Brand new Mini - crashed and broke arm

[KRASHED]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping that my first post on here would have been something better but I've unfortunately broke my week old mini. I was on my back deck and brushed it against my vinyl siding. It dropped 2-3 feet down on the one arm and snapped the arm where it connects to the rotor.

That being said what is my best course of action here? I have the refresh care but I was hoping to save it for something potentially more serious. I'm also concerned about how long it will take to repair as it will be shipped from Ontario to California.

The repair is going to cost me $100 Canadian plus tax if I get it repaired by the local authorized retailer.

It's something I'm capable of repairing if I order the part but will that void all warranties?

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

A DIY repair would almost certianly void the warranty.
I would be inclined to use the care refresh as it would probably be cheaper. Besides you are now probably more likely to be more careful and therefore less likely to have pilot caused mishaps.
Why do you have to send it to California?

Incidentally I think you were unlucky, I was flying my mini a few days ago and a gust caught it and put it into a tall hedge, it fell maybe 7ft and the only damage was a snapped propellor blade or maybe I was lucky

 

[lannes]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping that my first post on here would have been something better but I've unfortunately broke my week old mini. I was on my back deck and brushed it against my vinyl siding. It dropped 2-3 feet down on the one arm and snapped the arm where it connects to the rotor.

That being said what is my best course of action here? I have the refresh care but I was hoping to save it for something potentially more serious. I'm also concerned about how long it will take to repair as it will be shipped from Ontario to California.

The repair is going to cost me $100 Canadian plus tax if I get it repaired by the local authorized retailer.

It's something I'm capable of repairing if I order the part but will that void all warranties?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Hard to replace the arm and the motor as the motor wires are finely soldered onto the core board, best get it done professionally or refreshed

 

[Jubjub Bird]

A broken arm on an MM is a pretty common problem. I recently paid DJI $66 USD, including round-trip shipping, but this was within the U.S. If I'd used one of my refresh privileges, this would have cost $40 USD. To me, it was worth spending the $26 difference to preserve the refresh privileges.

There are good videos online showing how to replace the arms, and to me, the soldering wouldn't be the hard part. I'd be much more concerned about breaking the fragile exoskeleton while spudging it apart. Also, front and rear arm replacements have different levels of difficulty, with one set requiring more disassembly than the other. Agreed, this would likely void not only the warranty but also the refresh privileges.

 

[NOLADG]

Wow. That definitely slows me down buying a Mini. My worst crash yet was I had the battery on my Spark eject at 83' or 25m and both came crashing to the ground completely lifeless. After throughly examining the drone and battery, I put the battery back on a flew it again with no issues.

 

[lowellton]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping that my first post on here would have been something better but I've unfortunately broke my week old mini. I was on my back deck and brushed it against my vinyl siding. It dropped 2-3 feet down on the one arm and snapped the arm where it connects to the rotor.

That being said what is my best course of action here? I have the refresh care but I was hoping to save it for something potentially more serious. I'm also concerned about how long it will take to repair as it will be shipped from Ontario to California.

The repair is going to cost me $100 Canadian plus tax if I get it repaired by the local authorized retailer.

It's something I'm capable of repairing if I order the part but will that void all warranties?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Just use the dji care refresh. It will only cost you 60$. Dji will shoulder the shipping. I got mine in 3 weeks

 

[DanMan32]

If you get it repaired, be sure it's an authorized repair center and not just a recommended repair center or you risk voiding the warranty. Here in the USA, only DJI themselves is authorized. I believe Canada has one or two third party authorized repair centers.

 

[hiflyer201]

Send it to DJI..they are going to fix it right and offer you the chance to buy the refresh again.

 

[KRASHED]

Thanks everyone. Got it packaged up and sending it to the repair facility in Texas on the care refresh.

I think I was just really unlucky as I had worse crashes than that. Really need to keep those rotor guards on when I'm flying around my house.

I'll save the DIY stuff for when the warranty runs out.

 

[DanMan32]

Send it to DJI..they are going to fix it right and offer you the chance to buy the refresh again.

Just note that if you use up the 2 refreshes from the original refresh, the one extra from Refresh Plus doesn't kick in until the 2nd year.

So if you buy Refresh and shortly thereafter Plus on September 2020 and are unlucky enough to crash twice in November, you won't have a refresh available until September 2021. You'll have a warranty though until September 2022.

 

[solerG]

Wondering if you have gotten it back from Texas and how customs/ taxes work?