Another ESC Crash....

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Welp, I've read tons of horror stories in my time here about bad or potentially bad ESC's. I even made comment some time back that I was just going to fly, because the confusion about which models had good, which models had bad was just a cluster. I was going to just keep flying.

I've got a P2+ v3 and have at least 100 flights under my belt. The Flytrex says I have 60 logged.

So today I volunteer to help cover a football camp for kids. I'm flying well above the field, getting all the groups as they are going through their exercises. Never directly above them but at an angle where I can create a promotional video later. I get five flights under my belt just fine.

A group photo of all 100+ participants was next. I land, change batteries, get GPS verification and take off. The craft takes off fine, climbs to +/- 20 feet AGL. It takes a definite dip on one side (one prop). The craft attempts to right itself and half a second later dips again and doesn't regain itself. It crashes to the concrete.

I collect up the phantom, walk back to my box and start to triage. Three of the motors spin just fine. The fourth only shifts back and forth. The motor goes in both directions a few rotations and that's it. The body is all scuffed up. The main bracket behind the camera is bent. The camera works, but the bracket is bent maybe 10 degrees.

Needless to say, the craft is useless to me.

I am preparing a letter to DJI after this post to express my extreme discontent with this issue. This has been a known issue to those of us flying the craft, but yet nothing from DJI on it at all. Needless to say, i'm NOT a happy camper at all.

To add fuel to the fire, the SIM card in the Flytrex was apparently expired and I hadn't renewed it so that data is not available from their site. I'll try to extract it from the flytrex itself, if that is possible. The flight was too short to the point that I didn't have a chance to start video so I don't have that evidence either!

Argh!

I'll take pics and post what I find in my forensic exam of my craft. :-(
 
Not Happy with DJI either, Crashed after 2 weeks of owning my Phantom 2 had a complete power failure for no apparent reason . Back flying after 200.00 repair bill ..But lost all faith in my bird right now. I posted my crash video . Makes me sick every time I watch it ... Good luck to ya .
 
Are you sure that depends on an esc and not to the compass? I've had a similar situation luckely without a crash, starting my phantom from a surface with iron inside...
 
Sorry for your loss. That's why I replace all ESC's with V2.1 and STRONGLY suggest all problematic Phantom owners do this: it's cheap to do to compare with Phantom price. It can be OK in cold weather and with short flights with 2.0, but when the weather is hot and you are doing few flights in a row ESC chip can overheat with terrible sequences.
Anyway, shame on DJI.
 
Are you sure that depends on an esc and not to the compass? I've had a similar situation luckely without a crash, starting my phantom from a surface with iron inside...

"Three of the motors spin just fine. The fourth only shifts back and forth.": if motor/ESC was not damaged during crash, thats proves, that something is wrong with motor or ESC. I would like to suggest to do ESC chips visual inspection and, if overheated chip is visible, 99% that's a problem. Then take photos and send them to DJI together with complain letter.
 
Sorry to hear couchie. It is a sickening feeling. Hope you get it fixed & figure out what happened.
 
Sorry Couchie, hope you get in the air soon
 
If anyone is counting.... Mine fell like a rock from a perfect hover @150 feet. An official DJI repair facility said the cause was a faulty speed controller. Should't a speed controller be covered under warranty?
 
I hate to be a **** as I do feel sorry for your situation and would hate if it happened to me......but.....
if you knew there was an issue why didnt you change ESC or something?

Perhaps in the letter don't mention you have known for a while...

Again sorry for being a ****...hope they take pity on your situation and help you out for free.
 
Ok, I finally cooled off enough today to crack it open and see what happened....

I took video and pics to show what I've found...

First, the video of what the craft is doing now when I fire it up:
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So I proceed to take the top off and see what the heck is going on....

FullSizeRender.jpg

See a problem here? So, no it wasn't the ESC per se. Instead the eternal argument from a few months ago about the solid copper wires coming out of the motor being susceptible to vibration and possibly breaking from the solder joint, came true for me!

I held the yellow wire against the solder point and the motor worked just fine.

There is just one more problem:

FullSizeRender%20(2).jpg


The bracket on the gimbal is now bent at approximately 10 degrees. I am NOT about to bend it back.
 
if you knew there was an issue why didnt you change ESC or something?

Well, this was a brand new purchase. I returned my v2 for a v3 that I thought initially would fix any issues with bad ESCs. One would assume that if they spend $1,000 + (price when purchased) then the item should work as designed.

The issue was brought to the attention of DJI, which of course resulted in a reply indicating the ESCs were just fine and to fly on!
 
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Fair enough :(

I gave in to my fear and ended up using hot glue over the solder joints on my v2 with upgraded motor/esc.

But yeah you are 100% right.. for $1000+ you shouldn't need to..

While they did very quietly adrress the ESC issue by telling people who asked 500 times that yes they need v2.1 they never did address the thin wire issue did they?

If you have any lawyer friends I woukd be tempted to ask them to write up a letter on a nice letterhead...
 
I was told to write to the vendor whom I purchased my Phantom from, which was B&H Photo. I don't like this since it isn't B&H's fault the craft crashed. Here is my email to B&H:

I purchased a DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus, V 3.0 in December. There have been several complaints among other owners of the same model in reference to the solid copper wire leading from the motor to the ESC (Electronic Speed Control). The issue was the fact that the solid wire will break over time due to the fact that the wire can't flex or absorb the shock generated during normal flight.

On May 23rd, 2015 I was flying during a football camp put on by the police department I work for taking pictures and videos of the event. After about an hour and a half of flying, I was taking off to capture a group shot. The drone climbed to about 20' AGL, one of the motors stopped, the drone attempted to right itself, then the affected motor dropped. The drone fell out of the sky.

After returning home, I inspected the damage externally and found that the camera mount is bent at an approximate 10 degree angle. After removing the top of the drone, I found that one of the solder points on the ESC had failed and the wire was disconnected.

I recorded a short video of what the drone was doing prior to removing the top.

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I also took pictures of the failed solder point. I can forward those if needed.

I attempted to complain to DJI, but was informed I had to address the issue with the retailer I purchased the product from. My problem with this is that the failure is not the fault of B&H but instead a flawed design by DJI.

Please advise what my next step is to get this issue addressed. I want DJI to make this right in fixing the drone and camera. The motors should have braided copper wire attached to the ESC and the camera/mount needs to be replaced!

Thanks,
Bob
 
My hasn't crash yet have the v2.0 Dji wont do nada on that issue I have to remove flytrex and lights plus they can said how much to replace their mistake an will take six weeks will replace then my self just for my own peace any ideas where to get them
 
I followed the thread from burbark and hunch who were warning about this and pre-empitevly changed my wires to stranded....

Sorry your's crashed but I felt that the V3 motor wire design was total crap.... wire to small, being solid motor winding also enameled for poor connection and vibration alone will not if but when cause a break
 
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