There's 2 kinds of Phantom pilots out here.

[Elginet]

Those that have been down, and those that are going down. After weeks without so much as dinging a prop.... It happened.

1st the backstory. I had a bad radio since day one. For weeks I couldn't fly farther than 150' away. Finally got my new radio a few days ago and wx has been crap, but the sun came out today. (it was 4°F....but nice. No wind whatsoever.) Time to put her through the paces with the new radio.

Went to 6 different locations for some aerial shots. Cautiously approaching the 300' altitude mark, I was venturing where I hadn't gone before. Flew her up the river, down the river, circled with the eagles, had a goose flying circles with me, obviously trying to figure out what the heck I was.

Put 2½ hours of flying time in, in 20 min spurts. (I have 3 batteries and one's always on charge.) After my hands went numb for about the 10th time, I figured it was time to go home.

When I got home, I wanted to put her up by my roof to check it out because yesterday we had a -50° swing in temps and the house was popping and cracking all night long. I wanted to make sure nothing came undone and what better way to do that, than put the Phantom up there??

I put her in the driveway, waited for the green, took off and was hovering about 2' off the ground for 30-40 secs when all of a sudden, lights flashed yellow and she pitches down and goes straight in. Chipped a prop...but everything was still working. Camera was still on and everything.

I replaced the damaged prop and fired her up to find only 3 motors spinning. I'm pissed.....but I'm not. It was a matter of time I guess.

Now to start the troubleshooting process....which means I have to disassemble this thing. Oh boy.

....to be continued

 

[EMCSQUAR]

Consider yourself lucky it happened at home and not at the river (while the goose was watchin')

 

[Waterborne]

Man, these are exactly the posts that keep me from jumping in 110% on the purchase of a P2V. I just don't have the desire to watch my bird fly away or crash and burn as a result of something other than my own pilot error. Where is DJI with an update or something more definitive about these issues? (I have seen Colin's video about helping prevent fly-aways but this is clearly not a resolved issue).

Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? Something economics....Phantom economics? Help me take the plunge with confidence in the P2V reliability.... Colin, convince me the product is good to go.... Your videos are great but this list-serve tells the rest of the story.

 

[Elginet]

Like any R/C Hobby....you have to be able to sustain an acceptable loss. If you've had an R/C plane, you've crashed it. Car? Same thing. You rebuild it and move on. I have no problem replacing a motor. I just hope I really don't have to take every screw out of this thing, to do it.

 

[Pull_Up]

You will have to take every screw out, but it's not difficult - I did a video on how to open her up, it's in my sig. With the appropriate tools it'll take less than 5 minutes to open her up.

Once open you'll need to undo four screws that secure the motor, then unsolder the motor wires from the ESC, re-solder the replacement, 4 screws back in, then put the shell back on.

 

[kingcat200]

A real shame

I clipped a prop on my classic and ended up having to change a motor.

I always fly with prop guards on now and they have paid for themselves many times over.

I guess some macho types would say they are for wimps however for me I think they give the Phantom more presence.

I personally feel naked and vulnerable without them as the slightest little knock could end with damage or personal injury.

I always catch the Vision from the air as the Camera is expensive to replace and is very close to terra ferrma again the prop guards give me more confidence to do this.

There are guys in Hong Kong producing third party Vision Guards and they fit great shipping takes about a week.

A search on eBay will produce at least a couple of suppliers I have used two different suppliers (as I now fly my classic with Vision props ) and both look identical and both suppliers were very good

As always just my two cents worth

Happy New Year To All

 

[Shrimpfarmer]

Sorry to hear about your crash. I am glad it didn't cause any damage to your property. Its also a bummer to hear that you will have to desolder the wires and solder them back to replace the motor. That is not something I would be looking forward to. Maybe I need to start practicing now for when my turn comes.

Hope you get it fixed and can start enjoying the phantom again soon.

 

[Elginet]

You will have to take every screw out, but it's not difficult - I did a video on how to open her up, it's in my sig. With the appropriate tools it'll take less than 5 minutes to open her up.

Once open you'll need to undo four screws that secure the motor, then unsolder the motor wires from the ESC, re-solder the replacement, 4 screws back in, then put the shell back on.

That's good to know. I'm not worried about soldering. I'm a ham, been building electronic stuff for a long time. It's just having someplace to do it, without worrying about the cat dragging off parts. Not taking it apart until I have the new motor too. Then for sure I'd be missing sht. :shock:

DJI should offer a "Crash Kit" that contains blades, 2 motors and an assortment of screws. They use hex screws...and that beats the hell out of phillips head.

Incidently....I have a set of prop guards. I just haven't put em on yet (actually forgot I had em!!). lol. I'm such an idiot.