DJI prop failure - F550

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Valkyrie_1520

Member
Well, it happened to me on Friday. Was doing some night flying. In a hover, 50 feet off the ground I had a prop blade break. The F550 drifted hard right, was holding all the left I could get when it rolled over, motors cut and it lawn darted. Every arm broken and the top board was broken by the GPS mount. The power board, NAZA and receiver are all ok. (I think) But I'm pissed. I bought it from UAV products in late September and have emailed customer support to see if there is anything that they can do through warranty. What should I expect other that them saying 'oh well you should have purchased $80 worth of Graupners'? Yeah, I am sorry that I didn't now. Lessons learned.

I rebuilt the F550 this morning using a spare kit that I purchased when I bought the package. The NAZA and receiver are working and the F550 will hover. However, the GPS will not work. I'm getting 1 green and 3 red blinks when in GPS mode. It appears that the GPS is not working so I'm thinking it may be damaged. Thoughts?

Great way to start the weekend.... :upset:
 

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rwilabee

Member
In Manual mode do the 3 red blinking lights ever go out when you are outside trying to acquire the Sats. If not then you probably did damage the GPS unit.
 

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Leslie LP

Member
After my crash I was eger to start rebuild. Took my broken F550 to my hobby shop to see what parts I needed. They told me that the GPS antenna is really fragile and could have shattered internally. If I could not perform the compass calibration then I should open it up to check. Thankfully it did detect 6 plus satellites so I later did perform a compass calibration and all has been well
After reading many post on here I now do a pre flight check and have Graupners along with running batteries. In parallel as well as oiling the motor bearings ever 5 flights. I have also considered soldering the ESC to the motors directly.
Good luck with your new F550 and the GPS.
 

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meme

Member
It`s a known fact that DJI Props break, i really cannot understand why there is always people using them?
 

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Valkyrie_1520

Member
meme said:
It`s a known fact that DJI Props break, i really cannot understand why there is always people using them?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is a known issue. My problem with the entire thing is that DJI is still shipping these props with their kits. DJI needs to either quit shipping these props with their kits or start charging a little more and include props that will not break.
 

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Valkyrie_1520

Member
The GPS is working enough to partially go through re-calibration. Yellow LED, horizontal circle, green LED, verticle circle, 1 green then 3 red. It appears that the vertical axis may be damaged. Waiting on a reply from UAV Products.
 

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Billywiz1307

Member
Sorry to hear about your crash. I and several others were drawing attention to these DJI props failing some months ago and nothing was done. I can only conclude that DJI are a very, very foolish company for not addressing this issue. If they have addressed it, I certainly have missed it. It's so annoying because it's a doddle to fix - just simply replace the stock blades with Graupners (£22 a set of 4 here in the UK). For me, it brings into question anything else they produce and although I use the NAZA and a 450 (with Graupner props), I still never quite trust the DJI kit and certainly wouldn't buy any more from them.
 

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Valkyrie_1520

Member
It's a very easy fix for DJI. If I were them, I would quit shipping props with the kits. Cut the kit price by a few dollars and let me put my own props on. I ordered a new set of Graupners yesterday and will never fly with stock props again.

DJI and UAV Products are working out the warranty. I should know something in a day or so about what will be covered.
 

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Billywiz1307

Member
That's what I meant Val, it's so easy for DJI to fix, so how bad must they be if they can't address such an easily fixed problem. And before anyone says, in a whiny, self satisfied voice, "I've not had any problems at all with my stock DJI props...", well let me tell you, I have (4 times) and luckily no damage. Just Google it, the web is full of anecdotal evidence that points to a DJI prop problem. I'm amazed that resellers like Quadcopters, Heliguy and FPV UK haven't taken it upon themselves to do something, not to mention the resellers across the pond.
 



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