Dad's Phantom Needs Help!

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Hey everyone,

I purchased my phantom back in early July. The moment my father saw me fly it, he ordered one. However, since his first flight, it has not flown well. It always seems to drift backwards anytime you let go of the sticks. And when it's not doing that, it does this increasing toilet bowl effect that is anything but "position hold." This is while flying in GPS mode. Attitude mode is better but still not that good.

I realize position hold and the accuracy of it can vary slightly but his is unacceptable. His even yaws 45 to 180 degrees randomly when not touching the sticks.

We compare the way his flies to mine. My phantom has none of these characteristics and fly's outstanding with very strong position hold.

We have tried everything we can think of. We've done countless advanced calibrations through the assistant, countless compass calibrations, transmitter calibrations and have flown at many different places. All with the same results. He has good satellite connections. Usually more than 6 or at least 6 (one red flash). It is always on level ground while plugging in the battery.

I kind of remember in the beginning when I first got mine, it flew quite as good as it does now. I fly mine more than my dad, and usually a bit rougher with sudden full starts and stops. I guess you can say I fly aggressively sometimes and am a bit harder on mine then he is.

My dad flies very calmly and never pushes it. I've read somewhere that these phantoms can develop better flight performance the more you fly. Is this correct? Thinking this might be the case, I flew my dads aggressively through two battery packs. It has not fixed anything.

Something to point out. My fathers phantom has always seemed to have a very very fast IMU warm up. Even when his phantom is completely cold. He plugs in his battery and it's ready to go after the final 4 green flashes. Usually less than 5 seconds. Mine on the other hand always takes around 60 seconds before it's ready to fly, sometimes more. Occasionally, I will find myself standing there with the transmitter in my hand, looking at the phantom and waiting....and waiting for it finish. I was always envious of my fathers quick IMU warm-up but could this be the actual cause of his problem? Is something wrong with his IMU?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We are at a loss of what to do. Summer is short up here in Seattle and it's quickly coming to an end. Rain is in the forecast :cry:

It would be nice to allow my dad to get at least a couple good flights in, flying the way it should be.

Thanks everyone!

Jeff
 
I'm wondering if he may have a bad NAZA controller. Is the thing still under warranty? You might want to contact DJI about the problem.
 
Claust said:
Are you on the same firmware ?

Yes, currently we both have the same firmware. 3.16

Although my dads had the same issue when he first got it and it had the 2.14 installed.

I don't know. It's frustrating. Would be nice to get it to fly right.
 
The toilet bowl makes me think it's got a bad motor or esc but it could be the Naza I would contact your dealer.

Brian
 
UTR said:
The toilet bowl makes me think it's got a bad motor or esc but it could be the Naza I would contact your dealer.

Brian


We narrowed it down to a NAZA issue. We used an RPM gun and measured the motors individually. At 50% throttle, Motor #1 = 2,300rpm. Motor #2 = 7,000rpm. Motor #3 = 10,000rpm. Motor #4 = 10,000rpm

We measured my Phantom which is working perfectly. At 50% throttle, all my motors were at 10,000rpm.

We ended up sending his phantom back and are waiting on a replacement.

Thanks for your replies!

Jeff
 

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