Mavic 2 Pro Crash after broken propeller !!

[TomLopez]

Hi guys,

Yesterday the front left propeller broke and I notice that my drone was dangerously loosing altitude. I recon the place and initiate a landing on a grass field but unfortunately I lost control with the remote. When I got signal again, the drone was not landing anymore but flying dangerously towards houses right from its last known position (WTF!! I was only pushing down the left commodo... ).

It then crash and I was able to find it 2 meters from a property wall... It did not smashed the wall but I suspect it crashed the front first and I have huge damages. The camera was completely ripped off as you can see on the pictures.

It is not my first crash and I already repaired broken legs for instance but this one seemed a bit more tricky to repair... Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated

 

[Starz]

I’ll watch this one.
Glad you found it.

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Hi guys,

Yesterday the front left propeller broke and I notice that my drone was dangerously loosing altitude. I recon the place and initiate a landing on a grass field but unfortunately I lost control with the remote. When I got signal again, the drone was not landing anymore but flying dangerously towards houses right from its last known position (WTF!! I was only pushing down the left commodo... ).

It then crash and I was able to find it 2 meters from a property wall... It did not smashed the wall but I suspect it crashed the front first and I have huge damages. The camera was completely ripped off as you can see on the pictures.

It is not my first crash and I already repaired broken legs for instance but this one seemed a bit more tricky to repair... Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated

Wow sorry that you crashed.

Might help others if you told us how your propeller broke.

 

[slup]

... When I got signal again, the drone was not landing anymore but flying dangerously towards houses right from its last known position (WTF!! I was only pushing down the left commodo... ).

Can't help out with the repair ... but can explain why it wasn't landing anymore after you regained connection though.

This is quite the opposite to all advises & how DJI drones used to work regarding a land command ... When we for some reason can't make it home it have been adviced that we look out a good landing spot & make a emergency landing & go pick it up. The problem here is that the connection is prone to deteriorate rapidly by height decrease due to loosing LOS ... & it's not uncommon that the RC connection is totally lost before it touch down & shut off the motors ... & it's here thing's happen. When the connection is lost the AC initiate failsafe RTH & cancel the land command, ascends to preset height & starts to gohome.

Have now seen this behavior on a Mini, my own MA ... & now probably on your M2. To prevent this from happening it's a must to switch failsafe RTH to "land", then command landing.

 

[OFAP]

had a similar incident with my M2P just recently. i was testing a new set of night lights...a popular brand that is somewhat heavier than many systems. fortunately, i was only about 30 feet up when one of the lights' securing brackets cracked in two, intersecting the path of one of the props and immediately sending me into an unrecoverable spin, landing in a tuft of grass. save for the broken bracket and the completely demolished prop, there was no further damage.

at about 1/10th the cost, my new firehouse tech lights are lighter weight, nearly as bright, and much less of a hassle than the high priced spread.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

When we for some reason can't make it home it have been adviced that we look out a good landing spot & make a emergency landing & go pick it up. The problem here is that the connection is prone to deteriorate rapidly by height decrease due to loosing LOS ... & it's not uncommon that the RC connection is totally lost before it touch down & shut off the motors ... & it's here thing's happen. When the connection is lost the AC initiate failsafe RTH & cancel the land command, ascends to preset height & starts to gohome.

Indeed !
One has to be aware of this if planning to land for an unexpected reason.
Trees, landform (hills), buildings etc will block signal between controller and drone.

Usually if failsafe kicks in, provided no mech error (like this case) or high wind (choose RTH altitude, or even to fly at all, wisely), there is no problem with letting RTH do its thing, it will reconnect and you can take control again.

Not sure if a prop mishap can be evaluated with the flight log, but could be interesting to see.
DAT file would perhaps be handy too for motor info, in the flight TXT sub folder.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Upload and view flight logs from your DJI drones

www.phantomhelp.com

That's if you want more insight into what possibly happened.
Who knows, it could be something detectable that shows aircraft fault, and you may still be in warranty ?

Tom, in regards to repairs, I take it you don't have any Care Refresh ?

And another quick question, you saw the prop break up in flight ?
Just that seeing a broken prop after a crash is very common, but perahps a piece broke off and you had enough to control descent somewhat.

There are 2 choices really . . .
Send it to DJI Drone Service (sponsor here) or DJI itself etc for evaluation and a repair estimate .. .. .. there could well be more than just a gimbal assembly required, and they can find it a lot quicker / more reliably than a self repair.
Or . . .
Check Youtube tutorials for replacement, and other feedback you may get here, re the M2P gimbal, it looks like a new gimbal and ribbon assembly is needed, and maybe if you are handy with small tools, and don't mind a bit of exploring the self repair option, you can try a replacement first.

Does it start up, connect, and even see if the motors start (with props off) ??
If so, you might be ok to just try that gimbal / camera replacement, but from memory, it is not all that cheap a part . . . needed though most likely.

Best of luck with it.

 

[TomLopez]

Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for your informative feedback and ideas I have been digging a bit more since Sunday and found out the following spare parts on eBay:
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-G...avic-2-Pro-Zoom/233540371861?var=533187424705
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-D...al-Dampener-Mount-With-Screws-BK/113818501393

With the help of this tutorial I am going to try the replacement of the damaged arm:

Hopefully I will be able to get it repaired without spending 700$ for the support and the full camera + gimbal set... I will keep you posted

PS: I have attached the picture of my broken propeller. It is already the 2nd time this happens to me so I suppose that I somehow purchased low quality blades on Amazon instead of the genuine DJI ones !

 

[opel]

if the propellers were not genuine that could cause the problem

 

[TomLopez]

One of the new part has been delivered
Hopefully I can repair the drone by myself ...

 

[Dakarenduro]

How did the prop break? You didnt mention. Maybe leave a review on Amazon about them since it is your 2nd set failure.

Sorry for the crash, hope you can do the repairs all yourself. good luck.

personal note= i never understand why a pilot tries to save $4 or $5 on a critical part like a prop. The OEM props are not super expensive, what $23? But it is a critical component to keeping your craft aloft!

 

[TomLopez]

Well if I had known I was purchasing something rubbish I would not have. I have just purchased the items that were on stock at this time and advised as "Amazon choice" ....

 

[Dakarenduro]

that sucks, sorry. the after market ones do look identical. i've almost ordered them by mistake myself.

 

[TomLopez]

So in fact looks like I am screwed !! The connector of the gimbal control board is broken and I have not been able to find a spare gimbal control board. I found some but for the 1st gen Mavic Pro. It is this the electronic card attached to this post.

Does someone know where I can find one?

Otherwise I would have to order the full camera....

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

As per post 6, try DJI Drone Service (sponsor here).
Or google Thunderdrones.
Not sure where you are and who might be closer.
It's possible one might have the board you need and can post.

 

[TomLopez]

So end of my story with an happy ending:
I was able to get a replacement card from Rob (Thunderdrone) and I followed the following video to replace it as well as the broken gimbal arm:

My MP2 is fully functional again

 

[zgoods]

This just happened to me but somehow everything is still intact and my gimbal is operational. Was 100 feet up and I think a prop fell off, I tried to control it but eventually went up to 150ft and took off sideways up to 50mph and landed at a tree base. Thing is a tank but now I'm scared to keep flying.