Phantom fly away and crashes, but why? (video)

[Daladurango]

Yesterday I had a rather expensive experience. My Phantom crashed and the crash totally destroyed my new GoPro 3+ and Zenmuse gimbal.

Shortly after take off the Phantom performed rather wobbly and then suddenly I lost control and it crashed. It just went left on its side and hit the ground. The Phantom looked OK as apart from a broken prop guard.
Stupidly enough I thought this might have something to do with the environment, since the place had tv-cameras and wires and probably microphone radios around.
So I went to another place, this one free from interference and with plenty of wide open space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHGbFUub ... e=youtu.be

The same thing happened. It didn't seem to fly straight forward, it performed a bit spastic really. When I tried to bring it back home I lost control completely, the Phantom flew on its own, then tilted on its side and crashed.
This time my brand new Gopro 3+ black was totally bruised on the lens, and my Zenmuse gimbal was broken. (The gimbal is not very bruised and moves easy but then stops on its way up and goes shaking).

I am not sure what went wrong. I tried the Phantom with the gimbal on just a couple of days ago and everything was going great. But this time I had put a Fatshark transmitter on (5.8, 250mW) and attached a combined monitor receiver to my hand control.
The transmitter was attached as I have seen others do it. I did wrap the power wires a couple of times around the leg with one of the antennas in it. Could this be the reason?
I have tested the Phantoms compass in my Nazam software and it seems to be working well and calibrated as it should.

I am pretty sure I didn't have the WiFi switched on, on my Gopro, but if I had, could this have caused the crash?

My questions are these:
Is there any way to fix the Zenmuse gimbal and change the Gopro lens?
But most of all

Why did I lose control of the Phantom?

 

[New flyer]

Re: Phantom loses control and crashes, but why? (video)

Sorry to hear about your Phantom. Today I had my Phantom Vision 2 up to 400 feet took pictures and videos, no problem. Brought it down to 30 feet it started behaving erratically and fell from the sky. The batt was on 2 solid bars and one flashing. The batt icon on the phone was blue. It had been red a minute before, but was back to blue as I was coming down. I am not sure if I need the batt firmware up date or what the problem would be. I am done flying until a new prop comes in. I had prop guards on, only the tip of one wing broke. I will follow your post in hopes of getting an answer for myself.

 

[Ksc]

if wifi was on, that would explain it.

 

[Pull_Up]

Sorry about the crash. Power wires wrapped around receiver antenna could be an issue. I remember having interference on an old TV once I couldn't track down until someone suggested checking the power cable and aerial cable runs - they ran parallel for about a foot behind the TV. I used some high tech holding solutions (i.e. cable ties) and had them cross at 90 degrees only in one place and the interference went. I know the voltages and EM radiation involved in your setup are much lower, but it might have been contributory?

 

[isamiciu]

Wow reading this is EXACTLY what happened to me few days ago but without any antenta (just the Zenmuse installed on my phantom 1)....I lost the Zenmuse it doesn't look like having broken parts but once I plug it in nothing happens...(the gopro still OK)
now I try to fly the phantom and flies quite shaky but still have the control until it turn to red/yellow flashlight and suddenly runs out of control until it crashes again!
I also thought it could be some interference in town, but I tried it in few different locations a way out in the field and happens the same every time.
Now it shows like it's calibrated facing south but once I turn it to north looses the calibration and after a while, again out of control!

The wifi was NEVER on!!!!

I've lost any confidence in this thing now And living in Patagonia, it's impossible to me sending it back for the warranty....

Hope between all of us we can figure out what's wrong with this phantoms...
Cheers!
Isaias_.

 

[PTCX]

To Daladurango
Wrapping the power wires around the leg could create a magnetic field that could affect the signal enough to cause a loss of control.Re-rout the wires,preferably in strait lines away from the compass and antenna and try again.If you must coil wires up don't wrap them around any other wires.
The GoPro lens can be replaced if you can find another GoPro the same model that has been damaged in another way and the lens survived.Check on ebay for second hand or damaged GoPro's,they can be found fairly cheap sometimes.
You can buy new replacement lens' but the cost is often very high,almost as much as a new GoPro in some cases.
If you do replace it there are tutorials on youtube to show how to do it.
If the wi-fi on a GoPro is on during a flight it can interfere with the signal from the TX and cause a loss of control.

 

[happydogs]

my phantom 2 vision had done great before updates 1.05 and 1.08. Then, erratic behavior and it became a brick in the sky. it's on its way back to dji for resolution. There are SO MANY stories about this problem that one is left with the inescapable conclusion that there is something seriously amiss in at least some PV2s.

 

[PTCX]

now I try to fly the phantom and flies quite shaky but still have the control until it turn to red/yellow flashlight and suddenly runs out of control until it crashes again!
I also thought it could be some interference in town, but I tried it in few different locations a way out in the field and happens the same every time.
Now it shows like it's calibrated facing south but once I turn it to north looses the calibration and after a while, again out of control!

When the LED flashes red and yellow it means the compass error is too great and calibration is required.Re-calibrate the compass immediately.

In some locations environmental factors can have a big effect on the compass.If there is any iron deposits in the ground for instance the compass can be thrown out of whack and cause the Phantom to become uncontrolable.
I had this happen recently and when I moved 500 meters away and re-calibrated the compass all was well again.
The direction the phantom is facing should not affect the compass if it has been properly calibrated.Unless perhaps if there is something metallic nearby or under the ground.
When it happened to my Phantom there was a mixture of LED flashes that went to green and back to red/yellow when I moved around but even when there was several green flashes and I launched the Phantom it would go red/yellow and out of control again.

Be sure that you are doing the calibration dance correctly.

 

[calphantom]

I, too, have been having problems with erratic flight with my P2V. I had one day where it flew and hovered perfectly. The next day, feeling perhaps overly confident, I took it to a very scenic area with lots of trees. Almost immediately after take off, it began flying sideways and I had to drastically over-compensate to get it to return to me. Ended up crashing it, but was relieved that it did not wind up 50 feet up stuck in a tree or down in the treed hillside below.

It would really be nice to get some knowledgeable insight on these issues. When the unit flies right, it's great. But have had a number of crashes and I don't want to break the thing. Also concerned about the safety factor of hitting a person through uncontrolled flight.

 

[Pull_Up]

I, too, have been having problems with erratic flight with my P2V. I had one day where it flew and hovered perfectly. The next day, feeling perhaps overly confident, I took it to a very scenic area with lots of trees. Almost immediately after take off, it began flying sideways and I had to drastically over-compensate to get it to return to me.

I had a similar experience in the early days (November, hah!) when I took it away with me to visit relatives 100+ miles away. Bearing in mind the large distance involved I recalibrated the compass. But in my eagerness to show her off and stay out of a bloody cold breeze I did the calibration in the lee of my car. Calibrated ok and move it to the take-off point. After about 20 secs in the air it wanted to head off to the horizon. It wasn't a flyaway, though, as I was able to wrestle it back and catch it - thank goodness for learning nose-in control with a Hubsan X4! I then notices the "compass requires calibration" error on the phone app, and I suddenly realised my stupidity and calibrated again in the nice open space I was taking off from - never had the situation again.

So taking it to a new place probably warrants another compass calibration, but only in a really clear area where you're sure there's no ferro-magnetic stuff hiding away (drain covers, metal railings, all that good stuff) otherwise a bad calibration is just as dangerous as no calibration.

I'm not saying any of this was the cause in your incident, just that mine was so similar and I definitely narrowed mine down to a poor choice of calibration area.

 

[Daladurango]

Thank you everyone for your answers!

I actually did the calibration in the lee of my car too. The first time I had red flashes (and yellow?) at the end of the calibration so I did it all over. Then it seemed to work fine, until lift off, that is. In the air, the Phantom acted a bit peculiar.
And yes, It might have been a bad idea to calibrate in the lee of my car, but not as bad as keeping on flying even though I noticed something was not quite right.

I now realize how many we are with similar experiences, the Phantom is not failsafe at all. And neither am I.
I've ordered another Gopro and my Zenmuse is on its way to the DJI workshop, and I really can noth afford another crash like this.

A good thing is to read that manual really really careful (again) so you understand what not to do, and the warning signs that comes with it.

 

[calphantom]

After some further testing and flights, I've got my Phantom 2 Vision flying well again. Had it out in 10-15 mph winds yesterday and it performed surprisingly well.

I am convinced, after reading some of the other comments posted here and becoming a stickler for making a fresh calibration before each flight (whether my Phantom asks for it or not), that my previous issues were due to improper calibration.

Looking forward to more calm clear days of aerial photography!

Thanks to everyone for your input.