Howdy,

Need some assistance and any would be appreciated.

My step-father purchased a used Phantom 4, without being shown that it worked.  Red light right there but what are you going to do.

As he's a bit older, he asked me to help him set it up and let's just say, if the unit was cheaper, I would have launched it with my arm at this stage.

I set up the DJI Go program on a Samsung Tablet A and on his Samsung Galaxy Note phone - with the same results.

The program sets up, but we get an ESC error every time.  The lights under the propellors originally light up red, now only the first two light up red.

When the ESC sound option is enabled, we get a lovely beeping noise.

I've calibrated everythihng that had an option to calibrate, I updated the drone and am running the latest version of the Go program.  

My question is, does the machine actually work or am I spinning my wheels and is it a motor issue that I'm not able to fix?

I woud love to be able to just have one of the propellors spin to see if they actually work but I don't see any option to just test a propellor or propellors.

The unit, which was advertised as mint, has about a 1 cm crack near where you put the battery which could be caused by the pressure of putting in the battery but more troubling is a crack near the based of one of the propellor arms - methinks the machine crashed at least one but I can't prove that.

Is there a way to test if the motors work?

Any guidance would be appreciated.  Taking the item back not really an option.

Are you using the GO 4 app?

Yes, using the app on the tablet and phone.

Unfortunately from your explanation it does sound like it has had at least one crash.
No need to explain the adidge try before you buy on this one lol.
If your getting a constant esc error then there is nothing you can do to test the motors.
The drone will need to be sent to dji to be repaired.
You can contact them via the support page they will start a repair case for you and give instructions on how to get it to them.

Okay, just so that I'm clear here - a constant ESC error is likely a sign of motor/motherboard failure.

We originally thought maybe the tablet and the phone weren't up to snuff but the fact that the program loads on both, lets me control certain parts of the drone, leads me to believe they work fine.

Another thing I forgot to mention was when I used the phone to turn on the lights/LEDS under the propellors off and on, the front two remained a constant red and only the back two turned off.

The LEDs on the front arms are always red, navigation lights. However you should be getting some indication by the colour of the two rear LEDs.

As Hellsgate suggested the continual ESC error is not good (Electronic Speed Controller, it controls the Motors).

I could only add to his comment by saying that they will give a quotation for repairs, it would then be your choice whether to proceed or not.

One of the DJI Administrators here might offer to monitor your case and steer you through the process.

Okay, thank you all for the assistance.  The not knowing if the thing actually worked is quite annoying.

I guess the moral here is buy new or have it tested before you buy it.

If you power up the aircraft (props off as precaution) and controller (leave display device off, or disconnected), wait about 30 seconds, and the first LED on the RC is green then it is communicating with the aircraft. You should be able to start the motors by pulling both control sticks down and towards the centre.
At that point the motors should run at idle speed. If not then that might confirm a faulty ESC or motor.

Have a look at page 58 of P4 manual Here

Take it back to the seller and tell him to "show me".

Aardvark Posted at 2018-2-10 14:21
If you power up the aircraft (props off as precaution) and controller (leave display device off, or disconnected), wait about 30 seconds, and the first LED on the RC is green then it is communicating with the aircraft. You should be able to start the motors by pulling both control sticks down and towards the centre.
At that point the motors should run at idle speed. If not then that might confirm a faulty ESC or motor.

I tried that, left tablet/phone off, moved the sticks as the manual said and no go.

ADNJ Posted at 2018-2-10 14:04
Okay, just so that I'm clear here - a constant ESC error is likely a sign of motor/motherboard failure.

We originally thought maybe the tablet and the phone weren't up to snuff but the fact that the program loads on both, lets me control certain parts of the drone, leads me to believe they work fine.

"Another thing I forgot to mention was when I used the phone to turn on the lights/LEDS under the propellers off and on, the front two remained a constant red and only the back two turned off."

The front LEDS can be turned on and off by controller via DJI Go 4 (so the light doesn't shine on camera lens at night), if the rear two are permanently red, that indicates a critical error I'm afraid.

Aardvark Posted at 2018-2-10 14:29
"Another thing I forgot to mention was when I used the phone to turn on the lights/LEDS under the propellers off and on, the front two remained a constant red and only the back two turned off."

The front LEDS can be turned on and off by controller via DJI Go 4 (so the light doesn't shine on camera lens at night), if the rear two are permanently red, that indicates a critical error I'm afraid.

Yes, after toggling the LED option via the Go app on the phone, two of the red lights stayed on and two stayed off.  The two lights near front, what I think is the front  (where I see the green lights from battery) those red lights stayed on - they were constant, not flickering.  I took that to be a bad sign  ( :

ADNJ Posted at 2018-2-10 14:35
Yes, after toggling the LED option via the Go app on the phone, two of the red lights stayed on and two stayed off.  The two lights near front, what I think is the front  (where I see the green lights from battery) those red lights stayed on - they were constant, not flickering.  I took that to be a bad sign  ( :

The camera faces forward, so the rear lights are both on indicating a critical error. If a refund or contacting original owner is not feasible then it's either get a quote from DJI (might be worth considering, no charge other than perhaps return postage, I don't know detail) or write it off to experience.

My stepfather will try to get the seller to launch it into the air but if he fails, I don't blame the guy for not wanting to give a refund.  

For all I know, it could have worked at time of sale and failed after it was sold but the two cracks make me suspicious.

ADNJ Posted at 2018-2-10 15:18
My stepfather will try to get the seller to launch it into the air but if he fails, I don't blame the guy for not wanting to give a refund.  

For all I know, it could have worked at time of sale and failed after it was sold but the two cracks make me suspicious.

Can you post a photo of the cracks for us please

My guess at this stage without looking at them is that its been crashed.

Hellsgate Posted at 2018-2-10 15:45
Can you post a photo of the cracks for us please

I don't have the unit here, I'll try to get a couple pictures tonight or tomorrow and post them.

Here's the picture of two cracks - first on main body where battery goes and second on arm:

ADNJ Posted at 2018-2-10 17:58
Here's the picture of two cracks - first on main body where battery goes and second on arm:

[view_image]

Those images to me look more like its been crashed especially the second one.
The first image could be a stress crack but not the second one.

I think your only option may be to send it to your nearest dji repairer and get a quote if you dont wish to do that then you may be able to sell it as a faulty unit there are many on here that would gladly buy it for parts or rebuild. At least you could recover some of the money back.

As an update if anyone is curious or experiencing the same problem, my stepfather took the drone to a fellow at Staples who services drones, he tells me he ran a diagnostic and said some problem with the unit stabilizer was likely giving the ESC error.  Unit is being shipped to a repair facility in Vancouver and we'll see what happens.  Look forward to responding in the future that it's all fixed ( :

As an aside, the manual says the unit runs at 0 to 40 Celsius - has anyone run their unit in colder temperatures?  I assume battery life will reduce with the cold but does the unit recognize the cold and refuse to run if it's too cold?  While our cars here may run in -40 Celsius, it'd be nice to know if the unit will at least run in -15 Celsius or thereabouts for a little while.

Don't want to be redundant here but are you sure you have the Dji go 4 and not the Dji go app?

Aardvark Posted at 2018-2-10 14:21
If you power up the aircraft (props off as precaution) and controller (leave display device off, or disconnected), wait about 30 seconds, and the first LED on the RC is green then it is communicating with the aircraft. You should be able to start the motors by pulling both control sticks down and towards the centre.
At that point the motors should run at idle speed. If not then that might confirm a faulty ESC or motor.

One of your motors/and/or one of t the ESC PC BOARDS has been damaged due to a crash. I have replaced several for people over the past 18 months.

Look at all the motors CLOSELY for dents, scrape marks etc. If one of the motors became overloaded, it may have "taken out" the ESC PC board, that controls that particular motor.  Good luck.  John @ Adelaide SA

fans134248ce Posted at 2018-2-14 14:25
Don't want to be redundant here but are you sure you have the Dji go 4 and not the Dji go app?

One of your motors/and/or one of t the ESC PC BOARDS has been damaged due to a crash. I have replaced several for people over the past 18 months.

Look at all the motors CLOSELY for dents, scrape marks etc. If one of the motors became overloaded, it may have "taken out" the ESC PC board, that controls that particular motor.  Good luck.  John @ Adelaide SA

Hellsgate Posted at 2018-2-10 18:10
Those images to me look more like its been crashed especially the second one.
The first image could be a stress crack but not the second one.

Looks very much like that motor "arm" has been hit hard as a result of  a crash....  STRESS FRACTURE?  The only way that crack appears near the battery slot, is because of intense stress, obviously as an impact. I would hazard an educated guess and say that the motor on that "arm" was overloaded, and caused the ESC board to "die"   It is easy to repair, if you are handy with a soldering iron. It is a matter of ESC board replacement. Unless the motor has obvious damage, it would be highly likely that the motor is still OK.  Good luck. John @ Adelaide SA

As an update if anyone is interested - my stepfather tells me the repair shop in Vancouver told him a motor (I believe on one of the arms) needs to repaired and it will cost $300.00CDN.  The repair also offered to replace the casing for $40.00 CDN and we're just waiting for the repairs to be done.

My ego is grateful it wasn't us not being to figure out how to get the thing in the air and it was a mechanical problem.

As for the guy who sold it saying it worked, looks like he's a turd but I still have faith in humanity ( :

Okay, a further update if anyone is interested.

Finally got the drone back, fixed and apparently functional - test run will have to wait until we have some time - we've already got an open field picked out  : )

The tech person turned out to be in Ontario, not Vancouver, British Columbia.  At first he said it was one of the motors and then he said it was the top board that controlled the motors.

From the invoice - "Verified the ESC board (for ESC 1 and 4) failed.  Replaced the ESC board."

Would love to know how that board died, whether the result of a crash or if it just failed on it's own - I guess we'll never know.  The fellow who sold it appears to have had all his videos on the SD card and I didn't see any crashes but those those cracks probably didn't happen taking it and out of the case.

We didn't get the replacement casing and the total damage was $459.00 before taxes - ouch.

Installed the latest DJI 4 program and everything looks like it's good to go.

If anyone would care to talk about what they did wrong when they first took their machine out, I'd love to hear it (no judgments here) - I'd like to keep our mistakes to a minimum from here on out and any advice on what not to do, would be appreciated.

As a funny aside, we picked the fixed unit up from Staples (a store in Canada that sells the units, along with office supplies - weird mix but whatever) and we thought we'd test it in he parking lot but the manager said not allowed, so we fired it up in the store just to make sure the motors worked and prior to turning it on, about three people gathered round - I tell you if my stepfather would have let go of the unit and it spiraled out, some curious bystander might have got a face full of propeller.  I guess people gonna be curious...

ADNJ Posted at 2018-5-2 17:38
Okay, a further update if anyone is interested.

Finally got the drone back, fixed and apparently functional - test run will have to wait until we have some time - we've already got an open field picked out  : )

Good to hear it's back and fixed, hopefully all will go well on test run, and keep it in 'beginner' mode even in that wide open field. Until you're completely comfortable with it. And have a good read of the RTH section in the manual, there are one or two things that you can test out in field that might be interesting to you.

"I guess people gonna be curious..."

Safest thing would have been to take props off before starting motors, save somebodies hairstyle getting ruined :-)

ADNJ Posted at 2018-5-2 17:38
Okay, a further update if anyone is interested.

Finally got the drone back, fixed and apparently functional - test run will have to wait until we have some time - we've already got an open field picked out  : )

"talk about what they did wrong when they first took their machine out, I'd love to hear it"

Beside from choosing a DJI drone in the first place, i think i only have made two big mistakes.

1) I did an upgrade, being promised by the upgrade notes: "If you are not satisfied with this update, you can revert to older firmware using DJI Assistant 2." - this was a regular lie!

2) After having waiting impatiently for a solution several months, i sent it back to be repaired due to all the issues it got as a result of 1. - It was not repaired, it was replaced with another having the very same issues and a few extra added as a bonus...


Fly safe