Can my P4 be saved?
- Thread starter 9245
- Start date
OK, I got a new battery today and she turned on and seems to be working fine. I got the remote sinked and updated the firmware, but I will not have time to get her in the air until early next week. It says my old SD card is invalid though, does that mean it's fried? Is their anyway to recover my old footage?
I went out and got two different adaptors today, the first plugged into the USB slot on my computer the second was just a standard micro SD to full SD adaptor that came wih my new Micro SD card. The first was a total failure, the computer would not detect the card at all. The second though I was thankfully able to try as well because my computer actually does have a full size integral SD slot and it worked fine after I unplugged it and replugged it (the computer did not detect it the first time) all my footage appears to be fully intact and I copied it to my hard drive. I will have to upload it to view it though unfortunately as my computer lacks a 4K screen and attempting to play 4K videos does not work well to say the least, I will post a link when I have something ready, it will probably be a few days.
I am amazed that after spending more than a month on the bottom of a river and being so caked in silt that I had to pry it out with a pair of pliers that the data survived yet it has. The card is definitely damaged but all data was recovered, amazing.
I am amazed that after spending more than a month on the bottom of a river and being so caked in silt that I had to pry it out with a pair of pliers that the data survived yet it has. The card is definitely damaged but all data was recovered, amazing.
Here is the final footage. You don't actually see much, the camera was pointed down at the time of impact and the battery ejected when it hit the pole so it just cuts out, you don't see it actually hit the water. The video is untouched from how it came off the drone, save for having to parse it down from 4k to 1080 to get the editer to work and some added captions to explain what your seeing. I did not edit the length at all, it starts and stops where the camera actually started and stopped, so it's kindof abrupt. I recovered more footage than just that, but this is the relevant stuff.
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Well, I got I got it back from DJI today...
I have to say, when I boxed it up for shipping I wasn't really expecting much, thought I was spinning my wheels really, and I was right DJI was not able to fix it...
They did however replace it!
DJI officially rocks.
Anyway here's some pictures of the replacement drone, It didn't come with a memory card, but I was able to fit the one I salvaged from the original drone, it's beat to hell and I have no idea if it is working but I shall find out soon enough, I am very anxious to see if I can recover my footage.
FYI to those interested, because I have heard at least a few people who are concerned about what flight data DJI collects, before they could start work on it they needed to pull the flight logs, but couldn't as I had removed the SD card so I had to sink the data from my tablet, so either DJI collects no data you do not send them or any data which is stored off the SD card was irretrievable on mine.
When they replaced mine, same thing... No replacement battery or props. I emailed them, with no response and all of a sudden a new battery and props showed up in the mail!
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app
Wow! Glad you are alive that swim you took could have turned deadly.
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
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...9245, its been awhile since you posted this, but if you still have the FlightLog file, could you post it or email it to me..?
vadata(at)yahoo(dot)com
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Thanks
IIIDaemon
www.GasRecovery.net
...9245, its been awhile since you posted this, but if you still have the FlightLog file, could you post it or email it to me..?
vadata(at)yahoo(dot)com
.
Thanks
IIIDaemon
www.GasRecovery.net
.
...9245, Yes, its the DJIFlightRecord_*.txt file, it can be posted here by simply Attaching it to a Post like you would an image...
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IIIDaemon
www.GasRecovery.net
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...9245, I use Android, but I found this Vid on YouTube...
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...Basically, Conn Tablet --> iTunes --> Apps --> File Sharing --> DJI-Go --> Flight Records --> Save To , save DJIFlightRecord_*.txt to
Comp, 'Attach' to Post, just like you would an image...
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IIIDaemon
www.GasRecovery.net
I have become rebar-sensitized after flying around "concrete" structures. Maybe those tunnel walls/bridge have metal hiding in them? I think a good pressure washing and you are good to go. I shouldn't make fun--Id be crying if that happened to me.
OK, so about a month ago I was flying my Phantom 4 near a local bridge trying to get a shot of it passing through an empty pedestrian tunnel that ran underneath (In ATTI mode do to the narrow tunnel interfering with the collision avoidance) (my plan was to edit that footage togethor with a shot of it swooping in to make it appear as one dramatic seamless shot) when I started to experience an odd problem with the drone drifting sideways into a wall, rubbing against it (but not crashing, just scraping), it was not responding to commands to move away from it (I was standing directly behind it not 5 feet away to monitor it and ensure no one inadvertently entered the tunnel), the shot was ruined so I decided to try again so I landed, picked it up and exited the tunnel. I placed the drone on the ground and ordered it to take off and it immediately slid sideways like it was on ice, it then collided with a dock pole before I could react, flipped sideways and spun into the river.
In my panicked attempt to retrieve it before it sank to the bottom I also ended up in the water. My attempt to retrieve it was entirely unsuccessful and even worse, I was stuck, the river had no banks, just a vertical corrogated metal wall (it was a marina) and both the sidewalk and docks were too high to reach and there were no ladders. To make it even worse the water was only 39 degrees. Long story short I had to get fished out of the water by the fire department, by that I mean they had to lower a ladder into the water so I could climb out. In other news, hypothermia sucks, a lot.
Fast forward a month, my drone is still on the bottom of the river but I was able to get a SCUBA diver to retrieve it for me, here is the damage:
One propeller completely destroyed, tip broken off another, covered in heavy silt, water logged, covered in mussels, battery bulged and corroded.
The diver found the battery separate from the drone and the inside of the battery bay was filled with silt (see picture) so it appears the battery must have ejected on impact, hopefully that means it was powered off when it hit the water. All motors turn freely by hand with no apparent resistance or grit, the gimbal likewise seems to move completely freely.
The irony is that in about a week (from the time of the crash), after I used it for a college presentation I had to make, I was going to send it back to DJI under warranty as the gimbal was bad (I posted a thread on that as I recall), I was also experiencing some compass problems, which I assume are the cause of its odd behavior prior to the crash. This was also my first and only crash.
It had things that needed to be fixed/it needed to be replaced under the warranty, and I had DJI care, is there anything DJI will do to help?
Also, do you think this can be fixed? And how do I go about cleaning it? My plan is to rinse it off with distilled water and maybe take it apart to rinse the insides then put the whole thing in a tub of dry rice for about a week to dry it off, is that a good plan? Also will doing any of that void whatever help DJI might be willing to give me (I have done nothing so far)? My other problem is that I had only the one battery (which appears to be trashed now) is there anyway to test it without it? Or do I need to get ahold of another battery somehow?
I had my Phantom 4 fly away in Dec of last year and I couldn't recover it. After some effort along with my fight logs, they did replace it. And now two weeks ago I had the new drone just fall out of the sky right in front of me into the river. I'm fighting them now for another replacement. They are claiming my fight log just stops and they cant help me. Well, no **** it isn't a black box and when it hit the water I'm thinking that's all she wrote. Anyway fast forward ten days after they said they would give me 30% off if I bought a new one. I went swimming and actually recovered The Phantom 4 pro. I have DJI care but I think this should be under warranty. So I wouldn't open yours up they should cover you.OK, so about a month ago I was flying my Phantom 4 near a local bridge trying to get a shot of it passing through an empty pedestrian tunnel that ran underneath (In ATTI mode do to the narrow tunnel interfering with the collision avoidance) (my plan was to edit that footage togethor with a shot of it swooping in to make it appear as one dramatic seamless shot) when I started to experience an odd problem with the drone drifting sideways into a wall, rubbing against it (but not crashing, just scraping), it was not responding to commands to move away from it (I was standing directly behind it not 5 feet away to monitor it and ensure no one inadvertently entered the tunnel), the shot was ruined so I decided to try again so I landed, picked it up and exited the tunnel. I placed the drone on the ground and ordered it to take off and it immediately slid sideways like it was on ice, it then collided with a dock pole before I could react, flipped sideways and spun into the river.
In my panicked attempt to retrieve it before it sank to the bottom I also ended up in the water. My attempt to retrieve it was entirely unsuccessful and even worse, I was stuck, the river had no banks, just a vertical corrogated metal wall (it was a marina) and both the sidewalk and docks were too high to reach and there were no ladders. To make it even worse the water was only 39 degrees. Long story short I had to get fished out of the water by the fire department, by that I mean they had to lower a ladder into the water so I could climb out. In other news, hypothermia sucks, a lot.
Fast forward a month, my drone is still on the bottom of the river but I was able to get a SCUBA diver to retrieve it for me, here is the damage:
One propeller completely destroyed, tip broken off another, covered in heavy silt, water logged, covered in mussels, battery bulged and corroded.
The diver found the battery separate from the drone and the inside of the battery bay was filled with silt (see picture) so it appears the battery must have ejected on impact, hopefully that means it was powered off when it hit the water. All motors turn freely by hand with no apparent resistance or grit, the gimbal likewise seems to move completely freely.
The irony is that in about a week (from the time of the crash), after I used it for a college presentation I had to make, I was going to send it back to DJI under warranty as the gimbal was bad (I posted a thread on that as I recall), I was also experiencing some compass problems, which I assume are the cause of its odd behavior prior to the crash. This was also my first and only crash.
It had things that needed to be fixed/it needed to be replaced under the warranty, and I had DJI care, is there anything DJI will do to help?
Also, do you think this can be fixed? And how do I go about cleaning it? My plan is to rinse it off with distilled water and maybe take it apart to rinse the insides then put the whole thing in a tub of dry rice for about a week to dry it off, is that a good plan? Also will doing any of that void whatever help DJI might be willing to give me (I have done nothing so far)? My other problem is that I had only the one battery (which appears to be trashed now) is there any way to test it without it? Or do I need to get ahold of another battery somehow?
