Broke my phantom; now what do I do?

[El_Flaco0525]

I'm a new owner of a Phantom 2 Vision +. Too new, as it turned out. I had a bad crash with it today that broke the camera loose from the gimbal where it attaches to the bottom of the vertical arm. The little black ribbon thing that I'm pretty sure is not there for decoration also broke. I've been following this forum for several weeks, and I think I can probably get better advice here, quicker, than by calling DJI.
Where do I send my quad for repairs? I get the impression that DJI itself is not a good choice. Any advice would be appreciated.
Here are pictures:

(showing the vertical arm, with the craft upside down)

(showing the back side of the camera)

 

[kymedic121]

Most all repair centers including Dronefly will send it back to DJI as most repair centers don't repair cameras or the gimbles. This is what I was told by Dronefly when I purchased my unit. Sorry to hear of your accident, hope she is fixed soon.

 

[EMCSQUAR]

Try these (call first before sending)

 

[Mlaudisa]

I'm a new owner of a Phantom 2 Vision +. Too new, as it turned out. I had a bad crash with it today that broke the camera loose from the gimbal where it attaches to the bottom of the vertical arm. The little black ribbon thing that I'm pretty sure is not there for decoration also broke. I've been following this forum for several weeks, and I think I can probably get better advice here, quicker, than by calling DJI.
Where do I send my quad for repairs? I get the impression that DJI itself is not a good choice. Any advice would be appreciated.
Here are pictures:

(showing the vertical arm, with the craft upside down)

(showing the back side of the camera)

I recall seeing a place on the web that has replacement cameras and gimbals for the Vision 2+. They are expensive, but cheaper than replacing the entire thing. Unfortunately I don't remember the site, so you'll have to Google it around, but at least you know it's an option.

 

[wattsn]

http://www.davesmotors.com/camera-gimba ... -plus.html

 

[El_Flaco0525]

Thanks for the input. It looks like I'll be sending the quad to one of the DJI service centers and/or DJI. I hope I do not have to replace the entire gimbal/camera assembly. That would get very expensive. Again, thanks for the help.

 

[joefuller757]

I had the same problem. You can buy the gimbal/camera assembly at a number of places. Here's a link to Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/DJI-Phantom-Visio ... B00LFTKARS They cost $679. When you replace it, you simply take off the old one (clip the 2 plastic washers that hold on the camera drop pins, disengage the white rubbery dampeners and uncouple the 3 connectors with the gray wires) and then reverse the process to put on the new one. There is no binding or calibration required. Very plug and play. You could explore getting the camera fixed at your leisure after that.

 

[El_Flaco0525]

Update:

I've talked to two of the support vendors listed on the DJI website. The first person I talked to, at Maxcopter, said that he didn't have the little black ribbon cable replacement part, because DJI had not yet released it as a replacement part. He was hoping that DJI would do that sometime in the near future, but he didn't have any specific information to base that on. The second person I talked to, at USHobby in Las Vegas, also told me that the black ribbon cable was not available from DJI as a replacement part, but he said that his company bought brand-new Phantoms and sold parts from them. He offered to sell me the ribbon cable for $200. In a moment of temporary insanity, I agreed. My "thinking" at the time, if you can call it that, was that $200 was a lot cheaper than $679 for replacing the entire gimbal/camera assembly. And I was hoping that replacing the cable by itself would do the trick. Upon further reflection, I decided that was a bad bet, because there was a good chance that replacing the ribbon cable alone wouldn't fix it, and I'm not handy enough or knowledgeable enough to know what else to do with it if the cable replacement didn't solve the problem.

So, I'm trying to cancel my order for the ribbon-cable and instead buy the entire gimbal/camera assembly. They want somewhere in the neighborhood of $790 for the assembly. (Don't quote me on the exact price. I stopped listening closely when I heard "seven-hundred and . . . ." The rest is a blur.) I told them there were places on the internet where I could get it a lot cheaper. They're going to call me back.

There are two vendors on the internet that I know of that offer the entire assembly: Amazon ($799) and Davesmotors.com ($679, but it's back-ordered.)

I suppose my other option is to just put the Phantom in the closet and wait for DJI to make the ribbon cable available as a part at a reasonable price. That way I could experiment to see if the cable was all that was needed and if that didn't do the trick, I wouldn't be out that much money. But I don't have any way to estimate when, if ever, DJI will make the ribbon-cable available as a part.

These first-world problems are tough, aren't they?

 

[DonH]

El_Flaco, thanks for your very informative posting. Yes, my Phantom crashed last Sunday, and I severed the black ribbon cable trying to put the camera back on the gimbal. I was about to call USHobby in Las Vegas, but you saved me the time. I found the same prices at Amazon and Davesmotors for the entire assembly, but right now I can't afford $700 for a new one.

I sent an email to DJI yesterday asking for costs and time for them to repair the assembly. I haven't opened up the assembly, but I'm not sure that I can trust myself to be able to attach a new cable. So, I'm waiting for DJI to reply.

Stay tuned ...

 

[Sasquatch]

Update:

I've talked to two of the support vendors listed on the DJI website. The first person I talked to, at Maxcopter, said that he didn't have the little black ribbon cable replacement part, because DJI had not yet released it as a replacement part. He was hoping that DJI would do that sometime in the near future, but he didn't have any specific information to base that on. The second person I talked to, at USHobby in Las Vegas, also told me that the black ribbon cable was not available from DJI as a replacement part, but he said that his company bought brand-new Phantoms and sold parts from them. He offered to sell me the ribbon cable for $200. In a moment of temporary insanity, I agreed. My "thinking" at the time, if you can call it that, was that $200 was a lot cheaper than $679 for replacing the entire gimbal/camera assembly. And I was hoping that replacing the cable by itself would do the trick. Upon further reflection, I decided that was a bad bet, because there was a good chance that replacing the ribbon cable alone wouldn't fix it, and I'm not handy enough or knowledgeable enough to know what else to do with it if the cable replacement didn't solve the problem.

So, I'm trying to cancel my order for the ribbon-cable and instead buy the entire gimbal/camera assembly. They want somewhere in the neighborhood of $790 for the assembly. (Don't quote me on the exact price. I stopped listening closely when I heard "seven-hundred and . . . ." The rest is a blur.) I told them there were places on the internet where I could get it a lot cheaper. They're going to call me back.

There are two vendors on the internet that I know of that offer the entire assembly: Amazon ($799) and Davesmotors.com ($679, but it's back-ordered.)

I suppose my other option is to just put the Phantom in the closet and wait for DJI to make the ribbon cable available as a part at a reasonable price. That way I could experiment to see if the cable was all that was needed and if that didn't do the trick, I wouldn't be out that much money. But I don't have any way to estimate when, if ever, DJI will make the ribbon-cable available as a part.

These first-world problems are tough, aren't they?

Thanks for the update....

I always feel for you guys who go through so much hassle and crap after you deal with a crash or technical problem (out of your control), with your birds.

$200 for that ribbon cable is OUTRAGEOUS!!! I don't think I would have paid that for such a small, brittle piece of wire and because there are no guarantees it won't snap again. However, I do understand your frustration and angst to get back up in the air again ASAP, El_Flaco. As far as I'm concerned too, the whole camera/gimbal assembly is way overpriced as well. Hopefully in time these parts will become less expensive and more easily acquired.

Sorry for your problems.