Crashed today - totally my own fault

[barefootbeachcombing]

I took off too close to my car. It was a bit windy. Didn't get up above the car before a puff of wind caused my Phantom to come back toward the raised hatch of my SUV. Prop clipped the hatch and Phantom proceeded to take off and eventually hit a pine tree and then crashed into the sandy ground.

Battery popped partly out but something appears to be broken inside the battery compartment (something plastic) and the battery won't come out at this point.

None of the components of the camera or gimbal appear to have gotten bent or damaged but without the battery, I can't tell if it is functional.

All the props are trashed. The (newly dyed) props looked great before the crash.

Two of the motors feel like they have sand in them.

Oh well. I guess I will see what kind of Mid-Week Special DJI sends out this week and otherwise order a new one.

 

[Larry L]

Wow, sorry for your misfortune. I would look into sending it to a repair facility & see about fixing it. Be a whole lot less than a new one. Your right the props looked great.

 

[crash1sttime]

Those props look really good, do you have any info on how you dyed them, sorry to hear about the crash, it may need a new shell, they retail for about £40

 

[barefootbeachcombing]

I followed the steps here on the forum. I used powdered Rit Dye. Navy Blue and Golden Yellow. I used a disposable foil pan. Boiled about a quart of water. Mixed the powder in the water in the disposable pan. I used the whole package for the yellow and about half the package for the blue. Made sure it was well mixed. I put the props in the dye and water. For the yellow, I left the props in the dye for about 30 minutes. For the blue, only about 10 minutes. It was even darker before I rinsed the blue! Then just rinsed them in cold water. Turned out great. I will do it with another set for sure.

 

[flybynight]

good attitude, send off another 1300$ and you'll be dying props in no time at all.

 

[dalebb]

Wow, looks like my frist crash other than the damage to the drone, my cam was totaly jacked like yours but I only broke two props and no shell damage.
:shock:

 

[Mako79]

The guards between the legs did its job. The loose cable ties helped with the inertia to slow the stop and not rip the flex cable... Well done. I hope you get airbourne soon.

 

[flyNfrank]

Sorry about your crash. I think it's a bad deal the protector broke. I would rather see the protector not break at all.

 

[Petereesha]

****, hate to see that. I have converted a crashed P2V+ into a total FPV crash and burn machine. The original camera/gimbal was trashed so I mounted a camera on the front, removed the wifi transmitter, installed a 900 MHz video transmitter and race that bird around my farm using a set of Fatshark goggles. Also mounted a Möbius under where the original gimbal was. Take the shell apart and you can get the battery out. I have bent arms a few times and have straightened them up by using a heat gun to soften the plastic. Also fixed cracks with epoxy. Use a compressor to blow any dirt out of the motors. These things can survive a huge amount of trauma and keep on flying.

 

[max]

Sorry about your crash. I think it's a bad deal the protector broke. I would rather see the protector not break at all.

It's a piece of plastic, not magic

 

[barefootbeachcombing]

UPDATE ... somewhat.

I opened the shell and was able to get the battery out. The plastic "cage" cracked and was jammed inside.



Put in a new battery and the unit starts up. I get the first set of beeps but not the second set (if that makes sense to say it that way). I get a good GPS signal and the home position was locked (got the fast green LED flashes). Was able to calibrate the compass successfully. And it connects to my phone and the iPhone app.

The camera shakes as shown in this video. I can view the camera in the iPhone but it has a message saying to remove the gimbal lock (which is already removed).

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lstqmkgp5Bw[/youtube]

Tried a basic and advanced IMU calibration, but it does the same thing. Any thoughts?

In addition to being a "bent" at one of the arms, the bottom shell has a crack near the base.

The motors started up fine. Most of the sand came out.

Thanks for all the comments in the thread.

 

[dalebb]

UPDATE ... somewhat.

I opened the shell and was able to get the battery out. The plastic "cage" cracked and was jammed inside.



Put in a new battery and the unit starts up. I get the first set of beeps but not the second set (if that makes sense to say it that way). I get a good GPS signal and the home position was locked (got the fast green LED flashes). Was able to calibrate the compass successfully. And it connects to my phone and the iPhone app.

The camera shakes as shown in this video. I can view the camera in the iPhone but it has a message saying to remove the gimbal lock (which is already removed).

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lstqmkgp5Bw[/youtube]

Tried a basic and advanced IMU calibration, but it does the same thing. Any thoughts?

In addition to being a "bent" at one of the arms, the bottom shell has a crack near the base.

The motors started up fine. Most of the sand came out.

Thanks for all the comments in the thread.

When I crashed mine like that I just put the gimbel lock on it and flew it that way even tho the camera would beep at me all the time.

 

[mohan]

I think you will have to perform minor surgery on the gimbal to realign it

see the youtube video to give you an idea. Hope this fixes it if there is no bent metal

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3Ii1i3-x3I[/youtube]

 

[Petereesha]

Don't know about the gimbal but I would suggest you not trash that battery. When I cracked my bird up the battery case split wide open. I took some clear shipping tape and put it back together. It works like new dozens of flights later.

 

[barefootbeachcombing]

I think you will have to perform minor surgery on the gimbal to realign it

see the youtube video to give you an idea. Hope this fixes it if there is no bent metal

Thanks. I will check that out and see if it works. It doesn't look like there is any bent metal at all.

I still probably will look to sell it and get a new one.

 

[barefootbeachcombing]

Don't know about the gimbal but I would suggest you not trash that battery. When I cracked my bird up the battery case split wide open. I took some clear shipping tape and put it back together. It works like new dozens of flights later.

Interesting. All the talk about how Lipo batteries can be a fire hazard just makes me nervous.

I was going to take it to the city hazardous waste recycling center. Maybe I will hold onto it as a spare.

 

[Petereesha]

Well take it outside and plug it into the charger where it won't burn your house down if it blows up! Actually I have charged my battery with the busted case at least 30 times without issues. I wouldn't use it for a long range FPV flight but close in FPV within LOS not in a congested area should be an acceptable risk. I use mine for my crash and burn FPV Phantom only, not my P2V+ with gimbal.

 

[barefootbeachcombing]

Thanks for that. Interesting pictures. I'm keeping it in a Lipo-Safe bag right now. Maybe I will include it when I sell this Phantom rather than recycling it.

 

[knowonecares]

****, hate to see that. I have converted a crashed P2V+ into a total FPV crash and burn machine. The original camera/gimbal was trashed so I mounted a camera on the front, removed the wifi transmitter, installed a 900 MHz video transmitter and race that bird around my farm using a set of Fatshark goggles. Also mounted a Möbius under where the original gimbal was. Take the shell apart and you can get the battery out. I have bent arms a few times and have straightened them up by using a heat gun to soften the plastic. Also fixed cracks with epoxy. Use a compressor to blow any dirt out of the motors. These things can survive a huge amount of trauma and keep on flying.

I'm in the same boat. I call my quad the Franken Drone, but before I operate, here's what I got. Crashed my P2V+ V2, broke gimbal and ribbon, bent one shell arm but straightened it enough so the prop clears the roof, the bent arm LED's don't work but Motors seem ok, might be one with debris in it. I have upgraded Motors and ESCs on hand, and a shell on the way. Would you install the new parts on the new shell, and transfer the rest of the guts? Or should I try to fly with the bent arm first? I don't know how the crashes affect the Wifi box and the Naza box, or the quad's receiver, ESCs, and power connectors either. Those parts are available, but might as well get a new one, no? As far as filming goes I will wait for GoPro Drone, I can live without the DJI Gimbal.

 

[Petereesha]

Well I was in kind of an unusual situation with my crashed P2V+. My son was doing a shoot for ECU football and wrapped it up in a pine tree before he could get the "money shot" they wanted for their opening day football video. We has a new one fedex'd from DC by the next morning so this was surplus. (He got the shot BTW and all was good) I just figured I'd mess around with it as my crash and burn machine. Let me say I have crashed, crashed, and crashed this thing. Open the shell up and check out the LED. I bet a wire is busted. If not I would just get a replacement ESC and solder it in. As to guts; I took the wifi unit out as well as the cables and sold them all as well as the broken camera/gimbal. Folks on eBay will buy that stuff very quickly. I would take the bent arm mother and ESC out and use a heat gun to get it as straight as possible. Not doing so could lead to erratic flight....the ESC would work overtime if the arm is bent.

I just took the plunge and bought the latest version of the P2V+ ( 1/2 off from DJI since I had a very well documented catastrophic failure of my other original P2V+. See my other posts!)

Hope this helps. I have had a blast with my frakenquad. I have Fatsharks hooked up to it and go balls to the wall until I crash again, that is! Check out thinkelevated.com