Howdy folks. Its been quite a while since I've been online. Last time I was here Night Fury had taken out my bird. I must confess the incident left me rather disgusted & the bird has been sitting in the corner atop of the case ever since. Two broken props, camera separated at the roll axis, ribbon cable torn. I'd eyeball her now & then, knowing I was really missing the thrill of flying, but never getting motivated enough to sit down & dig in. A lot of stuff happened to distract me since. Had to buy a new work truck, work got slow, etc., all keeping me occupied elsewhere.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email where DJI was having a Cyber Monday sale. Phantom 3 Pro, free extra battery & shipping. $1159. I thought, I debated, & finally I pulled the trigger. It gets worse. I went back & ordered a Phantom 3 Advanced later. So I have two new birds sitting here in the box, dubbed "Poop Chute" (Advanced) & "Darth Videous" (Pro). Haven't even opened the boxes yet but I've read the manuals several times, installed the DJIGo app, & I know I'll be flying soon.
The new arrivals have revived my flying excitement & today I dusted off "Dirty Bird," my trusty Vision+, to see how bad things were & to determine if she was salvageable. I charged a battery, installed new props, & took her outside for a test flight. I was amazed to discover she flew perfectly after her encounter with Night Fury & the hard plummet through the trees onto the asphalt. I do need to reshell her. Not from the crash but she has developed some fairly significant stress cracks at the motor mounting points in her hundreds of flights. I've had a new shell in the closet for ages (along with a lot of other spare parts) so reshelling is just an investment in time.
Then I got really motivated & decided to try my luck repairing the camera. Vision+ cameras are rare & more expensive than those on the Phantom 3. DJI no longer seems to offer them, nor a retrofit allowing the newer cameras to be used on the older aircraft. Fortunately, way back when ribbon cables were unavailable, I had snagged one up from Dave's Discount Motors. I watched the perfect YouTube video demonstrating a camera repairs with the exact same damage & set about attempting the repair. It was an absolute PITA. Not that the repair is particularly difficult. It's just that the camera components are so small & my eyes aren't what they used to be for up close work. I am pleased to report that my Vision+ camera survived the crash & is now fully functional with only a few scuffs on the bezel where it skated across the asphalt! I took her out for a test flight after the repair & all seems well.
In the next few days I hope to sit down and tackle the reshelling & bring "Dirty Bird" back to 100%. I really like having this bird back because she has the old 3.0 firmware which gives me some options not available with the Phantom 3 models. From my understanding of the Phantom 3 lineup, the only difference between the Pro & Advanced is 4K video vs. 2.7K video, 100 watt charger vs. 57 watt charger, and gold stripes vs. silver stripes. Its not like I have a 4K monitor available to tell the difference, but with the sale I had to get a Pro. Either way, I'm glad to be close to getting back in the air again with the Quad fleet now at 3 birds!
Salute to all & Merry Christmas!
A couple of weeks ago I received an email where DJI was having a Cyber Monday sale. Phantom 3 Pro, free extra battery & shipping. $1159. I thought, I debated, & finally I pulled the trigger. It gets worse. I went back & ordered a Phantom 3 Advanced later. So I have two new birds sitting here in the box, dubbed "Poop Chute" (Advanced) & "Darth Videous" (Pro). Haven't even opened the boxes yet but I've read the manuals several times, installed the DJIGo app, & I know I'll be flying soon.
The new arrivals have revived my flying excitement & today I dusted off "Dirty Bird," my trusty Vision+, to see how bad things were & to determine if she was salvageable. I charged a battery, installed new props, & took her outside for a test flight. I was amazed to discover she flew perfectly after her encounter with Night Fury & the hard plummet through the trees onto the asphalt. I do need to reshell her. Not from the crash but she has developed some fairly significant stress cracks at the motor mounting points in her hundreds of flights. I've had a new shell in the closet for ages (along with a lot of other spare parts) so reshelling is just an investment in time.
Then I got really motivated & decided to try my luck repairing the camera. Vision+ cameras are rare & more expensive than those on the Phantom 3. DJI no longer seems to offer them, nor a retrofit allowing the newer cameras to be used on the older aircraft. Fortunately, way back when ribbon cables were unavailable, I had snagged one up from Dave's Discount Motors. I watched the perfect YouTube video demonstrating a camera repairs with the exact same damage & set about attempting the repair. It was an absolute PITA. Not that the repair is particularly difficult. It's just that the camera components are so small & my eyes aren't what they used to be for up close work. I am pleased to report that my Vision+ camera survived the crash & is now fully functional with only a few scuffs on the bezel where it skated across the asphalt! I took her out for a test flight after the repair & all seems well.
In the next few days I hope to sit down and tackle the reshelling & bring "Dirty Bird" back to 100%. I really like having this bird back because she has the old 3.0 firmware which gives me some options not available with the Phantom 3 models. From my understanding of the Phantom 3 lineup, the only difference between the Pro & Advanced is 4K video vs. 2.7K video, 100 watt charger vs. 57 watt charger, and gold stripes vs. silver stripes. Its not like I have a 4K monitor available to tell the difference, but with the sale I had to get a Pro. Either way, I'm glad to be close to getting back in the air again with the Quad fleet now at 3 birds!
Salute to all & Merry Christmas!