Newbie - DJI 450 motors won't start

[strapkass]

I bought a second hand DJI 450, good condition minus transmitter receiver and batteries. I bought a Futaba T8J with S BUS for ease of use..I assume

I believe I have set everything up properly in that I have binded the receiver to the transmitter and via DJI assistant have programmed the transmitter correctly. When connected to the PC, the green led is on and the controls are all responding in Naza Assistant software, including failsafe when I switch off the transmitter.

When I power up the DJI it cycles orange red and green leds, then four green flashes and then a pause and then 3 red flashes ad-infinitum.

I believe this means a GPS lock failure which may be the case as I am in my office and the GPS signal is not great...least on my Satnav anyways.

Despite this issue, should I be able to execute the motors which currently I can't.

If I pull down and to the left or right on the sticks, the led flashes green rapidly and then returns to 3 red flashes, but the motors do not fire.

In Naza Assistant, I can test the motors by firing them at the test function page.
It's gotta be something simple...hasn't it? As a newbie its taken me 8 hours to get to this point..Helluva a learning curve and I haven't flown yet..

Any thoughts please?

 

[bensid54]

Does the throttle slider sit all the way to the left on the Naza assist when the stick is in the down position? If it's all the way to the right with the throttle stick in the down position the motors won't arm in that case you have to reverse the servo function which is common for Futaba radios to require reversing the throttle servo. Or was the throttle stick a little up when you plugged in your batteries. I found the GPS will not function inside of buildings on my own quad.

 

[strapkass]

DOH...It was the lack of satellites that was causing the motors not to arm...As soon as I took it outside, the red flashes reduced to zero and the motors fired...

 

[PeteDee]

If you switch to ATTI or MAN mode it does not care about the GPS and should arm as well.

Pet

 

[bensid54]

Pete Dee is right it should arm the motors in Atti or Man I think mine will arm the motors inside on GPS mode. Your problem inside the building could and likely was electrical interference from somewhere inside the building that the controller was picking up on.

 

[strapkass]

Pete Dee is right it should arm the motors in Atti or Man I think mine will arm the motors inside on GPS mode. Your problem inside the building could and likely was electrical interference from somewhere inside the building that the controller was picking up on.

You could well be right since now it works inside and outside of the building in all modes...First test flight tomorrow...

 

[strapkass]

I moved into more open ground today and had only one minor crash in over an hour of flying, so pretty chuffed.

I executed failsafe by switching off the transmitter and nearly shat myself as it hovered for a few seconds and then shot straight up to about 100ft drifting with the wind before returning gently to where I took off...Tough moment there.

Am I right in assuming that no matter what I do with the controls at that point, it will not re-engage until it has returned to earth?

Despite switching on the transmitter and establishing a green led indicating gps mode, no matter what I did with the transmitter, nothing happened...Is that normal behaviour?

After an hour of flying, I can take off, fly forwards, backwards and sideways left and right as well as spinning left and right, although this seems to have unpredictable results as to which direction the quad heads off in...

I kind of feel that I'm a bit stuck in that I am really apprehensive about trying new manoeuvres because I am uncertain what the outcome will be and it will lead to more crashes.

I've already had to cut down the carbon legs twice because I've broken them on impact. I feel that I want to learn how to fly the quad in a circle, but don't understand the co-ordination required and, based on my very limited flying experience, it will undoubtedly crash.

To this end, is there any value in purchasing a flight sim such as Phoenix 4, aero sim or Realflight RC 6.5?..Or am I better off buying an MQX and crashing that while I learn instead.

Or am I better off just practicing with the 450 over soft grass in wide open spaces until I overcome my inabilities..or not as the case may well turn out to be...

 

[bensid54]

When I turned off my transmitter to try failsafe I got the same results as you just not as rapid of a accent and my radio too would not re-engage when I turned it back on. I would get the QX over a flight sim because they can take a beating like none other and you get more realistic conditions because the little thing is actually very good in the wind. Glad to hear your having fun.

 

[PeteDee]

You should be able to turn the radio back on and go to ATTI or MAN mode and regain control.

Pete

 

[bensid54]

Ill try that experiment again in a bigger field where I can be a little safer with my failsafe.

 

[vtaildriver]

Ditto what Pete said...I've tried it and it works.