A2 FC Firmware 2.3 - Here We ALL go Again





Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Well after Carapau's last report I am done with the A2.

I still have one on a smaller Y6 for testing which I suppose ill keep hold of for now. The one That had th faulty GPS that Build Your Own Drones refused to replace will be assigned to the tested and failed box. I did get a full refund from my credit card company so all its costs me now is hours and hours of time.

They would not refund me for both of them as they needed conformation from a reputable DJI dealer that the A2 was not fit for purpose.. Guess what, none would! Now if the CAA jump in here I would suggest all of you with the A2 send them back to your dealer and ask for a full refund and if they refuse go down the credit card refund route.

SO now I am going to strip out the A2 and SBUS from this Y6 and rebuild it with a WKM. I will then offer it for sale to try and recoup some of my losses. It been hanging on the wall since last September so firs job is remove the resident spiders and then the A2 piece of junk.

For those that have not followed Carapau's thread its worth reading

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?20337-A2-fails-back-to-square-one


SO any one that doubts how hard I have tried to get this thing working can go back and have a look though these threads I started trying to get DJI to listen

AND for those that really want to know the history of A2 failures go check out my thread that was locked by the Admin as they thought I was just overstating the problems. Here

http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...-YOU-BUY-(New-firmware-may-change-my-opinion)

I even detailed the full upgrade procedure here for FW 2.1

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?17798-A2-2-1-upgrade-procedure

The A2 2.2 farce here

http://www.multirotorforums.com/showthread.php?19330-A2-2-2-Upgrade-Guinea-Pig

Its a real shame that DJI have not done something to stop the problems. I just think they have tried to get it to do to much, especially with having a integrated RX.

Dave


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baja-king

Here for the ride :)
I very nearly bought an A2 before Xmas and it was your posts Dave that put me off and made up my mind to buy another WK-m.

Thank you.
 


Quinton

Active Member
I have an A2 here sitting on a machine which I have not used in a few months as I wanted to see how it all panned out.
A couple of questions I have is for everyone having problems, is it more limited to for example Spektrum users, or is it all across the board.
I only had about 3 flights with it, but they all seemed to go quite well on FW 2.1, but I used the internal RX and a Futaba 14SG using S-Bus
Could it be anything to do with what radios people are using?

Also I would like to put IOSD on it now when I return to testing to start to read the logs, however there is almost nothing out there except a very old annoying DJI video on how to read logs which is not much help.
Is it possible to start a thread regarding how to read DJI logs, so we can all look to find problems, instead of having to pass the info onto DJI who don't reply anyhow?
 



Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
...........I really do wish I had stuck by my guns and not been cried down as over reactionary. ..........

once again, not quite accurate and the more you try to play the woe-is-me card the more i realize i handled everything appropriately.

for anyone not familiar, as i'm sure there will be a small flurry of PM's asking about it, as a moderator of the site Dave was asked privately to tone down his posts so as to not contribute to the mob mentality that was building around all things DJI, deserved or undeserved. with the GPS puck from his original A2 unit still not replaced we'll never know for sure what his experiences would have been had he replaced when it was first suggested to be faulty. at least we know better now about the shop that he bought it from.

for what it's worth, reputable users remain (Kloner for one) that are still flying their A2 systems reliably. they tend to rely less on the GPS based features which probably has something to do with it. i do know that DJI is continuing to work on this but what progress they'll make remains to be seen.

bart
 

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
I have an A2 here sitting on a machine which I have not used in a few months as I wanted to see how it all panned out.
A couple of questions I have is for everyone having problems, is it more limited to for example Spektrum users, or is it all across the board.
I only had about 3 flights with it, but they all seemed to go quite well on FW 2.1, but I used the internal RX and a Futaba 14SG using S-Bus
Could it be anything to do with what radios people are using?

Also I would like to put IOSD on it now when I return to testing to start to read the logs, however there is almost nothing out there except a very old annoying DJI video on how to read logs which is not much help.
Is it possible to start a thread regarding how to read DJI logs, so we can all look to find problems, instead of having to pass the info onto DJI who don't reply anyhow?

Don't think its out to do with Spektum, either direct satellites or vis SBUS. the later I could never get to work consistently enough to have the confident to fly safely.

Please do start a thread re - iOSD. They probably don't want you to be able to read or translate the log files!

Dave
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
Really…. then why was it locked? I do have the emails you sent me over it.

it wasn't locked because i doubted the outcomes of your tests or because i didn't want you posting your results. there was never any intention on my part to keep any of your results from being made public. i asked you to moderate your delivery as you seemed to relish in the spotlight of being the Braveheart fighting all things DJI, which was inappropriate as a representative of the site, and you just couldn't understand the nature of that request. you still seem to have difficulty digesting it.
 

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
with the GPS puck from his original A2 unit still not replaced we'll never know for sure what his experiences would have been had he replaced when it was first suggested to be faulty

If you followed and read my post you will would know that I bought 3 A2's the one with the faulty puck was just ONE that would not update. The others have exactly the same problems. I never bashed DJI over anything other than their pathetic CS over the A2. If you take a look at all the stuff I have posted I ave probably defended DJI more than slammed them. I fly WKM, Naza, Zens for a living remember and have posted numbers videos on their success. I am now in my third year of permissions for Aerial Work with hundreds of hours in the air and fly for various organisations in the UK that rely on my safety record to maintain their credibility, so I feel I should be listened to when I say something is wrong not shut up.

For all of you out there who are considering using the A2, who would you take advice from, people who have tried and better tried to make them work SAFELY or people who just say we are slagging DJI.

I just want to help prevent people from going through what Crowjet went through and others that don't post on here for fear of being made to look like it was their fault rather than the A2.

Rant over I should be flying rather than helping so fook it that what I am going to do.

Have a NICE DAY

Dave
 
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MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
... the mob mentality that was building around all things DJI, deserved or undeserved...

And what, may I ask, the hell is wrong with that?

I see no good reason why DJI should not be figuratively dragged naked across hot coals in public. As a collective entity they have almost single-handed been ultimately responsible for bringing the entire multi-rotor activity into apparent disrepute, and now aero modelling as whole as a further potential consequence, by the nature of the products that they sell to certain quarters and with their virtually total refusal or inability to accept any responsibility for the consequences of the sale of those products. Neither do they offer any semblance of a normal and honourable support to their customers for the faulty equipment and components that they buy.

The reported cases of DOA and faulty equipment or components are far too numerous to count. And even when DJI finally publicly admit to having distributed faulty or inadequate parts or components, it is not their policy to offer customers a replacement, if they can get away with it. No, they introduce an 'upgrade' and charge everybody for it.

So Bollocks. I don't really see what Dave did wrong by using his status on this forum to humiliate them and furthermore I reckon DJI deserve every bad comment they get ... and then some. Otherwise what are we left with? Ineffectual toadies like Ed Tahoe? What can he do aside from an impotent bleat to some distant secret DJI email address?

******edit :) ******
 

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
fwiw, i'm not sure what they plan to do here but DJI recently secured (for free, via the registration process) eight usernames, in sequential order with the name RD Support (or something like that). I don't know, maybe they've ordered the QC and engineering folks to come here and witness for themselves all the clamoring that is going on. Maybe they're going to participate and offer more support to get the problems resolved.

As much as I hate to say it, the Phantom is a pretty wonderful little gizmo. Had I had one when I first started I would have saved myself a lot of time that was wasted on the original XAircraft X650. So big problems with specific sytems aren't anything new and they aren't the exclusive purview of DJI and the A2. Meatheads that do dumb things with Phantoms are the real problem and we can all do more to minimize their effect in our world.

What equipment are you flying Graham? All DJI, no? I realize I'm risking putting myself at your merciless wrath but DJI is not all bad, they've accomplished some pretty admirable things. It seems to me that they, as an institution, have to accept that there is a big problem with the A2 so they can adequately address it. Tahoe Ed is not making decisions for the institution that is DJI, he's here helping users which gives him a limited toolbox from which to operate. Frustrating, yes......Ed's fault? no.

I understand the frustration and I've never said, don't bash DJI, they advertise here. I've only tried to keep the bashing objective so as to let discussions related to the good stuff remain positive for the many people not affected by the bad. for example, my XY-4 NAZA-M V2 with the H3-2D is still a pretty awesome little rig and I fly it with a second operator like it's a three axis mount. all up weight is probably less than five pounds and the results are beautiful. when @filmfly; returns from his travels we'll put together a little project to show it off.
 

MombasaFlash

Heli's & Tele's bloke
Nyeuuugh, you edited out my final er ... anagram!

This is what I fly: a Copterworx AF25B single rotor helicopter, a Droidworx AD8-HLE with MK FC - never put a foot wrong, predictable and well behaved almost to the point of tedium, just a bit under-powered - an S800 with WKM and Z15-GH2 (modded to GH3) and an S800 EVO with A2 and Z15-GH3. I have said it many, many, many times before ... if Droidworx had been better organised in November 2012 I would not have bought the poxy DJI S800 at all. All I wanted was the Zenmuse and to this day I maintain that the Zenmuse Camera Mounts are the one and only decent product that DJI have ever made.

Unfortunately Droidworx were a shambles and I had no time available to experiment and bought the S800 as a Zen platform to take to Kenya for seven months. Whilst in Kenya circumstances demanded that I had to swallow pride and a rising bile and buy another blasted S800. By then the EVO was out so I got that - because it included anti-vibe BiPod and retracts etc. - and plumped for the A2 so that I did not have to waste anymore time trying to source and ship to Kenya another Futaba Rx. Of course the A2 was faulty on delivery but it did get sorted out thanks to a quick response from Matjaz at Kopterworx.

When those things are behaving there is no denying the image stability they can deliver. Remarkable for the price and the relative convenience - as long as they behave ... which brings us back this thread full of smashed up/lost/broken A2 controlled airframes and the conspicuous absence of any direct input from DJI. What are they concentrating on? Well they are all tied up sending out multiple emails announcing the Ronin at various stages of release!

Again, and as I have always stated, I really do appreciate DJI's concept, with really easy pack-down airframes and modular construction etc., but I am very disappointed in their general implementation with half-tested products sent out for profit. THAT is where the problems start. That and their shameful inability to bloody well own up when they have screwed up. And they have been very, very good at screwing things up, whether it be software or hardware.

Let them get verbally shat upon. There is little else one can do except express dissatisfaction in the strongest terms possible on a public forum.
 


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