I would like to know how to make my drone quieter, i have heard that sanding the dji logo off the propelers, and sanding down the propellers will make it silent. But i was wondering if anyone had other suggestions?

Those things are only going to make a marginal difference to the noise, if anything at all. What you need is that BS 'Whisper Mode' that they claimed in that silly Blue Thunder show.

Turn it off

Geebax Posted at 2017-6-18 16:08
Those things are only going to make a marginal difference to the noise, if anything at all. What you need is that BS 'Whisper Mode' that they claimed in that silly Blue Thunder show.

Heeeey, I liked that movie! (OK, a little dated now, but...)  ;-)

Anyway, I doubt that anything will make a difference, although I'd love to have confirmed what actually creates the noise. I can tell you for a fact that my P4P makes more noise than my P4 does...

Salmonslayer Posted at 2017-6-18 16:34
Turn it off

I was tempted to suggest leaving the props off, but then that wouldn't help the op... ;-)

Quieter to what end??.......they are loud no matter how you slice it.

Salmonslayer Posted at 2017-6-18 16:34
Turn it off

Gee, I was going to say that!!

That's the only way I know to quiet down the swarm of angry bees.

Buy a Mavic.

buy a mavic. lightweight an bigger/slower props are the only way

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-18 20:50
buy a mavic. lightweight an bigger/slower props are the only way

Hmm - how quiet is the Spark then, or would it just be more buzzy?

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-6-18 21:18
Hmm - how quiet is the Spark then, or would it just be more buzzy?

more buzzy cause much higher RPMs.
the only way would be to change to bigger props. thats how you make a drone wisper silent.

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-18 20:50
buy a mavic. lightweight an bigger/slower props are the only way

Mavic has smaller props,  8330 v the Phantom 4 @ 9450.  The light weight does help though.

Punchbuggy Posted at 2017-6-18 16:34
Heeeey, I liked that movie! (OK, a little dated now, but...)  ;-)

Anyway, I doubt that anything will make a difference, although I'd love to have confirmed what actually creates the noise. I can tell you for a fact that my P4P makes more noise than my P4 does...

It does make a difference, mine came with 2 sets of props, one of which I have removed the DJI logos, cleaned up all the other moulding marks, and smoothed the surface.  I can very easily tell which set is in use from the noise.  I can also tell when my quiet set needs cleaning, fly debris makes a noticeable difference on that set.

There are 2 sources of noise, the main one is caused by the prop blades passing over the arms which temporarily creates high pressure over the arm but stops producing pressure under the aircraft thus creating a pressure wave - sound, this gives a clean, fairly low frequency drone sound.  The second source is caused by turbulence of the air passing over the blade which creates high frequency noise, a smooth clean blade creates less turbulence and less noise.  You can't get rid of the drone sound, but you can get rid of a lot of the noise turning it from an angry swarm of hive bees into a calm bumble bee.

There is a disadvantage though, if I'm flying somewhere noisy like next to a river or the sea then I will fit the noisy props so that I can hear it at a reasonable distance, then get worried if I am hand catching it because it sounds dangerous compared to running the quiet set!

You can also get noise from propeller imbalance which makes the whole aircraft vibrate.  The standard props are normally pretty good but they can be improved making the whole aircraft less noisy, I think you need to be fairly close to hear this though, unless the props are out of balance because they are damaged.

There is no way to quiet a drone. Why do think there is no audio to go with the videos?  It's like trying to put audio on a real helicopter.

Uncle Stumpy Posted at 2017-6-18 23:44
There is no way to quiet a drone. Why do think there is no audio to go with the videos?  It's like trying to put audio on a real helicopter.

It does have a microphone, only an ultrasonic one but it can hear!

Spray some WD-40 all over it.

MJLSTUDIOS Posted at 2017-6-19 01:52
Spray some WD-40 all over it.

Doesn't WD40 eat Phantom shells?

WD40 specifically says not to use on Polycarbonate and Polystyrene...

Also WD40 is not a lubricant, and may remove the existing lubricant in the motors so it could well kill the motor bearings!

This time i did not suggest WD40. It´´s a brake and contact cleaner and aggressive to all plastics.

Put RC aircraft props on it with different pitch. However this can burn your motors out faster too. All my props did not have any logos on them, and I sanded the edges down. Another was is to sand a hook into the prop tip, this will also quiet it down a bit. Same thing Trane air conditioners did with their new units, run quieter.

Increasing diameter of props will increase their thrust factors, this will create a greater vertical component that Flight Controller will detect and compensate by reducing motor rpm. This will reduce the swarm of bees drone noise.
But there is always a trade of. The larger props even with reduced rpm will likely stress the motors, cause increased demand on battery / ESC's ...

I am sure that DJI have experimented to determine best compromise prop.

If you do not change diameter or pitch to alter sound. The blade shape itself has a marked effect. Go to a RC meet and compare the props and sounds you hear. Wide fat blades tend to be lower frequency sound and more acceptable, thin narrow blades tend to screech and be loud.
Best action is to keep props clean and dress any marks etc. you have after flights ... balance at regular intervals.

Nigel

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-6-19 02:14
Doesn't WD40 eat Phantom shells?

WD40 specifically says not to use on Polycarbonate and Polystyrene...

I'm sure you realize I meant this a s a silly reply. Yes I'm sure this LUBRICANT will dissolve the plastic body...that will save some weight and give you a longer flight time.

Balance your props does help a bit.

There is nothing you can do after the fact to provide any significant reduction in noise.  Many threads have been done about this years  before quads even existed.  Yea you can reduce it slightly, but definitely nothing more than preventing you from hearing it 5 to 10 feet sooner.  The most important factors effecting sound are part of the manufacturing process, i.e. drone design, motors, prop pitch, etc..

Get some of that expanding foam insulation that comes in a can and cover the entire aircraft with it.  It works like magic.  When properly applied, you will never hear another sound from that drone again.  Gar-un-teed.

Homer Simpson Posted at 2017-6-19 02:42
Another was is to sand a hook into the prop tip, this will also quiet it down a bit. Same thing Trane air conditioners did with their new units, run quieter.

I assumed that only worked with ducted fans, can you post a photo of what it looks like?

Mine's whisper-quiet with these...


Ok, ok... The answer is, there's nothing much that can be done on the Phantom to make it quiet without seriously affecting performance. IMO, they're designed to be as efficient as possible for the particular payload with little to no regard to the amount of noise they will generate.

I think the noise they make is a 'safety factor' .... as soon as they get within 200m of you - you KNOW its there !! Unless you are totally deaf - you are going to hear it ....

When we fly at shows .... you see the spectators want to get closer when you are flying ... but when you bring her in for landing - near all Spectators step back without you telling them !!

Nigel  

The way to make your drone quieter is to fly it at between 10,000 - 14,000 feet where nobody can hear it.  
Another way I use is to fly above the clouds which deadens any noise.  

Always wondered how we were supposed to spy on people when the unit sounds like a mini cement mixer? Guess distraction comes in to it Anyhow if you want quiet then maybe a kite. Come to think of it no upgrade or other warranty issues; maybe I'm onto something.

You could try buying a set of prop guards and then mount a series of plastic baffles on the prop guards to surround the props but spaced so that it doesn't restrict air intake and use a small amount of thin foam material on them to absorb the sound. Also streamline the tops of the motor arms to reduce the compression as the blades pass over them. Then MER the props until they are super duper shiny smooth!! You could also look into tuned vibration dampers like they use on car exhausts and in F1 although this might add weight.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-6-18 23:27
It does make a difference, mine came with 2 sets of props, one of which I have removed the DJI logos, cleaned up all the other moulding marks, and smoothed the surface.  I can very easily tell which set is in use from the noise.  I can also tell when my quiet set needs cleaning, fly debris makes a noticeable difference on that set.

There are 2 sources of noise, the main one is caused by the prop blades passing over the arms which temporarily creates high pressure over the arm but stops producing pressure under the aircraft thus creating a pressure wave - sound, this gives a clean, fairly low frequency drone sound.  The second source is caused by turbulence of the air passing over the blade which creates high frequency noise, a smooth clean blade creates less turbulence and less noise.  You can't get rid of the drone sound, but you can get rid of a lot of the noise turning it from an angry swarm of hive bees into a calm bumble bee.

I'm a little surprised that this would actually make a noticeable difference.  Although I'm not completely surprised either, when I first noticed these raised artifacts on there I thought they might cause airflow problems especially at the speeds they go.

Can you please explain how you did this without damaging the props and did you find it necessary to balance them after doing so?  I would think this was a delicate effort so you don't end up causing further airflow problems.
Thank you

how do you transfer the cache  in the remote controller to share the pics . say to your computer....other than what the given options are. I have phantom pro plus...do you just  clear cache and that deletes everything? no one seems to know

wealthman Posted at 2017-9-14 19:26
how do you transfer the cache  in the remote controller to share the pics . say to your computer....other than what the given options are. I have phantom pro plus...do you just  clear cache and that deletes everything? no one seems to know

wealthman
first you are a bit off topic here...
May I suggest you search the forum to see if there is a thread already for this problem.  If not, then you might want to start a new thread about this problem.  Considering it's a new model feature there may not be a lot of posts about this, but there may be plenty of folks here who can answer your question, to include the mods.

Genghis9 Posted at 2017-9-14 21:16
wealthman
first you are a bit off topic here...
May I suggest you search the forum to see if there is a thread already for this problem.  If not, then you might want to start a new thread about this problem.  Considering it's a new model feature there may not be a lot of posts about this, but there may be plenty of folks here who can answer your question, to include the mods.

Put the white props on the black mounts and black on white mount . It should make it real quite

guardcim23 Posted at 2017-9-14 21:45
Put the white props on the black mounts and black on white mount . It should make it real quite

Then the copter turned into the oil driller.

Genghis9 Posted at 2017-9-14 17:47
I'm a little surprised that this would actually make a noticeable difference.  Although I'm not completely surprised either, when I first noticed these raised artifacts on there I thought they might cause airflow problems especially at the speeds they go.

Can you please explain how you did this without damaging the props and did you find it necessary to balance them after doing so?  I would think this was a delicate effort so you don't end up causing further airflow problems.

I'm not sure the logo makes much difference, I would expect it to be sitting in the boundary layer with the airflow over the top of it rather than around it.  However there are moulding marks in the plastic along the leading edge and around the tip which I'm sure are not good for a quiet flight.  They feel sharp if you run your finger along the edge, you want the leading edge to be nicely rounded and feel smooth, incapable of cutting a finger. The trailing edge should be sharp.  I haven't tested with doing one bit at a time, just cleaned the whole lot up.  It is when I put the untouched set back on that I hear the difference.

I think I used 800 grit sandpaper by hand, although it took a while to remove the logos with that so I would start with 600 next time.  That leaves a slightly rough surface which I don't think is an issue but if you want to polish them back to half shiny then a grey Scotch pad works well and leaves a nice surface.

The plastic is glass reinforced nylon composite, it is not easy to damage it.  It's also not easy to remove enough to affect balance, if you spend the same amount of time on both blades then you are just as likely to improve balance as make it worse!

MJLSTUDIOS Posted at 2017-6-19 05:20
I'm sure you realize I meant this a s a silly reply. Yes I'm sure this LUBRICANT will dissolve the plastic body...that will save some weight and give you a longer flight time.

WD40 for things that should move and don't, duct tape for things that move and shouldn't! What else do you need???

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-9-14 23:25
I'm not sure the logo makes much difference, I would expect it to be sitting in the boundary layer with the airflow over the top of it rather than around it.  However there are moulding marks in the plastic along the leading edge and around the tip which I'm sure are not good for a quiet flight.  They feel sharp if you run your finger along the edge, you want the leading edge to be nicely rounded and feel smooth, incapable of cutting a finger. The trailing edge should be sharp.  I haven't tested with doing one bit at a time, just cleaned the whole lot up.  It is when I put the untouched set back on that I hear the difference.

I think I used 800 grit sandpaper by hand, although it took a while to remove the logos with that so I would start with 600 next time.  That leaves a slightly rough surface which I don't think is an issue but if you want to polish them back to half shiny then a grey Scotch pad works well and leaves a nice surface.

Very good, all by hand, that must have been time consuming and tedious too.  I applaud your effort and patience.
At some point I'm going to give this a try, but for now I'm more concerned with flying safely and correctly than operating in stealth mode (joking of course).   In other words sound is not a huge concern for me, but I can see down the road it would be nice to quite things down a bit.
Thanks!

Palladous Posted at 2017-9-15 06:45
WD40 for things that should move and don't, duct tape for things that move and shouldn't! What else do you need???

That's a great motto...I'm gonna steal that and use it too, thanks

AS you get older, it will certainly get quieter.