Brand new P4 Advanced

[vgo195]

Hi,
I just got a brand new (unopened box) P4A and noticed some things
1. Both the battery and the RC battery was fully drained. Probably because the battery was 2 years old!!! At first i thought that both were not charging but eventually they charged after leaving them overnight.
2. The AC firmware was in previous version of the only one current. Hopefully i updated the firmware successfully.
3. The case is weird. The AC cannot fit if the RC is already in the case!!! The lens hits the RC's arm! Is this normal? This never happened with my P4 standard.
I bought the P4A for mapping as an upgrade to the P4 standard and I hope to do well. I will keep the P4 for a while to check the integrity of the P4A.

 

[Starz]

P4A and P4P both have a different camera than a P4.
The P4P’s that I have all bump into the rc when putting them in the stock gray foam case. If you tilt the ac slightly forward as you drop it in place, it helps. Also, the stock gimbal clamp can be slid back a bit on the legs to give it more room. The marks on the rubber at the bottom of the legs where the clamps connects is just a guide. I move it back about 3/16 of an inch.
Firmware updates aren’t mandatory. Some of them at times should be avoided. Do some research before any updates to avoid any bugs that
you may not want in your hardware.

 

[David_Cambridge]

My P4adv also fits oddly in the DJI foam case. DJI clearly used a cAse that wasn’t updated.

I have a somewhat different take on upgrades. I always install them, but wait a week or two for catastrophic bugs to surface. However, DJI appears to be mainly fixing bugs right now for all of the P4 fleet. I find that bug fix releases fix problems I didn’t know I had, before they result in some kind of damaging event. Even the series of releases for the geofencing have been steady improvements. You may not like geofencing, but it is helping all of us conform to the regulations that help all of us share our aerospace safely.

 

[Capt KO]

Tilting your P4A Into your case will become a habit. I also use a snap on lens cover/gimble guard, to protect my camera during this procedure. But use the original DJI guard when I travel. You’ve got a beautiful drone, does 90% of what the pro does

 

[vgo195]

I will choose to remove the RC first and then the AC and vice versa instead of tilting the drone. If it wasn't the gimbal guard I almost would scratch the lens.
Basically is the same as P4 but with better camera which I need for photogrammetry.
I was wondering why the P4A has only one firmware listed in release notes. My P4A came with an older version than the current. Ιt must have been a long time on the shelf..!! Anyway I don't mind since I got it very cheap (900€).

 

[vgo195]

Today I looked more carefully the foam case and noticed that the camera hits the RC only if the gimbal guard is installed. If no gimbal guard then the camera looks down and there is no problem. I was used to install the gimbal guard every time i put the AC in the case. Should i quit this habit?

 

[Capt KO]

Today I looked more carefully the foam case and noticed that the camera hits the RC only if the gimbal guard is installed. If no gimbal guard then the camera looks down and there is no problem. I was used to install the gimbal guard every time i put the AC in the case. Should i quit this habit?

No! It’s not just for shipping when new. It will save your camera and gimble from damage, daily. Please, use it whenever you use the case or your P4A is not in use. Let the guard take the abuse, not your expensive camera. Your better off getting a new case than quitting this habit. Please

 

[vgo195]

Time for some troubleshooting...
I flew some missions to check if everything works ok and uploaded the flights to airdata site.
https://app.airdata.com/share/arnyni
https://app.airdata.com/share/rAdLoS
Both flights was done with the battery that came in the box. “Brand new” but 2 years old..and totally drained.
As you can see from the airdata links the battery cell 4 has major deviations on both flights. Can I trust this battery? Can the battery be fixed if I do some full charge-discharge cycles?
And finally can I ask for a replacement battery?
Thanks in advance!

 

[David_Cambridge]

Are the batteries showing any signs of swelling? If so, replace them.

If it is just a cell mismatch, you could try discharging them to 8% and then putting it on a charger and bring it up to full charge. Check in a controlled environment to see if they now discharge more evenly.. a deep discharge and recharge will give the smart battery circuit a chance to work and balance the battery.

 

[vgo195]

Thanks, today I discharged the battery to 8% and will see how it goes. No swelling, the battery has only 1 charge!

 

[Dan AISCF]

I bought the P4A for mapping as an upgrade to the P4 standard and I hope to do well. I will keep the P4 for a while to check the integrity of the P4A.

Congrats on the P4A. One quick thing. I bought a P4s back in October and a P4P+ in March. While the P4P+ is our business workhorse, I am keeping the P4s as a backup (since the batts are pretty much the same). You mentioned keeping the P4s for a while. If you are running your P4a for business purposes, it might not be a bad thing to keep the P4s as a backup, just in case. It's been said for equipment -> 1 = none and 2 = 1. I hope everything works out for you!

 

[vgo195]

Time to report back!
The P4A is night and day compared to the P4 in terms of lens quality at least for photogrammetry. I don’t think that there is going back to the P4 standard!
As far as the battery is concerned the cell 4 still has 0.05 volts deviation even after some charge cycles. I don’t know if this is an issue but I don’t think I can claim replacement battery. What do you think?