Motor start

[jarrah]

I have finally unpacked and set up my Phantom (the original, not Phantom 2) bought before Xmas & followed PDF manual carefully and seem to have got where I should be according to my memory of the video 'how to' which frustratingly seems to have been taken offline by DJI. Anyway I have a basic problem that 2 days of effort has not resolved ... and that is ... I can't get the motors to start. The lights indicate remote unit & the Phantom are talking correctly, but no response from the levers. I am at a loss and DJI now seems only interested in supporting Phantom 2 despite my purchase being less than 2 months ago. I am in Melbourne, Australia, in case there is anyone local who can help. Is there something bleedingly obvious I haven't done?
Yours in anticipation.
Jarrah

 

[Quadude]

Jarrah after you turn the Phantom on with the battery did you push both of the control levers doen and towards the center at the same time? That is how you get the motors started.

 

[jarrah]

Many thanks for the reply. I have tried that as part of the sequence shown in the PDF manual, but not on its own. I'll try this in next few days.

 

[jarrah]

Further to above, have tried again. Everything normal; warm up, satellites; all set to go, but no motor start. And I am using the levers as the manual dictates. I have read also about using the Nazam software to test and calibrate, but I am on a Mac and the only software that I can find for Phantom 1 is for PC.

 

[AlaskaTom]

I have a phantom 2, not a phantom, and I dont know how different they are in this respect, but did you calibrate the RC using the DJI assistant software? Its possible that the calibration is off, and the phantom does not know the sticks are in the right position (down and tward the center), and thus won't start. Just a shot in the dark, but worth a try.

 

[tanasit]

You may have to calibrate the TX by itself without using the Assistant. See Advance Manual page 7 section A5 below:

1. Set the switch S2 at the OFF position, and the switch S1 at the GPS position

2. Push the Throttle stick to the top position, and push the Pitch stick to the top position. Keep the Pitch
stick at the top position manually since it can return to the central position when released.

3. Turn on the Power Switch of the transmitter, you should hear the indicator sound of “Di—Di Di” from
the transmitter repeatedly. Toggle the switch S2 to the CL position, you should hear an indicator
sound of “Di” from the transmitter, in this case, the transmitter has entered the calibration mode.
(During this period, the Throttle stick and the Pitch stick must be kept at the top position all the time.)

4. Release the Pitch stick and pull the Throttle stick to the central position. Toggle the switch S1 to the
ATTI position; you should hear an indicator sound of “Di” from the transmitter. Then move all of the
sticks throughout their complete range several times. After this, put the Throttle stick to the bottom
position, and toggle the switch S2 to the HL position, you should hear an indicator sound of “Di” from
the transmitter, in this case, the transmitter has been calibrated successfully.

 

[Big Ben]

On a standard Phantom 1 IOC will be off so the only check you have of the transmitter actually communicating with your bird without the motors starting is changing the right switch from GPS to ATTI and seeing the light change from blinking green to blinking yellow. If that doesn't happen you should really find a PC and run the Assistant software. It could be that someone (your supplier) gave your bird a firmware upgrade but didn't change the transmitter setting to D-Bus. You could also try to re-bind your transmitter to the Phantom.

 

[jarrah]

Thanks for these replies. I will try these suggestions. If I change from GPS to ATTI I do get the appropriate light response so there is some communication happening. One thing, however, is both sticks/levers on my controller return to the centre when released. This seems contrary to what most people describe.

 

[Big Ben]

The left self-centering stick is normal for the newer transmitters.

 

[jarrah]

The saga continues. I tried the manual calibration. That didn't work, though I did get all the appropriate beeps. I then dug out my laptop PC, installed and registered Nazam, hooked up the USB etc, and tried that. Nothing. Moving the levers elicited no response on Nazam. I kept getting a message saying 'connect to controller'. In other words neither Nazam nor the Phantom could 'see' the controller. So it is starting to appear that there is something seriously wrong with the controller, unless there are any other suggestions.
I have had little joy getting any meaningful response from DJI.

 

[Big Ben]

Does the Assistant show a fluctuating voltage value to signal a connection with the Phantom?
Does the Phantom show a constant green light to signal a connection with the PC?
Is there a red (blinking) light inside the battery compartment?

 

[jarrah]

Thanks big Ben

Once the USB is connected the light on the Phantom goes out (prior to that it goes through the normal yellow warm-up then green). The Assistant shows no sign at all that it is connected to either the Phantom, or through it, the control unit.
I have never looked inside the battery unit ... didn't know there was a light in there.

 

[Big Ben]

Did you (successfully) install the Phantom driver?

 

[jarrah]

Phantom driver. No. Another thing to track down. Frankly I'm ready to start pushing DJI for my money back. Customers shouldn't have to be spending weeks getting a purchase to work. If it wasn't for this forum I'd be really stuck, so many thanks. Anyway will go look for the driver.

 

[OI Photography]

Once you get the driver installed and successfully connect to the NAZA Assistant, double-check in there that the receiver type (on the RC tab) is set to D-bus and not PPM (assuming your Phantom is a 1.1.1 and not a 1.1 or 1.2).

 

[Big Ben]

You cannot really blame DJI for not following the instructions in the supplied manual.

Page 7 is pretty clear on the first step being installing the driver. Without it the Phantom cannot connect to the Assistant. There it might indeed be a simple switch to D-Bus mode which is a well known 'problem'. Once you get connected to the Assistant keep an eye out for any messages popping up in the bottom right corner.

 

[jarrah]

OK. With great surprise and gratitude for everyone's help ... I have motors! It's been a long haul because I had to dig out and restore to life an old XP Windows machine, get it to hook into my Mac wifi etc etc to download and install the latest Nazam driver. Anyway, little by little things started to come together and tonight I had lift-off. So once again, sincere thanks to everyone who has offered their support in this forum.Now to get the GoPro sorted ... .

 

[Big Ben]

Great. Another Phantom pilot got his wings.

Just out of curiosity... it would be nice to know what was preventing control of the Phantom. Was it indeed changing the Receiver Type setting from PPM to D-Bus?

 

[jarrah]

Hi. I don't really know what happened; but it seemed, watching the screen -- not as easy as it seems because the only Windows OS I have is a small XP notebook -- that the software certainly updated something in the Phantom. It made a pretty awful sound that would normally have had me unplugging everything, but I was beyond care by then. Anyway, after the message 'update competed' I turned everything off, uncoupled the USB, then started the normal process from scratch and to my surprise, I had beautifully whirring motors when the levers pushed into the start-up position. Had to resist actual take off because I was on the dining table.
So in summary:
* I had to get hold of a Windows OS
* Add it to my Mac wireless network
* Download and update the Assistant and its Driver
* Run the software ... and let it do it's job. First clue to something happening was in Nazam I was able to do the individual motor test, though that didn't immediately equal start-up motors. I had to allow an automated update action to happen. What was updated I don't know; possibly because of the small viewing screen I was having to use.
So I suspect I was more lucky than adept.

 

[stronzo]

Hello! i have the same problem. the motors wont start