Crash + Warning

robschoemaker · Feb 23, 2014

Well, today my worst Phantom-nightmare came to life: my phantom just fell out of the air from about 65 meters height

Was just flying around at about 100m altitude and all of a sudden IOC started acting stange again (happened before). Each time Course Lock would just disengage. Happened to me a few times before, but this time it was happening every 10 seconds or so. So I decided to descend and land the Phantom. Then all of a sudden, I saw the Phantom tumbling from the air, seems like the motors just stopped in mid air. When it was about half way to the ground, all of a sudden the motors started spinning again, and it looked like the Phantom was recovering, but unfortunately the motors stopped again. Only thing I could do was watch my Phantom smashing on the ground. On my iPhone, the screen showed "connection lost" and an altitude of 65 meters. (so apparently it was a power failure, because this seems to indicate that power to the camera was lost at an altitude of 65m. I had set my camera to take a picture every 5 seconds, but the last photo recorded also was high up in the air, so I guess it also stopped at 65 meters).

Damage seems to be limited: as far as I can see, only the landing gear and the camera mounting bracket are broken. So I will order replacement parts and see if I can get my Phantom airborne again.

Will also check and double check the power system of the Phantom. I am beginning to suspect that there might be a lose contact or something like that (that would explain IOC disengaging I guess).

So I think this is also a warning for others: if you experience IOC repeatedly disengaging for no apparent reason, get down ASAP!

Keep you posted

Rob

Pull_Up · Feb 23, 2014

Sorry to hear of the crash, and amazing that the damage was relatively light. Open her up and double check all the solder connections thoroughly, also the condition of the battery (both as reported in the Assistant and physically for signs of swelling etc). After a big bang like that you'll also probably want to do an advance IMU calibration as well. Fingers crossed you get her fixed and up again - let us know if you find anything that may have contributed to the crash in case it saves anyone else.

iDrone · Feb 23, 2014

Not one, but all four rotor motors plus camera stopped recording midflight? Sudden power loss, no?

I'd check both ends of the Red & Black battery leads: @back of battery compartment and @Central Board.

This has happened before: http://www.phantompilots.com/viewto...lit=Solder+connection+battery&start=20#p46458

iDrone

bbrant · Feb 23, 2014

Sorry to hear..just lost my in the harbor here today too. Mine was lost due to some kind of electromagnetic interference in the area. Love the product, but money we spend expect it not to fall from the sky or nose dive. Glad you were at least able to recover yours. Hope she flies again.

robschoemaker · Feb 24, 2014

Thanks all.

I am also surprised that the damage seems to be limited (I did not open the Phantom yet, so I don't know what the inside looks right now ;-) ). But I did place a new battery, and I was able to start her up (without props). Motors are spinning, and when I move the phantom around, it seems that the motors are reacting to the movements, so at first sight that still seems to be working. Also, wifi and the camera seem to be functioning OK. Costs for replacements parts are not that high (only need a new landing gear and a new assembly (including servo) to mount the camera)

I think I was lucky that it didn't start to tumble, but just came down on her landing-gear... (I saw another thread about people wondering what would happen if you shut down the motors in mid-air. I can confirm that the propellors will un-fasten themselves, because all 4 props were loose (=unfastened). They didn't come off completely, but they were definitely untightened)

@Pull_Up: thanks for you tip. Especially the one about the battery. I will definitely check that one as well.

Actually, in hind-sight, it might very well be a battery issue. The crash flight was my second flight yesterday. In the first flight (with another battery), I did not experience any issues (also no IOC issues).

A few weeks ago, I also encountered IOC issues (see viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7499&p=60249#p60249). Because of that, I opened my Phantom and checked all the power cables, soldering joints, etc, but I did not find any issues. I didn't check the battery itself though. Just thinking back of all my flights, it now occurs to me that I did not always have the IOC issues, but only on some flights. I don't know which battery was used in which flight, but in hindsight, it might very well be that a faulty battery (loose contact inside the battery?) was causing the problems. Will do some tests the coming weeks and let you all know the results (any tips on how to test the battery? Only thing I can think of is measuring the output and exposing the battery to vibrations to see if that causes any power-drops)

Regards Rob