P3S finally arrived - getting started...

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Hi all,

Finally received my P3S today - pretty excited to get it just before the weekend!

Love this forum - while I have been waiting, I have researched the hell out of it but still have a couple of newbie questions so any help appreciated.

  1. I read about the stress crack issue and have some Plast-aid on the way to reinforce the shell around the motors. Should I do this before a first flight?
  2. I only just realised that the standard doesn't come with any cable to connect the iPhone/iPad. Is stock wifi generally good enough for the video feed? Is it possible to physically hook up my iPad mini? Stock clamp is only good for an iPhone size.
  3. Before looking at getting a DBS mod, is there anything I can do out of the box to get max range? Based on what I've read looks like use firmware V1.5.7 and tx-power mod with djiupdater.exe? I'm in Oz so I'm guessing I got CE out of the box.
If anyone has any other first timer pointers that would be much appreciated as well.

Thanks!
 
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Take it slow, learn the controls via the dji go simulator. Don't bother with any mods until you have had a few flights, preferably out in the open away from lots of houses and trees. If things start to go a bit wrong or you're worried while flying, just let go of the sticks, she should just stop and hover while you get over the adrenaline rush.
There are clamps for the ipad mini but i think you have to take apart the tx to fit them. Happy to be corrected about that if I'm wrong.
The video feed is usually great, the exception being if there a lot of wifi signals around..hence avoid built up areas at first. The main issue there is that iphones keep trying to log onto other wifi networks. I believe android phones can be locked into a network to prevent them searching around.
 
Take it slow, learn the controls via the dji go simulator. Don't bother with any mods until you have had a few flights, preferably out in the open away from lots of houses and trees. If things start to go a bit wrong or you're worried while flying, just let go of the sticks, she should just stop and hover while you get over the adrenaline rush.
There are clamps for the ipad mini but i think you have to take apart the tx to fit them. Happy to be corrected about that if I'm wrong.
The video feed is usually great, the exception being if there a lot of wifi signals around..hence avoid built up areas at first. The main issue there is that iphones keep trying to log onto other wifi networks. I believe android phones can be locked into a network to prevent them searching around.
I would agree with this, especially the part about the mods. I've only been flying for 2 months, and my advice would be to get used to flying it without seeing/hearing it before even thinking about a signal booster. Out of the box the drone will go further than you can see it or fly it with any visual judgment, so getting familiar with using the DJI app for orientation is key. I would also get familiar with the behavior and what it's like to lose your signal. When you're first starting out, losing your signal on a $500 piece of equipment that you can't see is a bit intense at first. But if your RTH height is set properly, you should find the experience of your drone coming back to you without any input pretty comforting, and then after a few times you start to trust it.

You will be tempted to focus on the camera and flying at the same time, however my suggestion would be to nail the flying and navigation before you start getting into the cinematography. It's really hard to do both at the same time (and that's why Litchi exists), so learn how to move around well before you take that amazing flyby shot of the building downtown.

Finally, if you've never flown one before, I would also suggest flying very short distance to practice turning, yaw, and especially orientation. In my experience, losing your orientation is what gets you into trouble (e.g., flying backwards into a tree when you meant to bring it out of harm's way). I would follow the same rules for learning how to dock a boat: practice a lot to get familiar with the controls/feel, and do it with as few people around as possible!
 
I really wouldn't recommend you make any modifications in the way of reinforcement unless you have the money to order new parts, should something go wrong. If you open up the shell, your warranty is immediately gone.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Adding
RTH, is great, but mistakes still happen.
Lesson learned from crash by RTH because flying with a low battery
Best Method to RTH?

Oh, don't panic and as soon as you think you got it, you make a mistake, and if you panic, then the mistake goes bad.

Don't Panic. :eek:

Rod :)


Been there, done that...While i was going like WTF??? it flew into a tree and came down hard!
Tried to repair it but wasn't successfull, so going to get me a new P3S or maybe a P3A.


About mods, got as far as a bit over 2km with just a Windsurfer Antenna(Also from China) but mounted a Argtek Range Extender. Did not go any further than 1,7km until now.
And because of the crash... No more flying for me now.
 
All the above advice is great but my advice is to familiarise yourself with the CASA regulations for flying drones in Aus. If you fly within the regulations you won't need to modify anything.
As for the stress cracks i wouldn't put any glue in and around the motor mounts as it may void warranty. Buy yourself a set of quick release prop guards. The mounts give added support to the motor mounts and you have the choice of using or not using the guards.
 
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Thanks guys - some great advice here in responses.

Haven't been able to fly due to the crappy weather on the west coast where I'm at, so in the meantime have just been ploughing through everything getting prepared for the maiden flight!

Have gone ahead and upgraded to 1.6.8 as I had only 1.2.4 out of the box - so wanted to do it properly first. Then I downgraded the drone to 1.5.7 - so hopefully I've addressed any range/connectivity issues before I even start flying. Got the quick release prop guards and fitted them, so as Aussie Pilot above mentions hopefully that adds some re-enforcement to the motor mounts.

I'm not going to be doing any warranty voiding mod's until I have flown this unit for a while to get a feel for it. You guys are right - get settled first, figure out to fly then decide what's best. My plan is to check out the max range and maybe do some soft mod's like the Papatitas mod and/or windsurfer antenna.

**** shame my unit will be stuck indoors all this weekend, but I have my trusty little Syma X5C to play with so I'll brush up a bit more on my flying skills :)
 
with regards to how you upgraded FW and then downgraded you should have waited untill after your first flight. but its done now so it is what it is. i was worse on 1.5.7 than 1.6.8 so i updated again.
anyways...
as said, take it easy. you need to learn what happens during a flight with regards to information on your screen so you dont get freaked and panic. meaning that you will get notifications of weak signal,no signal,strong interference,no video transmission and disconnected and for you to understand what actually happens when these do pop up.
for the most part,their nothing to worry about,just make sure your RTH is set high enough for where you are flying. testing RTH i would recommend so as to gain confidence in it.
learning how to use the onscreen telemetry data and how to fly using just that will help enormously if you loose video signal and from flying your X5C,flying in atti shouldnt be a problem if you loose GPS

as a last resort if you think you cant get your bird home and RTH doesnt seem to activate,turn off the RC to activate failsafe RTH*,but make sure you have failsafe set to RTH in the go app rather than hover or land.and dont forget to turn RC back on after 10/15seconds to see if it reconnects, and if you wish,cancell RTH and regain controll. im not sure though but you might have to manually search and connect to the phantoms wifi again?
* flyaways can and do happen though.

main thing,read the manuall a few times and dont panic if something seems to go wrong.let go of the sticks and see what pops up onscreen and take it from there,the phantom is a fairly capable piece of hardware.

last but not least,dont forget to press record and have fun flying. hopefully ive helped a bit..
 
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As @shanek posted, Yes
"with regards to how you upgraded FW and then downgraded you should have waited untill after your first flight"
The problems with firmware updates P3S are small compared to the volume that work fine, so I don;t send that message to new members.

Problems I have had with my P3S

Rodhttp://www.phantompilots.com/members/shanek.64641/
 
One thing I would add in reference to the RTH feature is that if you are not more than 60 meters away from the home point, the aircraft will not return to the Takeoff point but will simply land where it is. Please verify the distance in the manual. I have heard of people hitting RTH and the aircraft crashing into something because it either hit something directly below it, or the pilot panicked when it started landing and accidentally flew it into something.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
One thing I would add in reference to the RTH feature is that if you are not more than 60 meters away from the home point, the aircraft will not return to the Takeoff point but will simply land where it is.
It's 20 meters.
 
So just took it out for the maiden flight - wow! I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this over the next few weeks. I'm surprised how well it handles!

Anyway so I ended up just re-upgrading again back to 1.6.8 before the first flight. Took it down to one of the big parks locally, got the warning there was strong interference but I live in the city so I can't do much about this. Couldn't really get much past 200m without losing video and transmission signal. I guess it's still better than the 30m some users are reporting!

Next steps I'll try the downgrade back to 1.5.7 again and see how it goes.

Stoked with the purchase so far though!
 
So just took it out for the maiden flight - wow! I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this over the next few weeks. I'm surprised how well it handles!

Anyway so I ended up just re-upgrading again back to 1.6.8 before the first flight. Took it down to one of the big parks locally, got the warning there was strong interference but I live in the city so I can't do much about this. Couldn't really get much past 200m without losing video and transmission signal. I guess it's still better than the 30m some users are reporting!

Next steps I'll try the downgrade back to 1.5.7 again and see how it goes.

Stoked with the purchase so far though!
Did you notice powerlines nearby? That's typically the culprit.
 

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