Arise thread, long since dead etc.. I have first refusal on a DJI phantom 2 with extra batteries camera, controller carry case backpack and so on. It needs work - it will fly but GPS is dead. But £60! I'm guessing it'll need a new main board which seem to be £50-£80 but it sounds like a bargain. So, my question to those in the know - does this sound worthwhile or are broken phantoms a money pit? At £60, it seems like I could part it out on feebay and double my money, even if it is a lost cause. Thoughts?
At that price I'd be biting their hand off at the shoulder! But I'd be quite happy to tear it apart and re-solder dry joints, replace broken modules, etc. Depending on your level of skill with electronics and drones however, you might find that the effort & time of diagnosing and repairing the fault makes it less valuable overall. It might just be the GPS module that's not working correctly, you might not need to replace anything else inside. From what I've seen of Phantom 2 internal shots, it seems to break down to several main components (or groups of components) - most of these are pretty common in all drones: Motors ESCs RC Receiver Flight Controller Gimbal controller (though that may be located on the gimbal itself) GPS module If it flies even without GPS lock then it suggests that all the really important stuff still works - motors, ESCs, flight controller, radio receiver. It could even just be a loose connector from the GPS receiver or a dry solder joint somewhere. There are lots of reports online of other Phantom 2 users having issues with GPS lock. Personally I'd buy it. I wouldn't even think about it tbh!
It's sitting on the desk in front of me. It's a Phantom 2 standard, with two batteries, charger, controller with some kind of parabolic thingy (for improving range?), gimbal, camera, six prop blades, spare legs, camera guard and a YKS backpack designed for the Phantom drones. It even had a 32GB MicroSD card in the camera. Looks like the gimbal/camera setup is the Vision Plus pack No idea what I'm doing yet - much reading and youtubing to do.
Um, it may be a wee bit of a bigger bargain. The controller is different to normal Phantom 2 and the tops of the motors are different - it doesn't use the key/spanner to remove the props, but uses a rubberised grip tool. This is a Phantom 3 [edit] Just connected my phone and it says Phantom 3 on the wifi finder
The chap I bought it from purchased it 2nd hand and thought it was a Phantom 2 - I just took his word for it, because he has bunch of drones, including a Tarot 650 and a hex copter. This is kind of strange - I was fuming the other day because the estimated arrival for my cheapo mavic copy slipped by a week - should've been coming tomorrow or Tuesday, which are my days off this week. Then this crops up yesterday in the local ads, so now I'll have something to occupy me on my days off. Really hoping I can get this working.
Bah. The board is borked - the compass socket has broken free of the PCB and at least one of the SMD pads has lifted. Similar problem with one of the wifi connectors and possibly the camera/gimbal control. Also, this thing has had a crash or two - the outer chassis looks reasonably intact but a lot of the internal mounts are shot. A replacement board and chassis is going to take this beyond what I consider worthwhile, so I think I'll feebay it for parts. On the plus side, the controller looks mint and and batteries and charger look in good order too. The motors look ok and, without a way to test it, I'll have to roll the dice on the camera and gimbal assembly.
That's a shame . Any chance you could get a photo of what's damaged? I would happily save you the hassle of fleaBay; alternatively, I can try and get it running again on your behalf?
Here you go: Well the internal chassis mounts are broken/snapped off/missing - the four holes on the PCB have nothing to attach to. The compass and wifi antenna points are highlighted, along with rather scorched-looking battery wiring points on the board. The canera/gimbal wires look ok actually - they had been half inserted/half jammed in the sockets but once they were tugged free they reinserted ok. I don't know how he managed to get it to fly - I couldn't get anything beyond pairing with the controller and phone app. If you want to chance it - I'll accept what it cost me plus your choice of postage, but I'd like to know pretty sharpish because ebays £1 FVF ends tonight.
The WiFi connector looks like it might be relatively easy to re-solder; the GPS/Compass module connector is a little worse - that missing pad looks like it's actually connected, but soldering a "bodge wire" isn't out of the question. However the scorching around the battery is a bit more of a concern. I am sorely tempted... but I've thought about it a little and I honestly think this would be another one of those things that just piles up on a shelf that I never get round to. Honestly, you'll probably make quite a lot more on eBay than what you paid, so either way I think you've still got a bargain. The transmitter on its own is worth about £50.
Yeah, I priced up a replacement PCB and new ones were £120+ Used chassis go for £50+, that's too much to outlay on this IMO. Once I sell this and add it to my paypal account, I'll have nearly enough for a used Mavic Air.
Listed and sold for ~ £130 I'm not buying a Mavic Air yet - gunna play with my cheapo training drone (if it ever turns up) and wait to see what the Spark 2 does to pricing.
Running a massive survey at the moment from my Phantom 4 RTK + D-RTK 2. Currently processing the point cloud... 78 clusters, roughly 2,000,000 points per cluster... This is going to be frikkin' massive!
I'd be interested to know what you survey and how the drone pics are incorporated into the work. Sounds intriguing.