Hey guys,
I just found this forum and I thought I should ask a quick question.
Recently while I was landing manually, the drone tilted slightly and the blades touched the soft wood surface then a bit of grass, the aircraft outer area does not seem damaged what so ever, it was probably the tiniest crash ever for a drone. But I'm wondering if by chance I could of damaged inside components. But if everything works fine to fly and all functions work everything is ok right? Just a bit worried as I only got it 3 days ago.
Thanks guys!
-Kro
Welcome aboard Kro! I still have the same exhilaration now I that had on my third day, which was a little over a year and 200+ flights ago.
First off, when landing and on the ground, DO NOT use the CSC maneuver to cut the motors (both sticks down+in), just use the left stick down+in, which does a 2 second pause before cutting the motors. You will read a lot of POSTS here where folks report tip-overs using the CSC, and I've had no problems ever with the single-stick method.
As to posible damage, check for cracks, especially around the motors.
If you hear very bad sounds on power-up and your camera/gimbal is dancing the 'boogaloo, power-down and check the tiny allen screw on the gimbal shaft. After one small tip-over that got loose on me and the gimbal goes crazy trying to compensate, and it looks/sounds really scary. 'Quite common on even small crashes from what I read, and easy to tighten if you have the right-size allen wrench.
Next, if you get no video, but the Tx still communicates, check the gray ribbon cable from the gimbal that plugs into the bottom of the P3 body. That can sometimes work it's way loose on even small crashes, and it's hard to see unless you are looking for it -- 'just needs to be plugged back in (I used surgical forceps to reach it).
Finally, if you are using stock white DJI props you need to RE-BALANCE YOUR PROPS!
If you've never balanced them before, you need to BALANCE YOUR PROPS!
Every set of these I've got has needed balancing. In fact, I only use black DJI carbon-reinforced props -- the main advantage I found with them, that nobody mentions, is they always come perfectly balanced and they stay balanced -- they will break before they warp or crack, unlike the white plastic ones. (Plus they look way-cool with my black carbon-fiber skin). Get yourself a double threaded prop balancing rod for around $7 online, and use a high-ball glass on a level surface (search YouTube for help on that).
Anyway, always "measure twice and cut once", and you are in for a lot of great times with your Phantom!