Drone spins and crashes help

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I have a DJI phantom FC40 I bought second-hand, it flew great at first. Bought a new gimbal for it, had a few more flights. Now it doesn't fly for long before spinning clockwise and crashing. I replaced a suspect motor, recalibrated. Still doesn't help, even when it is unladen it still crashes. Seems to wander a lot now too in GPS. I attach snap of the compass readings because that is the usual suggestion for wandering.

I want to fly it more but its making me lose all confidence in flying drones in general as its unsafe, I'm ready to give it all away. Is there any suggestion of tests I can do to diagnose the problem or a fix? if I fly in ATTI and it still crashes will it show its not the compass?

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Attached Files:

calibdji.JPGFile size:Views:

#1Wednesday at 8:57 PM

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ianzone

dozadog said: ↑

I have a DJI phantom FC40 I bought second-hand, it flew great at first. Bought a new gimbal for it, had a few more flights. Now it doesn't fly for long before spinning clockwise and crashing. I replaced a suspect motor, recalibrated. Still doesn't help, even when it is unladen it still crashes. Seems to wander a lot now too in GPS. I attach snap of the compass readings because that is the usual suggestion for wandering.

I want to fly it more but its making me lose all confidence in flying drones in general as its unsafe, I'm ready to give it all away. Is there any suggestion of tests I can do to diagnose the problem or a fix? if I fly in ATTI and it still crashes will it show its not the compass?

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Click to expand...

Wow that suc,,,not own one but sounds like calibration all up the ,,,,,,,,,, what happens when you calibrate does it come normal or keep wanting to spin,,,props balanced even

#2Wednesday at 9:18 PM

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Yarome

Have you tried flying in different areas.. and if so.. does it exhibit the same behaviour? It almost sounds like it's getting hit with interference. Possibly a ham operator in the area? New tower? It very well could be a bad board, but I would try and rule out the obvious first before you get too discouraged.

#3Wednesday at 9:32 PM

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Duchunter

Dumb question but are the props in the right location? That will do it every time.

#4Wednesday at 10:30 PM

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Kagama

I had my old phantom 2 spiralled clockwise and crashed once when I accidentally intersected a directional antenna for wireless internet that was mounted on a house.

It sounds like you might be hitting interference like I did.

#5Wednesday at 10:30 PM

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Scott Davis

Yarome said: ↑

Have you tried flying in different areas.. and if so.. does it exhibit the same behaviour? It almost sounds like it's getting hit with interference. Possibly a ham operator in the area? New tower? It very well could be a bad board, but I would try and rule out the obvious first before you get too discouraged.

I don't believe it's likely a HAM operator. We don't operate in the same bands as Drones do. I tested my radios and flew my Phantom 4 close to my antennas while the wife keyed the radios. Nada. No interference.

It's not impossible, but I'd look elsewhere.
73's

Scott
N8JYF

#6Thursday at 4:29 AM

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Yarome

Scott Davis said: ↑

We don't operate in the same bands as Drones do.

I wasn't thinking so much about the frequencies.. more just about the EMF that "might" affect the compass. That's not really in my wheelhouse... just spitballing. If it's happening only in that particular area then there might be some outside influence/distruption at play.

#7Thursday at 4:48 AM

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Kagama

N8JYF[/QUOTE]

Scott Davis said: ↑

I don't believe it's likely a HAM operator. We don't operate in the same bands as Drones do. I tested my radios and flew my Phantom 4 close to my antennas while the wife keyed the radios. Nada. No interference.

It's not impossible, but I'd look elsewhere.
73's

Scott
N8JYF

Click to expand...

That might have something to do with the signal being AM and having a quiet information wave on the carrier and a low power transmitter.

When I worked on jets I knew that the HF system could blow out truckers CB radios if we tuned to their channels and spoke into the microphone. These were powerful radios and I regularly did Operation checks in which I called a base in Alaska from Washington State.

#8Thursday at 1:41 PM

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Kagama

Yarome said: ↑

I wasn't thinking so much about the frequencies.. more just about the EMF that "might" affect the compass. That's not really in my wheelhouse... just spitballing. If it's happening only in that particular area then there might be some outside influence/distruption at play.

I'm pretty sure that a strong radio signal can throw off the compass and cause a crash since there is no real shielding inside the Phantoms and the compasses are pretty sensitive.

I'm really sure that they intersected a wireless antenna WiFi stream since they can operate on frequencies that the Phantoms work on and could easily overpower the commands from the remote.

I worked COMM/NAV in the Air Force so I have a decent grasp on things that can transmit.

#9Thursday at 2:03 PM

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Fester

Have you looked at the data for stick inputs? Be kind of curious there.

#10Thursday at 8:37 PM

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dozadog

Thanks for all suggests. I'm ready to bin it It does the same spin and crash wherever i am at any location.I thought it might be the 9450 props so im gona try the shallower angled ones. I'll try and post a video of it doing the spin crash. I'll check the stick inputs. Does anyone know, if I fly it in ATTI, will this remove the compass input so i can see if its that?

It happens at various different locations.

Any help is appreciated.
 
First off, don't bin it! Connect to flight assistant and check that settings are correct for a quad and that your stick inputs all register and move correctly. It might be worth doing an IMU reset too. Then make sure your battery is good and fully charged before switching on. Then leave it on the ground until you get all green LED's. Calibrate your compass and then give it a hover close to you and observe what happens. Do all motors spin-up together? Check these basics and let us know how it behaves cos there's usually a solution. Good luck
 
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First off, don't bin it! Connect to flight assistant and check that settings are correct for a quad and that your stick inputs all register and move correctly. It might be worth doing an IMU reset too. Then make sure your battery is good and fully charged before switching on. Then leave it on the ground until you get all green LED's. Calibrate your compass and then give it a hover close to you and observe what happens. Do all motors spin-up together? Check these basics and let us know how it behaves cos there's usually a solution. Good luck
Hi. You may be onto something it may be that simple. I left it on the ground till green lights flashed before launching and it hasn't crashed yet even on a windy day like today. Previously I would launch it then hope it connected to GPS in the air. Does anyone know why this might cause it to spin and crash though, does it get confused with home point? I hope its solved and thanks for the advice.
 
Thanks for the advice. The settings all seem ok. I'm thinking it may be a faulty ESC. I attach video. For some reason a green ESC will flash before it wobbles then ditches to the ground.

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did you find what was wrong with your fc 40. I watched your video my does the same thing. if you find out what it is please let me know.
bobby
 

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