Ive been really enjoying my Phantom 3 Lately, but I allways have an underlying fear of it dropping out of the sky
I was wondering from your personal experiances how many hours you have put on the P3 until running into problems.

I have not crahed my drone nor have I pushed any of its limits (6 Hours Total), Id just like to know if there are any porblems with with its use that I can preemptively solve?


Thanks


Heres a sample of my videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7K0sxEOAV4

It's all up to you.
With care, you could easily be flying the same Phantom in another year or two.

Very nice video... Such nice area. Just spent a week northeast of there in a cottage where my wife surprised me with a new P3S for my birthday. So far, no much as fas as video goes to show for. Next fall... Haliburton here we (my drone and I)  come

cdikland Posted at 2016-10-7 20:02
Very nice video... Such nice area. Just spent a week northeast of there in a cottage where my wife s ...

Lol, Il be doing the Same thing this weekend. Nice !!

well, i assume anything can fail.. from battery, through motors, and ESC to the main board...  I assume there would be warning signs, but what are they, and how to detect them and what to do about them.. would e nice if DJI released something.. even though extending the life of their product is.. well.. not always in their best interest... sadly...

My P3A's RC bricked after RC updating & after only 2 flights, fortunately the dealer claim (not rarely) new one for me.
Today i will test flying to check if RC works fine.

Phantomski Posted at 2016-10-7 20:51
well, i assume anything can fail.. from battery, through motors, and ESC to the main board...  I ass ...

dont over think things.

things fail but the mfg cant always say this will happen then this.....

sometimes sh*t happens and no warning or hints

What makes it worse is that everything is custom.
If my bird dies I have lots of expensive things that I will never be able to use elsewhere.

I am sure there are some Mean Time Before Failure numbers floating around the design engineers area for various components....but I seriously doubt anyone other select folks at DJI will see them...

Last year I started a usage log that was open to everyone on the forum, where you could send me your stats, so that I could record them and find out if there was need for maintenance, or a time before MTBF kicked in.
I had only about 10 responses, so although I did publish this data to this forum I decided there was little interest.   
This is reproduced here:
Highest number of flights 280+,  hours 56,  360 miles flown.
So I dont think that you should be worrying at 6 hours.
Be sensible, keep away from all objects, dont be tempted to go too close, and if in doubt stop and gather your thoughts.
Good luck.

User	Model	Date delivered	Total Flights	Hours flown	Minutes flown	Distance Km	Distance miles	Average time/flight (mins).	Average Dist / flight  (Miles).	Average Dist / flight (Km)		Cracks body to top. Flights	Cracks body to motors.  Flights	Cracks Landing gear	Props broken	Failure Motor	Failure ESC	Failure camera	Failure Gimbal	Failure SD card	Failure Controller	Battery life		Typ Flight	Minor Crash	Fatal Crash	Remarks
rayrokni	P3P		285	56	3360	579.60	360.00	11.79	1.26	2.03												4    At 100%		Mixed
amstaff_loyalty	P3A		223	20	1200	196.60	121.89	5.38	0.55	0.88												4    At 100%		Mixed
Maui Aerial Ima	P3P		207	27	1620	418.60	260.00	7.83	1.26	2.02												5    At 100%		Mixed
polmuir	P3P		158	16	960	104.65	65.00	6.08	0.41	0.66												5  At 97% to 100%		Mixed
liningiv	P3P	18 May	151	22	1320	122.00	75.64	8.74	0.50	0.81		74			Props replaced 125.							2    At 100%		Mixed & coastal, stills photography.
Flyhigh7877			116	9	540	90.60	56.17	4.66	0.48	0.78												3    At 100%		Mixed
Swedrone	P3		107	21	1260	198.40	123.01	11.78	1.15	1.85												2		Mixed
PerlanSwed	P3P		104	18	1080	77.30	47.93	10.38	0.46	0.74		100												Mixed
jimcloud74	P3	April	100	9	540	112.70	70.00	5.40	0.70	1.13												3    At 100%		Mixed
Sir Edward K	P3P	11 Aug	100	11	660	90.60	41.00	6.60	0.41	0.91												1 at 100% 1 at 99%		Hot humid, mixed rural
										0.00

liningiv Posted at 2016-10-9 07:04
Last year I started a usage log that was open to everyone on the forum, where you could send me your ...

Your averages should reflect the total of the 10 samples. This would be more meaningful as to the life of the P3. But with thousands and thousands of P3's sold you need a lot more samples.
I also believe a better survey would be from people who's P3 died. Then average out the cause, the P3 age, etc. Of course it'd help to get a lot of samples. From what I have read on here, most P3's have died because of upgrades than anything else. Just my opinion.

Be careful not to activate CSC because I just did

Airvine. let me first say that I think that you did some great video work with your P3S, both in regards to the locks as well as the surrounding countryside.  Really nice.

As far as longevity of the aircraft...I suppose your mileage will vary.  My P3S has flown 31+hours/over a million feet/165 flights.  Aside from a couple of mishaps and repairs to the gimbal, my Phantom still flies well and I expect it to continue for some time to come.

SpIrCRxKrdw0 Posted at 2016-10-9 06:43
Be careful not to activate CSC because I just did

ouch! damage report!?

Phantomski Posted at 2016-10-12 03:31
ouch! damage report!?

Bent yaw arm and bent legs
http://forum.dji.com/thread-65926-1-1.html?&page=1

cdikland Posted at 2016-10-8 02:02
Very nice video... Such nice area. Just spent a week northeast of there in a cottage where my wife s ...

Good wifey! Congrats

MGR57 Posted at 2016-10-8 23:50
I am sure there are some Mean Time Before Failure numbers floating around the design engineers area  ...

A more sensible measurement to keep track of is the runout of each motor. Mechanically since the motors are brushless the only thing that can wear out are the bearings. Measuring the runout would allow one to keep track of the state of the bearings. If the runout becomes too extreme then you would know to replace a motor.

Bruce

Bruce Bodnyk Posted at 2016-10-12 09:16
A more sensible measurement to keep track of is the runout of each motor. Mechanically since the m ...

Interesting.... not familiar with that term.  Thanks for the reply.  Happy droning!

Bruce Bodnyk Posted at 2016-10-12 21:16
A more sensible measurement to keep track of is the runout of each motor. Mechanically since the m ...

Please elaborate.. I have been looking at amp stats from healthy drones, as well as sometimes using infrared sensor to read the motor temp after landing.. not sure if that is of much value..
Healthydrones keeps track of battery temp too, but that could indicate heavy flying, older battery, higher current  due to esc or motor having issues..
What you suggest, whatever it is, would help to see if the motors are going, will still not help with diagnosing any other components having issues....
Would be nice if DJI had more detailed diags.. and maybe they do? Maybe there would be an ESC error before ESC fails? Who knows?

Phantomski Posted at 2016-10-12 11:58
Please elaborate.. I have been looking at amp stats from healthy drones, as well as sometimes usin ...

Runout is the error in position of a rotating shaft. An ideal motor would rotate perfectly about its axis. However because perfection is impossible to  achieve, the runout is a measurement to tell you how much the motor shaft deviates from the ideal as it rotates, or put another way, how much it wobbles. It is measured using a dial indicator ideally measuring to 0.0001" or better.

The engineering specifications of the motors would specify the max runout allowed. Measuring and keeping track of the runout of a motor would provide important information on the potential mechanical failure of it. One would expect a very slight gradual increase in runout over time as the ball bearings wear. However a sharp deviation could indicate a potential failure.

Bruce

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-10-7 18:05
It's all up to you.
With care, you could easily be flying the same Phantom in another year or two.

So you're saying the anticipated life expectancy of my Phantom is only one or two years? That's really disappointing and seems pretty short for such an expensive piece of equipment.

Rex59 Posted at 2016-10-13 07:07
So you're saying the anticipated life expectancy of my Phantom is only one or two years? That's re ...

No ... I didn't say that at all.
If you fly carelessly, it's life expectancy may only be a couple of weeks.
The most important factor is you and how you fly.

Rex59 Posted at 2016-10-12 16:07
So you're saying the anticipated life expectancy of my Phantom is only one or two years? That's re ...

I am pretty sure he did not say that!

please re read it --

he simply said with care it will last for years...

and it will...


good luck and have fun flying!

First, would the life of such device not  be in flight hours?
I do not know if DJI did that anywhere?
Even with their warranty, it's in months, not in flight time.. which is weird..  Look at cars - months or years, and miles..  Would it not make sense for DJI to say "we guarantee the product for x number of flight hours", which is recorded in the logs.. it sort of would make sense, and be upfront about an expectation of good service of such device. I got mine in April, and i am around 36 hours flight, surprisingly 45 hours of
log time" - i guess i was operational 9 hours between the preflight checks and the initial testing, sim and so on... not sure.. that is according to healthydrones.. where perhaps i do not have every single flight uploaded too? Anyhow, if they said 200 hours, that would be hard to quantify on the calendar, but easy in the logs....
I assume nobody saw anything like this from DJI, officially or otherwise?

The one thing that bothers me is the lack of ability to lubricate the motor bearings. If you could apply some lubricant to them it would extend the life of the motor.

Love that lock, but I can't help wondering why such a complex device was conceived when several conventional locks would have done the job.

Geebax Posted at 2016-10-12 18:38
The one thing that bothers me is the lack of ability to lubricate the motor bearings. If you could a ...

What r u talking about? I never took any of my phantom apart, but are you saying taking the motor out to lube it is a big job? I never lubed brush-less before, I always assume that some teflon based bike like lube, a drop on each side of the shaft would do?

Phantomski Posted at 2016-10-13 13:58
What r u talking about? I never took any of my phantom apart, but are you saying taking the motor  ...

In a quality brushless motor, there are two ball bearings supporting the main shaft, but in the phantom motor you cannot get to the bearings to apply lube. Some of the larger outrunner motors have accessible bearings. Justr putting oil on the ahaft will not get it to where is needs to be.

roymoon Posted at 2016-10-9 02:49
What makes it worse is that everything is custom.
If my bird dies I have lots of expensive things th ...

Hmm, if your iPhone dies you can't use the bits to fix a different model iPhone.

Geebax Posted at 2016-10-13 05:04
Hmm, if your iPhone dies you can't use the bits to fix a different model iPhone.

Sorry, that's just not true. There's plenty of parts you could swap over, but that's just not the point in case. The point is the industry - actually it goes for all industries - should form consortiums to agree on standards and use them, as to avoid the waste that comes from duplication and re-buying for parts/accessories. The only problem with that is that is a great idea for customers (and the whole planet would say thanks), but it's a bad idea for companies who don't want to pass over the chance to hook you up with a good product, and then charge you with non-standard accessories.

The reason for custom is most likely, among other things, quality control.. yes, u can get other motors on many quads, but only those from the maker are qualified and guaranteed (say blade quads, still use outrunner, but supposedly specifically made for them, and tested via qc, differently... true? who the heck knows for sure!)..

Phantomski Posted at 2016-10-13 08:11
The reason for custom is most likely, among other things, quality control.. yes, u can get other mot ...

That would be true if they didn't change every single item along the line... I can count at least 8 different version of the "phantom line" and each one of them has different accessories (blades, remote controllers, chargers, mobile device mounts.... everything is always different also for those models that wouldn't require... that isn't quality control, come on

job security?

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-10-12 15:57
No ... I didn't say that at all.
If you fly carelessly, it's life expectancy may only be a couple  ...

Actually in post #2 that is what you said.

"It's all up to you.
With care, you could easily be flying the same Phantom in another year or two."
.  

I have 29 hours, 43 minutes, 1,162,611 feet and 281 flights.  Had this one since release, Phantom 3 Pro (over a year old).  Just flew it today.

Not as much as some but I hope the stats help.

Rex59 Posted at 2016-10-16 13:36
Actually in post #2 that is what you said.

"It's all up to you.

Thanks but I kind of know what I said.
Since it was so complicated I'll try rewording it to see if I can communicate any better.
How long your Phantom lasts is up to you.

There ... Did I say it will self destruct in 3 weeks?
Did I say it will last for ever?
No & no.
Take good care of it and it will last a lot longer than if you are careless with it.

Well, mine P3P is over a year old and done nearly 200 flight's, no problems yet. ..

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-10-16 23:04
Thanks but I kind of know what I said.
Since it was so complicated I'll try rewording it to see if  ...

This is a stupid argument labroides and I certainly didn't mean to turn it into one. No your reply in post #2 was far from complicated. Maybe I'm just missing the whole context. When you said with care you could still be flying it in another year or two, I took that to mean that with care it would last 1 or 2 years. Sorry for what appears to be just a big misunderstanding. Hopefully no hard feelings as I always enjoy your informative posts.