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A sad story with DJI Tech Service

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Not to hit you while you're down but it's a good learning experience for everyone. WD-40 shouldn't really be used around any precision equipment. It's at least partially a petroleum distillate and can damage synthetic components. I've heard clock repair techs hate the stuff as it gums up when it ages, well meaning do-it-yourselfers use it and make things worse. I had someone bring in their scuba regulator for service, I don't recall what the original problem was but he figured it was gunked up somehow, so he sprayed WD-40 into the ambient pressure ports. Had to do a full rebuild on that regulator just because there's no way of telling what damage was done to the o-rings.
Thanks. This is what we call "learning by doing (wrong)"
 
I have never got the same Mavic Air back whenever I send to service.
That goes for my Spark service as well.
I am currently in a dispute with reliability of DJI Service as well.
Monday I will receive my THIRD service attempt to correct a downward sensor issue.
Started with "recalibrate vision sensors" message that would not complete calibration.
Then the unit I got back from service hit the ground on auto land because it could not"see the ground.
Sent that one back in and the one received again hit the ground same as before on the second flight back from service.
If it does not fly right, send it back in.
by the way, here is a short list of my experiences since I got my 1st Mavic Air in March 19 and second Mavic Air in April:

Purchased refurb FlyMore (1) - had stuck pixels recording/ shooting photos - exchanged for new
(1) One of 3 batteries in the flymore package were DOA - Exchanged for new
(1) Exchanged for new Mavic has stuck pixels – sent back in
Purchased a second, new Mavic Air standard package (2) for my fleet - battery DOA
(2) Mavic Air has dead pixels while recording/ shooting photos.
Controller on Mavic Air (2) reboots on its own even in flight – controller exchanged
(1) & (2) Cannot shoot panos - spheres or 180s with the second Mavic Air – Exposure not even - even with manual
(1) MA returned with stuck pixels
(2) MA gimbal cannot hold the horizon
(1) & (2) have IMU errors – sent in and exchanged
(1) & (2) started YAWing without stick input and downward vision sensors not working
Sent MA (1) in for not holding horizon, stuck pixels and downward vision sensors not calibrating.
Received MA (1) and downward vision sensors are not working.
Sent MA (1) in AGAIN for not holding horizon, stuck pixels, downward vision sensors not working, and motor shut off 1ft above the ground.
Received MA (1) and on second flight, bumped the ground on landing/ downward vision sensors STILL not working.
Sent in MA (1) for a THIRD service to correct the downward vision sensors and YAWing

Overall after repair:
Still Cannot shoot Spheres or 180s due to uneven exposure
Gimbals will not hold the horizon after a few flights even after calibrating
Still YAWs without stick input even after calibration

Poor repair service.
Everything listed has been repaired or attempted repair under warranty since 23March19

Then why we keep buying their stuff? This is my second Mavic Pro, and I just bought an Osmo Action. Is this masochism?
 
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Your yaw issue could be the remote. Often that's overlooked as a cause. Calibrating the sticks likely will expose that as the problem. Before actually selecting to calibrate, it will show the current stick % as you move them. Should be 0 without touching, 100% at full position without having to apply force at the limit.

Another cause of chronic compass symptoms is AC needing to be demagnetised.

Thanks, but I do not understand the reply. This bird does not take off. Motors are not starting. It's a rat on the floor...
 
I would try a self fix then only fly in remote areas till you were sure theres no more problems. Scraping a 1000$ + is not an option if theres a chance you can fix it

Thanks. Sure, it hurts me to waste this money. I can keep it for spares for my second MP, but that's a stupid solution.
 
I land the bird, go home quickly, spray some drops of WD40 in the motor controlling the up-down movement of the gimbal and get a partial unblocking effect.
I think that was a big mistake.
 
The one thing I’ve not heard anyone address is that he said DJI originally didn’t want to even return the aircraft due to safety reasons. It sounds like after squabbling a little bit with them that they decided to return it. Is it possible that they somehow electronically killed the aircraft in order to avoid any liability on their part and at the same time satisfying the OP’s demand for the return of the aircraft?

You are writing what I have been fearing when they told me that they were returning it unrepaired, after that I told them "...we do not want to go to Court for such a stupid thing, don't we?"
I told my wife "I had a bad feeling about this drone, let's see how it comes back!" And I was 100% right.
You know, an old Italian politician of the Christian Democrat Party, back in the 1960's, used to say "To think badly you commit sin, but you always guess it".
 
Well, they didn't have any liability as they didn't carry out a repair. By at first refusing to return it, perhaps they were trying to minimize their shipping costs? As for the complete failure when the OP got it back, I suspect the WD40 was more than likely the start of the problems. I stated in another topic posting that when I used WD40 on my bike chain and gear clusters, it created a dirt/dust magnet. Stopped that practice.
Thanks. Shipping cost was not a problem, I'd have paid for the return as I did pay UPS when I sent it.
 
You are writing what I have been fearing when they told me that they were returning it unrepaired, after that I told them "...we do not want to go to Court for such a stupid thing, don't we?"
I told my wife "I had a bad feeling about this drone, let's see how it comes back!" And I was 100% right.
You know, an old Italian politician of the Christian Democrat Party, back in the 1960's, used to say "To think badly you commit sin, but you always guess it".
Giulio Andreotti? To be fair I think he was talking about thinking ill of others and conceded you aren't always right. Lets hope that is the case on this occasion. You might be lucky and find that they didn't reconnect something properly. Given the modular construction it is more likely to be not or poor connection than hardware damage.
 
I read through most of this string. I was surprised that no one brought up sending your drone to Rob at Thunderdrones. He might be able to save your bird and will be honest with everything that may be wrong with it. He may even be able to uncover/verify any electrical sabotage DJI Repair may have done. But I’d like to believe DJI repair would never sink this low.
 
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Not to hit you while you're down but it's a good learning experience for everyone. WD-40 shouldn't really be used around any precision equipment. It's at least partially a petroleum distillate and can damage synthetic components. I've heard clock repair techs hate the stuff as it gums up when it ages, well meaning do-it-yourselfers use it and make things worse. I had someone bring in their scuba regulator for service, I don't recall what the original problem was but he figured it was gunked up somehow, so he sprayed WD-40 into the ambient pressure ports. Had to do a full rebuild on that regulator just because there's no way of telling what damage was done to the o-rings.
Same deal with padlocks. Never use WD40. It just gums up the dust. I've had a little puffer bottle of graphite powder for 40 years and it's still 3/4 full!!! Not the right tool for your gimbal though...just saying.
Good luck.
 
It isn't hard to understand your consternation over sending your Mavic Pro away to DJI with only an apparent gimbal fault, but getting back from them an aircraft that won't fly at all.
I wonder if I can be a little bit of a devil's advocate here, suggesting the WD40 may well be the cause of a problem which progressed to the point where there is little if any functionality now.

WD40 probably has a well deserved, world-wide reputation as a lubricant. But I am picking that in your situation, it was almost certainly the wrong product for use on the Mavic Pro's gimbal. I don't know what the chemical composition of WD40 is, but it is likely to be corrosive to electronics.

The point you have made about the Mavic being "perfectly" functional, other than the gimbal problem, immediately before you sent it away, could well fit with a situation where WD40 has taken time to, firstly, come in contact with an ECB - flying at speed for a long distance may well have helped that process along. Once there is contact with an ECB, then penetration time is a matter of how corrosive the chemicals are in WD40 to the Mavic Pro electronic components.

Once penetration had happened - even with just the smallest amount of the lubricant - the sort of selective effect you described happening to your Mavic Pro's motor management and avionics is inevitable, even if it does take time.

I'm not going to judge the service you have had from DJI service agent, beyond suggesting they probably didn't do a very good job in detailing their rationale for suggesting your Mavic Pro was a write-off. However, I do suggest, that however well meaning your intention was to use the WD40 around the gimbal components, that was quite possibly the beginning point of the Mavic Pro's eventual failure.

A good point for all UAV operators to remember, is NOT to use such lubricant products anywhere on a UAV. Be aware, lubricant does not disperse dust or grit, it will merely provide a barrier between the UAV's moving parts and the foreign material, in some situations turning into a form of slurry with even worse ECB degrading properties. At the very least, use good quality, electronics grade, compressed air - in this case, all round the gimbal and its housing, making sure air vents are also cleared of foreign material. At the most, grounding of the UAV should be considered as a priority, with the UAV being stripped down to its basic airframe to be thoroughly cleaned. Once considered airworthy, testing should be planned for incrementally longer, faster, higher, further flights until absolutely satisfied there are no issues with flight control management systems and avionics.

If that all sounds a bit OTT. It's meant to be! This forum is full of "sad" stories about otherwise careful flyers losing their pride and joy; following what might have been seen as a previous "minor" event. While our UAVs are obviously much, much smaller than their larger cousins, they are still aircraft. There are no lay-bys up in the sky - you can't just pull over and shut one down when something goes wrong - so, inevitably they will either drop out of the sky, or perform some bizarre behaviour like flying off, or, if you're lucky , they can't get airborne in the first place. Carry out pre-flight checks, including batteries and flight controller, every time. Keep a log and schedule a maintenance plan for each 25hr block of flying time.

Most of us wouldn't even consider recreational flying in a light aircraft that didn't have a good, written, service record, never mind taking a flight on board a commercial aircraft without the knowledge of there being a similar servicing record!

Happy and safe flying. ? Thumbswayup
 
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I read through most of this string. I was surprised that no one brought up sending your drone to Rob at Thunderdrones. He might be able to save your bird and will be honest with everything that may be wrong with it. He may even be able to uncover/verify any electrical sabotage DJI Repair may have done. But I’d like to believe DJI repair would never sink this low.
I busted up my M2P by 'landing' in a tree. Damaged the speed controller in one of the arms. DJI replaced the whole drone for A$179 including postage both ways. Can't hope for better than that.
 
Same deal with padlocks. Never use WD40. It just gums up the dust. I've had a little puffer bottle of graphite powder for 40 years and it's still 3/4 full!!! Not the right tool for your gimbal though...just saying.
Good luck.

Big fan of powdered graphite for locks. Have a sticky ignition lock cylinder on my Honda and it works great.
 
Giulio Andreotti? To be fair I think he was talking about thinking ill of others and conceded you aren't always right. Lets hope that is the case on this occasion. You might be lucky and find that they didn't reconnect something properly. Given the modular construction it is more likely to be not or poor connection than hardware damage.
? Compliments! If you live in the US, you must be one of the ten citizens who know Giulio Andreotti! He said, quote: "A pensar male si fa peccato, ma ci si indovina!"
I opened the MP, all connections and flat cables are OK, no evident sign of unwelded points or cut cables, but of course you never know what can be done on a printed circuit or through software. I do not want to think that they sunk so low, but the case is utmost suspect.
 
I read through most of this string. I was surprised that no one brought up sending your drone to Rob at Thunderdrones. He might be able to save your bird and will be honest with everything that may be wrong with it. He may even be able to uncover/verify any electrical sabotage DJI Repair may have done. But I’d like to believe DJI repair would never sink this low.
Thanks, I'm aware of the superb reputation of Rob at Thunderbird (why is he a Former Member of this forum??) but sending a junk drone from Italy to the US is not worth the effort. I could go through painful Customs procedures, the shipping cost is not negligible and I might end up with a non repairable bird and a lot of money wasted...
 
It isn't hard to understand your consternation over sending your Mavic Pro away to DJI with only an apparent gimbal fault, but getting back from them an aircraft that won't fly at all.
I wonder if I can be a little bit of a devil's advocate here, suggesting the WD40 may well be the cause of a problem which progressed to the point where there is little if any functionality now.

WD40 probably has a well deserved, world-wide reputation as a lubricant. But I am picking that in your situation, it was almost certainly the wrong product for use on the Mavic Pro's gimbal. I don't know what the chemical composition of WD40 is, but it is likely to be corrosive to electronics.

The point you have made about the Mavic being "perfectly" functional, other than the gimbal problem, immediately before you sent it away, could well fit with a situation where WD40 has taken time to, firstly, come in contact with an ECB - flying at speed for a long distance may well have helped that process along. Once there is contact with an ECB, then penetration time is a matter of how corrosive the chemicals are in WD40 to the Mavic Pro electronic components.

Once penetration had happened - even with just the smallest amount of the lubricant - the sort of selective effect you described happening to your Mavic Pro's motor management and avionics is inevitable, even if it does take time.

I'm not going to judge the service you have had from DJI service agent, beyond suggesting they probably didn't do a very good job in detailing their rationale for suggesting your Mavic Pro was a write-off. However, I do suggest, that however well meaning your intention was to use the WD40 around the gimbal components, that was quite possibly the beginning point of the Mavic Pro's eventual failure.

A good point for all UAV operators to remember, is NOT to use such lubricant products anywhere on a UAV. Be aware, lubricant does not disperse dust or grit, it will merely provide a barrier between the UAV's moving parts and the foreign material, in some situations turning into a form of slurry with even worse ECB degrading properties. At the very least, use good quality, electronics grade, compressed air - in this case, all round the gimbal and its housing, making sure air vents are also cleared of foreign material. At the most, grounding of the UAV should be considered as a priority, with the UAV being stripped down to its basic airframe to be thoroughly cleaned. Once considered airworthy, testing should be planned for incrementally longer, faster, higher, further flights until absolutely satisfied there are no issues with flight control management systems and avionics.

If that all sounds a bit OTT. It's meant to be! This forum is full of "sad" stories about otherwise careful flyers losing their pride and joy; following what might have been seen as a previous "minor" event. While our UAVs are obviously much, much smaller than their larger cousins, they are still aircraft. There are no lay-bys up in the sky - you can't just pull over and shut one down when something goes wrong - so, inevitably they will either drop out of the sky, or perform some bizarre behaviour like flying off, or, if you're lucky , they can't get airborne in the first place. Carry out pre-flight checks, including batteries and flight controller, every time. Keep a log and schedule a maintenance plan for each 25hr block of flying time.

Most of us wouldn't even consider recreational flying in a light aircraft that didn't have a good, written, service record, never mind taking a flight on board a commercial aircraft without the knowledge of there being a similar servicing record!

Happy and safe flying. ? Thumbswayup
Thanks for taking the time to write such an elaborated and sound comment. Being in the middle of nowhere, I used what I had at home in that moment. I do not carry anymore a can of photo-quality compressed air, unfortunately. I did it for 30 years, when my cameras were mechanic and I used several lenses. Today's gear is much tighter than in the past, and seldom it needs air cleaning. I will reconsider that as an option, in future.
 
I busted up my M2P by 'landing' in a tree. Damaged the speed controller in one of the arms. DJI replaced the whole drone for A$179 including postage both ways. Can't hope for better than that.
Thanks. I flew my first brand new MP in a tree and it fell in a creek. DJI Netherland replaced the gimbal for 200 Euros doing a nice job. I am absolutely puzzled by their behavior in this case. Anyway.
 
? Compliments! If you live in the US, you must be one of the ten citizens who know Giulio Andreotti! He said, quote: "A pensar male si fa peccato, ma ci si indovina!"
I opened the MP, all connections and flat cables are OK, no evident sign of unwelded points or cut cables, but of course you never know what can be done on a printed circuit or through software. I do not want to think that they sunk so low, but the case is utmost suspect.
It’s hard to imagine any malicious antics would be sanctioned by DJI. That doesn’t rule out a rogue employee but even then I wouldn’t say it’s likely. If anything it might just be they applied less care than they perhaps ordinarily would or should have in the reassembly. That is why I suspect just a simple issue with a connection . I wouldn’t be pointing the finger at the WD40 either. Yes it will make a slimy mess, like with the gimbal but the electronics should be fine. From what is known about WD40 the main ingredients are a light mineral machine oil and some blend of petroleum distillates that act as a carrier (evaporate fast when applied).
 
Hi folks, I had a bad experience with DJI Tech Service and I would like to hear from you some constructive comments. Here's the short story:
  1. August 3rd, I fly my two-years-old Mavic Pro in a stone quarry in Tuscany, Italy, where some sculptors are making a lot of rock dust with their grinders, during a sculptor's symposium. I find a cool thing to do some footage through the dust, for a very dramatic cinematic effect, right? Of course the abrasive dust gets into the gimbal, and blocks it almost immediately. OK, my fault, no discussions.
    If you are interested, this is resulting video
  2. I land the bird, go home quickly, spray some drops of WD40 in the motor controlling the up-down movement of the gimbal and get a partial unblocking effect.
  3. I fly the drone in the following days to see how the gimbal behaves, and it's not 100% OK: almost fixed, but not totally, it shakes wildly sometimes.
    During these test runs I beat two personal records: fastest fly (69.6 km/h, or 43.5 miles/h) and longest distance covered (8,745 m or 5.46 miles). This bird flies perfectly.
  4. I consult a couple of local drone shops and they recommend to send the drone to DJI Tech Service in Holland. I do it, paying my UPS bill without a problem: It's out of warranty, I'm more than ready to pay for repair and delivery. I add a detailed report, asking for either cleaning the gimbal or for its replacement with a new one.
  5. I get after a week this diagnosis from DJI Tech Service : "No crash damage. Liquid damage. Aircraft damaged. There is oil everywhere in the craft, customer self serviced it and it's impossible to clean oil from the entire craft. According to the assessment made by our Engineering staff it has been discovered that this unit is a total loss. For safety and the proper functionality of the unit we advise a complete replacement. [...] Please be kindly noted that, the original unit will not be sent back according to after-sales policy."
  6. After a short exchange of emails - where I tell them that the drone is mine and I want it back with the gimbal as faulty as it is, whatever their internal rules say - they send me back the drone, unrepaired as agreed.
  7. When I get the drone back, I try to fly it and... no way. No GPS signal, IMU problems, the bird cannot take off. It switches on regularly, makes all its routine checks, the gimbal goes up and down, the propellers move few mm as usual, but the motors will never start.
  8. I make a complaint with DJI in China, they do all their routine checks with The Netherlands, they even kindly call me from Shenzen, China, to understand what happened (I had to re-explain the whole story, my written and detailed report was probably not clear enough...) and they send me two pictures where some wet parts are visible in the gimbal's seat and in the electronic card inside the drone. (The few drops of WD40 which I sprayed only in the gimbal's motor probably were pushed inside the drone - through the front grill - by the air during the test flights, and is really present in a very, very limited quantity: I have now dismounted the drone, and the wet it's barely visible). DJI refused to clean the oil (they call this "a liquid damage" that can damage electronics) and even refused to replace the whole gimbal (because the drone was "a total loss").
What do you think I should I do now?
Technically: The gimbal can be replaced, of course. But do you think the flying problem can be fixed?
Legally: I sent to DJI a perfectly flying drone with a faulty gimbal, and I got back a NON flying drone. Now it's a total loss, not before!

Thanks for reading this sad story until here.

WD40 is a penetrating oil and a solvent. It would take some time for it to penetrate further up into the drone but once there it will totally destroy the electronics.

Unfortunately using WD40 has destroyed your drone. For the information of others if something like this happens to you, use isopropyl alcohol if you need to wet clean. I would recommend disassembly and to blow clean with an air blower..
 
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