Any way to check for internal damage?

naiku · Mar 8, 2019

I picked up a Mavic Air on eBay a few days ago that was delivered today, to say the packing job was poor is being polite. The post office even put a sticker on it saying it was received damaged. Physically everything looks as expected, but I am wondering if there is any other things I should check before attempting to fly the drone? It is currently charging, so will be a few hours, but before either leaving positive or negative feedback, I want to make sure I really check this thing over.

Thanks.

Former Member · Mar 8, 2019

You might want to do a bench check with the props off. Heres what I would do:

Connect the controller to your device and calibrate the controller.
Turn on the drone and check you sensor status. All IMU and compass readings should be green.
Check the status bar for error messages.
Calibrate the gimbal

Thats for starters.

naiku · Mar 8, 2019

Thanks, will charge all the batteries, make sure the firmware is up to date and then run through those checks. Will report back once everything is done. Mind blowing someone would ship something this expensive this poorly.

Controller firmware updated, updating the Fly Safe database keeps failing and updating the firmware on the unit keeps also failing. Getting a backward sensor malfunction as well, hoping it just needs calibrating, but not looking great so far.

OK, managed to get the firmware updated and the obstacle detection calibrated using the DJI app on the computer. The only issue I appear to be getting currently is "Navigation System Error - Check Redundancy State" Going to research that now, unfortunately it is snowing so I can't take it outside to see if it gets a good GPS lock.

And another edit, took it outside under the porch for a minute. After about 30 seconds it said "Ready to fly" powered up the motors although without the propellers installed or flying it is hard to say if it is all good. But, at least it looks as though nothing is wrong so far.

naiku · Mar 9, 2019

Just got back in from a quick first flight. Happy to report that everything seems to be functioning correctly. Auto take off, landing, obstacle avoidance (although I did not get close to anything for obvious reasons). Just kept it in beginner mode and at about 15 feet off the ground for now, just getting an idea of how it responds to the controls and flying by looking at the drone and not my tablet.

I watched so many videos of mistakes and what to expect, it was a little nerve wracking! The wind started to pick up unfortunately and I could see the drone fighting the wind, so just called it a day after I got a low battery warning, even though I had a second charged battery on hand.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer weather, so hopefully I can get out and extend my range a little with it. Already put my details as folders on the SD card and internal memory, just need to print up stickers.

Only issue is it does not appear to save photos to the SD card, bed to look into that, suspect it's just a setting I missed.