Done with my P3S...I think...

danno02 · Jul 30, 2017

So after a year of enjoying my standard 3, I had a little mishap. Now I have a standard 3 with a busted gimbal. It's about $250 to replace it, so I figured an upgrade is warranted, so I ordered a P3Pro referb from A DJI dealer. I'm your typical quad hobby guy that just flies and shoots video for fun, so I didn't see a reason to bump up to a real expensive P4, plus all my batteries and other stuff will work with the P3Pro.

So...what to do with my standard. Do I fix it and sell it, or just sell it as is? The bird is fine less the gimbal and camera. Any ideas?

macoman · Jul 31, 2017

danno02 said:
So after a year of enjoying my standard 3, I had a little mishap. Now I have a standard 3 with a busted gimbal. It's about $250 to replace it, so I figured an upgrade is warranted, so I ordered a P3Pro referb from A DJI dealer. I'm your typical quad hobby guy that just flies and shoots video for fun, so I didn't see a reason to bump up to a real expensive P4, plus all my batteries and other stuff will work with the P3Pro.

So...what to do with my standard. Do I fix it and sell it, or just sell it as is? The bird is fine less the gimbal and camera. Any ideas?

I will send it for repair and sell it or keep it for parts. You can sell the remote control and keep the aircraft.

Jthomp · Jul 31, 2017

I had the same kind of thing happen to me - busted the gimbal on my first P3S - tried to get DJI to repair it - they wanted more for the repairs than it would cost me to buy a newly-refurbished P3S - so I did the latter.
A few weeks later a teen-age grandson came to visit and wanted to fly my drone (he had never flown one). Guess which one we took to the flying field? Yup - the one WITHOUT the gimbal/camera. He flew the dickens out of that bird, and I didn't worry about what would happen if he crashed it!

Guess who is #1 Grandpa on that kid's list right now?

danno02 · Jul 31, 2017

Jthomp said:
I had the same kind of thing happen to me - busted the gimbal on my first P3S - tried to get DJI to repair it - they wanted more for the repairs than it would cost me to buy a newly-refurbished P3S - so I did the latter.
A few weeks later a teen-age grandson came to visit and wanted to fly my drone (he had never flown one). Guess which one we took to the flying field? Yup - the one WITHOUT the gimbal/camera. He flew the dickens out of that bird, and I didn't worry about what would happen if he crashed it!

Guess who is #1 Grandpa on that kid's list right now?

You are Jthomp!

Mark The Droner · Jul 31, 2017

I would fix it and keep it.

Older_Man · Jul 31, 2017

I would keep it and you can go to ebay and type in " dji phantom 3 standard parts " and pick up what you need pretty cheap sometimes.

upintheair · Jul 31, 2017

I had crashed my P3S in same way where camera came out of gimble and was hoping to spend a fortune to get it fixed.. send it to dji and they fixed it for free, I am still in PTSD thinking how they replaced the whole for free!!

macoman · Aug 2, 2017

upintheair said:
I had crashed my P3S in same way where camera came out of gimble and was hoping to spend a fortune to get it fixed.. send it to dji and they fixed it for free, I am still in PTSD thinking how they replaced the whole for free!!

You probably was lucky, they usually don't do it if was pilot error.

shodan · Aug 4, 2017

I don't know what's exactly busted with your gimbal but if you are a tinker and would like to fix your phantom yourself I think you can get really cheap replacement parts from AliExpress.com good thing about having dji phantom 3 is that the parts are readily available. [emoji16]

Signal Tracer · Aug 5, 2017

How about the bench?.....Have it set up so you have a place for all the parts...and man! there's a LOT of parts that need minding! Have it well lit and keep the bench clean. Then, after an evening working on it, you can leave it be until you come back to it. Oh yeah...one other thing....take notes on all you do. At least in the beginning.
...Jim

macnor · Aug 6, 2017

as to repairing I take photos with my Iphone at every step

danimal260 · Aug 7, 2017

So wait, these things can still fly without the gimbal/camera attached? I thought I read somewhere that the RC won't link up if it's not on there?

stuka75 · Aug 7, 2017

danimal260 said:
So wait, these things can still fly without the gimbal/camera attached? I thought I read somewhere that the RC won't link up if it's not on there?

It will fly without the camera. However, you need a camera in place to link/relink the aircraft if the link is lost. If link is good, it will fly. No fpv, but gps is good. Only fly line of sight.

Alan Russel · Aug 8, 2017

you most likely busted gimbal yaw arm just replace it.

outlander27 · Aug 9, 2017

Info on your antenna setup please danno

outlander27 · Aug 9, 2017

Nevermind looks like you have the the argtek mast with the alpha flat panels correct?

Older_Man · Aug 10, 2017

I wonder what has happened to Danno02 ?.He said he ordered a P3P but hasn't posted anything since this post so he is probably out flying and enjoying himself.

danno02 · Aug 15, 2017

Sorry guys was in San Luis Obispo for my sons soccer tournament over the weekend. So yes @outlander27 its the Argtek and Alfa antennas. I have flown great distances with that setup. See the link below.

@Older_Man Yes I did get my P3P, and its great! Took about a week to get here from FL, but what an upgrade that was. Picked up that refurbished from a DJI retailer for a steal, so I couldn't pass it up. The Light Bridge is technology is great! I cant believe the distances I get with no mods...I think Ill take it out to the same location where I shot the below video and compare.

Heres the distance flight with the P3S:

danno02 · Aug 15, 2017

outlander27 said:
Nevermind looks like you have the the argtek mast with the alpha flat panels correct?

Sorry for the late response...you're correct!

Older_Man · Aug 15, 2017

Danno02, I worked in San Luis Obispo a long long time ago and i'm sure it's changed.I was wanting a P3P but DJI just released their P3 SE,4K camera and range is way out there.It doesn't have Light Bridge but it does have extended wifi something so there is virtually no lag.Meanwhile.i'm still flying my P3s til the smoke clears. LoL