Buying Phantom 2 shortly, but have reservations

[MrJoshua]

Well, I ended up buying a used phantom 2 this morning on ebay, and I absolutely cannot wait to get it now!

It apparently works perfectly except for an error when switched on due to a damaged wire where the wire goes into the canbus bit on the leg. Looks an easy repair, and I see that you can buy replacement ones pretty cheap.
I got it for £310, compared to £460 which is the cheapest I could get a new one, so that's a great saving, assuming of course the seller is being honest about the fault. We'll see.

One thing that occurred to me that I need to investigate before getting a suitable camera like the gopro, is that I've discovered you can't get raw files from a go'pro, which is a bit of a concern. Not sure what to do about that as I always use raw files in my photography workflow, and hate the thought of having to use jpegs instead, but that might have to be the case.

I'm aware there's some efforts to get raw files out of gopros, but that it's very early days for that yet.

 

[AerialCinemaGuy]

Well, I ended up buying a used phantom 2 this morning on ebay, and I absolutely cannot wait to get it now!

It apparently works perfectly except for an error when switched on due to a damaged wire where the wire goes into the canbus bit on the leg. Looks an easy repair, and I see that you can buy replacement ones pretty cheap.
I got it for £310, compared to £460 which is the cheapest I could get a new one, so that's a great saving, assuming of course the seller is being honest about the fault. We'll see.

One thing that occurred to me that I need to investigate before getting a suitable camera like the gopro, is that I've discovered you can't get raw files from a go'pro, which is a bit of a concern. Not sure what to do about that as I always use raw files in my photography workflow, and hate the thought of having to use jpegs instead, but that might have to be the case.

I'm aware there's some efforts to get raw files out of gopros, but that it's very early days for that yet.

GoPro RAW is THE only way to get good results. Not sure what you mean by "you can't get raw files from a GoPro" Use ProTune, thats RAW

 

[Fyod]

Great things can be done in Premiere and other post prod. with Protune'd video. Don't expect the GoPro software to do much with it though.
http://gopro.com/support/articles/advan ... -explained

 

[MrJoshua]

Thanks guys, I don't know about protune sorry as I don't yet have a go pro, but I'd been googling about raw files and read that they don't give raw file output, although someone has now hacked raw files from them even though they can't really be used as such.

Sounds like that was not correct them. I'll find out about protune, thanks!

 

[MrJoshua]

Wow - well, the postman delivered the drone this morning much to my amazement!

So I've inspected it and fired it up and yes there is some sort of fault but I think the fault described in the ebay auction (due to a faulty wire) is a red herring. I'm not going to speculate until I know more about whether that's intentional or not...

It had one conductor going to the cabus connecter that was loose, so I have pushed it back in place. It's not damaged as such.
When I power up it does the beeps, but then the lights on 2 of the arms flash Red, Green, Yellow repeatedly. The other two arms do not flash.

It's possible this relates to some sort of startup sequence or initialisation but I think it's probably a fault, and not the one described.

Here's a pic of sabotage though. The auction described it as being for sale without the gimbal, but there was no mention of the fact it had just had the wires chopped off, and I'm sure this is much more likely the fault cause!
It's a 2.8hgz one so presume is a vision that's had the camera & gimbal kit unceremoniously removed, although it still has a circuit attached underneath.

Very grateful for any useful advice on getting the error resolved quickly - I'll be searching on here/google for what it refers to:

 

[MrJoshua]

Ok, here's the starting point it seems:

Red, Green, Yellow continuous flashing:
Sensor error is too big. Please connect the assistant software, enter the “Tools” – > IMU calibration, watch the “IMU calibration” videos, carry out basic calibration or advanced calibration.
Damage of the accelerometer. Please contact your dealer.
Sensor does not work. Please contact your dealer.

 

[MrJoshua]

Progress has been made - I plugged it in after downloading the software and ran the IMU calibration. It appeared to work ok and didn't report any other issues.
So I took it outside and after restarting it I get a constant slow green flashing on the two arms. I think this means it's not ready for flight as they've not turned solid green.

By the way, for the moment, I have no props fitted until I have fully read up and know what I'm doing. I'm not about to let it take off with guesswork involved!

 

[scubari]

Edit

 

[scubari]

Green-red-green-red... no gps lock (less than 7sat) then you should get rapid green flashes for home lock and then green-green-green... for enough sats and gps lock..and ready to go
Btw..if this is not right, please someone repply and correct my answer

 

[MrJoshua]

Thanks Scubari

Well I'm delighted to report that it actually all appears ok (from a complete noob perspective at least).
I noticed inside my living room it was slow flashing green but if I moved it away from the window more it would turn to yellow flashing so I assume it was locked on but then loses its lock naturally as it moves away from the window.

I just powered off and took it outside, and powered up again.

Red-green red-green a few times, then flashing yellow for maybe 30-60 seconds, then rapid green flashing, and then finally slow steady green flashes.

So I believe that it's actually working perfectly well now after the calibration.

This is so great as I've basically saved £150 on the cost of a new one, due to a wire conductor not pushed in place properly, and the fact it needed calibrating. That's fantastic!!

So it seems like it's ready to fly in fact now, and I'm dying to as it's a nice day out, but for once I'm actually going to do the sensible thing and read through instructions, watch a few videos etc before I even try it, in order that I'm familiar with the different modes and controls other than the sticks themselves.

Mega excited though, I really am!
The money I've saved will pay for most of the FPV kit needed, so it's great!

I'm assuming I can remove the remains of the cabling that went to the original gimbal/camera by opening it up and unplugging a cable, but I need to check that, since I'll be getting a brushless gimbal and a gopro for it soon enough.

 

[scubari]

Edit

 

[scubari]

Wow - well, the postman delivered the drone this morning much to my amazement!

So I've inspected it and fired it up and yes there is some sort of fault but I think the fault described in the ebay auction (due to a faulty wire) is a red herring. I'm not going to speculate until I know more about whether that's intentional or not...

It had one conductor going to the cabus connecter that was loose, so I have pushed it back in place. It's not damaged as such.
When I power up it does the beeps, but then the lights on 2 of the arms flash Red, Green, Yellow repeatedly. The other two arms do not flash.

It's possible this relates to some sort of startup sequence or initialisation but I think it's probably a fault, and not the one described.

Here's a pic of sabotage though. The auction described it as being for sale without the gimbal, but there was no mention of the fact it had just had the wires chopped off, and I'm sure this is much more likely the fault cause!
It's a 2.8hgz one so presume is a vision that's had the camera & gimbal kit unceremoniously removed, although it still has a circuit attached underneath.

Very grateful for any useful advice on getting the error resolved quickly - I'll be searching on here/google for what it refers to:

There you have gimbal cable with connector in place, anti interference board for gimbal/gopro and colorful cabels for your fpv transmitter. All good

Remember compass calibration procedure before going for a flight.

 

[GoodnNuff]

It appears to be a phantom 2 that had a Zenmuse H3-3D gimbal attached, as that circuit mounted on the bottom is the anti-interference board. The wires coming out are meant to be there - nothing was "cut" from them, that is how they are from the factory. The grey cable powers the gimbal, and the colored cable, I believe, is the auxiliary power you would use to for your FPV components.

Edit: Ahh, I see scubari has answered this already!

 

[MrJoshua]

Ahh ok, thanks for clarifying guys. This is the auction I won for it:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301339133370? ... EBIDX%3AIT


The circuit underneath is labelled "Power Connect Board V2".
The coloured ribbon cable is what appears to have been snipped though as the ends of it are clean cut across. Surely if would have had some sort of plug/terminal/connector on them?

My intention is to get FPV kit (ImmersionRC 600mw TX for the drone), and either the Zenmuse gimbal or one of the cheaper ones if they work ok.
I'd like it to be fairly plug & play if I can but the zenmuse gimbal seems very expensive compared to all the other ones out there. Is there a big benefit to having that one, or are the cheaper ones fine still?

 

[GoodnNuff]

Nope, the colored wires come from the factory bare, without any connector at the end. They appear snipped, but they aren't.

 

[MrJoshua]

Wow - my bad then but thanks for clarifying that. Really surprised that's the case.

In respect of gimbals is it the case that any described as being for the phantom should be fairly straightforward to install and use, or is there a big different in ease of setup from one to the next?

I'm going to do some digging anyway and see what I can find out, plus what extra parts people would consider 'must have'!

 

[scubari]

If you dont like solder, you can get dji fpv hub and connect all (dji) fpv stuff in that without soldering..

 

[MrJoshua]

Thanks for the tip. I'm happy enough soldering, I just sort of meant where I won't have to spend lots of effort trying to figure out how something works because it has poor information or things like that I guess.
i haven't really researched yet though.

 

[samteeeee]

Hey MrJoshua, I really hope this doesnt happen to you, but did you notice earlier advice from others saying fly-aways could be caused by Phantoms that have previously been damaged by a crash? I hope yours is not one of those...

 

[MrJoshua]

Thanks, somehow I've missed that if it was mentioned on this thread? Sorry if I have though!

Sort of doesn't surprise me but I presume that would relate to specific causes and damage that could potentially be examined for?
I'll scrutinise it carefully for signs of impact or damage.