I am a newbie and really enjoy the drone hobbie. I unfortunately purchased a phablet to use specifically for my P3P after some successful flights with my Ipad. I say unfortunatley as the Ipad worked without issue, the phablet had bad video lagging issues. When I was trying to look at some settings during flight I was confronted with a message saying something to the effect " warnign strong magnetic field, fly with extreme caution"!! Panic set in.... I looked back up to find the drone was not where I saw it last but travelling back over my head at approx 4 meters off the ground ( htis is the smae height I was flying it at when I looked down at the phablet). I pushed the stick to make the craft go forward but to no avail and it crashed into the tree just behind me and fell to the ground. It laid there twitching, tragic sight! I didn't have any time to react as the lag from the camera did not show it moving on the screen while the warning mesmorised me.  

I removed the battery and turned it over. The leg had slightly bent popping out a clip and a wire which looked to have 3 strands, grey in colour was out as well. I popped the clip back in and the wiring as well, checked the props, none broken or chipped, just a little green from mulching the leaves. The camera from inspection had some scratches on one of the corners, but seemed to move freely. I had a look over the craft generally and it didn't look to be damaged elsewhere. I had shut down the controller as well when I pulled the battery.

I put the battery back in the drone and started the controller back up. I then pressed the button on the battery once and then held it down to start. VERY BAD!!! smoke came out of the drone, near the absorbtion plate of the gimbil, that smell of electronics burning, it's terrible... I pulled the battery out straight away.

It could well of been operator error crashing as I think a lot of peole like to blame the machines or the apps that control them, I just don't know enough to tell if I was the problem, the tablet was the problem, the machine was the problem, there was an eviromental problem, etc.

My question before I pull it apart and try and find the issue, is can you purchase the electronic boards that control the gimil motors and inside the gimbil to record video etc? Is it more likely that the boards or the wiring has burnt out? Has anyone else had smoke come out of this area when they have hooked the battery up after a crash?

Help please and thank you.

The whole thing runs using tiny pipes with smoke inside and under pressure. When those pipes break the smoke leaks out and it's impossible to get it back inside..


Seriously I would send it in for repair if it has suffered this much damage.

It sounds like pilot error. If it was drifting you may have not have been in GPS mode and were far too close to obstacles.

You can upload the log and people will have a look - Upload Log

Cabansail Posted at 2017-4-10 19:11
The whole thing runs using tiny pipes with smoke inside and under pressure. When those pipes break the smoke leaks out and it's impossible to get it back inside..

Thanks Cabansnail. I am an automotive electrician and did learn about the high pressure smoke thing at TAFE.....

I don't have the equipment with me at the moment, so I will try to down load later today. I should be working!

With the repairs I thought if I have a look and it is the gimble boards etc I might be better off just getting a whole new camera/ gimble assembly and they look easy enough to replace. If it is ribbon burn out that would be easy enough for me to do? If I send it I will be without it for months I am thinking.

Purely speculation, the logs will confirm, but magnetic interference could cause a compass error causing it to switch to atti mode, then drift off in the wind.

Taylex10 Posted at 2017-4-10 19:20
Thanks Cabansnail. I am an automotive electrician and did learn about the high pressure smoke thing at TAFE.....

I don't have the equipment with me at the moment, so I will try to down load later today. I should be working!

The camera is pretty easy to replace as a single unit.  If you are going to disassemble  it for a board or component  level repair, it is a bit more tedious, but still doable.  You will not even need much in the way of tools.

Taylex10 Posted at 2017-4-10 19:20
Thanks Cabansnail. I am an automotive electrician and did learn about the high pressure smoke thing at TAFE.....

I don't have the equipment with me at the moment, so I will try to down load later today. I should be working!

If you do have to send it in there is a DJI service centre in Melbourne.

We are sorry to hear about your crash, personally, I would recommend you to send it in for evaluation then get it repaired by the engineers.

Cabansail Posted at 2017-4-10 19:11
The whole thing runs using tiny pipes with smoke inside and under pressure. When those pipes break the smoke leaks out and it's impossible to get it back inside..

Finally got the log out of the device.
http://app.airdata.com/main?share=CsCgHj

I hope this works.

PaulSouthport Posted at 2017-4-10 22:26
Purely speculation, the logs will confirm, but magnetic interference could cause a compass error causing it to switch to atti mode, then drift off in the wind.

Thank you for your reply. From the log it looks like it did change modes with a loss of signal. I had really bad lag on my tablet which didn't show the actual video and when I saw the warning and looked up it was not where I left it, it was above my head and heading into the tree:-(

I am thinking I will have to send it in as the drone will not re-calibrate and the warning is still showing regarding strong magnetic field. So I think I have gimbal damage from the fall but some other internal issue with the drone itself.

Thank you for helping.

Kneepuck Posted at 2017-4-10 23:48
The camera is pretty easy to replace as a single unit.  If you are going to disassemble  it for a board or component  level repair, it is a bit more tedious, but still doable.  You will not even need much in the way of tools.

Thank you for the reply. I think I have more issues then just the camera looking into it further. Thank you for your advice though.

DJI Natalia Posted at 2017-4-11 03:56
We are sorry to hear about your crash, personally, I would recommend you to send it in for evaluation then get it repaired by the engineers.

Thank you for your advice Natalia. I am going to go this way as I think there is some more issues besides the camera/gimbal setup.