POLL: Have you powered on your Phantom with the gimbal lock attached?

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

So far: 40+ for "Yes, no damage" and 0 for "Yes, with damage".

I was going to post a +1 for "did DJI engineer logic to keep damage from happening?" question, but the poll indicates strongly that they did.

Chris

 

[Vista de Condor]

Apologies if this post is in the wrong place. I forget how to post to the general Forum.

I have not flown for a while and was hoping that you experienced flyers could post a general checklist prior to my next flight.

For example, things to do such as calibrate compass and the like.

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds.

Cheers,
EyeDrone, (but obviously not frequently enough!)

Don't you have the papers that come with the unit,manuals,instruccions?
IN THERE IS THE CHECK LIST THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

 

[TerraNovaAerials]

I actually did this yesterday. The reason was I simply wanted to connect the camera to my computer in order to download images and videos from a flight on Wednesday. So no pre-flight checks, etc. I did notice that the normal chirping noise it makes while connected to the computer was very very faint. That's what clued me into the fact that I forgot to remove the gimble lock. I did test afterwards and everything on the gimbal cycled properly and the controller was able to operate the gimbal. So I suspect no harm was done.

 

[Unique]

A lot of people worry about damaging the gimbal after accidentally powering on the Phantom with the gimbal lock attached. Have you ever done this?

Please vote above.

Can't recall leaving the gimbal clamp on in flight. It's the first thing I do as I lift it out of the box on site. It's sort of instinct now.

I never take the clamp off if I start the P4P in the office for short periods, say to connect to the PC for things like downloading photos or battery check. Never noticed a problem so far, but I wouldn't leave it on if the drone was booted up for a long period (in case the motors get too hot) or for maintenance issues. Two years old now and serviced regularly. No bad reports from the technician who looks after it.

 

[msinger]

I never take the clamp off if I start the P4P in the office for short periods, say to connect to the PC for things like downloading photos or battery check

FWIW, DJI advises against doing this. It's good to hear it hasn't caused any issues for you.

 

[dclifton]

Yup, and I had that exact same ribbon just laying around.... works great.

 

[Melvoid]

After doing it once I found the ugliest ribbon I could to tie onto the guard.

I have a small "Remove Before Flight" ribbon, like they put on airplanes. I have it hanging off my lock... but I've still forgotten it once or twice.