT60 connectors are a very snug fit it wouldn't pull off so I had to get my other hand and grip each connector and pull like usual. During the initial attempt to pull off the battery the Phantom rebooted back up with the 4 motor sounds. I thought that's strange, the batteries still connected.

Just got home and checked the connectors and all seemed fine and secure. I plugged in a battery and it did it again, rebooted without unplugging the battery. I then applied more pressure to the wires going in to the XT60 connector and look what happened:











The actual wire has severed! Couldn't believe it, this is what nightmares are made of

Now, I myself may be slightly to blame for this catastrophic fault. I use Turnigy batteries and as they are slightly bigger its more of a tight fit to push the XT60 connectors back in on top of the battery. The wires are obviously bending each time and I guess the repeated bending has weakened the wire and caused this breakage.

So be warned everyone!

 

[Ozzyguy]

Oh crap!

 

[Roadkilt]

I fly with bigger Turnigy and storm batteries. By takng the battery door off and replacing it with a Velcro strap I can leave the battery wires connected outside the housing, out of the way of the gopro view and props. Way less wear and tear jamming cables inside, not as pretty, but who cares about that. And a couple of grams lighter.

 

[ElGuano]

I fly with bigger Turnigy and storm batteries. By takng the battery door off and replacing it with a Velcro strap I can leave the battery wires connected outside the housing, out of the way of the gopro view and props. Way less wear and tear jamming cables inside, not as pretty, but who cares about that. And a couple of grams lighter.

Hey Roadkilt, if you still have the door and pin, what's the combined weight of those?

I'm not really interested in taking the door off myself, but might do so if a mod necessitates it.

 

[thongbong]

I have had my trusty Phantom 1 for about a year now, 100's of perfect flights. I went to have a quick flight today and noticed something different. After flying with it so many times you get to know the Phantom inside and out and this I have never noticed.

It started raining so I was in a bit of a rush so I tried to pull of the batteries connector with one hand. Not advised I guess and as the XT60 connectors are a very snug fit it wouldn't pull off so I had to get my other hand and grip each connector and pull like usual. During the initial attempt to pull off the battery the Phantom rebooted back up with the 4 motor sounds. I thought that's strange, the batteries still connected.

Just got home and checked the connectors and all seemed fine and secure. I plugged in a battery and it did it again, rebooted without unplugging the battery. I then applied more pressure to the wires going in to the XT60 connector and look what happened:











The actual wire has severed! Couldn't believe it, this is what nightmares are made of

Now, I myself may be slightly to blame for this catastrophic fault. I use Turnigy batteries and as they are slightly bigger its more of a tight fit to push the XT60 connectors back in on top of the battery. The wires are obviously bending each time and I guess the repeated bending has weakened the wire and caused this breakage.

So be warned everyone!

Good thing you caught it, i noticed this on my original P1 and got to soldering a big massive heaping of never-gonna-come-off-again solder.

 

[checkssc]

I just saw something like this on my v1.2. The insulation was evenly broken all around the wire but the wire it's self was not broken. I put some grey electrical tape around it and I am watching it closely. If I see more degradation I will rewire with a premium silicone coated wire. I think we will all be seeing this and need to be careful about it. I too was using the Turnigy 2200 batteries and while they fit it was a bit tight. I don't know if it was the tight bending of the leads that caused this.

 

[gbshovel]

That blows this will keep that from happening.

 

[Roadkilt]

I fly with bigger Turnigy and storm batteries. By takng the battery door off and replacing it with a Velcro strap I can leave the battery wires connected outside the housing, out of the way of the gopro view and props. Way less wear and tear jamming cables inside, not as pretty, but who cares about that. And a couple of grams lighter.

Hey Roadkilt, if you still have the door and pin, what's the combined weight of those?

I'm not really interested in taking the door off myself, but might do so if a mod necessitates it.

Never weighed it, but I think the net is modest, maybe a couple of grams

 

[Ozzyguy]

I imagine it would be in the area of ten grams or so with the steel pin. To give you and idea the factor go pro holder is 17 grams.