dji Phanton calibration/and add ons

[vietvet66110cav]

Hi everyone,have been flying the Phantom for 3 months with dozens of tests on props,gimbals,lighting add ons ect,First Carbon Props are better with cams on board but descent is much faster,the stock props are more flexable and act like a parachute if you have to get down real quick,also the carbon props are twice the grams.2nd gimbals,so far everything out there on the market is heavy even if the vender claims its for the dji Phantom,please keep that in mind since any extra weight cuts your flight time,also the servos work of your main battery.FPV and OSD,get the smallest setup you can find,25 to 100MW is a good choice since the phantom is ony good for 300meters(985Feet)at 5.8mhz,anything else or high power requires a ham license and is heavy because of external batteries,this quad is really not set up for a lot of weight.3rd lighting,if you like to fly at night Leds are great,they have super bright LEDS made for the configuration for the Phantom in all colors and multi colored with strobe,they also put out a super bright LED for night photography and is 5/8 of inch in circumference works right off your flight battery with little drain,small switches can be installed in line for daytime flying.These add on lights really get response at night,also help in navigation,the stock leds work fine if your quad is close to you and above your position, but 200ft up and away from you is a different story,its easy to lose reference at night,thats when HOME LOCK comes into play.4th battery upgrade,stock is 2200mah 20c,okay for an unloaded Phantom,i use 2200mah 30c,big difference in flight time and it fits into the compartment,from ROC 66amps cont:to the end,the other is a 2700mah 25c but a little tight.Last the Most Important to everybody that owns one of these great toys.Recalibrate after each flight in your assistant software.I found out after each flight this quad needed calibration,whether it flew on a calm day or a windy situation,and all were smooth landings since I have round foam on the landing skids.I hope this helps out a lot of us,as I`ll do more testing I will post more infne more comment,after you have acquired the GPS and have flown your phantom ,I would recommend doing this over everytime you fly by repeating the 360 degree processs.even more so if you have recalibrated your unit.

 

[Sac D]

I used to do an advanced calibration between EVERY flying session, and a compass calibration (360) prior to flying, even if at the same place I last flew. That was when I had a crappy, defective Phantom - which i eventually returned for a refund.
The one I have now has been solid all along, and always shows all parameters within normal limits when I connect it. As a result, I've finally begun to overcome my addiction to calibration, but I am still checking it constantly. And I still have kept the 360 in my preflight routine - it gives a little extra assurance that the next flight hopefully won't be the last one.
Better safe than sorry, and these steps don't take a real long time. It's also good to do a quick HL test as soon as you get airborne, in the event you might need it during that flight. My favorite feature of the new firmware is getting to see those 20 or so so quick flashes of green that indicate the home point is established!

 

[Roadkilt]

Where did you get the superbright LEDs? Can a non-tecky hook them up?

 

[vietvet66110cav]

Where did you get the superbright LEDs? Can a non-tecky hook them up?

yes anybody can wire these in,if you choose you can put a small toggle switch from radio shack,allso they make a (Y)harness so you can hookup the super bright white LED or extra LED`s,there are a number of ways to do this,The hard way is taking the quad apart and soldering the two wires insde to make a connection,grey-red is 11-.1v direct,the easy way is to hook it up to your charge connector on the battery when you are ready to fly,in any case you can solder in a switch on the outside of the craft to shut it off in day time,both leds are configured for the phantom and I must say they did a good job as far as the length for the quad,the small LED fits onto the front of the battery compartment,if you do purches the two make shure you get the (Y) harness,leds have plenty of lead wire on them.Go to ebay and type in dji phantom or dji phantom parts.

 

[vietvet66110cav]

I used to do an advanced calibration between EVERY flying session, and a compass calibration (360) prior to flying, even if at the same place I last flew. That was when I had a crappy, defective Phantom - which i eventually returned for a refund.
The one I have now has been solid all along, and always shows all parameters within normal limits when I connect it. As a result, I've finally begun to overcome my addiction to calibration, but I am still checking it constantly. And I still have kept the 360 in my preflight routine - it gives a little extra assurance that the next flight hopefully won't be the last one.
Better safe than sorry, and these steps don't take a real long time. It's also good to do a quick HL test as soon as you get airborne, in the event you might need it during that flight. My favorite feature of the new firmware is getting to see those 20 or so so quick flashes of green that indicate the home point is established!

One thing I found out is Wi-Fi signals in the house,when I calibrate I shut down 12 security cameras that operate on 2.4 gig,The quad I have is rock solid with no know issues since I had it,have put in over a 100 flights,wireless Wi-Fi routers do send out a strong signal,its best to calibrate away from these units,since the dji phantom transmitter is of low power

 

[k8xd]

FPV and OSD,get the smallest setup you can find,25 to 100MW is a good choice since the phantom is ony good for 300meters(985Feet)at 5.8mhz,anything else or high power requires a ham license and is heavy because of external batteries,this quad is really not set up for a lot of weight.

vietvet66110cav:
The 5.8mhz segment of the band is outside any of the amateur radio band plan for the Amateur radio ITU Regions. While there is a 60 metre segment near, 5.8 mhz is outside. I suspect you mistakenly wrote mhz for 5.8 gig, and devices in that portion of the spectrum are shared part 15 devices under Title 47CFR (in US and some other countries) and are not regulated by the FCC. Devices of these types are cordless phones, garage door openers, routers, and a multitude of low power consumer devices. These devices operating in the ISM bands and are unlicensed and limited in power to a maximum transmitted power of 1 watts (30dbm). None of which fall within the Amateur band. Any and all equipment of this kind are not type accepted, not reviewed, monitored, or enforced by the FCC unless they are interfering with a licensed station. Therefore any of these devices must accept any and all interference it encounters as any frequencies used are not exclusive and must be shared. Let me share a quick link for your edification. Hope this helps and clarifies.

http://www.afar.net/tutorials/fcc-rules

 

[vietvet66110cav]

FPV and OSD,get the smallest setup you can find,25 to 100MW is a good choice since the phantom is ony good for 300meters(985Feet)at 5.8mhz,anything else or high power requires a ham license and is heavy because of external batteries,this quad is really not set up for a lot of weight.

vietvet66110cav:
The 5.8mhz segment of the band is outside any of the amateur radio band plan for the Amateur radio ITU Regions. While there is a 60 metre segment near, 5.8 mhz is outside. I suspect you mistakenly wrote mhz for 5.8 gig, and devices in that portion of the spectrum are shared part 15 devices under Title 47CFR (in US and some other countries) and are not regulated by the FCC. Devices of these types are cordless phones, garage door openers, routers, and a multitude of low power consumer devices. These devices operating in the ISM bands and are unlicensed and limited in power to a maximum transmitted power of 1 watts (30dbm). None of which fall within the Amateur band. Any and all equipment of this kind are not type accepted, not reviewed, monitored, or enforced by the FCC unless they are interfering with a licensed station. Therefore any of these devices must accept any and all interference it encounters as any frequencies used are not exclusive and must be shared. Let me share a quick link for your edification. Hope this helps and clarifies.

http://www.afar.net/tutorials/fcc-rules

yes gig thanks,old age is catching up to me,used to fly on HU-1 hueys in Vietnam as a door gunner,all those rockets and mini guns rocked the old brain,have a friend that is a ham operator told me 1.2 gig 800mw tx-rx needs ham license,also told me the units coming out of china ,Taiwan area are 1.1gig which is the same freq.small aircraft use,these units are not calibrated properly and are cheap electronics,thats why you can by them on line for under a $100.00 bucks,the unit I have is calibrated for 1.2gig and was told by the Ham club to have license so I did that last year,the unit is good for 4 to 7 kilometers and uses dipole antennas,which I don't need because I fly close for sport and not to photograph the north pole.On the same note:there was a Canadian on line hobby shop that was cited by the FCC for selling these units,dont want to mention the site but if you look around you`ll find it,also the FCC paperwork posted on the web against this hobby shop.Thanks again