Phantom Down!

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ToThePoint said:
However the condensation rings a alarm bell for me as that rise thing isn't sufficient enough to take out all moisture. If it would be my bird i toke apart everything that can be taken apart as far as possible. Pls double check as latent condensation will cause issue's in the future.

The bird itself I believe is fine. There were only a couple of drops of water inside the shell, there is nowhere for moisture to be trapped. What happened with the lens is somewhat unique to the optics. If you are already familiar with what I am about to say I apologize:

The lens is dual element design mounted within an aluminum tube. The tube is threaded at either end. The threads at the inner lens allow for adjusting focus. Once focused, DJI glues the barrel to the base to lock in the setting. My base was glued all the way around, so it is unlikely water was able to enter the lens assembly from that end. The camera itself was completely dry inside.

The forward lens is secured in place with a cap (or it is mounted to the cap). I assume the cap threads onto the lens barrel? There were four spots of glue at 90 degrees securing the cap in place. The forward end was only partially sealed, and I believe moisture seeped into the lens assembly through the small gaps where the forward lens retainer was left unglued. It would take only a minute bit of water to enter to cause condensation on the small forward lens, and it would be difficult for that moisture to escape from within the confines of the nearly-sealed lens barrel.

When I first applied heat, the condensation would vanish as soon as the lens became warm. Within moments of removing the heat, however, the condensation would reappear. Ultimately I let the dryer warm the lens for about 30 minutes on low heat, rotating the lens every few minutes. At the end, condensation no longer appeared and the moisture must have found its way out of the semi-sealed lens assembly.
 
Sounds like you'll be ready for another night flight real soon. A great ending to an otherwise doom and gloom story line.
Non the less glad you were able to track her down, and get her down from where she was resting.
In regards to your curiosity as it relates to the motors continuing to run on, well, maybe the bird simply felt she had not fully landed, what with being so high off the ground atop the tree, and simply kept the motors engaged till depletion of the battery power shut them down. Just a thought!
 
Just connected controller & bird to their respective Assistants. Everything looks fine...recalibrated the sticks & performed an Advanced IMU calibration just to be safe (first time I have ever calibrated the IMU). Disconnected from the network beforehand to avoid any forced software updates...still running 3.0 firmware. The suspect battery, SN# 20370 shows 28 cycles, cells are reading 4166, 4165, & 4173. I have not cycled the battery since the incident.

Looks like she is ready to return to the skies! :shock:
 
Flew four times yesterday. Bird is flying fine. I flew with Battery #1 again but kept it nearby to see what would happen. I ran it pretty hard though. The battery functioned perfectly...low battery alert kicked in at 30% like normal. Brought it next to me and let it hover about 10' off the ground. Ran it all the way down to 0% and landed. Interesting.... :?:
 
OK, here's a thought. When we go into the Assistant we can see the voltage of all 3 cells yet there is no direct connection from each individual cell to the Phantom, sooo I'm guessing those 2 small pads on the battery must send "data" which includes each cells voltage and the Phantom uses that data to compute the percentage of remaining battery. Now, assuming the 3 battery cells themselves are fine, if those 2 pads become intermittent over time, might this cause the Phantom to falsely or erratically indicate the percentage of remaining battery?
 
Skynet1 said:
Sounds like you'll be ready for another night flight real soon. A great ending to an otherwise doom and gloom story line.
Non the less glad you were able to track her down, and get her down from where she was resting.

People like you and DB are what's giving us Phantom owners a bad name! :evil:

It aint cool to be chopping down trees that arent on your property to retrieve a downed bird. In fact, it's considered illegal property damage and trespassing, no matter what kind of excuses you come up with. The only time it's acceptable is if you obtain prior permission from the property owner to chop down the tree.

It's also RECKLESS to be flying a Phantom at night where you can't see cell towers and buildings and therefore higher risk of crashes!

Some of you need to step outside of your own little world of Phantom flying and look at the big picture. The MAJORITY of the public don't like drones and it's the kind of irresponsible behavior for DirtyBird and those you support him that is making things worse for us. Try to start acting like responsible pilots and only fly birds in daylight over open public fields where you don't need to cut down trees and trespass to get a downed quad. I only fly my Vision+ in public parks and stay away from trees. Why am I the only one who can think straight about these things? :cry:
 
MadMitch88 said:
...only fly birds in daylight over open public fields...
Wow, how boring would that be!?

MadMitch88 said:
I only fly my Vision+ in public parks and stay away from trees.
What would be the purpose in doing that? You can just dial up Google Earth and see those public fields. What is your purpose in having a quad? And are you sure that flying in those public parks isn't illegal?

I don't entirely disagree with you madman. I sometimes get nervous flying above private property, but living on the east coast, it's virtually impossible to avoid. That being said it is the pilot and Phantom that is at risk, not the property below it.

A friend of mine flies out over the ocean on the west coast and videos/photographs some fantastic looking cliffs and landscapes, and also flies in Europe videoing/photographing quaint little towns in the Swiss Alps, et al.

I've said enough - I'm bored with this conversation.
 
I kind of liked your story and how nicely it was written, hoping for the happy ending... I did like a bit less the sawing moment as I wonder (I don't actually) if a plastic thing is worth the life of a tree that may have been there for a very very long time.
But I lost my P2 in a tree once, and went through the same story, looking for it for about 2 hours and finally finding it at 50ft height!, so I know very well the feeling believe me. I had it back too, not damaged as well.
Glad you could retrieve it.
 
MadMitch88 said:
Why am I the only one who can think straight about these things? :cry:

* There is absolutely no reason not to fly at night. It is no more risky than flying in daylight. Maintaining a visual on the quad is actually easier in the dark. Flying at night is why DJI put those bright LEDs on the quad, Mitch...you know the ones you can't see more than 30' away in daylight.

* Stinchcolm's Hollow is owned by a local developer. It is destined to be cleared in the next couple of years for a new subdivision. No one cares or will even notice the tree.

* There are no cell towers above 100' anywhere around here. There are no tall buildings for many, many miles.

* I'm glad you realize your limitations Mitch. Quads are dangerous, people don't like them, and I suggest you consider selling yours.

* Word up: It is illegal to fly your quad in most public parks. Its lawless folks like who are giving quad owners a bad name! :evil:

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Dirty Bird said:
* There is absolutely no reason not to fly at night. It is no more risky than flying in daylight. Maintaining a visual on the quad is actually easier in the dark. Flying at night is why DJI put those bright LEDs on the quad, Mitch...you know the ones you can't see more than 30' away in daylight.

OMG, you can't be this pea-brained, right? Yeah it's easier to see the LED's at night but what about all the obstacles like tall trees, cell towers, power lines, etc at night? Last time I checked, power lines dont glow in the dark, nimrod !! You are just begging for trouble flying a Phantom at night, and DJI even clearly instructs you not to fly at night. Stop being STUPID and ENDANGERING THE PUBLIC !! :twisted:

Stinchcolm's Hollow is owned by a local developer. It is destined to be cleared in the next couple of years for a new subdivision. No one cares or will even notice the tree.

I repeat yet again --- YOU DON'T OWN THAT PROPERTY. You can't just make up your own rules in a willy-nilly fashion about what trees are OK to cut down. Just because YOU think it's OK, doesnt mean it's legal to cut it down without permission. Your selfish, reckless decisions are what is pissing off so many people about our hobby. If you want to gain respect from the public and fellow Phantom flyers, you would've posted a written and signed letter from the property owner giving you permission to cut down that tree. Even though I own a Vision+, I still respect and value that majestic tree a lot more than your stupid toy !! :twisted:

I'm glad you realize your limitations Mitch. Quads are dangerous, people don't like them, and I suggest you consider selling yours.

Uhhhh, yeah. You're the one acting reckless and flying at night and cutting down trees illegally and I'm the one that needs to sell my beloved Phantom? Hmm, pot calling the kettle black if I ever saw it, broh. Maybe I need to contact Pasadena Police about your activities, eh? I've already downloaded your YouTube videos to my hard drive as evidence so don't think deleting them will get you off the hook.

Word up: It is illegal to fly your quad in most public parks. Its lawless folks like who are giving quad owners a bad name! :evil:

LOL, yeah sure it's illegal to fly a quad in public parks. Nice of you to make up fictitous laws, huh? Just like all those other delusions you got in that pea brain about "it's safer flying at night" and "it's totally cool to cut down trees on somebody else's property without permission", eh? :twisted:
 
MadMitch88 said:
Maybe I need to contact Pasadena Police about your activities, eh? I've already downloaded your YouTube videos to my hard drive as evidence so don't think deleting them will get you off the hook.

If that floats your boat, Tool, go for it! It might remind you what it was like when you used to be able to achieve an erection, eh?
 
DB I stand next to you against them who seek attention.
For one @ night the people are enjoying TV or what ever.
In the dark less people on the street so your argument doesn't hold. @ least children are in bed.
Second if he flies around his neighborhood he will know it with his eyes closed, not everyone is as brainless as some who judge for the sake of it.
Third if you feel the urge to make a call to feel happy then karma will be a *****.
" He who is without sin trows the first stone " someone ones said.
Anyway i uphold the following " If you don't understand my silence from now on then the universe can't help you to understand my worths "
 
I am amazed how much more light there is when you are up there looking down compared to down looking up. I night fly all the time and can see whats going on with bird much further.

So have to side with DB on this one.

The only problem is the camera low light video sucks. Almost seems the FPV is better than the outputted video. I know its not. Looking forward to the GP 4 over the winter I plan to buy. I will be doing much more night flying.
 
rrmccabe said:
I am amazed how much more light there is when you are up there looking down compared to down looking up. I night fly all the time and can see whats going on with bird much further.

So have to side with DB on this one.

ONLY when you are flying in a familiar area where you already know there arent cell towers and buildings to crash into! Why do some of you lack basic common sense? :shock:

Every time I go to a new park to fly my bird in the daytime, I do a 360 visual inspection of the landscape and carefully note all cell towers, water towers, power lines, and buildings that I could potentially fly into. That is what's called being a "situationally aware" Phantom pilot. I havent had any crashes yet. Now if I try to attempt that same process at night in a new area, I am FLYING BLIND. There is no night vision on a Phantom --- you will crash into power lines and cell towers because you're flying blind as a bat.

Why can't you nimrods see something simple like this? You are ruining the hobby by flying RECKLESS and IRRESPONSIBLY !! :evil:
 
Ok everybody... I'm no mod but may I remind you we are talking about flying a toy helicopter not a new settlement in the west banks...

Now go pour yourself a cold one and chill out a bit.

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Salute! :D
 
MadMitch DB was flying by his house pretty sure he would be situationally aware of his surroundings. Anybody that has a in flight problem is going to have a crash or bad circumstance.
 
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