Crash from 200 feet - solder joint failure

steveeds · May 6, 2014

Re: Crash from 200 feet

That's terrible, I built a 12 channel Digital Delay years ago and this all looks very dodgy to say the least. I don't know about these simple boards but I do know bad soldering can cause incorrect capacitance that leads to incorrect voltages flowing around the board.

A bad joint can also cause other issues. There doesn't look much flow from what you are showing, it's all very amateurish and hardly worthy.

Are these units home built perhaps ?

ronhiner · May 6, 2014

Re: Crash from 200 feet

So far no reply from DJI or B&H (my dealer). Ugh. Frustrating.

I'm hesitant to buy another if there is no post-sales service.

jimdenburg · May 7, 2014

Re: Crash from 200 feet

Sorry to read about your crash...I've been there and have the pic to prove it...

At the time of the crash I was flying above some trees (thought I was anyway), I had just snapped a still so lost video for a second and then then next thing I know the whole thing is crashing through the trees to the ground. Camera went one way, battery popped out as well and hit a stone which ruined the connection point on it. Had the same result when trying to power up later--no blinky, no spinny on one arm. Took some advice here and ordered a new esc/motor, but when I finally got around to taking the shell apart, the above is what I discovered. Got some real good soldering advice on this thread...

http://www.phantompilots.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12956

But in the end enlisted the help of a neighbor who was an RC guy and had the right equip. for the job. Within a few minutes, the job was done and I put everything back together and it has flown just fine for a couple of weeks now. I didn't really consider contacting DJI or B&H regarding this because I had crashed a few times before and figured it would be hard to rule whether it was cause by a bad solder or if the crash caused the solder connection to fail. After watching my neighbor do the fix though, I'm pretty confident that I could do the job myself in the future if need be. I will be following this thread to see where you end up with DJI/B&H. Best of luck and hope you get her in the air soon!

syotr · May 7, 2014

Re: Crash from 200 feet

jimdenburg said:
I didn't really consider contacting DJI or B&H regarding this because I had crashed a few times before and figured it would be hard to rule whether it was cause by a bad solder or if the crash caused the solder connection to fail.

Classic cold solder joint! If those joints were soldered correctly, they would have separated the foil from the circuit board before coming loose. There was obviously no adherence of the solder to the foil.

ronhiner · May 8, 2014

Re: Crash from 200 feet

So how do you non-destructively test the other joints?

I don't fly over people, but there are many that do. I question the airworthyness of these machines if they are so prone to this failure. Also, they don't fall straight down... so even if the machine was not over people when the failure occurred, it could wind up that way on the way down -- with three spinning props at full speed.

I wonder how many others have crashed for this very reason -- but never discovered the cause.

mikeboruta · May 9, 2014

This happened to me. It fell I from the sky. After the crash i opened it up and saw pretty much the same thing, a dry solder. I bought the p2V directly from DJI and I guess I got lucky because they (LA office) fixed the soldering and replaced the broken camera. This was a couple months ago and it sounds like they are too busy to keep up anymore.

RCRookie · May 9, 2014

Re: Crash from 200 feet

syotr said:
gfredrone said:

It would be nice if DJI used some sort of terminal in place of soldier on these mission critical connections. It would be easier for users to replace motors as well. Any ideas why they don't? Is it a cost thing or is soldier a better option?

Click to expand...

I would expect a solder joint to be more reliable if it was done correctly. Terminal connectors to conduct this amount of current might take up more space and weigh more.

I'm wondering if its vibration or heat...or a combination of both, that would cause the pad to pull away from the board. It seems to be a manufacturing issue with the pcb, poor soldering etc. The question is...what will DJI do about it....You know they wont recall the product, nor likely offer to fix it. Maybe have a thread of "soldering PCB Failures" to track this.

Nobody wants to fly this thing in constant fear that's its your turn to suffer a solder failure and resulting crash.

ronhiner · May 14, 2014

status update: I called B&H late last week and told the guy on the phone (Saul) my story. My P2v tumbled out of the sky, in my opinion (thanks to you guys) due to a failed solder joint. He said to send it in... and they would send it to DJI for repairs. I sent it in on Monday of this week. They emailed that they received it on Tuesday. And today (Wednesday) they sent an email telling me that they are sending me a new P2V.

I'm well past my 30 day warrantee. (I got my first one for christmas as a gift from my wife, then sent it back late January for camera defect, which was promptly replaced with a unit with a perfect camera.)

This feels too good to be true! Tomorrow, UPS will deliver a (presumably) brand new P2v. Kudos to B&H!

But the reality is... that this will be the 3rd P2v in my possession. I only paid for one -- well, my wife only paid for one. It my failure rate is anything close to typical, I don't know how DJI can stay in business.

Diner21959 · May 14, 2014

Cheers to you!

Happyflyer · May 14, 2014

ronhiner said:
status update: I called B&H late last week and told the guy on the phone (Saul) my story. My P2v tumbled out of the sky, in my opinion (thanks to you guys) due to a failed solder joint. He said to send it in... and they would send it to DJI for repairs. I sent it in on Monday of this week. They emailed that they received it on Tuesday. And today (Wednesday) they sent an email telling me that they are sending me a new P2V.

I'm well past my 30 day warrantee. (I got my first one for christmas as a gift from my wife, then sent it back late January for camera defect, which was promptly replaced with a unit with a perfect camera.)

This feels too good to be true! Tomorrow, UPS will deliver a (presumably) brand new P2v. Kudos to B&H!

But the reality is... that this will be the 3rd P2v in my possession. I only paid for one -- well, my wife only paid for one. It my failure rate is anything close to typical, I don't know how DJI can stay in business.

Dang! I wish I had purchased mine from B&H!

fear345 · May 15, 2014

Exactly the same thing happened to mine but with more damage.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=15368

ron1969 · May 16, 2014

Good afternoon. I am a new owner of a Phantom 2 Vision and I hate to say it but this thread scares the poop out of me!

I'd like everyone's thoughts on taking a more proactive stance. Should we vision 2 owners crack the case open and resolder the joins in question? Right now I am terrified of flying this thing over anything, houses, people, cars or trees! I own a Radioshack special solder gun and I'm not afraid to use it...

Like some thoughts and thanks this group has been very helpful.

ronhiner · May 16, 2014

ron1969 -- your right to not want to fly over water or people. You rock dude! Have fun and be safe!

update on my story: B&H replaced my P2V. Awesome! Sadly, the unit they sent me doesn't fly. DJI quality control is to blame -- not B&H. B&H has been awesome.

My story continues here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15539&p=141463

lignow · Jun 7, 2015

Wow" thanks for those Pix. When I get a 3, I will do a real close inspection. Those solder joints look like a beginner did them. DJI needs better quality control. Anybody got more pix of this kind of sloppy work. I am having second thoughts about spending 2000 dollars on the 3. When I fixed my PV2+ I saw and fixed a solder connection that was way to close for comfort. Someone had let the solder BLOB just about touch the on the ESC. power wire. The other 3 were good. Next time I have it apart I will take a picture.

peter west nz · Jun 13, 2015

ronhiner said:
My P2v tumbled from the sky on an otherwise uneventful flight -- except for a bit of a wind.

The camera is wrecked and one arm gets no power for lights or motor. The other three arms seem to work fine.

I think I know why it crashed.. the power lead came loose from the central board. See attached photo. It's possible that it broke free when the P2V hit the deck, but the case was undamaged, so I'm inclined to think that bad solder joint caused the crash.

The question is what to do about it?

1) I'm not so handy with a soldering iron. And I don't know what that translucent stuff is around the solder joint. I suppose its worth a try to get it flying again.

2) If I can get it flying again, I still don't have a camera. I can't find a US source for a new camera that had a decent return policy for protection from the many focus and dead pixel issues that this camera has.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

I work with pcbs all the time. IMHO, this isn't a faulty joint. I think the shock of the arrival has pulled the top pad layer off the pcb. Can you get a picy of the bottom of the square part? That would be a very good reason for no power on that arm!