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Mild vibration and altitude change.
1677 12 2017-3-29
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upjlax
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Hi Everyone,

About two days ago I joined the ranks of phantom pilots as my  refurbished DJI Phantom 3 Standard arrived in the mail. This my first  drone I have ever owned so I am still getting used to setting things up  and using it comfortably. Upon setting up my drone and flying it the  first few times, I noticed some things and I just wasn't sure if they  were normal and I was just being paranoid that I bought a refurbished  drone or if something was slightly off. My first observation was that  upon taking off I noticed the legs of the phantom are slightly shaking  or vibrating. It is not a huge amount, and there is no visible shaking  you can see in the video from the camera, but when you watch the drone  the legs are shaking. I have attached a video at the bottom to where you  can see what I am talking about. The other observation I noticed was  after I initially take off and hover about 5-6 feet in the air, the  drone will begin to descend. It will descend maybe 1-2 feet and then  stop descending. Sometimes it will adjust its self and go back up to the  height I released the stick and sometimes it will just climb back up a  little bit. This does not happen very often after I am in flight and  higher above the ground or at least I do not notice it when it is  further away. Is there a problem with its altitude hold or is the  barometer just a little behind? I may be just paranoid , but I just wanted to see if  people had input if there could be a small issue with it slightly  vibrating and losing altitude by a few feet randomly. As you can see in  the video as I am filming the vibration/shaking the drone is randomly  increasing in altitude, I was not touching the sticks, not sure if this  was due to ground effect of me being near it or not. I have redone the  compass calcification, IMU calibration and changed my props just to see  if that had any effect on it. Sorry for the noob questions, just had  some concerns
as I am new to the drone and DJI world.

Video clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCURpEY2Rk4

Thanks everyone

2017-3-29
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BClarkified
lvl.1
United States
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I would check and make sure you have the most current firmware loaded.  If you have outdated firmware, these things will let you know.
2017-3-29
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upjlax
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BClarkified Posted at 2017-3-29 08:34
I would check and make sure you have the most current firmware loaded.  If you have outdated firmware, these things will let you know.

Thank you for the reply. Updating my firmware was actually the first thing I did when I got the drone., but I appreciate the suggestion
2017-3-30
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solentlife
Captain
Flight distance : 1087530 ft
Latvia
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That vibrates less than mine ... OK - most of the time I have same - but occasionally she will have a 'shiver' !!

As to maintaining altitude - its a Standard that relies on the Barometer and accelerometers in the Flight Controller. It has no visual sensors like the Advanced / Professional so it will rise and fall while trying to maintain hover.
This is a model that is basically hanging on 4 propellers and wind / updraft / downdraft etc. will upset its balance. It does a great job considering its limited sense system for altitude.

No disrespect to you - but a lot of people expect perfection and get a little paranoid when something occurs.

Go enjoy !!

Nigel
2017-3-30
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upjlax
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solentlife Posted at 2017-3-30 05:08
That vibrates less than mine ... OK - most of the time I have same - but occasionally she will have a 'shiver' !!

As to maintaining altitude - its a Standard that relies on the Barometer and accelerometers in the Flight Controller. It has no visual sensors like the Advanced / Professional so it will rise and fall while trying to maintain hover.

No disrespect taken at all. I am new to the drone world as this is my first every quad-copter.  I know this is by no means as advanced as the upper level models and since this was a refurbished model from DJI I just wanted to make sure this was normal behavior for it. yes I am being slightly paranoid since it's refurbished  as well as my first ever drone haha. While it only relies on its props and a barometer it is an amazing piece of equipment, and I had a lot of fun with it yesterday. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post and give me input on the topic.

Have a great day

Tyler
2017-3-30
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solentlife
Captain
Flight distance : 1087530 ft
Latvia
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No problem .. I love my Standard and to be honest bit despairing of some people moaning  - NOT YOU !! ...

Given its limited functions - I think it does a marvelous job.

I have modified mine of course and get range over 2000m routinely. Yesterday I had 2574m ... best yet.

Enjoy !!

Nigel
2017-3-30
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upjlax
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solentlife Posted at 2017-3-30 06:26
No problem .. I love my Standard and to be honest bit despairing of some people moaning  - NOT YOU !! ...

Given its limited functions - I think it does a marvelous job.

I am surprised by the amount of griping I see about phantoms in general. I know there are definitely technical errors as things are not made perfectly, but as you said I think people want 100% perfection in a basic consumer level product.

I assume for you to get 2000m you have completely modded out the antennas? I am going to buy a parabolic sail to extend my range as I do not want to take my controller apart for the higher end upgrade.  
2017-3-30
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JackA
First Officer
Flight distance : 32057 ft
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Every concern you mentioned is in the "Normal" range in my experience with a refurbished Phantom 3 Standard.  Four props spinning for sure produce vibrations, the magic of the DJI gimbal is that it dampens out these vibrations to provide jitter free video capture.  When hovering within one to two feet of the surface you are likely to be in "ground effect" which is a zone where the rotor down wash is "pushing" the Phantom up.  This makes hovering seem erratic at times just like a breeze, temperature and other factors.  The settling you are experiencing is normal.  If everything is perfect and the atmospheric conditions are right the Phantom will hold a hover very accurately.  But, change any parameter and it will drift around a little.  
2017-3-30
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solentlife
Captain
Flight distance : 1087530 ft
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The parabolic reflector unlike all the other bolt on mods actually helps the 5.8Ghz signal. I have them and actually thinking about putting two together to sit behind my tall ARGTEC antenna.

When my system was standard out of box ... the parabolic reflector gave me about 700m ... without I was gettiing anywhere from 300m to 500m ...

This is the strange thing ... all the bolt on mods only improve the 2.4Ghz video / telemetry signals ... not the command 5.8ghz ...

Nigel
2017-3-30
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upjlax
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JackA Posted at 2017-3-30 07:30
Every concern you mentioned is in the "Normal" range in my experience with a refurbished Phantom 3 Standard.  Four props spinning for sure produce vibrations, the magic of the DJI gimbal is that it dampens out these vibrations to provide jitter free video capture.  When hovering within one to two feet of the surface you are likely to be in "ground effect" which is a zone where the rotor down wash is "pushing" the Phantom up.  This makes hovering seem erratic at times just like a breeze, temperature and other factors.  The settling you are experiencing is normal.  If everything is perfect and the atmospheric conditions are right the Phantom will hold a hover very accurately.  But, change any parameter and it will drift around a little.

That all makes sense. As I previously stated I am completely new to the quad-copter world and just wanted to make sure this was normal behavior. I appreciate you taking the time you address my concerns in this post and give your insight.

Thanks

Tyler
2017-3-30
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solentlife
Captain
Flight distance : 1087530 ft
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Its one of those things ... go fly and I hope that you also try to fly the model manually to know what to do when it all goes a*** up !

Learn about flicking the Left switch (S2) to initiate RTH when you lose video ... flicking Right switch S1 to cancel RTH.

Learn to fly her by visual sight and not rely on the screen.

Get to a nice open area and on a nice calm day ... switch to ATTI mode on that right switch and fly ... flick back to P-GPS if anything worries you.

These P3S will fly if you only take out of box and let the machine control YOU ... but its much better to learn to fly it to YOUR commands.  Once you get that sorted - the P3S contrary to some reports - you CAN fly indoors in a large area such as a Gym hall etc.  In fact I can fly mine in my party room at home ... but dogs don't like it !!

Go enjoy !!
2017-3-30
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upjlax
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solentlife Posted at 2017-3-30 07:34
The parabolic reflector unlike all the other bolt on mods actually helps the 5.8Ghz signal. I have them and actually thinking about putting two together to sit behind my tall ARGTEC antenna.

When my system was standard out of box ... the parabolic reflector gave me about 700m ... without I was gettiing anywhere from 300m to 500m ...

If i could get 700m I would be more than happy with my parabolic reflector. With me being new to drones I do not plan to fly my drone out of my sight and 700m will still give great distance and enough to get some really cool beach shots without having to worry about losing my signal.
2017-3-30
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upjlax
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solentlife Posted at 2017-3-30 08:26
Its one of those things ... go fly and I hope that you also try to fly the model manually to know what to do when it all goes a*** up !

Learn about flicking the Left switch (S2) to initiate RTH when you lose video ... flicking Right switch S1 to cancel RTH.

These are all great tips! I really appreciate the help. I think the biggest thing for me is to remember about flicking the switches. I remember reading that in the manual, but completely forgot about it during my last flight and you are right if you lose video those could be a huge help. I never even thought about just flying it ATTI mode, but you are completely right. If something happens and GPS goes down, it would be very smart to learn ATTI mode so i can control it and land it without problem. I have also heard that ATTI is good for getting smooth video since the drone is not fighting the GPS to try and hold position. I know I still have a lot to learn about my DJI drone. I am always looking on the forums for helpful tips and tricks to learn. Again, thank you for all your help and input it will be a great help as I get better with flying.
2017-3-30
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