New P4P v2 Flyaway and Crash, Should I send my drone to DJI?

[Meta4]

I would have thought that, at least upon your initial setup and linking to your controller, that you would need to calibrate the compass and probably the IMU. That was certainly my experience.

I know it's a common belief in forums that you should with a new drone.
But it's not something that DJI advises in their manuals.
If it was important, you'd think they would mention it.
But they don't so I tried straight out of the box without it and it flew perfectly.

 

[Bone4Drone]

I know it's a common belief in forums that you should with a new drone.
But it's not something that DJI advises in their manuals.
If it was important, you'd think they would mention it.
But they don't so I tried straight out of the box without it and it flew perfectly.

Live and learn I always say. I calibrated both my compass and IMU right out of the box. Two reasons. Didn't know how well they were calibrated by the previous owner and I just wanted to do it, and do it right, so I would be familiar with the process if needed to be done in the future.

 

[Recoveryone]

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[Bone4Drone]

I bought a new P4P v2 from B&H Photo on Jan 22nd. On Sunday, Feb 7th I had it out for it's 9th flight. Upon take off the drone began drifting erratically and would not respond to the controller. In a matter of seconds it crashed into a concrete wall breaking two propellers, a propeller locking plate, and cracking one of the landing skids where it joins the body.

I received a compass error before take off so I attempted to calibrate it but the calibration failed. I moved to a different location a little further away and did not receive the compass error so I thought it was safe to launch. I now know that launching from concrete (with our without a compass error) is unwise.

My question is; should I return the drone to DJI and see if this qualifies as a drone failure and maybe have my drone repaired / replaced by DJI, or should I suck it up and make the repairs myself?

The flight record has an entry that says "Compass data error. Please contact DJI support." Here is the link to the flight record:

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

Any advice is appreciated!

I have always thought that, if you do a compass calibration and it fails, you still have a problem even if you move and all seems OK. I won't fly until I get a successful compass calibration. I could be wrong but I've never had a crash or flyaway.

 

[skymonkey]

I know it's a common belief in forums that you should with a new drone.
But it's not something that DJI advises in their manuals.
If it was important, you'd think they would mention it.
But they don't so I tried straight out of the box without it and it flew perfectly.

Phantom 2

Phantom 3

Phantom 4

 

[Meta4]

Phantom 2

Phantom 3

Phantom 4

That quickstart guide is the only mention of calibrating before 1st flight that I've seen anywhere.
DJI have spread lots of misinformation in their manuals, giving inconsisyent and contradictory stories at different times, although the compasses all work exactly the same.
They almost got it right when they came to the Phantom 4 pro manual:

It mentioned nothing about distance or time from the last flight, but they went back to the same misinformation again in later Mavic manuals.

There is absolutely nothing about your location or distance from another location that has any effect on compass calibration.
Compass calibration is only related to the magnetic fields that are part of the drone itself.
Now that we know what compass calibration actually does and when it's needed, we also understand that DJI's manuals are not to be relied on for accurate compass information.

 

[skymonkey]

That quickstart guide is the only mention of calibrating before 1st flight that I've seen anywhere.
DJI have spread lots of misinformation in their manuals, giving inconsisyent and contradictory stories at different times, although the compasses all work exactly the same.
They almost got it right when they came to the Phantom 4 pro manual:

It mentioned nothing about distance or time from the last flight, but they went back to the same misinformation again in later Mavic manuals.

There is absolutely nothing about your location or distance from another location that has any effect on compass calibration.
Compass calibration is only related to the magnetic fields that are part of the drone itself.
Now that we know what compass calibration actually does and when it's needed, we also understand that DJI's manuals are not to be relied on for accurate compass information.

I guess one could infer from "Always calibrate the compass in every new flight location” to calibrate before first flight also.
Definitely a big difference to calibrate only when DJI app prompts you to. Nothing about first flight or new flight location there. I see the inconsistency in their wording. I only calibrate when prompted to on app.