Vision 2+ Temperature

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After flying my PV2+ for 5-10 min. the top of the quad (where the DJI decal is) seems to be warm to the touch and it stays that way for quite awhile. It's not hot but is certainly warmer than the rest of the quad. Is this normal?
 
Yes. Fly it around to cool it - never just let it set for long periods either hovering right by you or leaving it on the ground with no propellers. It gets hot and can burn up the Wifi module in the Phantom.
 
Right at the very top center is the GPS module and it does get warm. Movement is it's cooling method. If I am flying and it's really hot outside I.E 99+'degrees. When I get hot my quad is hot. When I rests it rest. So the moral of the story is if I'm comfortable so is my craft if I'm not it isn't either.
 
The top left center is your wifi module as well which is producing a lot of heat. The GPS puck doesn't produce that much heat if any in my experience. Also based on version, you could have a larger surface for the GPS shield, which can act like an insulator due to the rubber covering. Other than your wifi module, how hot are your motors after a 10 min flight or your discharged battery?

Like mentioned above, idling without the props spinning is not a good thing beyond a 3-4 minutes. This heat can effect the battery life, IMU or the wifi module, IMHO. Those three are also sources for heat...
 
Thursday night we did some video's for our R/C clubs flight training night. The PV2+ was in the air about 12 min. The motors and battery was outside temperature....summer evening warm, but the top center of the PV2+ was noticeably warmer. I certainly would not call it hot. Most of the flight was standing still in mid air with some small movements in many directions. Mostly we were getting shots of our flight line. This was practicing for our Heli-Jam event this weekend. The club president has ask me to film some of the flight line on this event. I think I need to offset the mid air standing still time with some cool down flying around time. I never run the motors without the blades. Thanks for all the help.
 
It's the wifi module. If you haven't done the artic silver 5 mod, the module will gradually degrade due to overheating issues. I've done it both on the 1st gen and the upgrade perforated model.
Make sure you don't transfer large vids/pics over the wifi without the props spinning. If you decide to transfer vids over wifi (as a last resort), bolt the phantom down in case it triggers a RTH.
 
Mako79, are you saying it is not advisable to transfer the videos I take, from the SD card in the camera to my iPad. What other way is there to do it? I can always download direct from the SD card to my PC.....but that leaves my iPad out of the loop.....and what's this about keeping the props running? I guess I'm confused but, I'm also new at this.
 
Mako79, are you saying it is not advisable to transfer the videos I take, from the SD card in the camera to my iPad. What other way is there to do it? I can always download direct from the SD card to my PC.....but that leaves my iPad out of the loop.....and what's this about keeping the props running? I guess I'm confused but, I'm also new at this.

I don't own an apple device.
I transfer mine all via an SD card reader and PC.
long story short - over time, people will report the FPV black screen with the "busy spinning" icon. The telemetry/radar/gps info/battery info still works but no FPV. Dropping FPV resolutions to 480x240@15fps may get you FPV and less range is usually the symptoms.
My first wifi module died before the Artic Silver 5 thermal paste fix was found. That module had a dozen files transferred over the wifi to my Note3.
Now, the phantom does not have any cooling methods when the props are NOT spinning. There are 2 air vents on each arm. The props down wash helps it cool.
 
Now, the phantom does not have any cooling methods when the props are NOT spinning. There are 2 air vents on each arm. The props down wash helps it cool.

FWIW, the stock vents do a poor job ventilating the body. This is not a criticism of the Phantom's body design, few others offer ample vents. The lower body vents restrict air flow out, creating a pressure at the arm vents. In my opinion, it would make good sense to have twice the vent area in the lower half of the body. Just sharing my thoughts...your mileage may vary.
 
Remember heat rises so any heat in the quad that is not dissipated throught the vents will rise to the highest point and that is above the GPS puck. Not really a major concern as the props and air movement help keep the heat down.
 
Mine also gets warm to the touch at the highest point on the shell, but you would think the GPS foil insulation and any additional GPS foil mod (my copper sheeting extends outward to the vents) would block most of the heat from reaching above the GPS puck. Must be pretty hot below the shielding to be able to warm up the shell above the GPS antenna. I'm considering removing all of the little vent struts to increase airflow.
 
Well I'll tell you one thing, I'm now kind of wishing I had held off and not bought this quad. I can't always be worrying about overheat the d__ thing and I was hoping that this unit would last me for awhile. Mostly I use and planned to use it for picture taking and some video's, now I'm not sure it will work very good for that for very long. I'm not to much interested in taking the thing apart, so either I find someone with experience to do it for me or take my chances. I guess I can quit downloading the pictures to my iPad and just use the cable to download to my PC but that takes away one of the things I thought would be nice about this aircraft. Well I guess you live and learn. I have a few accessories on order for it but after they arrive you may see this one up for sale. Thanks to everyone who replied.
 
Well I'll tell you one thing, I'm now kind of wishing I had held off and not bought this quad. I can't always be worrying about overheat the d__ thing and I was hoping that this unit would last me for awhile. Mostly I use and planned to use it for picture taking and some video's, now I'm not sure it will work very good for that for very long. I'm not to much interested in taking the thing apart, so either I find someone with experience to do it for me or take my chances. I guess I can quit downloading the pictures to my iPad and just use the cable to download to my PC but that takes away one of the things I thought would be nice about this aircraft. Well I guess you live and learn. I have a few accessories on order for it but after they arrive you may see this one up for sale. Thanks to everyone who replied.

I would never try running the Quad inside with the blades on to cool it off. Remove the blades, point a fan at it and continue to download over WiFi to your iPad.

Don't worry so much about your P2V. It's a great drone and like any piece of technology, there are some things you can do as the end user to improve performance and increase reliability. However, that might void your warranty. Once the warranty is over on mine, just got it a couple of weeks ago, I'll likely do some mods to it. Until then, I'll just fly it. So far, it has gone wonderfully. I'm not pushing the limits of its range though and have no need to do so.
 
One suggestion if you want to avoid downloading via wifi would be to first download via wire to your pc and then upload the files to a free Dropbox account. You would then be able to access them from any device with an internet connection. Also, the files would not take up storage space on your tablet.
 
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Blackhawks, I guess your are right. I can always put a fan on the quad and download the pictures/video to my iPad. I would never consider firing her up in the house with the blades on....way to dangerous. I guess I'll just enjoy how fantastic it flies and the great pictures it takes and hope for the best. After all the work-if module is only $189.00.
 
@moparherb - Nothing wrong with the P2V+ in general, fairly hardy bird once any issues are found and then resolved. Sure mod'ing is that last thing people think of when buying an off the shelf product, but it is what it is.... Honestly you may never have a heat related issue, we're just providing a caution based on experiences.

Further, I'm flying an area with extreme heat, humidity and pounding sun. Not the most ideal environment for electronics that are enclosed. I'm flying well beyond the mfg's tested environment limits.
 
Following RichWest's mod, I've removed every other vent strut to increase the effectiveness of prop wash cooling inside of the shell. It was fairly easy to do with a little clipper I had in the house. If you perform this mod, be sure to protect your eyes as the tiny clipped struts come flying off like a bullet. One actually stuck in my hand. The only downside I see to this mod is it will make the electronics more quickly susceptible if caught in a sudden rain shower.

vent holes 1.jpg vent holes 2.jpg
 
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Nice work @MapMaker53 , it is an easy mod. Not having recorded any temp readings to confirm, but over all the bird lands with minimal heat on the described area...that's even with the supplemented heat sink contacting the gps shielding...

I give credit @Skynet1 for the idea of enlarging the vents on my bird. Here's his rendition from Dec.2014
skynet1_vent.JPG
I'll post a picture of my "work in progress" replacement P2 body later.
 
Guys, here's a good one. I have two birds one blue and she has been mods up the zazoo. One red bird no mods at all. Difference is the both fly fine but the one blue has all the antenna mods to sonde gets a whole lot better distance. As far as the birds blue gets better satellite and cooling due to mods but red is keeping up with less satellites and flies a little warmer. Still test just two months and no differences YET!!
 

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