Phantom 4 Upgrades/Overhauls

[Sychius]

Good day all!

I recently passed my A2 CofC and GVC qualifications through my workplace, and decided to purchase myself a drone so I can keep my skills up and potentially do a few of the typical drone tasks like gutter inspections etc.

EDIT: Forgot to clarify on this - I want to be able to do stuff considerably more demanding than your typical drone tasks, e.g testing atmospheric rocketry/aircraft guidance/sensor packages, and other tasks as they come up. The general requirements will be that it needs to operate at the max legal altitude and potentially beyond (only with approval of course), while also carrying a payload of a non-trivial mass, e.g up to maybe 2kg (or more if possible), taking into account the weather effects of being that high up (winds primarily, I wouldn't operate in rain most likely), and with an operation time that isn't so short as to be irritating.

While I was learning with a DJI Mini 3 and a DJI Matrice 210, my budget unfortunately isn’t infinite especially for a hobby, so I’ve purchased myself a DJI Phantom 4 second-hand (a V1, not a V2). I’ll be doing a thorough set of inspections and checks to make sure it’s all operating correctly before I fly it anywhere near people or buildings.

My question is - is it possible to upgrade components of the Phantom 4 to make it more capable/legally & safely allowed to fly farther away? I’m a Design Engineer and have a 3d printer for producing adapters/brackets/replacement chassis components, and am a capable of (if not exceptional at) your typical electrical/soldering work.

I’m well aware of the 400ft altitude restriction and 500m lateral restriction, I don’t intend to surpass those (without getting CAA approval), but what upgrades can I make to make getting to those restrictions more reasonable?

E.g
An easy upgrade would be having something like carbon fibre rods with sufficiently bright LEDs for the purposes of improving VLOS orientation acquisition.

A more hardcore version of that would be completely replacing the chassis to have a wider span, which should theoretically improve stability (greater turning moment of the motor/props) and allow for better long-range orientation acquisition. Would the Phantom 4’s firmware/software tolerate that?

Is it possible to modify the system so two (or more) batteries can be fitted for extended flight time, can the motors/props/ESCs be upgraded so the MTOM can be higher, etc etc?

I’ve got no warranty to void and I have the qualifications to legally fly a drone up to 25kgs, so any ideas of overhaul upgrades are welcome!

 

[msinger]

Out of the box, the Phantom 4 is already able to well surpass the 500m lateral restriction. It seems your only limitation would be how far you're able to see with your eyes. And for that, the best you're likely going to be able to do is attach LEDs to for tracking the orientation and/or the location (which work best in low light conditions).

Attempting to make the Phantom 4 wider likely won't help improve the visibility or stability of the aircraft. It's already quite stable right out of the box.

It sounds like you might be attempting to fix problems that don't exist before you had a chance to learn about any potential problems first hand.

 

[Sychius]

Out of the box, the Phantom 4 is already able to well surpass the 500m lateral restriction. It seems your only limitation would be how far you're able to see with your eyes. And for that, the best you're likely going to be able to do is attach LEDs to for tracking the orientation and/or the location (which work best in low light conditions).

Attempting to make the Phantom 4 wider likely won't help improve the visibility or stability of the aircraft. It's already quite stable right out of the box.

It sounds like you might be attempting to fix problems that don't exist before you had a chance to learn about any potential problems first hand.

My hypothetical usecase which may require upgrades is testing atmospheric rocketry/aircraft guidance/sensor packages.

As far as I'm aware, the Phantom 4 isn't intented to carry any form of payload, so it's MTOM is likely either it's mass when fitted or slightly over, if I want to carry a payload that is x kgs it will need improving, both from a 'the motors/props/ESCs need to be more powerful' and a 'it needs to be more stable to tolerate greater wind forces' perspective, with the primary goal being height rather than distance.

There's also that if I'm testing a rocketry package, being able to ascend faster than your typical Phantom 4 (especially with a payload) would be beneficial.

Thanks for your advice, your website is a good resource too, I'll be using it to get myself some more information

 

[msinger]

My hypothetical usecase which may require upgrades is testing atmospheric rocketry/aircraft guidance/sensor packages

This escalated quickly. The typical drone tasks went from gutter inspections to testing of atmospheric rocketry/aircraft guidance/sensor packages. I'll sit on the sideline and wait for the rocket scientists to chime in

 

[Sychius]

This escalated quickly. The typical drone tasks went from gutter inspections to testing of atmospheric rocketry/aircraft guidance/sensor packages. I'll sit on the sideline and wait for the rocket scientists to chime in

Sorry, I suppose I wasn't very clear on that. I'm well aware your typical Phantom 4 is more than suited for doing basic stuff like that, the upgrades were for doing tasks beyond that.

 

[Rnc3.1]

Your P4P should be as solid as a rock. Mine does not move or sway. Lifting capability should surprise you as well. Google it.

 

[Sychius]

Your P4P should be as solid as a rock. Mine does not move or sway. Lifting capability should surprise you as well. Google it.

I have googled it, and have struggled to find any solid information on lifting capacity. In a thread about writing someone's OA they couldn't find the MTOM of the Phantom 4, and had to assume it was just the mass of the drone+battery.

Another search has showed some threads about the Phantom 3 saying they can lift ~440g but it significantly reduces the flight time, and makes the flight characteristics very unfavourable.

 

[MapMaker53]

The Phantom P4P is well designed to accomplish tasks that it was built for, and not well designed for the tasks that it was not. Instead of trying to modify the Phantom P4P to try to meet your requirements (which IMO will be futile), my advice would be to save up and spend the money on a larger drone that will meet your needs. Just my opinion. I think the problems you will run into when trying to modify a P4P are the motors and props. To install more powerful motors, you will need the new motors and boards to fit into a P4P shell. (Maybe a modified shell design using your 3D printer?) Regarding better props, there has been a lot of experimentation with different prop designs and I believe it was found that the DJI prop design was the most efficient for that model. I think you are facing quite a challenge. Good luck with your project.

 

[Sychius]

The Phantom P4P is well designed to accomplish tasks that it was built for, and not well designed for the tasks that it was not. Instead of trying to modify the Phantom P4P to try to meet your requirements (which IMO will be futile), my advice would be to save up and spend the money on a larger drone that will meet your needs. Just my opinion. Good luck with your project.

Thanks for the advice, but regardless of the amount of saving, I can't justify £X000 for a drone that is better , whereas I can justify £Y00 on upgraded components, and using my own labour and production facilities to make it better.

 

[GFields]

I’m well aware of the 400ft altitude restriction and 500m lateral restriction, I don’t intend to surpass those (without getting CAA approval), but what upgrades can I make to make getting to those restrictions more reasonable?

There are software hacks out there, but I don't endorse or recommend using them. As already stated, it a great drone as it is. You may look into adding a strobe to the P4 to help VLOS. I have leg mounts with two Arc5 strobes that work great.