Can you fly Mavic 2 Pro if missing right front landing gear/leg?

[danCER]

I recently posted about my M2P losing power for no apparent reason. I have been strung along for weeks now with DJI support with no solution to my wrecked drone.

I thought it was a total loss. I thought the gimbal was trashed and one of the "legs"-front right was gone. I know that the antenna is in these legs.
Having nothing to lose I tried some things with my M2P after getting nowhere with DJI support. I did a gimbal calibration and the camera was working again. Due to the nasty rain I haven't been able to test the drone carefully yet, but I was able to briefly launch it and it hovered and responded correctly from a close distance.
I might be able to fly on Sunday to further check things. I want to do an IMU calibration and have already did compass calibration.
I did replace propellers.
What I would like to know is if the missing leg/antenna is going to cripple my drone. What I if fly with Litchi just on missions-is GPS enough?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Dan

 

[Thomas B]

I recently posted about my M2P losing power for no apparent reason. I have been strung along for weeks now with DJI support with no solution to my wrecked drone.

I thought it was a total loss. I thought the gimbal was trashed and one of the "legs"-front right was gone. I know that the antenna is in these legs.
Having nothing to lose I tried some things with my M2P after getting nowhere with DJI support. I did a gimbal calibration and the camera was working again. Due to the nasty rain I haven't been able to test the drone carefully yet, but I was able to briefly launch it and it hovered and responded correctly from a close distance.
I might be able to fly on Sunday to further check things. I want to do an IMU calibration and have already did compass calibration.
I did replace propellers.
What I would like to know is if the missing leg/antenna is going to cripple my drone. What I if fly with Litchi just on missions-is GPS enough?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Dan

From legs has the antenna. Is it still attached. Even if so, I would be concerned about losing it due to flapping in the wind... obvious potentials.
I personally would not.

 

[danCER]

From legs has the antenna. Is it still attached. Even if so, I would be concerned about losing it due to flapping in the wind... obvious potentials.
I personally would not.

Yes, leg is gone, not attached. The right arm and motor are fine-just missing the leg with antenna on RIGHT FRONT, as I stated. Left leg is fine

 

[Camino Ken]

From what I remember about antenna theory (which isn’t a lot) the use of two antennas improves the signal strength and directionality of the transmitted signal. Missing one of the antenna elements would significantly reduce the reliable range of the connection.

 

[new2mavic]

It depends on what that antennas does. If it is for transmission, you will lose video feed. If it is for receiving, the RC signal will be gone. The best hope is that it is for diversity receive meaning that it is just to make signal reception better. Losing it will just result in some reduction in the range of RC signals, video feed will not be affected.

Anyway, you can always make your own antenna by soldering a piece of wire 1 ~ 1.5 inch long to the center wire of the RF cable. It will not be as good as the original antenna for sure but will be much better than having none.

Just fyi, a complete arm with motor and everything costs about $30 : US $26.69 52% OFF|For DJI Mavic 2 PRO/ZOOM 100% Original Genuine Gimbal Front Rear Back Left Right Motor Arm Replacement Spare Parts for Mavic2pro-in Drone Accessories Kits from Consumer Electronics on AliExpress

 

[danCER]

Anyway, you can always make your own antenna by soldering a piece of wire 1 ~ 1.5 inch long to the center wire of the RF cable. It will not be as good as the original antenna for sure but will be much better than having none.

I was wondering if I could do something like that. There is a white wire that survived which would have gone into the "leg."
Hopefully I can try a wire on that white wire later this weekend. Thanks!

 

[new2mavic]

I was wondering if I could do something like that. There is a white wire that survived which would have gone into the "leg."
Hopefully I can try a wire on that white wire later this weekend. Thanks!

If that is a RF cable, it should have a wire at the center and a wire mesh outside like this :

 

[danCER]

I will

If that is a RF cable, it should have a wire at the center and a wire mesh outside like this :
View attachment 90425

I'll have to check but looks promising.

 

[Camino Ken]

It depends on what that antennas does. If it is for transmission, you will lose video feed. If it is for receiving, the RC signal will be gone. The best hope is that it is for diversity receive meaning that it is just to make signal reception better. Losing it will just result in some reduction in the range of RC signals, video feed will not be affected.

Anyway, you can always make your own antenna by soldering a piece of wire 1 ~ 1.5 inch long to the center wire of the RF cable. It will not be as good as the original antenna for sure but will be much better than having none.

You are assuming that each antenna has a different purpose. Do you know that for a fact? It is much more likely that they work in conjunction to improve the signal range. It is possible that it uses diversity principals but again it seems more likely that it is connected as an array because of the improvement in range. I agree that a piece of wire is better than nothing. If you still have the leg I would fish the wire out of it an use it or something of similar length and wire size for proper antenna impedance match.

 

[Camino Ken]

If that is a RF cable, it should have a wire at the center and a wire mesh outside like this :
View attachment 90425

Be careful not to use a coax cable, you need to use a bare wire for the actual antenna.

 

[new2mavic]

It is possible that it uses diversity principals but again it seems more likely that it is connected as an array because of the improvement in range.

Diversity is a very common technique for range improvement. It is achieved by combining the signals received via the two antennas in an optimal way to get a stronger signal. Antenna array works on a totally different principle. Signal improvement is achieved by making the resulting antenna pattern more directional. In my 20+ years of work in the cellular industry, I have never seen antenna arrays consists of only two elements and so far apart. Furthermore, such an antenna array will end up in having "null points" in some direction where the signal reception will be very poor. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[Camino Ken]

Diversity is a very common technique for range improvement. It is achieved by combining the signals received via the two antennas in an optimal way to get a stronger signal. Antenna array works on a totally different principle. Signal improvement is achieved by making the resulting antenna pattern more directional. In my 20+ years of work in the cellular industry, I have never seen antenna arrays consists of only two elements and so far apart. Furthermore, such an antenna array will end up in having "null points" in some direction where the signal reception will be very poor. It just doesn't make sense.

I respect your experience and your supposition may be right. My knowledge is fading since it has been many decades since I was involved in RF transmission theory. Also, I know most of this is guessing since I do not know what design techniques DJI engineers used In the power amplifier and receiver front end circuits and obviously the physical implementation strategy for the RF.

 

[danCER]

Y . If you still have the leg I would fish the wire out of it an use it or something of similar length and wire size for proper antenna impedance match.

Yeah, that would be great if I still had the missing leg, then i would try to use the original antenna.

 

[danCER]

No one has addressed another question I had in original post:

If I prepared a Litchi Mission, would the missing leg/antenna have any effect on the autonomous flight?
I guess I will test that when the rains stop tomorrow!

 

[Camino Ken]

Yeah, that would be great if I still had the missing leg, then i would try to use the original antenna.

Sorry, I thought it was missing from the craft, not missing completely.

 

[Oneball 1971]

For the sake of $25 is it worth risking a $1200 drone?

 

[danCER]

For the sake of $25 is it worth risking a $1200 drone?

where is this $25 replacement?
But Thanks because replacing whole arm is easiest and safest solution.

 

[Oneball 1971]

where is this $25 replacement?
But Thanks because replacing whole arm is easiest and safest solution.

Post 5 there is a link to purchasing the complete arm you require.

 

[SteveCA]

yes, just hand launch and hand catch to thing

 

[paulatkin73]

where is this $25 replacement?
But Thanks because replacing whole arm is easiest and safest solution.

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