New phantom....now what

Charlie R Chisholm

Charlie R Chisholm

Member
I just received my new Phantom 1.1.1. I got it all put together, charged the batteries and did the calibration of the compass. The copter flashes a slow green that I assume means all is well, but there I am stuck. I have seen no activity from any of the motors yet and don't know how to start that process. I know the transmitter and the copter are communicating on some level because if I turn it off the copter complains with a rapidly flashing yellow light. Turn the tx back on and the slow green flash resumes. I have tried just about every combination of the two 3-position switches, but the only thing that ever changes when I move the sicks is that the green light will flash twice pause and repeat while I hold the stick down. Can anybody help me figure out where I go from here???

I tried to use the Naza -m V2 assistent software but it says no transmitter installed and I can't figure out how to make it see my transmitter. If I click the test motors, I get a message saying to connect to the controller. Not a clue what to do about that. The USB is in place.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.
 
hi mate not had one but most arm by holding the rudder down and right , if that dont work the rudder right and down collective left and down
UPDATE ok to arm both sticks down and while they are down push towards each other this will arm it
 
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let me know how you get on if you run it up indoors make sure GPS is off it can be dangerous to have it on
 
You got it exactly right! Sticks down and then out and it fired right up. I guess I'm not real good at following written instruction. Bad trait.

I took the props off before trying it since I didn't know what I was doing.

Thank you very much for your help.
 
No problem Charlie your welcome mate , i take it the phantom you have has gps and return home , when you take it out to fly make sure its all turned on i have seen many phantoms lost due to gps not turned on , its a lot of money to loose
 
Absolutely! I have reached the age of being painfully aware of my reduced attention to detail, so I have actually considered putting a tether on the copter for my first attempt to fly ( I know that's a bad idea, but I briefly considered it)
 
I am no spring chicken as well , if it has everything turned on your be fine just keep it close till your happy , read the info on the return home , that can scare you the first time , some are set to climb to 150 feet then travel back it will then hover over you for 3/5 second before it starts to desend and land with in 2 feet of where you started from , you thinks its off some where when it does it
 
HI Charlie i am in luton uk , my local park is under the flight path for the airport so cant get over 60 feet
 
I'm in st Pete Fl, although right now it feels like the arctic. Whether has been to bad to take the phantom on her maiden flight. Maybe tomorrow. I dont have any limits on flying here except my own fear, but that's probably a good thing. I just don't want to be one of the guys who do enough stupid stuff to cause the powers that be to start placing restriction on where we can fly
 
I dont think you would do that , if its not safe to do dont do it , and your be fine just watch for people walking across where you fly , if you can take some one to spot for you that will help , i dont know if you have seen what a acro quad can do i know its not a phantom but great to watch
and this is what a phantom can do
 
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The arco frames are not cheap £120 for the rachel, but i knew you would like the niagara one its a good flight , my mate has done some with his quad set up it amazed me the height he was flying at his is a long range set up have a look he has the dragon link FPV system
 
Holtneil, I am a Private Investigator and am trying to find a system that will allow me to document property from as far away as possible. Does the Phantom 2 cover this need? And, how much noise do these Quads make? Thanks in advance for your response.
 
HI John the phantom is not very loud have a good flight time , but the camera will not give you great detail unless you low down and near target , there are other ways like a hand made quad with a good flight time and a good camera that you can zoom , some top camera gimbals along with head tracking fpv will allow you to pan and tilt camera just buy moving your head , your need a powerful base station for the long range flying , i dont feel the phantom as good as it is will give you the camera image you want i may be wrong as i dont know how much detail you need , the video on this page was done by my friend in the USA , he builds some top quads as you can see in the video , if this would be a better option he would be happy to help set this up for you , if you have never flown any rc models this can be hard on its own ,flying FPV is very hard as you can loose control of a quad very fast , so a return home and stable flight mode, like autopilot and some you can program to fly to way points using GPS systems would help you a lot but as we ask more from the unit the cost goes up,other way would be a 2 man crew ,one flys quad on an fpv, the second man tilts and pans camera to get the image wanted buy looking into a monitor in the base station
The phantom does a wi fi link to a smart phone but its only 300 mtrs so thats 900 feet old money approx but you cant get anything between you and quad or link will be lost this is the case for most FPV and rc models
I hope this helps its hard to give a really good answer as i dont really know how much detail you need to see if its just the building size out houses cars etc then yes phantom will do it but be careful of the range you need , the only good thing is if it has GPS return home built in to the fail safe if it goes out of range it will turn round and come back to where you are , as long as its has the flight time still in the battery .
AS for sound they buzz or drone in sound but even the 666mm in my pic on the left once its at 15 feet i cant hear it , your hear it on the FPV as these can come with a mic but some one on the ground i dont think will hear it at 30 feet up ,they may see it fly over but if they dont know about you they wont think much of it ,
Have a think about what i put here i can put you in touch with my friend if you want , just one last thing if its RTF and cheap it may not work very well , it can cost this hobby but get it right first time and you wont waste money
 
Hotneil,
Thank you so very much for your excellent reply. The last sentence in your response mirrors my exact thought.....spend the money, do it right the first time. I am seriously looking at the Phantom 2......however, I am torn between getting the model where I add a gimbal mount and a Go-Pro type camera for versatility vs their fixed cam that maneuvers up and down and left to right. Any suggestions? I am not worried about reading a license plate at this point - in - time. Just if such and such vehicle is present, etc. John
 
Hi mate well funny you should say that , there is a guy on here who has the phantom vision and he is now trying to fit a go pro as the camera built in is not that good ,i would go with the add gimbal some gopro will transmit on the 2.4g make sure this will not mess about with the control like it does on the blade 350qx , i would look into fitting a dragon 5.8g system and look into what range will you need some long range systems will give you 3km range watch this it may help sorry there is a few but great info his site is rcmodelriews.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBviF3TQZjU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdBljOTU7f4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvzEdFO6sOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af-aiPS7KuI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt1S3ckeVWA
 
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