New Owner of a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ v3.0 some questions please...

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Hello all and thank you for your time in looking/possibly replying!

My P2V+ V3 arrives tomorrow and I've been watching and reading everything I can about it for the last three days. I have R/C Planes (gas and electric) and Helo's, just one electric of outdoor size and multiple indoor craft. This is a gift to me from my brother in law for my birthday and for building his small business server with five terminal boxes. I spent a little over 20 years in the U.S. Army as a Blackhawk (UH-60) crew chief and mechanic and have always been fascinated with flying. It will be important for me to setup the TX to toggle return to home right off due to a TBI I sustained in Iraq. Sometimes, the sudden onset of stupid is strong in me and I need the versatility of hitting that switch and letting the drone take over while I sort myself out.

Quick down and dirty questions.

1. I'm possibly buying a Galaxy Note 8.0 today running Android JellyBean. Anyone else use one as their viewing device and if so, will the mount that comes with the TX hold it or will I need an aftermarket mount? Any recommendations? I also have a Samsung S4, with a cracked screen, as backup in case this Note doesn't work out.

2. Litchi is one of the first apps I'll buy and use on this drone. Has anyone used it on the above mentioned Note? Impressions?

3. What repair parts should I order to have on hand? Links?

4. Balancing blades. I know how critical this is to ensuring good, comprehensive maintenance. What product works well on the blades for this machine? Could you please link to it?

5. My brother in law wants me to do aerial videos of the houses he builds here in the Panhandle of Florida. As such, I'll be facing winds that are, typically, 10kts on an average day mostly coming in from the South. How have your experiences been with being able to remain steady while also facing various quartering winds as the drone moves around an object such as a two story house?

Again, thank you for any time you may expend on answering these questions! I'm sure there will be more questions as I go. I'm going to take my time and use the crawl, walk, run approach to flying this one!

-Tom
 
3. What repair parts should I order to have on hand?
Check out the "Must-Haves" here:
DJI Phantom Accessories & Tips - Phantom Help

4. Balancing blades. I know how critical this is to ensuring good, comprehensive maintenance. What product works well on the blades for this machine?
I use the SpeedyTM prop balancer to balance my props. There are other options here though:
DJI Phantom Accessories & Tips - Phantom Help

I'll be facing winds that are, typically, 10kts on an average
10 kts is not a problem as long as the Phantom is connected to 6+ satellites. It'll stabilize itself.

as the drone moves around an object such as a two story house
Keep in mind that there should never be any objects between you and your Phantom. If you fly your Phantom around a house, the remote controller signal will be lost and your Phantom will return home.
 
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Check out the "Must-Haves" here:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/#V+


I use the SpeedyTM prop balancer to balance my props:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...Code=as2&tag=ph079-20&linkId=OBLYMGAUFPK5WAEH

There are other options here though:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/#PropsV+


10 kts is not a problem as long as the Phantom is connected to 6+ satellties. It'll stabalize itself.


Keep in mind that there should never be any objects between you and your Phantom. If you fly your Phantom around a house, the remote controller signal will be lost and your Phantom will return home.

That's an awesome amount of information it would of taken me quite some time to find! Thank you so very much for posting!

Looks like I'll be putting off ordering some repair parts for one of my planes to get stuff for this P2V+! LOL!
 
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Here's an example of how steady it is in the wind. Keep in mind, battery drain will be greater the more it has to fight to hold GPS position.

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Here's an example of how steady it is in the wind. Keep in mind, battery drain will be greater the more it has to fight to hold GPS position.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

That is very impressive! I'm sitting here doing all the initial charging of the components and batteries. There are two batteries in this kit.

I'm going to leave the props off until I ensure the firmware is up to date on everything and then do the calibration tasks in the videos link robsquad posted.

Slow and steady wins the race.
 
I downloaded the related programs and drivers. Against my better judgement, when the driver install said to turn on the MC, I turned on the TX. I let the drivers finish installing and then installed Vision Assistant. Now, Vision Assistant doesn't detect the TX at all. The bird does, but not the software on my PC running Win7 Ultimate.

Is there something I should do at this point that's been pointed out already? I don't want to make this more complicated than it already is.
 
You could try to restart your computer after installing the driver & phantom assistant software. Open the software on your computer first, press skip button, then turn on Tx, then the phantom and connect usb to the slot on the phantom's shell. Notice that it is not the USB slot on the gimbal.
 
Make sure to install "DJI Win Driver Installer" and "Phantom 2 Assistant Software v3.8". Good luck! :)
 
Make sure to install "DJI Win Driver Installer" and "Phantom 2 Assistant Software v3.8". Good luck! :)

I installed everything correctly however, the instructions still left a few things out. I've got it all figured out now. Had to delete the USB ports and reinstall their basic drivers via Windows and a restart to get it to work properly. All seems fine now!

Thank you for your reply.
 
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First of all, thank you for your service Sir!!!

When I got started in this I found this guide to be very useful. Much easier to understand than the DJI manual. I'm not saying don't read the manual, because you should, but this will help clarify some of the chinglish. Enjoy!

http://www.phantompilots.com/thread...r-all-phantom-vision-and-vision-owners.23597/

As far as my service goes, thank you for saying as much. Our Korean war, Vietnam war and Gulf war vets saw so little thanks that I prefer to see them acknowledged in general. But since I'm a member of just about everything since 89, to include Just Cause, I'm thankful to see people just saying thanks in general! We didn't all start out with the intent to serve during times of conflict. I sure didn't want too when I joined in 89. But none of the men and women I knew bailed out when those shots were fired either and neither did I. Hell, I stayed on for a bit over 20 years and would of stayed in had my injuries not dictated otherwise. It is what it is and I'm just grateful to of served with so many awesome men and women during my time!

Thank you as well for your link! I had found that link in another persons post and I've downloaded the (newish Engrish) manual. I'm amazed that only one other person, before I did, clicked "like" on that post by the guy who wrote it. He deserves many more than what it has received.

Perhaps in 2014, that "Like" option wasn't incorporated into these forums yet.

I dunno. :)

Just very happy to see such an active and well informed community here. A couple of my fixed wing craft have listless participation in their respective forums. At best.
 
The forum was upgraded to new software a few months ago and that is when the like button appeared. His guide goes back way before that or it would have a bunch, I agree.
 
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My Buddy, you are going to like this addition to your hobby. I have had mine for about a year now, maybe 60 gigabytes of good quality video and stills. At the start, I found the P2V+ was so easy and stable that I started to let it rip around the sky. Stupid caught up to me in a hurry. Once I figured out that it is a flying stabilized video \ still camera, I have not had any problems.
 
My Buddy, you are going to like this addition to your hobby. I have had mine for about a year now, maybe 60 gigabytes of good quality video and stills. At the start, I found the P2V+ was so easy and stable that I started to let it rip around the sky. Stupid caught up to me in a hurry. Once I figured out that it is a flying stabilized video \ still camera, I have not had any problems.

I went out to do the first test flight just an hour or so ago. Even though I've read everything I can find and watched hours of videos, I found myself slightly fumbling through the checklist process. I know this thing will stabilize itself, but I was standing there trying to remember how to put it into RTH mode, wondering if I had setup my phone properly, so on and so forth. Just not worth the risk at this point. That told me I wasn't ready for the maiden flight! So I packed everything up and came back home.

I will be doing some "dry runs" in the backyard without the blades attached until I get this down better. Even with the instructions in front of me, I just didn't feel it was right.

I'm going to have to make myself a pre-flight and post-flight checklist on some cards and get them laminated. As well, I'll likely make an in-flight checklist. After 20+ years in Army Aviation, I've become quite dependent on checklists and I'm very methodical and deliberate even when I KNOW what I'm doing!
 
You mentioned being in the pan handle. There may be someone in the area who would be willing to coach you through the first flights but you'd have to be more specific. You sound like you're more prepared than most people.

I'm not familiar with the V+ or the apps but the quad is very easy to fly.
If you pop it up 10 - 15 feet and let go of the sticks in GPS mode, IT WILL just sit there.
 
You mentioned being in the pan handle. There may be someone in the area who would be willing to coach you through the first flights but you'd have to be more specific. You sound like you're more prepared than most people.

I'm not familiar with the V+ or the apps but the quad is very easy to fly.
If you pop it up 10 - 15 feet and let go of the sticks in GPS mode, IT WILL just sit there.

I'm in the Point Washington area which is between Destin and Panama City Beach.

A couple of the videos I've watched stated that advice as well. To pop it up to 10-15 feet and let it stabilize. That's sound advice too. The first time I tried to fly one of my electric Helicopters outside, I was too light on the throttle and hit a dynamic rollover condition very quickly. So now I also pop up to 10' before doing anything else!
 
Yep, the dratted Dynamic Rollover is always ready to bite. You only have to get distracted for a second when they are in ground effect. I have a couple of 3d capable esky 250s here, and haven't touched either since getting phantoms. Flying model helis was good prep for trying an R22 though. All that is really different are the reaction times to a control input. I learnt to fly without a gyro, so even peddling the tail wasn't too bad. It was fun, but I decided I couldn't afford it. Chickenhawk is still one of my favourite books!
 
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