How to trash a phantom in less than 2 weeks

Should have bought a Phantom 2 shell, then you can ram a bigger battery in it for longer flying times... just sayin'
 
Teach yourself to actually FLY before mounting a camera would be my first piece of advice. Then, go through the progression of practicing take-offs, spot landings, out and back, and coordinated turns both left and right. Make orientation of your quad WAY MORE OBVIOUS by placing a cheap headlight or LEDs on the nacelle to help with orientation and control. Fly in CLOSE to yourself in an open field on calm days at 6-10 feet of altitude doing figure of 8's and other planar maneuvers until stick input becomes reflexive and automatic instead of having to think about it. Then learn to fly in ATTI mode (not a big leap from that point) doing those same maneuvers, and follow THAT with flying in manual mode (big leap).

Invest the time and effort to do this, and there WON'T be a next crash...and you can truthfully call yourself an R/C quad pilot instead of merely being a human witness to a self-flying, self-leveling piece of techno-plastic. A spectator holding a transmitter is all you need to be if you fly a Phantom in GPS mode, which is why newbies to R/C quadcopters can fly Phantoms with ZERO piloting skills. :evil:

It really gets me quite upset when I see people advertise failures and crashes that any half-way decent PILOT could have easily avoided with even modest skills that come from practice - with the net result of destroying (or very nearly so) an expensive, practically impossible to crash craft. Folks with no prior R/C experience should learn on cheap (but extremely worthy) toy quads like the Syma X-1 or self-built quads...not Phantoms - a device that just "cheats" you into the air and gives the appearance of skills the owner really does not possess.

See ex: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2011196

PF
 
Good advice.
I did in fact last year start playing with those cheap copters indoors and out which led me to the phantom.

I flew about a week without a camera attached, but as you suggested I did not get to the point where flight was instinctive with the controls. Orientation of flight is still a thought process at times. I have and do fly ATTI mode but I really need more time for it to be instinctive.

I have no illusions, these crashes were my fault and error. I think I am done flying my wallet and will learn to pilot.

DJI really does make it to easy to scratch the itch !! ;)
 
LOL @ flying your wallet! Yeah, it can get expensive making mistakes with a Phantom.

Here's a quad I scratch built out of PVC tubing from Ace Hardware whose frame cost <$5.00. (No joke). The whole thing all up cost ~$130.00 and only because I put some motors on that would provide some serious "up" and because I also opted for ECS's with SimonK firmware. This quad could easily have been built for <$100. As constructed, here are the components:

3/4" PVC frame
KK2.1 flight computer, firmware updated to v.1.11.
ECS's are 20A AFRO w/ SimonK firmware
Sunny Skies 2212-13 980kv motors swinging 1045 props.
2200 mAh batteries (gives 7 - 7 1/2 minutes flight time if flown gently)
"Landing gear" are three cut-off sharpie markers with the guts removed and tips cut off. I painted the rear one red for orientation purposes. The "roll cage" that protects the electronics I scavenged from my wife's liquid soap/skin cream organizer.

The board that supports the electronics and the "battery tray" I made from the pine sides of a box of Clementines my wife bought at Stop and Shop. I doubled the thickness, wood glued them together, cut to size/shape, then painted.



I still haven't dialed in the gains and stick scaling, which is done right in the field on the KK2 board which has an actual screen and menus to make alterations in flight characteristics and transmitter response for all axis on the fly - no pun intended. No computer hook-up required. Here it is yesterday, flown gently around the yard while I assessed the then current settings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ioar0iypg0

Although I do not intend to crash or bash it while learning to fly acrobatics, if it happens, no problem. Everything important is protected, and everything not protected is cheap and replaceable or repairable. Personally, I think everyone should fly a "basher" before doing serious money damage to their wallet by crashing a Phantom, but that's my $.02. YMMV.

Be well, and Happy New Year.

PF
 

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PhantomFan said:
LOL @ flying your wallet! Yeah, it can get expensive making mistakes with a Phantom.

Here's a quad I scratch built out of PVC tubing from Ace Hardware whose frame cost <$5.00. (No joke). The whole thing all up cost ~$130.00 and only because I put some motors on that would provide some serious "up" and because I also opted for ECS's with SimonK firmware. This quad could easily have been built for <$100. As constructed, here are the components:

3/4" PVC frame
KK2.1 flight computer, firmware updated to v.1.11.
ECS's are 20A AFRO w/ SimonK firmware
Sunny Skies 2212-13 980kv motors swinging 1045 props.
2200 mAh batteries (gives 7 - 7 1/2 minutes flight time if flown gently)
"Landing gear" are three cut-off sharpie markers with the guts removed and tips cut off. I painted the rear one red for orientation purposes. The "roll cage" that protects the electronics I scavenged from my wife's liquid soap/skin cream organizer.

The board that supports the electronics and the "battery tray" I made from the pine sides of a box of Clementines my wife bought at Stop and Shop. I doubled the thickness, wood glued them together, cut to size/shape, then painted.



I still haven't dialed in the gains and stick scaling, which is done right in the field on the KK2 board which has an actual screen and menus to make alterations in flight characteristics and transmitter response for all axis on the fly - no pun intended. No computer hook-up required. Here it is yesterday, flown gently around the yard while I assessed the then current settings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ioar0iypg0

Although I do not intend to crash or bash it while learning to fly acrobatics, if it happens, no problem. Everything important is protected, and everything not protected is cheap and replaceable or repairable. Personally, I think everyone should fly a "basher" before doing serious money damage to their wallet by crashing a Phantom, but that's my $.02. YMMV.

Be well, and Happy New Year.

PF

Ok i have been seeing many cheap kits that could yield something fun to fly and practice with. I want something that can possibly get some good footage but i can crash it and repair it cheaply over and over and what you show here seems like what i have been looking for.

PF You have inspired me to build one better and cheaper lol than what you have. Keep you posted

Happy New Year.
 
eckoner said:
PF You have inspired me to build one better and cheaper lol than what you have. Keep you posted

Happy New Year.

I should also point out that there is yet another option. If your geographic area is prone to a lot of high winds, frequent rain, deep snow or just bitchin' cold >>OR<< you work long daytime hours and it is dark when you get home, you could also consider, in the alternative, purchasing Realflight 7, a flight simulator for both planes and helicopters.

I bought the version in which you use your own transmitter with the Realflight dongle. It cost $106.00. Not sure that was the right decision. They have a version, slightly more expensive, which has it's own Realflight "transmitter" that you use with the dongle. That way, you don't have wear & tear on your tx, and you don't eat up your own tx battery power. I thought maybe the USB port on the computer provided all the power to the tx, but no, it doesn't work that way. If I'd have known, I would have chosen differently.

In any event, Realflight DOES have a few quads to fly, but they are (IMHO) poorly modeled and nearly impossible to fly. The heli's (and there are MANY) are well modeled, and if you can hover/fly THEM, you can fly a quad...the stick movements are the same.

So...you have options - just so you know.

PF
 

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