Total Eclipse in Arthur, Nebraska (2017)

Despite all of the warnings about massive traffic jams we decided to travel from Brighton, Colorado to Arthur, Nebraska which was in the path of totality.   We ran into some morning fog on I-76 that was pretty thick in places, but the traffic was normal and when not slowed by fog, we were able to drive the speed limit heading towards I-80 and while heading back home.  On this route, the crowds failed to materialize.

I decided to fly the P3P during totality and capture a panorama of the area but as it turns out, I forgot to press 'Record' after landing the drone and inserting a fresh battery at 2 minutes and 30 seconds before totality!   All I can say, is that you had to be there.  Even these guys that recorded the space station transiting the sun during the eclipse, forgot to take the lens cap off of their telescopes because of the awesomeness of the event!  I got some good video, but theirs is better.  Watch this video too.

Rats!!! Stress Cracks in my Phantom 3 Professional!

I suppose that it had to happen, I purchased this refurbished P3P from Amazon on June 14th but at 108 flights and 15.25 hours flight time, but my P3P developed two rather substantial stress cracks in the rear arms, just where everyone else is experiencing them after only 57 days! 

In my opinion, these cracks aren't caused by overtightning the two frame screws just inside the motor mount screws.  These are specifically made not to stress the plastic by using stand-off screws.  These screws have a large barrel that slips through the plastic and compresses agains the metal insert in the upper shell.  The lower shell shouldn't be stressed by these.  No, In my opinion, the plastic formulation of the aircraft body, perhaps aided by the lack of rigidity in the join of top and bottom halves is the culprit and that can only be solved by re-designing the top and bottom enclosures.   I suspect that is why DJI added the plastic "locks" on the P3, to help bind the top and bottom shells together.

I decided to repair my drone rather than use the warranty replacement that is available (My drone is less than 2 months into a 12 month warranty period) because of the delay I've read about, (6-8 weeks) and partially because I believe that DJI will just use new but defective cases to fix the issue.  I want to fix the issue and not just delay it's re-occurrence.

BTW - I know, I should have rotated my phone to take this video.  Oh well, next time.

I've decided to go with the Plast-Aid fix.  This seems like it will strengthen the arms sufficiently and beyond that, I've decided to apply a tape element to join the top and bottom enclosures of the fuselage and make them a single component.   I don't want to glue the top to the bottom because of the difficulty of separating them in the future, but I want to select a strong adhesive tape that will strengthen the enclosure.

Well, my Bondic arrived before the Plast-Aid so I fixed the cracks with Bondic.   Amazing stuff, but my wife said that she's been using this for 30 years now and I just should have borrowed some of her UV nail polish!  I'm pretty sure it's not the same, but Bondic really works great to stop the cracks.  3-4 seconds of the UV lamp and Bondic solidifies very well,  I sanded the arm and it looks as good as new!  I still want to add a bit of Plast-aid to the lower arm before flying again, but this looks like it will be a good fix.

So after adding the Plast-aid, this is what my lower rear arms look like.

Update: Now at 128 flights and 3 hours additional flight time (18h 02m 27s total flight time).  The rear motor mounts aren't showing any additional signs of cracking.  Either in the existing cracks or in any new areas.  I'll be inspecting these arms closely over the next few months and let you know if I see anything.

Update: Now at 149 flights and another 3-4 hours of flight time.( 21h 47m 08s) of total flight time.  I've located two VERY small cracks emanating from the two frame screws opposite of the original cracks that I applied the smallest amount of Bondic to check them from spreading.  These are trivial associated cracks but worth logging.   Overall, I'm pleased with the Plast-aid/Bondic repair protocol. The rear motor arms are very solid and seem to be fixed well but cracks on the Phantom are an issue to be sure.

Update: 169 flights and 25 hours total flight time.  No additional cracking and the rear arms are still very solid!  61 additional flights and 10 hours of flight time since the repair.  I bought a new Phantom 3 Pro shell, just in case this didn't work, but now I'm sure that if I do change the case, that I'll make sure to fill the lower arm motor mounts with Plast-aid prior to mounting the motors.  This stuff looks like it works great and fixes the problem.

Update: 199 flights and 30 hours total flight time.  This is an additional 15 hours of flight time and there's no further cracking, so I think these arms are essentially fixed.  If new cracks occur, I don't believe that they will be related to the original cracks.  I would heartily endorse using Plast-aid and Bondic to repair rear arm cracks in the Phantom 3 pro.  It appears to work well!

3 bladed props for the UPair One???

You have probably seen lots of drones flying with 3-bladed props.  There is no reason why, with appropriate design adaptations, that a 3 bladed prop won't serve just as well as a 2 bladed prop.  But they simply don't work on MY UPair One!    At least without some PID modifications.   In fact, I believe that is all that it will take to make my UPair One fly just fine with these props.

The UPair One is a great racing 'copter! (Ok, not so much)

There are lot's of great uses for the DJI Phantom 3 Professional, but racing around your yard seeing how fast you can fly is probably not one of them.  My old UPair One allows me to fly with crazy abandon (and still fly safely) around my yard and share it with you.

Here are some videos of my recent figure 8's around the yard.  The UPair is a great training 'copter!

UPair One vs Phantom 3 Professional

Really?  I've seen videos where this comparison is proposed, but I cannot disagree more! The DJI Phantom 3 Professional is a quality flying machine.  The attention to detail is clear and unmistakable.

Yes, the UPair is a workhorse, but again the quality of the Phantom in comparison is obvious for even the most casual observer. But for all of it's corners cut, the PX4 board on the UPair One appears to be a stable flight controller but none of the serious attention to detail can be seen in the G10 UPair where the DJI product takes quality for granted.

Don't get me wrong, I learned to fly a full featured camera drone using the UPair One.  I still fly mine almost everyday.    Just this evening I was working on tight figure-eights at 28kph in my front yard!  I wouldn't do that with my P3P, but the UPair with her little fixed-pitch racing drone camera beneath, handles it pretty well!

Actually, you can get pretty good video using just an FPV camera with no gimbal at all!  I was having some trouble with my UPair camera/gimbal so I removed the whole assembly and flew LOS with only the quad.  Not being able to determine my position at the limits of LOS, I attached a $20 fpv camera to the camera mount and added back my 600mw VTX.  Below are the images streamed back to my phone, actual camera recording would provide a better image, but you can see that the UPair platform is pretty stable if you keep the control movements gentle.

Gold Plated Male and Female Bullet Banana Connectors Plugs for RC Battery ESC Motor

I've seen a number of YouTube videos where people have replaced their stock UPair One motors and decided against unsoldering the wires from the flight controller board but cut the wires to the motors and spliced them back together.    Some use crimp connectors and one person I remember used crimped on male and female spade terminals insulated with duct tape!  That was the video with the ESC fire on in flight.

I've replaced all of my stock motors with Racerstar 2212's and opted to use these quick-disconnect terminals.  They work very well and with the proper heat-shrink tubing applied, they'll protect against shorting out your ESC's.

These connectors are wonderful for easily swapping out your quad's motors.  Here is a link on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0113N3D42/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

UPair One Battery test. Documented 25.4 minutes aloft!

My 2.7 k camera has been causing me some problems.  The connectors are getting worn and causing the FPV video to be intermittent.   So I thought, "I don't need no stinkin' FPV", so I pulled the camera and the monitor off the controller and fired up the drone!

You still have to wait for a GPS lock to be established and you won't know unless you try to take off.  Although the motors will arm, the UPair won't take off.  Be patient, it only takes a minute or so then you're off!

Flying strictly line of sight without the FPV is fun, and the training is helpful in case of a system failure where you would need to navigate back to the home point without any visual aids.  (Yeah, I know.  RTH works but you still might need to fly your quad in manually...)

I even tested flying out 1000 meters and turning off the controller, yep, it fly's right back to home.

I'll post more, but here is a battery test I just completed an hour ago.  25 minutes and 23 seconds aloft with my UPair One!

Update:  Ok, don't interrupt RTH and hover until the battery shuts off!  Unless you are only 6 feet in the air with the camera and gimbal removed.  There was no damage to my naked UPair, it's flying just fine after the crash.