Broken P3A

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My P3A was viciously attacked by a sneaky tree and fell to the ground. Wrinkled the shell and broke the portion of the gimbal mount that attaches to the shell (see first 2 pictures) and the gimbal came loose, stripping the pins on the cables going to the VPS and gimbal (gimbal shown in picture 3). Sent in to the Drone Co. in Atlanta and their response was "Your drone main board is fried and the GPS is damaged. To repair everything it will be $699"!! Obviously not going to spend more to repair the bird than it would cost to buy a new one. So anyone interested in it for parts. There is no visible damage to the gimbal, VPS or camera and allof the motors turn freely as do the main flight motors. So anyone interested? Battery and charger NOT included. $200 and I'll ship it (US only) PB270218.JPGPB270219.JPGPB270220.JPG
 
Does it power on? Do the motors respond normally? When powered on and linked to controller/display, do you see any critical warnings on display?(other than no camera feed) A shell is not much $$, and the camera ribbon is not much $$. Although it will be highly detailed work, you can replace the shell/ribbon for under $75. Youtube videos will walk you through it. Fixing that puppy may be worth it to you. I doubt the GPS module is faulty although it may be, but even that is around $25 for a used one ( I have replaced mine this way).
 
Reread my original post. according to the Drone Co., the main board is fried and the GPS is damaged! looking at part prices, that starts getting into the $200+ range, with no guarantee that there isn't more that needs replacing. for about $300 more, I can get a new bird form DJI.
 
Grammaton,
Owe you a word of thanks. After your post, I decided "what the heck, couldn't hurt!" So I put in a battery and powered the bird up and it came up ok. So, then I mounted some props and took it out side. Started it up, started the motors and away we went. flew it up about 10 feet and let it sit - steady as a rock. then went out about 50 feet and up a bit higher - still steady and stable and the telemetry back to the Go app was full on. It did act a bit funny when I turned it off, turned off the battery and the lights on the bird kept flashing. 'Turned the battery off' again and everything shut down. Still need to replace the gimbal bracket and cables to find out if the camera and gimbal are ok, but its looking good so far. Never like to bad mouth anyone, but Im not sure what The Drone Co people were looking at when they decided my main board was fried! Not sure I would recommend anyone sending their Phantom to them for repairs!
 
I sent a Phantom back to DJI after it acted up... They wanted to ream my wallet.I wrote them a "lawyerly sounding letter and they immediately replaced it. I would be cautious with it, but If no critical warnings or bad acting shows up, it might be ok. I'm glad to hear it still ticks. Fixing the gimbal should be doable. Good luck to you and your Phantom. Back to the skies!! (And the music played on)
 
I would highly recommend a COLD MUI calibration! Cool the drone to below what temps you fly in and keep drone OFF 'till DJI go app is running and you are in the sensors:MUI calibration screen, then turn drone on and calibrate it. After tree smacks it may be off in it's thoughts.
 
Grammaton,
Owe you a word of thanks. After your post, I decided "what the heck, couldn't hurt!" So I put in a battery and powered the bird up and it came up ok. So, then I mounted some props and took it out side. Started it up, started the motors and away we went. flew it up about 10 feet and let it sit - steady as a rock. then went out about 50 feet and up a bit higher - still steady and stable and the telemetry back to the Go app was full on. It did act a bit funny when I turned it off, turned off the battery and the lights on the bird kept flashing. 'Turned the battery off' again and everything shut down. Still need to replace the gimbal bracket and cables to find out if the camera and gimbal are ok, but its looking good so far. Never like to bad mouth anyone, but Im not sure what The Drone Co people were looking at when they decided my main board was fried! Not sure I would recommend anyone sending their Phantom to them for repairs!

Im with you there, ill definitely not send them any business. It sounds like they didnt even look at it before offering to charge you $600+
 
I would highly recommend a COLD MUI calibration! Cool the drone to below what temps you fly in and keep drone OFF 'till DJI go app is running and you are in the sensors:MUI calibration screen, then turn drone on and calibrate it. After tree smacks it may be off in it's thoughts.
Thanks, I will definitely cal the IMU once I get the gimbal remounted (just ordered the bracket and cables). Not going to worry about flying it again until then - Assuming that the gimbal/camera checks out ok. Stand by for the continuing saga!
 
The ribbon will be the hardest to deal with. Here is a video (and there are others there) of this operation. Watching it before doing it helps me in these things.
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Actually, the ribbon cable appears to be ok. It is the grey cables going to the gimbal and VPS that are damages.
 
The grey cables are very easy to replace, and cheap $$
 
Im with you there, ill definitely not send them any business. It sounds like they didnt even look at it before offering to charge you $600+
Surprisingly, it appears that they actually did open it up. Some of the points wherecthecshell had been sprung were back in place! But the damages grey cable was still attached to the gimbal so it doesn't look like they didanythimg with it. I'm going to suggest that we start another forum/thread where pilots can recount their experiences with different repair shops. No 'bad mouthing', just honest accounts of the service received. Would be a good source of advice for others when they break their birds.
 
Yeah, I'll take a close look at everything before I button it back up, but the gear and compass appear to be ok and the compass worked fine on my test flight last night.
Again thanks to all for the comments and encouragement, look like this Phoenix will rise from tha ashes!
 

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