This past week I took my Mavic everywhere with me. I din't fly, just wanted to have it around and see how it compares to the P3P to take places. So I put it in the DJI combo bag and threw in the rear trunk of my motorcycle along my other everyday stuff, and rode to work, market, etc. It took a lot of shake, bump and rattle while in there but I wasn't paying attention. Stupid me, I know.
Today I took it out to fly and noticed the left stick (which is already stiffer and more problematic than the right in many RCs) was almost stuck in the 13:00 position. The stick outer ring in the RC plastic faceplate had marks on, so it was obviously forced there at some point somehow. I was pissed and heartbroken at the same time for being so careless and ruining my new toy. Anyway...
The left stick was kinda "indexed" to move left-right, wouldn't stay centered and thus wouldn't calibrate no matter what. It was smooth moving up-down at least. I'm used to planes and copters RCs so I knew right away something was broken or bent inside. Indeed, when I turned it ON the incessant beep and the accompanying message "STICK ERROR" wouldn't go away despite a couple of calibration attempts.
So I opened the RC (harder to do than the P3/Inspire Tx - but there are tutorial videos on Youtube for this already!) and removed the left stick from the front plate bed. It's magnetic-type and doesn't have wires, the front plate with both sticks just separate from the rest. Everything is small and very well made. The whole controller is as amazing on the inside as it is on the outside: incredibly well engineered, built solid, precise, beautiful. These guys are GOOD.
That's the front plate with the right stick on and the left stick out above. Everything is plastic but very well-made and solid.
One of the left-right pivots was bent. It's plastic so as I tried to straighten it, it split broke of course. I glued it and made plastic reinforcements with Soliq around the small pivot stub, the one in which sits the delicate coil spring. I aligned it and let dry solid. Both stubs have a small plastic collar which sit on specific recesses on the sidewalls (top and bottom).
Everything is very tight and precise but I found the left stick a bit too tight, as is the case with many Mavic RCs. There's considerably more friction in there than on the right one, I found that to be the reason for the difference in feeling between the two sticks.
The stub (red circle) without the collar (blue, on top) also with the coil and without the top pivot holder
Since it was open I decided to try and fix or improve the left stick issue. I then tried to install the stick back with only one collar, then on both pivot sides, then none of the collars (right and left). To cut short, the non-coiled pivot stub needs the collar, but the coiled one does't. That way it gets very loose and really smooth, but no play - just working as it should in the first place when assembled and fixed in position.
This is the left stick assembly, already glued/reinforced and with the coil on. That little collar is the culprit IMO, a bit of sanding goes a long way but take it in small steps and it's easy to get perfect again. Butter-smooth control sticks make a diff in RC flying.
But I wanted to have it all back so I sanded the small collar, just a bit. I kept testing and sanding, first one of the collars then the other, until I got it perfect. Both collars would fit perfectly, snap in the recesses and allow free, butter-smooth movement. I also smoothed out the inside of the collar where the pivot stub fits a bit, using the sharp corners of the precision tweezers (see pic). The out-of-focus part behind is the pivot holder-half that screws on the stick bed. It has 2 screws and is pretty easy to deal with, remove and install back.
I opened the coil a bit to increase resistance, but honestly it wasn't necessary. It's OK anyway because it controls YAW and a bit more movement resistance can be good. We did a lot of that in our Futabas and all. It's just a fraction anyway. The left stick is now super-smooth, free, perfectly centered, snaps back to 0 position just like the right one does. Calibration was and is 100% too. It's flying perfectly again, thankfully.
Lessons learned:
1. Keep the RC sticks safe when put in a bag. Any bag. Use stick locks, a Tx hardcase or whatever. Avoid pressure, weight, squeezes, bumps, etc. Not that the controller is fragile, quite the opposite, but we can be so stupid and ***** just ******** happens. I broke my P3P controller (plastic cracked) in the exact same way, so not only am I an ignorant I'm also DUMB lol. Hope I learned now.
2. Unlike the Phantom line, the Mavic doesn't have a lot of RC, or any spare parts for that matter, lying around to be bought or used or whatever in case we break or lose something. So keep your MP in good shape to start with, or else deal with DJI because only they can fix or replace some stuff for this drone. We DIYers are pretty much stuck at this point.
3. I hated to break my brand new drone but thankfully it was an easy fix. Hope it lasts too, we'll see. It could've been worse, it always can. But alas looking at the bright side at least I had the opportunity to improve my RC on something that wasn't causing problem, but was starting to annoy me and I was worried it could get stuck during flight and spin out of control, now I'm pretty sure it won't happen - not due to the stick getting stuck anyway lol.
4. If someone has the tools and the will (and some stable hands and good eyesight lol) it can be a good idea to open it and check both sticks, perhaps improving its function. Hope this helps. The MP is not a pain to deal with, just slightly harder than the Phantom but then I'm quite used to open and fix and mess with my P3Ps so that counts I guess. It had to be done at some point I guess, that's how we build confidence and knowledge in RC hobby anyway lol.
Cheers!
Today I took it out to fly and noticed the left stick (which is already stiffer and more problematic than the right in many RCs) was almost stuck in the 13:00 position. The stick outer ring in the RC plastic faceplate had marks on, so it was obviously forced there at some point somehow. I was pissed and heartbroken at the same time for being so careless and ruining my new toy. Anyway...
The left stick was kinda "indexed" to move left-right, wouldn't stay centered and thus wouldn't calibrate no matter what. It was smooth moving up-down at least. I'm used to planes and copters RCs so I knew right away something was broken or bent inside. Indeed, when I turned it ON the incessant beep and the accompanying message "STICK ERROR" wouldn't go away despite a couple of calibration attempts.
So I opened the RC (harder to do than the P3/Inspire Tx - but there are tutorial videos on Youtube for this already!) and removed the left stick from the front plate bed. It's magnetic-type and doesn't have wires, the front plate with both sticks just separate from the rest. Everything is small and very well made. The whole controller is as amazing on the inside as it is on the outside: incredibly well engineered, built solid, precise, beautiful. These guys are GOOD.
That's the front plate with the right stick on and the left stick out above. Everything is plastic but very well-made and solid.
Everything is very tight and precise but I found the left stick a bit too tight, as is the case with many Mavic RCs. There's considerably more friction in there than on the right one, I found that to be the reason for the difference in feeling between the two sticks.
The stub (red circle) without the collar (blue, on top) also with the coil and without the top pivot holder
Since it was open I decided to try and fix or improve the left stick issue. I then tried to install the stick back with only one collar, then on both pivot sides, then none of the collars (right and left). To cut short, the non-coiled pivot stub needs the collar, but the coiled one does't. That way it gets very loose and really smooth, but no play - just working as it should in the first place when assembled and fixed in position.
This is the left stick assembly, already glued/reinforced and with the coil on. That little collar is the culprit IMO, a bit of sanding goes a long way but take it in small steps and it's easy to get perfect again. Butter-smooth control sticks make a diff in RC flying.
But I wanted to have it all back so I sanded the small collar, just a bit. I kept testing and sanding, first one of the collars then the other, until I got it perfect. Both collars would fit perfectly, snap in the recesses and allow free, butter-smooth movement. I also smoothed out the inside of the collar where the pivot stub fits a bit, using the sharp corners of the precision tweezers (see pic). The out-of-focus part behind is the pivot holder-half that screws on the stick bed. It has 2 screws and is pretty easy to deal with, remove and install back.
I opened the coil a bit to increase resistance, but honestly it wasn't necessary. It's OK anyway because it controls YAW and a bit more movement resistance can be good. We did a lot of that in our Futabas and all. It's just a fraction anyway. The left stick is now super-smooth, free, perfectly centered, snaps back to 0 position just like the right one does. Calibration was and is 100% too. It's flying perfectly again, thankfully.
Lessons learned:
1. Keep the RC sticks safe when put in a bag. Any bag. Use stick locks, a Tx hardcase or whatever. Avoid pressure, weight, squeezes, bumps, etc. Not that the controller is fragile, quite the opposite, but we can be so stupid and ***** just ******** happens. I broke my P3P controller (plastic cracked) in the exact same way, so not only am I an ignorant I'm also DUMB lol. Hope I learned now.
2. Unlike the Phantom line, the Mavic doesn't have a lot of RC, or any spare parts for that matter, lying around to be bought or used or whatever in case we break or lose something. So keep your MP in good shape to start with, or else deal with DJI because only they can fix or replace some stuff for this drone. We DIYers are pretty much stuck at this point.
3. I hated to break my brand new drone but thankfully it was an easy fix. Hope it lasts too, we'll see. It could've been worse, it always can. But alas looking at the bright side at least I had the opportunity to improve my RC on something that wasn't causing problem, but was starting to annoy me and I was worried it could get stuck during flight and spin out of control, now I'm pretty sure it won't happen - not due to the stick getting stuck anyway lol.
4. If someone has the tools and the will (and some stable hands and good eyesight lol) it can be a good idea to open it and check both sticks, perhaps improving its function. Hope this helps. The MP is not a pain to deal with, just slightly harder than the Phantom but then I'm quite used to open and fix and mess with my P3Ps so that counts I guess. It had to be done at some point I guess, that's how we build confidence and knowledge in RC hobby anyway lol.
Cheers!
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Well, I'd say in most situations it's OK without the guard and the controller is pretty robust, DJI-robust which IMO is quite good. But at the same time it's a precision equipment, very sensitive so care must be taken. I'll be more careful from now on, I got the Mavic to have a quad with me more often than the P3 but attention must be paid if that's the case.
but only if needed, and so far it hasn't needed it. I do use a stick protector and a padded sling bag,(just fits in my side bag) sold the DJI Mavic bag as I would never use it.
