If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 READ!

[MacCool]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

If this OP is to be believed, please post the images of the burned wires between the ESCs and motors.

From the DJI Forums...a guy with 2312s and new ESCs that lost a motor and did a back flip to the ground:

 

[flyNfrank]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

I'm liking more my old Motors ESC combo with its thick as a brick cables.

You gotta know I and so many others are wishing we still had them old motors and ESC's installed. I do top speed flying with mine, and I'll be damned if we didn't have 30mph wind gust yesterday. I told my wife how it was eating me up not being able to go out and get the adrenalin pumping. I then said I guess I could always go out and hold the controller then pretend the quad is out in front of a huge wind gust. lol!

 

[flyNfrank]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

If you have a Phantom 2 V3 you better consider doing this before flying at all !!
Another DJI's design flaw when they decided to put much thinner motor wire on.
Have those wires swapped because THEY WILL burn out your ESC and your new bird will fall out of the sky like a rock.
Burlbark and I are doing the swaps on a daily base. better check yours.

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=view ... D1&lang=en

I do not agree at all. From what I can see, the wires simply are an extension of the motor windings. It seems they just extended the winding wires out and covered them with color-coded plastic tubing. This is a good thing, because it eliminates another connection and possible failure point. If the windings will take the current, the leads, being just an extension of those windings, will as well. If you compare the new motors with the old, the windings are actually a thicker gauge wire. I am leaning towards the wire covering itself. Perhaps heat-shrink tubing over the leads as secondary protection against high current heating failure of the insulating tubing?

There ya go... I said I wouldn't say or get into the subject, and now Bob has pointed part of it out.

 

[MacCool]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

An observation: Virtually all of these v2.0 Phantom 2's and v3.0 Vision+'s fall under the 12 month warranty on the ESC's. Upgrading these motors by soldering new wires on will void that warranty. I would counsel caution. I have confidence in Hani and Burlbark's work and Hani is only about 1.5 hours from me here in Minnesota. If DJI doesn't step up, he's my guy. But as it is, if I crash my v3.0 tomorrow, DJI (through B&H) is on the hook for a replacement. Theoretically. We're just on the front edge of this motor wire "crisis". I'm going to keep flying my Phantom until it crashes, or until a peek inside after a few more flights shows heat-stressed insulation. Then I'm going to submit a warranty claim.

DJI's customer service track record is indeed a source of concern. I do have confidence in B&H Photo, however, and theoretically they are my go-to warranty executor. And, I paid for the thing with AMEX. My concern is that I'd hate to have the thing crash tomorrow, send it back for warranty replacement and get the same model with the same problem in return. My other source of concern, and not to discredit Burlbark's or Hani's expertise, is that this wire upgrade is an untested fix. I agree it sounds logical, but I kind of hate to pitch my warranty at this stage while we're not TOTALLY sure what the problem is, nor are we TOTALLY sure what the best fix is. I could envision a wire upgrade now, only later to find out that the problem is actually some kind of issue with the motor or the ESC, for example. By upgrading the wires at this stage in the warranty period, I've given up my warranty rights to a replacement for something that may not be the entire problem.

 

[cougar]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

First of all I think that making blanket statement regarding the V3 like the OP is doing is fundamentally wrong. Only making new people nervous about their models. Might there be an alternative motive?

In all fairness there is many people with great knowledge on the board and the first thing that needs to be done is separate these incidents in two different categories, one for OEM V3 delivered models and another for people that has done upgrades themselves.

Not to be critical but I have seen many photos of bad soldering. Not saying that all are, but there is reason to belief this might be the cause of some. Also the wage information in regards to what ESC fit the new motors and what version is currently installed plays a big role. Soldering is an art, not only heat some wires together (even if you can pull on the wires and they hold). Someone that is not proficient in the art, should simply not do this upgrade until they are.
My 2cents.

 

[slothead]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

If this OP is to be believed, please post the images of the burned wires between the ESCs and motors.

Tom,
i will post some as soon as i get a chance but let me tell you a little fact about the new wires on the V3 Phantoms.
new wire is 22AWG which is rated for 1A (0.92 to be exact) currents.
the old wires on V2 Phantoms were 18AWG.
do you know what the new motors can pull in peak time? close to 20Amps.
so obviously you are creating a huge bottleneck with thinner wire which in result creates heat on the wire but not only that. it pulls higher amps from the ESCs
which are not rated for such high currents.
i know not everybody will agree with what Jeremy and myself are saying but all we are doing here is discovering the flaws of the phantom and trying to fix the flaw.

hani

Hani,
Where did you get your current rating info? It's way off. I am a NASA/GSFC and DARPA consultant and granted, DJI is probably not using wire that either NASA or DARPA would approve, the NASA EEE-INST-002, Rev B (Instructions for EEE Parts Selection, Screening, Qualification, and Derating) shows the derating for 22 awg wire as 4.5 amps for a single wire and 2.5 for the same wire used in bundles (e.g., 1/2 bundle), and that is in a hard vacuum (no convection cooling). If DJI is using wire that is so flimsy as only being rated 1A, then that would explain its failure.

Take care,

 

[slothead]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

If this OP is to be believed, please post the images of the burned wires between the ESCs and motors.

From the DJI Forums...a guy with 2312s and new ESCs that lost a motor and did a back flip to the ground:

Great images! Unfortunately I can't discern whether that is wires overheating or the ICs under them overheating. Do we have other info regading any post anomaly testing for these photos?

 

[burlbark]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

I pulled this picture off another website and I am using it as a instructional aid under fair use. Thank you to the original poster.

This is one of many and most people dont take pics they just post a comment and send them back to DJI.

This is not a ridiculous cold solder joint..... Its a hard wire mounted in a flexible chassis that can only marginally handle the current. If everyone could see that as a fundamental problem we could tackle the issue uniformly.

 

[robinb]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

First of all I think that making blanket statement regarding the V3 like the OP is doing is fundamentally wrong. Only making new people nervous about their models. Might there be an alternative motive?

In all fairness there is many people with great knowledge on the board and the first thing that needs to be done is separate these incidents in two different categories, one for OEM V3 delivered models and another for people that has done upgrades themselves.

Not to be critical but I have seen many photos of bad soldering. Not saying that all are, but there is reason to belief this might be the cause of some. Also the wage information in regards to what ESC fit the new motors and what version is currently installed plays a big role. Soldering is an art, not only heat some wires together (even if you can pull on the wires and they hold). Someone that is not proficient in the art, should simply not do this upgrade until they are.
My 2cents.

Could not agree more.

Too much hysteria going on.

 

[slothead]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Yep, We need a lot more information to render any accurate assessment here.

 

[CarlJ]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Hey guys, got a buddy here in Indiana that just purchased a P2 from DJI. The bird has not arrived yet, but wondering how we identify which models have the upgraded ESC's and motors.

And no I didn't know he was ordering or I'd have advised him not to buy from DJI.

 

[cougar]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

I pulled this picture off another website and I am using it as a instructional aid under fair use. Thank you to the original poster.

This is one of many and most people dont take pics they just post a comment and send them back to DJI.

This is not a ridiculous cold solder joint..... Its a hard wire mounted in a flexible chassis that can only marginally handle the current. If everyone could see that as a fundamental problem we could tackle the issue uniformly.

If you look closely at the point where the red wire is soldered to the board you can see a problem with soldering (burnt) that might be the reason for the blistering of the wire. Typically the actual contact time for melting/joining should be very quick. Holding the iron/tip to long induces heat damage.

 

[robinb]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

I pulled this picture off another website and I am using it as a instructional aid under fair use. Thank you to the original poster.

This is one of many and most people dont take pics they just post a comment and send them back to DJI.

This is not a ridiculous cold solder joint..... Its a hard wire mounted in a flexible chassis that can only marginally handle the current. If everyone could see that as a fundamental problem we could tackle the issue uniformly.

If you look closely at the point where the red wire is soldered to the board you can see a problem with soldering (burnt) that might be the reason for the blistering of the wire. Typically the actual contact time for melting/joining should be very quick. Holding the iron/tip to long induces heat damage.

The red wire does have some blistering on but if you look where the red and black cross the black appears to have a burn mark on.

I am not sure why they take the wires over the ESC's rather than away from and route the cable down the side of arm.

 

[JJDu4]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Carl,

I thought it was V3.0 P2's. Usually they have a V3.0 sticker on the box.

 

[burlbark]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

I never realized we had so many repair personal on this forum.... When you see 12-24 phantoms across your work bench a week and all sort of UAV's from various makers you get a very firm grasp on what works and what doesnt. Hard wire does not work here. Some guys will get away with for along time, some not so lucky.

Flyem tell they fail is my motto also, just make sure your not over water or out of sight. The repair can be more difficult after the crash though. Its not a big deal to me whether or not people change out the wire I just wanted the information disseminated.

 

[CarlJ]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Carl,

I thought it was V3.0 P2's. Usually they have a V3.0 sticker on the box.

Good to know, thanks for the reply.

 

[sbarton]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Not sure how you guy can say that the smaller wires are fine and not over heating after viewing that thread. please read both pages of that thread.

 

[ELHEAPO]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

I never realized we had so many repair personal on this forum.... When you see 12-24 phantoms across your work bench a week and all sort of UAV's from various makers you get a very firm grasp on what works and what doesnt. Hard wire does not work here. Some guys will get away with for along time, some not so lucky.

Flyem tell they fail is my motto also, just make sure your not over water or out of sight. The repair can be more difficult after the crash though. Its not a big deal to me whether or not people change out the wire I just wanted the information disseminated.

What your saying makes sense to me I'm not an electrician or have much knowledge in the field but suerly dji would have many experts working for them and do many hours of test flights wouldn't they have known this as a possible flaw it's not like this is a new company making an inexperienced oversight. Or am I just naive but I appreciate what it trying to do in giving us some advice that could save us all alot of money and heartache I've already had a fc40 fly away and certainly don't want another incident!!

 

[mlars]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

Well, i am officially freaked out. I just got a v3 for Christmas. I have never had a copter of any type, HELP. I have been reading, watching videos, studying ever since then. I assume you are talking about the smaller wires they changed from the thicker ones that lead to the motor. Is there a video on making the repair. I am new here and look forward to everyone's advice, thanks.

 

[hunch]

Re: If you just purchased a brand new Phantom 2 Vision+ V3 R

mlars,
we are not trying to freak anyone out. what burlbark (Jeremy) and I are doing is identifying the flaws of the phantoms and pointing them out
so that future disaster can be avoided that's all.
i can totally understand your concern, specially if you never owned any quads in the past.
i am submitting this particular issue to DJI's service support to see what they have to say about it. i will update this post when i hear from them,
but dealing with them in the past it could be a week before i even get anything back from them.