I have a P4 that was flipped upside down in the air and drove itself to the ground. I know it needs a camera and a body, but I don't want to invest in in the camera and body because an error still shows on the app as "No ESC". If the ESC will be repaired by the camera/gimble unit replacement I'm good, otherwise it's probably not worth repairing. The list of parts shown on the DJI website doesn't address this, nor does any error searching tell me what part fixes "No ESC".

Thanks ahead of time everyone.

ESC's , or "electronic speed controller" are located in the arms of the craft, right before the motor. They control the speed each motor spins. Each motor has their own. They are are totally independent of the camera/gimbal system. Good news is they are fairly inexpensive, compared to the optic gear.edit:missed P4, they are closer to the center of the craft, see here:
https://www.rcgeeks.co.uk/blog/p ... ardown-whats-inside

ESC is the electronic speed control, which has no bearing on the camera or gimbal...

Those are for the motors... In a quad copter, multi rotor, there would likely be four.

Perhaps you dislodged the solder on one in the hard "landing"?
Or it has likely become unplugged?

I'm only speculating a guess here...


RedHotPoker

I haven't dis-assembled it yet. I'm familiar with ESC's in rc cars and whatnot, but I guess I assumed the ESC on the phantom was a single "controller" location that ran all 4, perhaps I'm wrong though. He'll if the ESC isn't part of the gimble at this point I'm fine running the drone without the camera and just replace the body for what job I'm assigning this drone full time duty to if I get it fixed. But if it's part of that main circuit board inside the body and not that electronics block that's at the base of the gimble, it doesn't appear that DJI sells that separately.

Edit: On the link posted above to rcgeeks "Hi there, new ESC's are part of the main board and not available separately." is noted, that's a major problem if DJI doesn't sell the main board...

fans377e317d Posted at 2017-2-13 06:38
I haven't dis-assembled it yet. I'm familiar with ESC's in rc cars and whatnot, but I guess I assumed the ESC on the phantom was a single "controller" location that ran all 4, perhaps I'm wrong though. He'll if the ESC isn't part of the gimble at this point I'm fine running the drone without the camera and just replace the body for what job I'm assigning this drone full time duty to if I get it fixed. But if it's part of that main circuit board inside the body and not that electronics block that's at the base of the gimble, it doesn't appear that DJI sells that separately.

Edit: On the link posted above to rcgeeks "Hi there, new ESC's are part of the main board and not available separately." is noted, that's a major problem if DJI doesn't sell the main board...

Yes, if you can't buy the necessary components, you would have to send the drone in, to DJI for repairs.

That's unfortunate, but it may be the only way for you to get it back to proper running order.

You might be able to acquire the needed parts on eBay though. As there are folks who buy them to take apart and part them out.

Good luck.


RedHotPoker

Not sure about the four but all the other ones after the two has escs built on the main board. They go for about 300 bucks

Steve-76 Posted at 2017-2-13 07:08
Not sure about the four but all the other ones after the two has escs built on the main board. They go for about 300 bucks

It would great if there was only one. Or a disaster, for the uninitiated drone repair person.

Yes, but then, a lot more work to replace it, On the main board.
Much more tinkering and soldering each of the four motors, unless they have sliding clips...


RedHotPoker

craighuddy Posted at 2017-2-13 05:54
ESC's , or "electronic speed controller" are located in the arms of the craft, right before the motor. They control the speed each motor spins. Each motor has their own. They are are totally independent of the camera/gimbal system. Good news is they are fairly inexpensive, compared to the optic gear.edit:missed P4, they are closer to the center of the craft, see here:
https://www.rcgeeks.co.uk/blog/p ... ardown-whats-inside

The boards that sit vertically either side of the battery in that link are the ESCs, there are two on each board.  May have got damaged or disconnected by the weight of the battery, I don't imagine they are all that expensive.


One of the boards with two ESCs on is visible:

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-2-13 08:27
The boards that sit vertically either side of the battery in that link are the ESCs, there are two on each board.  May have got damaged or disconnected by the weight of the battery, I don't imagine they are all that expensive.

So four in total then? How would a guy test each of them, to find the faulty one?



RedHotPoker

Out of interest, how did you get it upside down?  It should be very difficult to achieve.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-2-13 08:32
Out of interest, how did you get it upside down?  It should be very difficult to achieve.

Yes, inverted 3D flights takes some real maneuvering, or a crash "Landing".



RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-2-13 08:32
So four in total then? How would a guy test each of them, to find the faulty one?

It tells me which ESC it is, and now that makes sense since there's two ESC's showing missing, so I bet one of those two boards is toast. Although I don't know how to know which is motor 1-4. None of this matters though since the board isn't listed for sale on dji.com and I see none on ebay yet.

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-2-13 08:33
Yes, inverted 3D flights takes some real maneuvering, or a crash "Landing".

I use the drones to train falcons, a friends peregrine hit the release mechanism we use in a weird place that we've never had happen (hundreds of hits on multiple drones and this is the only crash we've had) and instead of grabbing the releasable mechanism the bird grabbed the attached part, inadvertently flipping the drone.

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-13 12:23
I use the drones to train falcons, a friends peregrine hit the release mechanism we use in a weird place that we've never had happen (hundreds of hits on multiple drones and this is the only crash we've had) and instead of grabbing the releasable mechanism the bird grabbed the attached part, inadvertently flipping the drone.

Let me reply in jest...
Is your bird that smart?


RedHotPoker

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-13 12:22
It tells me which ESC it is, and now that makes sense since there's two ESC's showing missing, so I bet one of those two boards is toast. Although I don't know how to know which is motor 1-4. None of this matters though since the board isn't listed for sale on dji.com and I see none on ebay yet.

I wonder if a voltmeter would help in finding the bad ESC?



RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-2-13 12:34
I wonder if a voltage meter would help in finding the bad ESC?

Yea. I'll start dismantling it tonight. Hopefully it's a physical solder break or something like that and not a part failure. I can justify the body replacement, and as much as it sucks to not have a camera I can still run the birds on this drone without it until more parts show up on ebay. Shame it happened to the 4 and not my 3A though.

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-13 12:37
Yea. I'll start dismantling it tonight. Hopefully it's a physical solder break or something like that and not a part failure. I can justify the body replacement, and as much as it sucks to not have a camera I can still run the birds on this drone without it until more parts show up on ebay. Shame it happened to the 4 and not my 3A though.

Dang man, you could have used the lesser of the two, and still, be happy.

You just had to break the new drone. That's a bummer. Atleast you still have a positive attitude about it.

Good luck, hopefully you will discover a loose connection, and not need to perform drone surgery. ;-)

Fingers crossed in your favour.

How do you like the falcon meme? Chuckles

RedHotPoker

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-13 12:37
Yea. I'll start dismantling it tonight. Hopefully it's a physical solder break or something like that and not a part failure. I can justify the body replacement, and as much as it sucks to not have a camera I can still run the birds on this drone without it until more parts show up on ebay. Shame it happened to the 4 and not my 3A though.

Might be good it wasn't the P3, I think the ESCs are on the big expensive main board on that, although I don't know much about it.

They are available, £48 here: http://www.helipal.com/djip4-044 ... md7d83m3nue80go5c06  

Ill guess it has broken off one of the connector pads and can probably be repaired.

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-2-13 08:32
So four in total then? How would a guy test each of them, to find the faulty one?

Yes, there are four motor controllers in total, 2 per board - it is a quadcopter

I expect it will be obvious which one has the problem, if not then a voltmeter to check the connections and compare with the other ESC board should soon identify it.

PS Note that the LEFT and RIGHT ESC boards appear to be different for some reason, maybe only because one drives clockwise and the other counter clockwise - if you are buying a new one then get the right one!

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-2-13 13:42
Yes, there are four motor controllers in total - it is a quadcopter

I expect it will be obvious which one has the problem, if not then a voltmeter to check the connections and compare with the other ESC board should soon identify it.

Man, I hope you can find it and figure out a fix, without replacing any parts.

That is my hope and wish for this.  Kind of excited and axcious for your ultimate success. ;-)



This will be fun. If you can do it, simply.


RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-2-13 12:48
Dang man, you could have used the lesser of the two, and still, be happy.

You just had to break new drone. That's a bummer. Atleast you still have a positive attitude about it.

Lol! Honestly before I read the words I anticipated the one that was floating around about the falcon punch!

Yea, I mean, it sucks it was the new one, but it's the nature of the beast I suppose. It still beats trying to get a solid wind and running a kite up! I just hope I can get it rebuilt without the camera for now and hopefully I can get a camera once they come down in price on eBay. I started dismantling it a few minutes ago, trying to bag everything as I go though.

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-13 15:28
Lol! Honestly before I read the words I anticipated the one that was floating around about the falcon punch!

Yea, I mean, it sucks it was the new one, but it's the nature of the beast I suppose. It still beats trying to get a solid wind and running a kite up! I just hope I can get it rebuilt without the camera for now and hopefully I can get a camera once they come down in price on eBay. I started dismantling it a few minutes ago, trying to bag everything as I go though.

Keep a good record, take pics as you go too. ;-)


Look forward to reading a success story, after...

RedHotPoker

Sorry to hear about that, to ensure its safety and performance, it would be best to send it in for a further evaluation then get it fixed by our engineers.
You can submit online for a case number and apply for pickup: https://repair.dji.com/en/SelfRepair/Area

Flipped upside down in the air???? OMG how is that even possible

DJI Natalia Posted at 2017-2-13 18:21
Sorry to hear about that, to ensure its safety and performance, it would be best to send it in for a further evaluation then get it fixed by our engineers.
You can submit online for a case number and apply for pickup: https://repair.dji.com/en/SelfRepair/Area

DJI Natalia, sure Sounds like, he has his heart, set on doing this repair himself. Hope it all goes well.


Better be mindful of static electricity on the fingers. Zap crackle smoke... ;-)


RedHotPoker

WYHSniper1007 Posted at 2017-2-13 18:52
Flipped upside down in the air???? OMG how is that even possible

Hit by a peregrine doing 150 mph, quite easy to flip and put it into a spin I guess.  Those birds are hunters designed to kill on impact.

I would expect it to recover, but presumably it was too close to the ground to have time.  What height above ground was it at?

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-2-14 02:52
Hit by a peregrine doing 150 mph, quite easy to flip and put it into a spin I guess.  Those birds are hunters designed to kill on impact.

I would expect it to recover, but presumably it was too close to the ground to have time.  What height above ground was it at?

300'ish, it pretty much just drove itself straight into the ground. There didn't appear to be any attempt by the device to right itself. It had plenty of time to do so as once it flipped there was no interference from any outside factors from 300' to the ground.

DJI Natalia Posted at 2017-2-13 18:21
Sorry to hear about that, to ensure its safety and performance, it would be best to send it in for a further evaluation then get it fixed by our engineers.
You can submit online for a case number and apply for pickup: https://repair.dji.com/en/SelfRepair/Area

I'm fully aware it would be "better" to send it in, however, I probably don't want to even know what i'd be charged for a body, esc, and the fact I doubt DJI would be willing to repair just the body and ESC and ship it back without repairing the camera mechanisms. I suspect at cost from DJI to repair esc, body and camera i'd be at the cost of a whole new drone considering a whole new unit is 1200 at list cost. At bare cost just on parts it would be $379camera + 65shell + i'd gamble around 100 for the board so were already at over 500 and we haven't even hit the labor to do it or shipping in two directions. Add that labor and probably another 80 or so in shipping in I can buy a new drone for just a little more and have a second controller, another battery, and a warrantied product again and not just a refurb of what I have.

If DJI is willing to repair the drone without repairing the camera mechanism i'd consider it. Otherwise i'll see what I can do with it to salvage some base functionality. I started going through the "repair" log and didn't really receive any information pages in, and it doesn't exactly have a lot of options fit to my scenario... lol.

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-14 06:49
300'ish, it pretty much just drove itself straight into the ground. There didn't appear to be any attempt by the device to right itself. It had plenty of time to do so as once it flipped there was no interference from any outside factors from 300' to the ground.

I would expect it to sort itself out in 300 ft, might be worth asking DJI support to check the logs to see if there was a good reason it didn't turn back the correct way up.

Obviously being hit by the bird makes a warrantee claim difficult but if there was actually a fault then a claim may be valid.  

Also, what happened was unusual, you may have found a fault in the flight controller and it would be good to get it sorted, you have the flight logs that would help DJI get it sorted so you should send them in for analysis.  There is another thread where a P4 apparently flew straight into the ground for no obvious reason.  

Finally, I think you are overestimating the cost, I would expect it to cost a lot less to fix it than to buy a new P4, although if you can get it back into an acceptable state just by replacing an ESC board then that will be a lot cheaper than a repair.

What happened to the Peregrine ?

Jcostello Posted at 2017-2-14 09:45
What happened to the Peregrine ?

Nothing other than she was a little upset she had to wait longer for her reward. Crazy to think we still rewarded the bird after she accidentally crashed the drone! lol!

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-2-14 09:32
I would expect it to sort itself out in 300 ft, might be worth asking DJI support to check the logs to see if there was a good reason it didn't turn back the correct way up.

Obviously being hit by the bird makes a warrantee claim difficult but if there was actually a fault then a claim may be valid.  

How do you think i'm overestimating cost, the parts cost was directly from their website, shipping 40 each way is reasonable for shipping the whole unit. Labor even at a few hours will be a couple hundred bucks. Unless DJI intends to sell the parts at cost during a repair, which I doubt, then I think i'm spot on.

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-14 10:24
How do you think i'm overestimating cost, the parts cost was directly from their website, shipping 40 each way is reasonable for shipping the whole unit. Labor even at a few hours will be a couple hundred bucks. Unless DJI intends to sell the parts at cost during a repair, which I doubt, then I think i'm spot on.

The ESC board appears to be $55.

I would hope that on the camera they would only charge you for the scrap parts, presumably the camera itself along with the electronics at the top are still OK and it is only the gimbal that is broken?  Not too sure how they decide on this, generally they send out a fully refurbished unit rather than your repaired unit which would make it easier to do cost effective mass salvage on OK parts.  I'm sure I've seen threads where they only charged for new gimbal parts rather than a whole camera unit though.

If you replace the camera yourself then you have no choice but buy a complete new camera/gimbal unit.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-2-14 12:19
The ESC board appears to be $55.

I would hope that on the camera they would only charge you for the scrap parts, presumably the camera itself along with the electronics at the top are still OK and it is only the gimbal that is broken?  Not too sure how they decide on this, generally they send out a fully refurbished unit rather than your repaired unit which would make it easier to do cost effective mass salvage on OK parts.  I'm sure I've seen threads where they only charged for new gimbal parts rather than a whole camera unit though.

The body of the camera is flat out gone. It snapped clean off the rotational part of the gimble, the cable is broke as well. It really does need the whole piece, except maybe the board would be salvageable. That's about it. I'm really at the point I just don't want the camera for the time being until reasonably priced cameras show up on eBay. $380 for the unit is not worth it to me.

I did however, isolate the circuit board of the ESC that is bad. It is the ESC-Right Side (thankfully its labelled on the cable). It was pretty easy to meter out when apart. I suppose i'll probably start with a body and ESC R and see what happens.

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-14 14:47
The body of the camera is flat out gone. It snapped clean off the rotational part of the gimble, the cable is broke as well. It really does need the whole piece, except maybe the board would be salvageable. That's about it. I'm really at the point I just don't want the camera for the time being until reasonably priced cameras show up on eBay. $380 for the unit is not worth it to me.

I did however, isolate the circuit board of the ESC that is bad. It is the ESC-Right Side (thankfully its labelled on the cable). It was pretty easy to meter out when apart. I suppose i'll probably start with a body and ESC R and see what happens.

Glad it was easy to find and voltmeter found the culprit. Thanks for the updates.



RedHotPoker

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-14 14:47
The body of the camera is flat out gone. It snapped clean off the rotational part of the gimble, the cable is broke as well. It really does need the whole piece, except maybe the board would be salvageable. That's about it. I'm really at the point I just don't want the camera for the time being until reasonably priced cameras show up on eBay. $380 for the unit is not worth it to me.

I did however, isolate the circuit board of the ESC that is bad. It is the ESC-Right Side (thankfully its labelled on the cable). It was pretty easy to meter out when apart. I suppose i'll probably start with a body and ESC R and see what happens.

Sounds like you on top of it all!, as said keep us updated of the repair progress.

Is it definitely the ESC that has the problem and not the battery connector board that is failing to supply it with power?  The battery connector must have a hard time in a crash.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-2-15 02:06
Is it definitely the ESC that has the problem and not the battery connector board that is failing to supply it with power?  The battery connector must have a hard time in a crash.

That is a valid point, the resistances were off but that could be on the other end as well. I'll have to plug it back in and see if the voltage output from the central card matches on both ESC's. I suppose it is possible that it's flat out not getting power and without really knowing what the code "No ESC" means (whether the card isn't reading or just potentially not getting power) it's worth checking. I planned on ordering parts this weekend so I will check that tomorrow!

gonehawking Posted at 2017-2-15 17:43
That is a valid point, the resistances were off but that could be on the other end as well. I'll have to plug it back in and see if the voltage output from the central card matches on both ESC's. I suppose it is possible that it's flat out not getting power and without really knowing what the code "No ESC" means (whether the card isn't reading or just potentially not getting power) it's worth checking. I planned on ordering parts this weekend so I will check that tomorrow!

I like your new handle, very revealing. ;-)


Hope everything is going well with your repair, once you get it completed will be great...



RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-2-13 07:12
It would great if there was only one. Or a disaster, for the uninitiated drone repair person.

Yes, but then, a lot more work to replace it, On the main board.

RHP, do you happen to know the function of the Stop ESC beeping  ( and not the obvious please ) I find it odd feature to have , but maybe I missed something , It is on the Inspire 1 by the way , not sure about Phantoms.  

Hope you are well CAPTAIN  

donnie