'Almost' A Catastrophe.....

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I took my Quad out to Sand Key park to fly this weekend and almost had a total loss.
I love to fly it out over the water and track Jet Skis or moving boats. I was flying as normal, probably 100 or so yards out over the water and decided it was time to bring it back home. Flipped the button back to home lock, pulled the joystick towards me and it seemed to be limping back towards me. As it got closer I noticed it was spinning and acting erratic so I switched back to control and piloted it back. It still was wobbly and spinning as I landed.
When it was on the ground I noticed the battery door was open and the battery was half hanging out.
Needless to say it was scary watching it flutter over the ocean.

Sad to say, had it dropped into the Ocean I would have wiped a tear away, drove home, got on Amazon and ordered another.
 
That battery door is a major issue that has already happened to me you may want to consider velcro to keep the door closed.
 
Beario said:
That battery door is a major issue that has already happened to me you may want to consider velcro to keep the door closed.

Good idea. I will add velcro!!
Thanks
 
Thanks for the tip, always feel the door isn't shut as good as it should be on mine
Just went and looked at mine and there was a rubber band next to it from a delivery today!! might be another option haha
 
I installed a little velcro tape on my door last night after reading this thread. Even before seeing this thread I was a bit disappointed with the latching mechanism of the battery door. Especially since I seem to have two possible battery install outcomes. Either A) the way the wires fold in, doesn't happen optimally and there is a constant outward tension on the door, or B) the wires just happen to tuck away nicely and the battery has plenty of room but can move around a little, possibly allowing it to slam forward into the door during a maneuver.

Either way, I intend to be over some water a few times this weekend and I rather have the comfort of some additional velcro tape to keep that battery secured. A small single plastic tab that is off-center, allowing for even more leverage for the battery to open it, doesn't instill a lot of confidence for keeping my Phantom alive and well for as long as possible.
 
Yep, don't like that door latch myself. If anyone has made a cool latch, post some pics.
 
You can heat up the tab a bit and carefully bend it up so it catches better. also I have noticed another problem with the door on the fc40 is that the edge of the door is almost a MM to big and the edge hits the body before the tabs notice is actually far enough in the slot to be able to catch well. Solution take a razor blade or some sand paper and shave a tiny bit of the edge off the door on the top and the 2 sides till you are able to get it so that the tab actually is able to go in far enough to actually catch real good.

My tab actually had recently broken off competently and Have been using a velcro strap to hold the door closed. But last Saturday I had a big problem when I was flying about 1000 feet away and 1200 feet up. and changed directions. The battery door popped open and the battery slid out and then the weight of the battery falling out caused it to yank its self free form the plug and the battery fell to the ground. and guess what???? so didn't the fC40 they dont fly to well at all or respond to the controls when there is no battery in them lol lol all I could do was stand there and watch it fall from the sky and it crashed in to some trees which helped break its fall. But my camera and my anti jello mount got ripped off of it and broke on of my landing legs. and it even busted my GPS locator. I was not able to find it cause it looked like it was farther away then the spot it did crash at but some one heard the racket it made and ran out side and found it in the woods and called the phone number while I was out looking for it. I was able to get the craft back and found the battery about 100 feet away and the broken gps unit a few feet away from were the phantom came down. But my battery alarm was no ware to be found or any of the camera and frame. I think that is still stuck some place in the 100 foot high tree canopy. Going back tomorrow to look and hooping that any of the big windy rain storms we had sense then might of shook the camera out of the trees. I at least want to get the sd card and see the video of the crash. If so i should have a good contender for a good crash video.
 
I had my battery fall out and fall away, causing my FC40 to fall about 40 feet.

I added velcro to the bottom of my batteries and the bottom of the battery bay.

I also did away with the door entirely. I got 2 strips of velcro (the soft side) and stuck them together, back to back. Then I replaced the pin for the door and slid the velcro under it, brought it back up and sewed it together.

Above the door opening, I put some heavy duty velcro to attach it to.
 
Beario said:
That battery door is a major issue that has already happened to me you may want to consider velcro to keep the door closed.
You should consider using UV resistant Velcro. Regular Velcro deteriorates when exposed to the sunlight's UV rays. Some can fail rather quickly, depending on how old it is.
 

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