Barry, I bet the replacement drone you received was stress fractured. Probably in crash from the original owner. They never seem to just repair the drone you send in. It's always a replacement. I've gone through it twice with a P4 and a Mavic. Never got the original back. I think that's just the way it is. They probably get a huge shipment of drones for repair and send then back to China for repair. Cheaper labor.
How long is it going to last?
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Be careful with those hand catches. Since I back up into trees all the time, I went and obtained the carbon fiber blades and guards. Then when the thing went wild and flew directly at me on launch, I grabbed it with my hand and shredded my thumb. If that ever happens again, I will just hit the deck. Took a month for my thumb to heal.
Call Robb at Alltronics they will fix it quick and have them put blade protectors on it the plates that foe on the bottom if the arms will stop the cracks
The quick release blade protectors have a plate that mounts to the bottom of the motors and it helps
I've seen several of these threads and have to ask if you balance your props or not. Its suspected that these cracks develop due to excessive vibration.
I've been balancing my props for my Pro 4 and found everyone of them off at the hub.
I've been balancing my props for my Pro 4 and found everyone of them off at the hub.
For what it's worth, I would pursue warranty if no fault of your own; (I have similar cracks due to an early experiment with flight control through a laptop, and a tree being in my way), but there are downtime issues with warranty. In my case I now keep a bottle of Locktite super glue in my case as it effected a quick and lasting repair to the same type of cracks. Have you had any battery charging issues? I don't fly as much as you, but find that i can't charge my batteries until the cool down to ~80F.
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Obviously started under the motors, think I've ran the soda to its limits, lets get her a new set of knickers haha
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The manual and battery leaflet that comes with the drone/batteries actually states not to recharge the batteries until cooled down. I have a friend who puts them in the fridge but I wouldn't recommend that for these sort of electronic items because of likely condensation which could cause damage and possibly a fire.
Always good to have spare batteries to help with longer flying times and allowing to cool in between.
I've been dealing with this a bunch. In my experience it starts very small on the piece between the vents, then quickly spreads throughout the entire shell bottom.
Phantom 4 Pro stress/fatigue cracking...I'm on #5
Phantom 4 Pro stress/fatigue cracking...I'm on #5
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I bought my Phantom 4 Pro on June 20th. 2016 (14 months now), and I fly it at least three times a week, about five hours each time. Other than wiping off a few tiny bugs with my home made eye glass solution when I get home, it's as pristine as the day it arrived.
I really don't know why some people end up with stress cracks on theirs but I think it may be from flying it fast and then stopping it abruptly. I have always slowed down as slowly as I possibly could and perhaps that's the reason I have no stress cracks on my Phantom 4. I can't say for sure because I really don't know but I have an idea that stopping very fast has something to do with the stress cracks on the air frame of the Phantoms.
I hope that's of some use to some of you.
Bud
I really don't know why some people end up with stress cracks on theirs but I think it may be from flying it fast and then stopping it abruptly. I have always slowed down as slowly as I possibly could and perhaps that's the reason I have no stress cracks on my Phantom 4. I can't say for sure because I really don't know but I have an idea that stopping very fast has something to do with the stress cracks on the air frame of the Phantoms.
I hope that's of some use to some of you.
Bud
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One way to stop those stress cracks in their tracks is to heat up a regular sewing needle, (red hot) and stick it in the very ends of each of those cracks. Stick the needle in deep but don't go all the way through and that will stop the cracks in their tracks. They will not go past the hole you put in the ends of the cracks.
When you're done putting the holes in, take some 30 minute epoxy and mix it up for 30 to 40 seconds, put on a surgical rubber glove and carefully rub the epoxy into the cracks. Fill the crack right up and after 24 hours, carefully sand it down with 600 (green) emery cloth. After that, rub it over with some 4 ought (0000) steel wool and you'll barely be able to see where the cracks were.
I've done this for three friends who had stress cracks on their Phantoms and they never cracked any further.
I hope that helps you.
Bud
When you're done putting the holes in, take some 30 minute epoxy and mix it up for 30 to 40 seconds, put on a surgical rubber glove and carefully rub the epoxy into the cracks. Fill the crack right up and after 24 hours, carefully sand it down with 600 (green) emery cloth. After that, rub it over with some 4 ought (0000) steel wool and you'll barely be able to see where the cracks were.
I've done this for three friends who had stress cracks on their Phantoms and they never cracked any further.
I hope that helps you.
Bud
Once you get everything worked out you'll get many MANY hours of enjoyment out of your aircraft even if logging 10+ hours a month. During the summer we log 12 - 20 hours a weekend and fly sometimes 7 days a week.
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Well my P4 is with the dealers and they have replaced the shell under warranty. But now after they upgraded firmware they tell me it has a gimbel error of some kind even though everything is working fine. They are trying to sort it out. My guess its the new firmware I didn't upgrade especially because of all the reported issues. I fly everyday approx 40 minutes total. I fly to check on cattle and also for added security as farming in South Africa is extremely dangerous with farm attacks and livestock theft.
Due to this i fly very smooth and hand catch.
I fly R/C fixed wing and helicopters these I fly for fun..the drone to me is a expensive tool so I treat it very gentle.
This is why I ask how long it will last if I fly this much.
Due to this i fly very smooth and hand catch.
I fly R/C fixed wing and helicopters these I fly for fun..the drone to me is a expensive tool so I treat it very gentle.
This is why I ask how long it will last if I fly this much.
Stress cracks are the result of design flaws with not enough material or strong enough material being used to resist the stresses of flight or most often the stress cracks are introduced during manufacture and grow to the point where they become visible. The DJI Care program may be a response to manufacturing induced stress cracks in the AC fuselage. Lots of passenger failures from stress or metal fatigue as it is often called and not surprising that DJI's engineers failed in their calculations. A problem with materials is that the harder they are the more brittle they are as well and more subject to fatigue.
The hole at the end of the crack is a brilliant idea. Often where a thin slot is purposely put into a piece of material the ends will have an enlarged circular are as this greatly reduces the stress on the end of the slot (or crack when it develops later as with the Phantom).
I can see that as battery weight increases to provide longer flight times for these little aircraft there are going to be more fatigue related failures. An option for a half size battery for those not needing as much time per flight would probably reduce stress cracks in the fuselage. But the primary fix would be for DJI to review how the AC shell is molded and released from the mold and handled during assembly.
The hole at the end of the crack is a brilliant idea. Often where a thin slot is purposely put into a piece of material the ends will have an enlarged circular are as this greatly reduces the stress on the end of the slot (or crack when it develops later as with the Phantom).
I can see that as battery weight increases to provide longer flight times for these little aircraft there are going to be more fatigue related failures. An option for a half size battery for those not needing as much time per flight would probably reduce stress cracks in the fuselage. But the primary fix would be for DJI to review how the AC shell is molded and released from the mold and handled during assembly.
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