Do it yourself phantom repair thread!
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meeestermike
lvl.2
United States
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Well, about a month into falling in love with my Phantom 3 Pro I had a mishap.
I was doing a video of a local park and had run the batteries really low to the point that it was starting to head to the home point.
I had the drone within 10 feet of me and had actually landed it... and crazy me, I thought that the "Home" proceedure which had already initiated would have automatically shut down, but it persisted and took over and up she flew!
The bad part was that she was under some tall trees.  While I'm there fingering the "red X" wondering why it wasn't initiating the cancellation proceedure and panicking, she flew straight up trying to reach the 30 meter altitude before heading home.  If it wasn't for those pesky branches that got in the way everything would have been fine.  
My heart sunk after hearing the "death screech" from on high and I saw her falling fast and hitting hard and bouncing.  As it was still bouncing, I saw the confirm dialog box pop up to cancel it going home.  Out came the battery (which is fine) and off broke the 4K camera and gimble.  One arm was bent and a bit twisted and the propeller that it supported had broken at the tip.
Visibly, that was the extent of the damage, and never in my imagination after hitting so hard, the arm twisted as it was with the camera broke off, would I have expected it to fly and be controllable, but yet she did.  My controller kept telling me I had no signal (must have been to the camera and tablet) but she flew.
Knowing there is no warranty that covers "stupid is as stupid does", I already have another new P3P on the way.
BUT... with the hopes of salvaging as much as I can, I'm looking for information about repairing my P3P.  
Preliminary searches has not lead me to a good online resource for parts and instructional information.  Is there a thread that anyone knows about where parts (new and used) and repairs are discussed?  
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

2016-8-4
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DJI-Ken
DJI team
Flight distance : 1515312 ft
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United States
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Sorry for your crash, you just have to search this and other forums and I'm sure you will find great information out there.
2016-8-4
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AG0N-Gary
First Officer
Flight distance : 700846 ft
United States
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Drone Nerds and DJI have parts available.  Look to YouTube for LOTS of how-to videos.
2016-8-4
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Capt. Wild Bill
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1319180 ft
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http://www.phantomhelp.com/Phantom-3-Professional/
2016-8-5
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Capt. Wild Bill
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1319180 ft
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http://www.phantomhelp.com/Phantom-3-Professional/
2016-8-5
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endotherm
First Officer
Flight distance : 503241 ft

Australia
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So you know for the future, after the aircraft lands after going home, you have to manually shut off the motors by holding the left stick down for a few seconds.  What happened in your case was that you landed the aircraft manually while you had a RTH in progress.  That is fine, overriding a RTH or making manual course corrections etc, but you need to remember to cancel the RTH if you are going to land it completely.  Otherwise you face the behaviour you experienced.  Once on the ground, it still thought it was in RTH mode, so as an obedient machine it followed its programming.  It ascended to RTH altitude and proceeded home.  Once again you could have saved the day and pulled down on the left stick and landed manually, as you did before.  Once on the ground, be sure to turn off the motors as the air being pushed down can cause the aircraft to take off on its own as it might not be sure it is on the ground any more.  This has been observed by people leaving the aircraft idling on the ground too long.
2016-8-5
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mochorm
lvl.2
Flight distance : 940148 ft
Canada
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OP, how far where you from your home point when you landed with RTH on?

If one initiates a RTH and the birds within 60 ft. of home it should just land.
Sounds like RTH works differently if initiated outside this 60ft. radius and you bring the bird back into this 60ft radius.

It would seem to me that two scenarios should work the same? Same basic philosophy seems to apply to both scenarios, right?
2016-8-5
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meeestermike
lvl.2
United States
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Thanks go out to all who have provided replies...

The parts I'm looking for will come out of a DJI Phantom junk yard (oh...where are you?) ... where it isn't so much the tiny integral parts of the 4K camera or gimbal per se, but crashed units that still have some whole working parts still intact and working, such as the camera itself, and hopefully available at not at new prices.  I'm on a retiree's budget.

Yep, my bad.  Never again will I deplete the batteries so much that it goes in RTH mode automatically.  I was well over the 60 ft. distance of where I took off and it was set for there...(darn it).
I was pushing it trying to get a video done.  I had it on the ground within 10 feet of me, but I hadn't shut it down completely because I was fumbling with the on-screen "red-x" which didn't respond right away.  If it did, I was freaking out so much that I didn't see it.  It's a hard lesson to learn.

I wonder if those who create the programs for the Phantoms, and other drones for that matter, can come up with something (and not knowing if it already does as I write this)... where it would be possible to simply push down the RTH button on the controller and hold it for say 2 or 3 seconds, it would cancel the RTH process, preventing the fumbling I was doing with my tablet, frantically touching the "red-x" over and over and wondering why it wasn't responding.
Don't get me wrong, I understand this was operator problems... but if something like that would have been an option and I'd have known it, how sweet it would have been.
"Absence makes the heart grow stronger... the wallet much lighter... and the knowledge of the operations of the drone foremost in my thoughts the next time we fly."
2016-8-6
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meeestermike
lvl.2
United States
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endotherm Posted at 2016-8-5 23:00
So you know for the future, after the aircraft lands after going home, you have to manually shut off ...

Thanks endotherm... so to be sure I understand correctly, if I had landed it and shut the propellers off so it wasn't running anymore, it would not have stayed in the RTH sequence and would have stayed put on the ground (without automatically starting up again to go home)?
2016-8-6
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meeestermike
lvl.2
United States
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mochorm Posted at 2016-8-6 01:21
OP, how far where you from your home point when you landed with RTH on?

If one initiates a RTH and  ...

Thanks mochorm...
I had not stayed in the original location... I was following her around and was not within 60 ft. of the original take-off location and well over 250 feet from it.
2016-8-6
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mochorm
lvl.2
Flight distance : 940148 ft
Canada
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Yup that's how it works, hold the RTH button to cancel RTH. Or you could use the app.
2016-8-6
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meeestermike
lvl.2
United States
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mochorm Posted at 2016-8-7 01:36
Yup that's how it works, hold the RTH button to cancel RTH. Or you could use the app.

Sheeeezy Pete... If I had only known...  Thanks again.
2016-8-6
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