Another one bites the dust - FOUND MY PROP - and other news
- Thread starter DBS
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- Sep 27, 2014
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Re: Another one bites the dust
I was thinking recently that the number of Phantoms lost appeared to be tapering off. But the past week or so it's deja-vu all over again.
Meanwhile, one of my batteries has been popping an "invalid battery" alert, even though I got all my batteries direct from DJI....
All in all, the original amount of unbridled fun I had flying my copter has been whittled down to a fraction of what it was.
What was once a happy hobby is quickly becoming a freaking phobia.
I was thinking recently that the number of Phantoms lost appeared to be tapering off. But the past week or so it's deja-vu all over again.
Meanwhile, one of my batteries has been popping an "invalid battery" alert, even though I got all my batteries direct from DJI....
All in all, the original amount of unbridled fun I had flying my copter has been whittled down to a fraction of what it was.
What was once a happy hobby is quickly becoming a freaking phobia.
Re: Another one bites the dust
UPDATE:
WENT OUT SEARCHING TODAY... COULDN'T JUST LET IT GO WITHOUT COVERING EVERY INCH OF THE POSSIBLE CRASH ZONE... SPENT 3 HOURS SEARCHING YESTERDAY AFTER THE CRASH... FOUND IT TODAY IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES AFTER SHUTTING THE CAR OFF :roll:
So it didn't end up in the lake after all... found it about 15ft away from the shoreline... and it ain't pretty... but at least i'll be able to go through and try and determine what happened... obvious thing that stands out when i find it is a missing prop... (never did find that) ... must've had a motor freeze up and prop unwound from inertia
Back in the car... all mangled and dirty but she's going home
On the workbench... **** it looks like it's hurtin
Looks pretty bummed doesn't it?
Stress fractures and cracks everywhere
Judging by the grass wrapped around the motors, they were still spinning after impact... this one piece of grass was wrapped around the spindle a half dozen times
Body is twisted and kinked everywhere... ain't a straight line on this bugger anymore
Hit so hard some of the screw holes aren't even round...(that was a ***** to get apart BTW)
That plug hanging out the side is a connector to the 5.8gHz reciever board... ouch
Inside the body... GPS socket hammered to one side real bad... WiFi module in the background dislodged... main board is bowed in the middle and cracked... and that cable in the left is the 2 pin data connection from the smart battery completely severed from the board, socket and traces and all...
Gimbal damage... every pivot point on this sucker is bent out of shape and packed with sand and dirt... pretty much a done deal on that.
And finally ... The Culprit
The yellow wire on the motor with no prop snapped just above the solder connection inside the insulation and pulled out... motor stopped... inertia spun the prop off the shaft... done deal... it was all freefall from there
So anyway... Don't think i'll try to salvage and rebuild any of this... there's enough damage to almost all the components that i wouldn't really trust it anymore... funny how it works out... the new motors and ESC's are probably the only things that are NOT damaged from all this... don't know what i coulda done different... solder job was done well and quick without heating things up for too long... but with these skinny friggin wires and all the vibration... a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link i guess :ugeek:
UPDATE:
WENT OUT SEARCHING TODAY... COULDN'T JUST LET IT GO WITHOUT COVERING EVERY INCH OF THE POSSIBLE CRASH ZONE... SPENT 3 HOURS SEARCHING YESTERDAY AFTER THE CRASH... FOUND IT TODAY IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES AFTER SHUTTING THE CAR OFF :roll:
So it didn't end up in the lake after all... found it about 15ft away from the shoreline... and it ain't pretty... but at least i'll be able to go through and try and determine what happened... obvious thing that stands out when i find it is a missing prop... (never did find that) ... must've had a motor freeze up and prop unwound from inertia
Back in the car... all mangled and dirty but she's going home
On the workbench... **** it looks like it's hurtin
Looks pretty bummed doesn't it?
Stress fractures and cracks everywhere
Judging by the grass wrapped around the motors, they were still spinning after impact... this one piece of grass was wrapped around the spindle a half dozen times
Body is twisted and kinked everywhere... ain't a straight line on this bugger anymore
Hit so hard some of the screw holes aren't even round...(that was a ***** to get apart BTW)
That plug hanging out the side is a connector to the 5.8gHz reciever board... ouch
Inside the body... GPS socket hammered to one side real bad... WiFi module in the background dislodged... main board is bowed in the middle and cracked... and that cable in the left is the 2 pin data connection from the smart battery completely severed from the board, socket and traces and all...
Gimbal damage... every pivot point on this sucker is bent out of shape and packed with sand and dirt... pretty much a done deal on that.
And finally ... The Culprit
The yellow wire on the motor with no prop snapped just above the solder connection inside the insulation and pulled out... motor stopped... inertia spun the prop off the shaft... done deal... it was all freefall from there
So anyway... Don't think i'll try to salvage and rebuild any of this... there's enough damage to almost all the components that i wouldn't really trust it anymore... funny how it works out... the new motors and ESC's are probably the only things that are NOT damaged from all this... don't know what i coulda done different... solder job was done well and quick without heating things up for too long... but with these skinny friggin wires and all the vibration... a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link i guess :ugeek:
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
Nice troubleshooting!
Thanks for that. I will soon open mine up and do in-depth inspection!
Nice troubleshooting!
Thanks for that. I will soon open mine up and do in-depth inspection!
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
That's easily "re-shellable". $60 (US) for a new shell. By the looks gimbal is toast but lots of possibilities for leftover parts.
They always look worse than they actually are. I use a crashed one for testing new things like retractable landing gear or props... just sayin'. Glad you found it.
That's easily "re-shellable". $60 (US) for a new shell. By the looks gimbal is toast but lots of possibilities for leftover parts.
They always look worse than they actually are. I use a crashed one for testing new things like retractable landing gear or props... just sayin'. Glad you found it.
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
So it looks like to me it broke right where the solder had stopped being drawn up in the braided wire. Do you think if you had ziptied it down or hot glued it it could have been enough to stop the vibrations from eventually fatiguing the wire to snap?
So it looks like to me it broke right where the solder had stopped being drawn up in the braided wire. Do you think if you had ziptied it down or hot glued it it could have been enough to stop the vibrations from eventually fatiguing the wire to snap?
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
:shock: did you read through everything?
cracked main board... plugs broken off reciever board... wifi module dislodged and hammered... data pin cable ripped the traces out of the board... GPS socket dislodged... etc...etc....
No way i would try and reshell this thing and put it back in the air like this... not gonna happen
EMCSQUAR said:
:shock: did you read through everything?
cracked main board... plugs broken off reciever board... wifi module dislodged and hammered... data pin cable ripped the traces out of the board... GPS socket dislodged... etc...etc....
No way i would try and reshell this thing and put it back in the air like this... not gonna happen
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
You sure the wire was broken before impact?
You sure the wire was broken before impact?
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
Thought about that... no I'm not sure... just seemed suspicious that it was the one thing wrong with the arm with no prop attached ... also that arm has the least amount of damage...
Suppose I'll never really know "for sure" ... but feels better being able to look through things
Hey by the way... this means I have the memory card back... with a corrupted video file... I'd like to insert that in yours and power it on... see if it fixes the file
I got the flytrex file... recorded all the way till after the impact... pretty impressive fall!!!
mede8er said:
Thought about that... no I'm not sure... just seemed suspicious that it was the one thing wrong with the arm with no prop attached ... also that arm has the least amount of damage...
Suppose I'll never really know "for sure" ... but feels better being able to look through things
Hey by the way... this means I have the memory card back... with a corrupted video file... I'd like to insert that in yours and power it on... see if it fixes the file
I got the flytrex file... recorded all the way till after the impact... pretty impressive fall!!!
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
Just messaged you for meet up...what damage was there to that particular arm?
Just messaged you for meet up...what damage was there to that particular arm?
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
nuthin... looks like that's the arm that didn't even hit the ground... no flex damage... still had all the screws installed
mede8er said:
nuthin... looks like that's the arm that didn't even hit the ground... no flex damage... still had all the screws installed
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
Contact this guy: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27737
He fixed mine after dunking it in salt water. HIGHLY recommend him!!!
Contact this guy: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27737
He fixed mine after dunking it in salt water. HIGHLY recommend him!!!
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
DBS - I'm glad that you went back out to find that bird. At least now you found out what happen instead of guessing what went wrong. You found closure.
I'm sure you went to bed on that night was and frustrated of not finding out the truth.
- Chet
DBS - I'm glad that you went back out to find that bird. At least now you found out what happen instead of guessing what went wrong. You found closure.
I'm sure you went to bed on that night was and frustrated of not finding out the truth.
- Chet
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
+1, anything that you have so much money & time into, you just want to know what happened.Chet said:
Re: Another one bites the dust -UPDATE- found it!! - Page 5
Chuck, it's just so weird that I was having huge anxiety yesterday about losing mine.. I had no idea that you and Frank had lost your phantoms.. that really sucks.. I hadn't caught up in the forums at all..
Based now on what we know of yours and Franks evidence.. it looks like the only common denominator is that you guys actually soldered to your ESC's in doing the upgrade.. whether the solder joints were the best they could be or not.. that point of failure is a scary one.
But then, add in that some V3 owners are having similar issues.. it just doesn't add up that it was the installation at all to blame.
I actually did a long facebook post yesterday about my fear.. sheesh. This isn't about fear anymore.. there has to be a way to quantify these failures in more detail.. I wonder if there is a log file written in memory somewhere that might help identify the failure better?.. I know we can telnet into the wifi module -- similar to how we used to on the AR.Drone 2.0 (linux/busybox system) -- perhaps there is a system log file?.. but with so much damage.. getting that information out would be a challenge.. ugh.
Chuck, it's just so weird that I was having huge anxiety yesterday about losing mine.. I had no idea that you and Frank had lost your phantoms.. that really sucks.. I hadn't caught up in the forums at all..
Based now on what we know of yours and Franks evidence.. it looks like the only common denominator is that you guys actually soldered to your ESC's in doing the upgrade.. whether the solder joints were the best they could be or not.. that point of failure is a scary one.
But then, add in that some V3 owners are having similar issues.. it just doesn't add up that it was the installation at all to blame.
I actually did a long facebook post yesterday about my fear.. sheesh. This isn't about fear anymore.. there has to be a way to quantify these failures in more detail.. I wonder if there is a log file written in memory somewhere that might help identify the failure better?.. I know we can telnet into the wifi module -- similar to how we used to on the AR.Drone 2.0 (linux/busybox system) -- perhaps there is a system log file?.. but with so much damage.. getting that information out would be a challenge.. ugh.
