Anyone having problems with their Phantom 4 drone flipping over on take-off? Mine did. I firstly have to say, in order to dispel the notion that the rotors were installed incorrectly, that minutes earlier, the drone flew flawlessly for 20+ minutes, on the first battery. It's not until I inserted the second battery that it flipped. Note: I did see an interference warning appear saying to fly with caution. Firmware/App software was up to date and had 9-11 satellites. Thank you
My Phantom 4 Flipped on Take-Off...
- Thread starter 04flyme2017
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Never happened to me but my wife did that ONCE! and that was because she pushed on the right stick instead of left. Also don't didle daddle close to the ground, you have to lift off not ease off. You can upload your data to "airdata" and check if you have any warnings. Check using your flight logs in GO, you can show stick movements as you fly and check that the right stick was at 0 at take off. You may also need to recalibrate your RC.
That happened to me once, I had accidentally bumped the right stick. Nearly gave me a heart attack, I'm extra careful now . . .
msinger
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Can you tell us exactly how you took off?
Your TXT flight log might reveal some more details about what happened. If you'd like to share it, please upload it here and post a link back here.
I landed it to replace the first battery... it was running perfectly. I only turned off the drone to replace it. Then, I restarted with the second battery and pushed auto take off. It got about 10 feet or so, in the air, and I realized that the camera couldn't record (it had a greyscale photo of the grass where it previously landed). I brought it back down and rebooted the Controller and the color video screen returned showing color and resumable, was able to record. So I recalculated the satellites, just to be sure, and proceed to push the auto take off. That's when it flipped. This is someone else's video but, it's exactly what happened to mine. NOTE: It flew a few minutes earlier, for 20+ minutes, on the first battery so, sure it's not the rotors.
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This looks like either a problem with the motor speed causing greater lift on side or the compass thinks the aircraft isn't level and trying to under or over compensate the lift. Maybe compass error or motor worn.
It's new... I had only flown it for about a month... maybe 10-15 times already. Each time was flawless. Perfect flights. Was lovin' it. I had a check list I followed each time I flew. I would always check off everything: right down to the rotors by the color dots so, not much else to say.
I have a P4 and it's done that to me once, and the only time it happened was when I used the auto takeoff feature. I was on flat ground and everything seemed to be calibrated and ready to go, so I'm not sure what the issue was. I've only taken off manually since then and I haven't had that problem again.
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I always take off and land manually... i had never trust the automatic take off.
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You could start the motors while holding the drone in the air. Hold it firmly and use CSC if needed.
You'll probably feel the differences in lift.
You'll probably feel the differences in lift.
As a follow-up to my DJI drone flipped on it's back, on take-off... for no reason. They told me it was software, then motherboard... then gimbel... then, told me that I may notice that the serial number was different... I asked why the serial number on my unit would be different at which point, the confused tech person, told me they were sending me a "NEW" unit... I asked: Define NEW... she said... well, IT'S USED but, it's GOOD AS NEW... you know, like the Signs you see on cars in Used car lots. My unit had 6 hours on it... they replaced it with a unit that had presumably months on it and possibly a history of damage.
Read the find print, folks.... if for any reason, your drone has to be returned, especially if it's new, you will receive a previously defective "replacement" unit that could be months old and they will not give you an ounce of info as to it's previous history. It's a decent produce BUT, pray to god you never have to return it. Support is a total nightmare, too. Nice to know that you spent thousands on a new drone and if it's replaced, you won't know a single thing about it. When they sent me my mystery "replacement" I through it right up on eBay... couldn't take the risk with a drone that had history I knew absolutely nothing about... of which they knew everything about.
Read the find print, folks.... if for any reason, your drone has to be returned, especially if it's new, you will receive a previously defective "replacement" unit that could be months old and they will not give you an ounce of info as to it's previous history. It's a decent produce BUT, pray to god you never have to return it. Support is a total nightmare, too. Nice to know that you spent thousands on a new drone and if it's replaced, you won't know a single thing about it. When they sent me my mystery "replacement" I through it right up on eBay... couldn't take the risk with a drone that had history I knew absolutely nothing about... of which they knew everything about.
Zero wind... as calm as it gets. DJI didn't care what was wrong with it. It was fixable BUT, it also was a nice, new clean unit with 6 hours flight on it. Perfect to tweak and populate it back into the inventory. So they could send me an older one that somebody had issues with... like crashing. To all our friends... here is the worst part that makes me refuse the return of the "Good As New" replacement drone: If you purchase a drone from DJI, it ONLY has a 6 month warranty.... on the most important parts, anyways. NOW.... when you get the "mystery replacement drone" that they have absolutely denied me any knowledge of: history, when built, issues... like crashing, etc, .... they pick up the original drone warranty... in other words, if you return your drone in 5 1/2 months, you only have 2 weeks warranty on the replacement. That's Scary. When companies like Apple give you a replacement computer... it a whole year warranty. DJI doesn't. I had a week left on my 6 month warranty. You think I want an mystery rebuilt replacement drone with a weeks warranty on it. No way.
Well with those wind conditions I would have to say with an auto take off the problem was somewhere in the gyro info translation back and fro between the motors, but hell what do I know. If it was gusty or strong winds that could do it, but calm Hmmm. All I can say is good luck and I hope you get it sorted without being shafted
One post asked why, regardless of condition of a returned repair drone, that DJI almost always sends back a ”Good As New", “Replacement” drone.
My drone was returned with 6 hours flight time on it. It flipped on take off because 2 motors were getting less power and it flipped the unit on its back. I read that it was fixable and it was mostly a software issue. Why did they keep it?
This makes me think of where exactly does your almost new, low flight hours, returned for service drone, like mine, go after they deem it “Unfixable”… They all cannot be Unfixable. Better yet, where exactly do they get their Refurbished, FULL warranty, drones that go on their eBay page. That’s where I believe repairable units end up, like my almost new, pristine unit. I can only speculate. One last thing: when I asked why our replacement drones have NO warranty and the eBay units do, support answered: “The ones on eBay are Professionally Refurbished” … that’s reassuring. No wonder they don’t warranty the replacement units they send back to us.
My drone was returned with 6 hours flight time on it. It flipped on take off because 2 motors were getting less power and it flipped the unit on its back. I read that it was fixable and it was mostly a software issue. Why did they keep it?
This makes me think of where exactly does your almost new, low flight hours, returned for service drone, like mine, go after they deem it “Unfixable”… They all cannot be Unfixable. Better yet, where exactly do they get their Refurbished, FULL warranty, drones that go on their eBay page. That’s where I believe repairable units end up, like my almost new, pristine unit. I can only speculate. One last thing: when I asked why our replacement drones have NO warranty and the eBay units do, support answered: “The ones on eBay are Professionally Refurbished” … that’s reassuring. No wonder they don’t warranty the replacement units they send back to us.
LOL on that one!
They got an eBay shop for the purdy and workin' ones that are "Professionally refurbished." So the "Amateur refurbished" ones are the repaired ones that come back to us. Sheesh! Sound like one is promoted from amateur fixer to pro fixer within DJI.
Bad part is the serial number, if one has the drone on a commercial insurance policy with damage and liability both, that the refurb's serial is not the same when it comes back unless you change it (i.e. No coverage!) nor is the FAA commercial license number as it too has vanished too. It's a total mess with DJI service, imho.
