I know I am not the only person with this issue of stress fractures and cracks on the Phantom legs. Are there any precautions I can take in the future so this is less likely to happen? i dont hard land it and most I catch by hand i tried to avoide these but i now have 33.

catching by hand also generates stress on the landing gear...

i was kind of curious if it would but i always catch the left front leg when front is facing me. Even tho i fly mode 2. funny thing is there are much less fractures on the side i hand catch
are there any light weight accessories that can help prevent these issues?

bluemarley67 Posted at 2017-8-8 07:51
i was kind of curious if it would but i always catch the left front leg when front is facing me. Even tho i fly mode 2. funny thing is there are much less fractures on the side i hand catch
are there any light weight accessories that can help prevent these issues?

These are made by PolarPro. for the P4, not the P4P, they say. I don't know how good or effective they are.

Just do not handcatch the drone , just let it hover above the landing place and easily and slowly push the left stick down. Maybe adjust the sticks to control it more subtile

maybe you guys are right about the hand catching i will do as little as possible with my next set of skids i have seen those on polar pro and some other designs but dont know if they do much. Hopefully someone that has a set of these could chime in???

Well my parts arrive tomorrow and i can now fix it! i will report back and let you all know how this round goes with ground landings!

bluemarley67 Posted at 2017-8-8 11:24
Well my parts arrive tomorrow and i can now fix it! i will report back and let you all know how this round goes with ground landings!

I have also had cracks appear just under the covers on the landing gear, or rather from the inpsection holes / covers on the landing gear running downward.

I used a self adhesive silicone tape, It has no adhesive and only bonds to itself. its very stretchy and light weight. therefore I can wrap this tape around that part of the landing gear very tightly. Has worked a treat thus far. It is available in white also, almost perfectly matching the colour of the P4P.

Silicone Tape

I personally do not suggest to catch the drone by hand. BTW, I would recommend you send it in for warranty repair, as repair or glue by your end might void your warranty.

that tape is some interesting stuff. susan i am near passing on my warranty anyways and working on the dji stuff is tedious but isnt terrible to do

Also I recieved them today so I mind as well. I personally cannot afford to let this one go in for repairs while trying to sell another p4p in mint condition with only 3.5 batteries through it

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-8-8 22:33
I personally do not suggest to catch the drone by hand. BTW, I would recommend you send it in for warranty repair, as repair or glue by your end might void your warranty.

Not sure if the software engineers can address this but my P4Pro seems to land much harder than the Mavic in auto land. The Mavic has a very gently touch down but the P4Pro seems to bang down a bit. I now put a 1" thick foam yoga mat underneath the landing pad to try to make the landing softer.
Not sure if the firmer landing contributes to any stress cracks in the landing gear.

Jenee 2 Posted at 2017-8-9 22:56
Not sure if the software engineers can address this but my P4Pro seems to land much harder than the Mavic in auto land. The Mavic has a very gently touch down but the P4Pro seems to bang down a bit. I now put a 1" thick foam yoga mat underneath the landing pad to try to make the landing softer.
Not sure if the firmer landing contributes to any stress cracks in the landing gear.

Jenee, have you tried to fine-tune the EXPs?you could just do it for the throttle so that the response to the stick would be smoother... Of course you would have to use manual landing instead than auto.

Antonio76 that is a great idea i like where your head is at! i will also try this

heres an update i replaced my landing gears last night took some time due to very small connectors and tight spaces for the connectors, it is a little tedious but, i was able to do it and plan to do all future work myself on this particular drone Phantom 4 Pro UAV

bluemarley67 Posted at 2017-8-10 07:19
Antonio76 that is a great idea i like where your head is at! i will also try this

heres an update i replaced my landing gears last night took some time due to very small connectors and tight spaces for the connectors, it is a little tedious but, i was able to do it and plan to do all future work myself on this particular drone Phantom 4 Pro UAV

I got these and its work perfect: https://www.amazon.de/Hensych-St ... anding+gear+phantom

As far the skids on the bottom, that's why I bought a landing pad. I got the PGYTech landing pad. Keeps my skids clean.

vayreda do you think those keep your legs from fracturing how long have you used them? also did you install them before yours started to Fracture?

daniel the rider how much do landing pads really do? are they padded? and do they sit flat on all terrain?

bluemarley67 Posted at 2017-8-10 07:27
vayreda do you think those keep your legs from fracturing how long have you used them? also did you install them before yours started to Fracture?

About an half year now and yes the landing gear will provided me from fracturing the legs.....

ive been thinking about those since they do brace th middle does your drone bounce on landings on hard surfaces still or does it seem more gental?

Antonio76 Posted at 2017-8-10 03:42
Jenee, have you tried to fine-tune the EXPs?you could just do it for the throttle so that the response to the stick would be smoother... Of course you would have to use manual landing instead than auto.

Thanks for that. I can manually land gently and my landing pad does absorb the bump in auto landings but I  just wondered why the P4Pro can't auto land like the Mavic. I am sure it could be done in the firmware and I also wondered if the hard landing on hard ground contributed to the leg fractures.

the hard landings are the problem also the material of the legs are a much to hard plasctic that doesnt allow enough flex to occur its not a huge deal definately not the end of the world but they do fracture do to all of this combined.
...

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-8-8 22:33
I personally do not suggest to catch the drone by hand. BTW, I would recommend you send it in for warranty repair, as repair or glue by your end might void your warranty.

DJI Susan,

I have stress cracks in my landing gear too, right where they connect to the aircraft body.  What is the warranty period on these? Mine was delivered 12/12/2016.  Has about 98 flights on it, no crashes.

Just a word to the wise. Auto landings can also be a stressful force to the landing skids.
I have seen my drone literally bounce off the ground and rise up to nearly a foot, from the forces excerted.

I don't ever hand catch, as my Motif XF8 would not appreciate any uneccesary hand injuries... ;-)


Just bring the drone down lightly, and once it touches down, hold the left stick down for three seconds while it shuts off the motors.


RedHotPoker

Vayreda Posted at 2017-8-10 07:21
I got these and its work perfect: https://www.amazon.de/Hensych-Stabilisator-Kardanische-Schutzblech-Stabilizer/dp/B06XBLY67M/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1502378613&sr=8-11&keywords=landing+gear+phantom

These are what I use but without the cross bar. They work great and give the camera extra ground clearance. I scratched two UV lenses because the camera was so close to the ground, when you start it up and it goes through the gimbal  sequence it can scrape along the grass or small pebbles, not anymore!

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-9-5 12:16
Just a word to the wise. Auto landings can also be a stressful force to the landing skids.
I have seen my drone literally bounce off the ground and rise up to nearly a foot, from the forces excerted.

Only used auto landing one time it set the bird down to hard for my liking, I now only do very very soft landings, mostly use a 2.5 X 2.5 ft X 1/4 in. piece of plywood on grass or land on level flat hard surface. Never take off from grass without plywood because of camera initializing up/down movement. I Totally Agree With You on the Auto Landing

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-9-5 12:16
Just a word to the wise. Auto landings can also be a stressful force to the landing skids.
I have seen my drone literally bounce off the ground and rise up to nearly a foot, from the forces excerted.

Hi RedHotPoker,
I was using auto land on my P4P, don't anymore because of the hard landings, I was sure this was not right, my P3S lands like a feather on auto land, do you think there may be a bug or something causing this on the P4P?
Regards
Eric

Eric ncfwa Posted at 2017-9-5 17:17
Hi RedHotPoker,
I was using auto land on my P4P, don't anymore because of the hard landings, I was sure this was not right, my P3S lands like a feather on auto land, do you think there may be a bug or something causing this on the P4P?
Regards

No certainly not a firmware bug, as my Phantom 3 Pro demonstrated a hard Auto Landing touchdown, far too firm, for my liking.
I suppose if you had a soft foam, sponge like material covering a landing pad, it would be perfect. ;-)


In some ways, I'd wish the initial gimbal calibration, upon starting up the aircraft, could be done right after takeoff. Rather than that routine sequence, which drags the camera front element across any uneven surfaces, directly below the drone.  I have purchased a flower petal lens hood, that adds more length to the camera lens section, and so, it must be applied, after the completion of my gimbal calibration, once the camera has returned to its front facing direction. Longer legs would benefit here.


RedHotPoker

bluemarley67 Posted at 2017-8-10 07:19
Antonio76 that is a great idea i like where your head is at! i will also try this

heres an update i replaced my landing gears last night took some time due to very small connectors and tight spaces for the connectors, it is a little tedious but, i was able to do it and plan to do all future work myself on this particular drone Phantom 4 Pro UAV

Hey, big congrats doing your own maintenance. Good for you. Saves you all that down time, sending the unit in to DJI for repairs, then getting a repacement refurbished unit sent back anyway... ;-)


A nice repair video would have been nice... Eh




RedHotPoker

DanielTheRider Posted at 2017-8-10 07:21
As far the skids on the bottom, that's why I bought a landing pad. I got the PGYTech landing pad. Keeps my skids clean.

Links to the vendor, and a couple of pics or it didn't happen!! Hahaha


Nice to hear folks are being proactive in keeping their healthy investment intact. ;-)


RedHotPoker

Antonio76 Posted at 2017-8-8 07:35
catching by hand also generates stress on the landing gear...

Not to mention the personal stress experienced by the drone pilot. Hand catching, all though fairly simple in practice, is also very dangerous, and has caused enough injury to some unfortunate pilots to give pause and consideration to a normal and routine proper landing, on the ground, or a landing pad.


The thing is, hand catching can't be practiced before hand.

It's isn't a part of the Flight SIM either. ;;-)

Best to land with safety in mind, on the ground, provided you have safe ground around you, to accomplish this.


RedHotPoker

bluemarley67 Posted at 2017-8-10 07:28
daniel the rider how much do landing pads really do? are they padded? and do they sit flat on all terrain?

Sorry on the late reply. They're just a landing pad. It primarily helps me with being accurate on my landing as I override the home landing upon landing as I don't want my skids touching the dirty ground.

Tsavo Posted at 2017-9-5 11:57
DJI Susan,

I have stress cracks in my landing gear too, right where they connect to the aircraft body.  What is the warranty period on these? Mine was delivered 12/12/2016.  Has about 98 flights on it, no crashes.

I would recommend you to send it in for fully check. Our colleagues will offer you the corresponding solutions according to the damage assessment.

you could fix it yourself if you arent worried about or are past your warrenty period it is a pretty straight forward procedure

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-9-5 18:03
No certainly not a firmware bug, as my Phantom 3 Pro demonstrated a hard Auto Landing touchdown, far too firm, for my liking.
I suppose if you had a soft foam, sponge like material covering a landing pad, it would be perfect. ;-)

Hi RHP,
Thanks for the reply, I guess it must be the PRO behind Phantom 3 & 4 that has the hard landings, it's a shame because the precision landing system works very well with my landing pad never been any more than a few millimetres out but still lands on the pad, I have had to take manual control to land, but it's not a big issue, just a bit lazy on my part using precision landing, thanks again,
Regards
Eric

Eric ncfwa Posted at 2017-9-6 17:27
Hi RHP,
Thanks for the reply, I guess it must be the PRO behind Phantom 3 & 4 that has the hard landings, it's a shame because the precision landing system works very well with my landing pad never been any more than a few millimetres out but still lands on the pad, I have had to take manual control to land, but it's not a big issue, just a bit lazy on my part using precision landing, thanks again,
Regards

Not sure if it's related to specific models or just our particular luck with such swift touch downs.
I always wish others a Happy Landing.  Usually leaving myself plenty of time to return to the home point, landing before the voltage has dropped too much..
I actually enjoy the process of bringing the drone back, and touching down for a gentle if abrupt landing. It's fun. Sometimes I land and lift off again, only to turn the drone around to face me, with the video camera still running.  
I think it's important to have some kind of landing/launchpad to keep the dust and debris from getting in the motors. Makes landing much easier too.


RedHotPoker

DJI Susan Posted at 2017-8-8 22:33
I personally do not suggest to catch the drone by hand. BTW, I would recommend you send it in for warranty repair, as repair or glue by your end might void your warranty.

How come you have no flight distance below your title?  

Have you not uploaded your flights yet, to the cloud?



RedHotPoker