A cautionary tale Mini 3 pro

[old man mavic]

hi fellow flyers, this thread would apply to any of the Mini 3 series
the last time i flew My Mini 3 pro several weeks ago ,as i was landing ,at the last moment, a combination of ground effect, and a sudden gust of wind ,meant the drone moved off the landing pad and into the vegitation around it that was not flattened down
this caused one of the rear props, to sustain damage to its rubber tip, which became partially detached
and some scuff marks on several of the others
so upon arriving home, i decided that i would change out the props on all 4 motors ,as they had all been on the drone for a similar length of time
i accomplished this and put the drone away in its case ,so today ,due to a break in the weather, it was actually not raining, i went up to my local flying spot ,to firstly try out my Air 3 with its updates ,and also run a couple of batteries through the Mini 3 pro as well
upon taking off, the Mini 3 started twitching about in all directions ,and struggled to hold position in the hover
as you can imagine ,i was baffled why this was happening ,as it had always flown so well before
i had no choice but to land ,and return home ,upon my return i examined the drone ,and found that on one of the rear motors, i had mounted,one of the pair of props upsidedown ,after turning it the right way ,i did a test flight ,and was relieved when it flew perfectly ,as you know one set of the props has a moulded line on the top of the same pair ,but the others only have the almost invisible writing, on the upper surface ,it was one of those that i had mounted upsidedown

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Whoops.
Uum to behonest I think you might have been luckier than you realise.
Isn't the top of the blade hub recessed, with the head of the screw sitting in the recess?
If so then, at a guess, with the blade upside down, the screw must have had very little bite in the screw hole on the top of the motor.
If correct I think you are lucky the screw didn't come out.
Also, weren't the blades a bit stiff on their pivots?
I think the screw was probably clamping down on the what is the base of the blade hub.

Time to try a flutter on the lottery I think.

 

[old man mavic]

@Yorkshire_Pud not really, if you look at the Mini 3 pro blades they are recessed on both sides
so none of the above consequences happened

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

@Yorkshire_Pud not really, if you look at the Mini 3 pro blades they are recessed on both sides
so none of the above consequences happened

Fair enough.

Oooh, if you have not synced your logs with DJI, could you post the DAT for the flight please?
It would be interesting to see the motor's speed.

 

[old man mavic]

@Yorkshire_Pud just a final word, on why i missed my mistake, before going out to fly again,
if i had been using a conventional case, where the drones arms were folded up, i would have noticed the props on the rear motor ,were not correctly fitted, as they did not close together like the others ,but my rigid case holds the drone with the arms open ,and the props are free to move i did not synce the log i deleted it from the records, as the flight only lasted about a minute,and i did not want it to count as a flight

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

@Yorkshire_Pud just a final word, on why i missed my mistake, before going out to fly again,
if i had been using a conventional case, where the drones arms were folded up, i would have noticed the props on the rear motor ,were not correctly fitted, as they did not close together like the others ,but my rigid case holds the drone with the arms open ,and the props are free to move i did not synce the log i deleted it from the records, as the flight only lasted about a minute,and i did not want it to count as a flight

OK but if you just deleted the txt flight log in the app and not via computer etc then that may have left the DAT behind. You could always PM the DAT to me if you are so inclined.

 

[old man mavic]

@Yorkshire_Pud sorry fellow flier, but i did not connect the drone to my computer at all ,i am not interested in analising such data ,i could visibly see what the issue was ,if i do any updates i have always done it using the RC and drone connected to the internet ,have never had any cause to use,the DJI assistant to do such things,and i stopped using Airdata a couple of years ago, as i found that the information did not really tell me anything of great interest ,to me that is ,i am more than happy if my drone flies as it should, and i can take it home at the end of a days flying without any damage,we each take an interest in different aspects of our hobby ,and that is fine by me take care
OMM

 

[smbishop]

Fair enough.

Oooh, if you have not synced your logs with DJI, could you post the DAT for the flight please?
It would be interesting to see the motor's speed.

What happens if you sync the logs? Just curious because I auto-upload and sync with FlightReader. Thanks!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

What happens if you sync the logs? Just curious because I auto-upload and sync with FlightReader. Thanks!

It deletes the DAT files from the folder FlightRecord\MCDatFlightRecords in the screen device.
These DAT's for the Mini 3 Pro are readable and include the motor speeds.
Some Fly app using drones encrypt these DATs but the Mini 3 Pro does not.

 

[flyin4fun]

I have a Mini 3 Pro with about 30 hrs flight time. Is there a recommended replacement time on props (with no prop strikes)? Fatigue etc?

 

[jwilson]

hi fellow flyers, this thread would apply to any of the Mini 3 series
the last time i flew My Mini 3 pro several weeks ago ,as i was landing ,at the last moment, a combination of ground effect, and a sudden gust of wind ,meant the drone moved off the landing pad and into the vegitation around it that was not flattened down
this caused one of the rear props, to sustain damage to its rubber tip, which became partially detached
and some scuff marks on several of the others
so upon arriving home, i decided that i would change out the props on all 4 motors ,as they had all been on the drone for a similar length of time
i accomplished this and put the drone away in its case ,so today ,due to a break in the weather, it was actually not raining, i went up to my local flying spot ,to firstly try out my Air 3 with its updates ,and also run a couple of batteries through the Mini 3 pro as well
upon taking off, the Mini 3 started twitching about in all directions ,and struggled to hold position in the hover
as you can imagine ,i was baffled why this was happening ,as it had always flown so well before
i had no choice but to land ,and return home ,upon my return i examined the drone ,and found that on one of the rear motors, i had mounted,one of the pair of props upsidedown ,after turning it the right way ,i did a test flight ,and was relieved when it flew perfectly ,as you know one set of the props has a moulded line on the top of the same pair ,but the others only have the almost invisible writing, on the upper surface ,it was one of those that i had mounted upsidedown

I'm surprised you can actually do that. I bought a mini 3 pro, so I will be careful when changing props. Thanks for the warning.