I was expecting to have some cracks at some point but so quickly, definitely not.


I have around 20 flights and more without any crash and bad landing so far BUT i managed to find a little crack on my bottom shell close to the screw over the SD Card Slot. It looks like someone has over-tightened this one and i am paying the price right now


I had them 4 times on my P3A and i also have them now on my P4, a bit sad, worst christmas gift ever.

Does look like a stress fracture from that screw area (Made me go look at mine too!).  I'd imagine your warranty should fix it.

Good luck.

Very similar to another members post a few days ago...
I hope this isn't going to start a whole new series of complaint posts and ongoing returns for repairs. ;-)

My drone, never acquired stress cracks or crash cracks, nor shipping crush cracks.
But there is/was never a shortage of wise cracks... Chuckles

Hope you can figure this out, and work with it... Send it back, and stay on track.

RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2016-12-24 13:27
Very similar to another members post a few days ago...
I hope this isn't going to start a whole new series of complaint posts and ongoing returns for repairs. ;-)

Damn overtightened screws! But, dosen;t  look like that location carries any weight, you know what I mean, if on a motor mount, I would worry, but that location, my old P3S had a tiny crack there, never changed or affected anything, so I just lived with it. But,. if your under warranty still, well, your call

fans987d278a Posted at 2016-12-24 11:30
Damn overtightened screws! But, dosen;t  look like that location carries any weight, you know what I mean, if on a motor mount, I would worry, but that location, my old P3S had a tiny crack there, never changed or affected anything, so I just lived with it. But,. if your under warranty still, well, your call

It seems so insignificant to me, but it's not my drone, so yes, it's the OP's decision to make.

Personally, it's not something that would bother me. Thick skinned and more tolerant... ;-)


RedHotPoker

But he has had 20 flights and paid best part of £1300 so anyone who says they wouldn't be agreived is just out rite lying! Telling the guy to basically just live with it is ridiculous.

Next we'll have the ones who say do you auto land etc, ah well shouldn't do that hand catch instead.


maybe we're seeing more cracks ATM because maybe they changed materials to make the shell or simply was over tightened on production line or the weather colder weather may make it become more prone to crack, who knows send it off, but definitely, DO NOT LIVE WITH IT.

If this was your air craft and you decided to ignore a potential hazard as it seemed insignificant to you but upon flying it completely broke and damaged something or worse injured someone, that insignificant oversight, has turned into a very significant issue...think of the bigger picture.

Sky Mike Posted at 2016-12-24 13:06
If this was your air craft and you decided to ignore a potential hazard as it seemed insignificant to you but upon flying it completely broke and damaged something or worse injured someone, that insignificant oversight, has turned into a very significant issue...think of the bigger picture.

"But he has had 20 flights and paid best part of £1300 so anyone who says they wouldn't be agreived is just out rite lying! Telling the guy to basically just live with it is ridiculous.

Next we'll have the ones who say do you auto land etc, ah well shouldn't do that hand catch instead.


maybe we're seeing more cracks ATM because maybe they changed materials to make the shell or simply was over tightened on production line or the weather colder weather may make it become more prone to crack, who knows send it off, but definitely, DO NOT LIVE WITH IT."

If you think this minute shell fracture is going to crash his new drone, you are sadly mistaken, and probably in the wrong hobby. Haha
Most people here would ignore that, especially where it's located. It's not in or around a motor mount, and the gimbal isn't going to suddenly fall off and injure anything, let alone do damage to the ground. ;-)

Sure, please send it off, and they will probably return you back a refurbished unit... If that's a better option, go for it.

I would put a small dab of clear nail polish on it and if it were me, go flying...


RedHotPoker

Ok a defect resulting in a fracture isn't a issue and I'm in the wrong hobby for showing concerns towards a defect, nice

  Hi guys, sory but I think you are missing the big picture here...

"I had them 4 times on my P3A and i also have them now on my P4, a bit sad, worst christmas gift ever."

  ok, the guy had 4 P3A with the same problem, and now a P4 with exactly the same? landing like a rock is maybe your thing??

  Happy flying
  Jorge

RedHotPoker Posted at 2016-12-24 13:27
Very similar to another members post a few days ago...
I hope this isn't going to start a whole new series of complaint posts and ongoing returns for repairs. ;-)

Red:

I had some wise crackers with my soup the other day. I thought it was a rather smart move.

Keep Smiling,

Augustus

Sky Mike Posted at 2016-12-24 15:25
Ok a defect resulting in a fracture isn't a issue and I'm in the wrong hobby for showing concerns towards a defect, nice

Sure Take it to heart, but not quite that serious. ;-)
& I think you know very well, what I meant.  

It's only hobby, plastic model. Not mititary grade hardware.

Send it in for service, certainly they will pull it apart, replace the shell and mail it back to you...
Should only take 2-3 weeks. So not too bad, for down time. Enjoy.

RedHotPoker

Augustus Brian Posted at 2016-12-24 17:44
Red:

I had some wise crackers with my soup the other day. I thought it was a rather smart move.

I hope that it was turtle soup, and it was served snappy for you... Hahaha

You can make a neat banjo from the vacant shell. ;-)


RedHotPoker

Sorry to hear about the issue, may I know have you contacted our tech support via support@dji.com for help?
We'll help you evaluate it and handle it properly.

jorgerodrigues Posted at 2016-12-25 06:55
Hi guys, sory but I think you are missing the big picture here...

"I had them 4 times on my P3A and i also have them now on my P4, a bit sad, worst christmas gift ever."

I'm simply flying my phantoms a lot! I had almost 150 flights with my P3A before selling it! I never crashed my P3A & P4, my landings are always good! I trully don't think this crack could have been caused by a bad landing, it should have been somewhere close to the legs if so.

My P3A cracks have always been on the arms like ton of people, so if it is your way to telling me i am a bad pilot, i really appreciate your opinion but i am definitely not!

DJI Natalia Posted at 2016-12-25 11:29
Sorry to hear about the issue, may I know have you contacted our tech support via  for help?
We'll help you evaluate it and handle it properly.

Hi

I sent an email to the DJI Support and i'm waiting to their answer!

blackmennewstyl Posted at 2016-12-29 12:52
Hi

I sent an email to the DJI Support and i'm waiting to their answer!

Good to hear you're taking the steps to address this. You will be up and running again in no time.

So i got an answer from the support which specified me that my issue is covered by a 3 months warranty after buying, i should contact right away my dealer which will normally change it for free.

I went to my dealer and his answer was kind of "No he won't fix it". His exactly words were that he already changed the shell on the P3 a lot of times but never on the P4. Which is hard to believe honestly. He also scares that he will damage something in the process.

So right now, my shell is still not fixed and the crack is getting slightly bigger since these photos...

I don't think it will hurt anything even if it spreads all the way up. I bought a white MacBook a few years back. the plastic started cracking in about 5 areas just after the warranty ran out. I found out it was a common problem but it is just cosmetic. I'm sure the same thing goes for your phantom. If it were me I would not be worried about it. You can buy a new shell for like $70 if it bothers you.

slightly loosen the screw, stop drill it with a 1/16" drill bit and put a piece of white tape on it and get back in the race without losing a lap ! Drone On !

blackmennewstyl Posted at 2017-1-19 08:33
So i got an answer from the support which specified me that my issue is covered by a 3 months warranty after buying, i should contact right away my dealer which will normally change it for free.

I went to my dealer and his answer was kind of "No he won't fix it". His exactly words were that he already changed the shell on the P3 a lot of times but never on the P4. Which is hard to believe honestly. He also scares that he will damage something in the process.

Are you using autoland?

Phantom Robin Posted at 2017-1-20 05:38
Are you using autoland?

I never used autoland lol

I finally changed my shell for free using my 3 months warranty as it should!

Dealer was scared to do the surgery but did well! No problem so far and i'm pretty sure there is nothing complicated in the process, just be careful with the different electronics!

Got already 30 flights since and so far so good! My P4 experience is awesome! Now the only thing i am hoping is that DJI really steps up its game with Android, the experience is lately quite annoying with the last DJI Go app updates. Some phone/tablet had moved to Android 7 and apparently they seem to have missed that point. I'm facing some annoying app crashes since i moved to Android 7 on my Nvidia Shield K1 Tablet...