Who Said They Can't Be Repaired?

[stubaz]

I loaned my two Mavic Pro Platinum controllers and they both came back refusing to accept the charging cable. I did a lot of searching the Net and found there was nothing which could fix them apart from a new "Button PCB" YouTube had a couple of good videos showing the fix so I found the boards for sale on AliExpress for anywhere between $40 and $100. The $40 version is on it's way from China.

In the meantime I figured I may as well have a closer look at the socket and with a pair of Magnifying goggles and I torch I managed to hold the Torch, a spudger and the controller in a suitable position. Thankfully I'm disabled so I was in bed at the time and found it easier to place the controller on chest and with the spudger managed to get it's blade between the small tang and the upper part of the socket. A little downward pressure positioned the Tang in what looked like a suitable position and I inserted the plug.

BINGO! The word CHARGING appeared on the controller. I laid the controller down so the plug and cable wouldn't be moved and a while later it showed "Charged" Was it a fluke? would the second one do likewise?

No more than 2 minutes later the second one showed "Charging" and this plug was much more firmly seated and went on to show 100% charged. I then went through the charging routine again to make sure both of the previous charges weren't flukes. They weren't, I left both controllers turned on for most of the night and then charged both again, no problems.

I now have both controllers fully functional and accepting normal charges. OK the process with the spudger was fiddly work for a shaky handed 74 year old, but it worked and I'm very happy. So don't bother to buy that Button Board nd definitely no need to buy another $200 to $300 controller. Just don't lever that tang too far past half way. Make sure it's in the center of the socket and you should be ready to charge. I noticed with he first controller the Tang tended to move slightly out of center so I had to pull it a little further down until it stayed put. With the second controller it seemed to find the right spot immediately. I now plan on inserting that small adapter DJI supplied with the Mavic and Permanently secure it in in place to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.

If there are any Aussies who have a similar problem and aren't game to tackle the repair, I'd be happy to do it for you at no charge. I'm an honest man and I'm too old to start scamming people. Send me a PM and I'll send my address.

Who said they can't be fixed? Happy flying to all.

 

[MS Coast]

Good on you! I love simple solutions to problems that don't require extensive repairs or replacements.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

In the meantime I figured I may as well have a closer look at the socket and with a pair of Magnifying goggles and I torch I managed to hold the Torch, a spudger and the controller in a suitable position. Thankfully I'm disabled so I was in bed at the time and found it easier to place the controller on chest and with the spudger managed to get it's blade between the small tang and the upper part of the socket. A little downward pressure positioned the Tang in what looked like a suitable position and I inserted the plug.

BINGO! The word CHARGING appeared on the controller. I laid the controller down so the plug and cable wouldn't be moved and a while later it showed "Charged" Was it a fluke? would the second one do likewise?

No more than 2 minutes later the second one showed "Charging" and this plug was much more firmly seated and went on to show 100% charged. I then went through the charging routine again to make sure both of the previous charges weren't flukes. They weren't, I left both controllers turned on for most of the night and then charged both again, no problems.

If there are any Aussies who have a similar problem and aren't game to tackle the repair, I'd be happy to do it for you at no charge. I'm an honest man and I'm too old to start scamming people. Send me a PM and I'll send my address.

Who said they can't be fixed? Happy flying to all.

I am delighted you were able to cure the problem, it's a good feeling to fix something .........BUT ...... whilst you may be honest, some people sending gear to you might not be and then create problems for you, which is a great pity. Be careful about offering such services.
Besides I wouldn't absolutely guarantee the same fault .... and fix would work every time, if it doesn't then you may feel uncomfortable.

 

[stubaz]

I am delighted you were able to cure the problem, it's a good feeling to fix something .........BUT ...... whilst you may be honest, some people sending gear to you might not be and then create problems for you, which is a great pity. Be careful about offering such services.
Besides I wouldn't absolutely guarantee the same fault .... and fix would work every time, if it doesn't then you may feel uncomfortable.

If there's one thing I absolutely hate it's people who set out to con, scam, rip off and otherwise mess up someone's day. It's got me beat how such persons manage to live with themselves. I'm currently being scammed by an Indian living in Sydney Australia, I was in the act of doing a friend a favour by buying a Mavic Air on Ebay. I paid for it and he was supposedly at the bank paying in the same amount. For a valid reason he couldn't pay it into my account and the following morning he told me he'd changed his mind.

I didn't want another Mavic Air and the seller offered me a refund. 5 days later PayPal informs me the Refund "Didn't Go Through" and to contact the seller. I've sent 4 emails and each has been ignored. There's no reason for him to keep my money and I have no recourse to get it back. This is blatant theft and he told me he was a Christian man who's very honest. How can such a person openly steal from someone and still call himself honest. I'm completely baffled as to how he can sleep at night.
Personally I refuse to borrow money in case something happens which stops me from paying it back. If I buy something from a friend I have to pay him immediately and not tomorrow or next week. I've been telling myself I'll never try to help anyone out again, but I know darned well I will. You'd think I'd know better at my age, but the urge to help someone asking for help always wins.

For the first time in my life I'm taking legal action, simply on principle. I'm fed up with being scammed. And after reading your comment I've decided to withdraw my offer to do any repairs, it hurts to have to do it, but I see your point and I'll admit it seems more and more people are turning to the "Get Whatever You can Get Away With" attitude. My inbox gets a minimum of one scam a day. and it almost seems as if my address has a "Please Scam Me" flag added to it.

Thank you for your input Yorkshire, it's appreciated. For anyone planning to call me stupid for trusting people, don't bother, I already know,

 

[MS Coast]

If there's one thing I absolutely hate it's people who set out to con, scam, rip off and otherwise mess up someone's day. It's got me beat how such persons manage to live with themselves. I'm currently being scammed by an Indian living in Sydney Australia, I was in the act of doing a friend a favour by buying a Mavic Air on Ebay. I paid for it and he was supposedly at the bank paying in the same amount. For a valid reason he couldn't pay it into my account and the following morning he told me he'd changed his mind.

I didn't want another Mavic Air and the seller offered me a refund. 5 days later PayPal informs me the Refund "Didn't Go Through" and to contact the seller. I've sent 4 emails and each has been ignored. There's no reason for him to keep my money and I have no recourse to get it back. This is blatant theft and he told me he was a Christian man who's very honest. How can such a person openly steal from someone and still call himself honest. I'm completely baffled as to how he can sleep at night.
Personally I refuse to borrow money in case something happens which stops me from paying it back. If I buy something from a friend I have to pay him immediately and not tomorrow or next week. I've been telling myself I'll never try to help anyone out again, but I know darned well I will. You'd think I'd know better at my age, but the urge to help someone asking for help always wins.

For the first time in my life I'm taking legal action, simply on principle. I'm fed up with being scammed. And after reading your comment I've decided to withdraw my offer to do any repairs, it hurts to have to do it, but I see your point and I'll admit it seems more and more people are turning to the "Get Whatever You can Get Away With" attitude. My inbox gets a minimum of one scam a day. and it almost seems as if my address has a "Please Scam Me" flag added to it.

Thank you for your input Yorkshire, it's appreciated. For anyone planning to call me stupid for trusting people, don't bother, I already know,

@stubaz, I'm not going to call you stupid and I don't think you should be too hard on yourself, either. I do regret that you're having to deal with that crook. I loathe thieves and swindlers.

Scammers and other such low-life weasels are a small minority of the people we encounter in our lives. Most people are decent and honest, and it's natural for an honest person like you to assume others are honest, too. Most of the time we'll be right in that assumption, but not 100% of the time. We can reduce the risk by being a tad cynincal, taking reasonable precautions, and continually refining our skills in recognizing scammers. But, while we're behaving like decent humans, we might still get bitten once in a while.

The only way to completely avoid being scammed is to avoid dealing with other people and to treat every single person we meet or deal with as a lair and a thief. That would certainly preclude interacting with the rare crook, but only at the expense of mistrusting and avoiding all the good folks.

So, I intend to assume that most folks are as honest as I am. I'll take reasonable precautions, avoid the too-good-to-be-true deals, and document the agreements. I'll trust my gut feeling. Most of the time things will be fine. When a scammer gets though, I'll do what you're doing - put my resources into making things right and seeing that the scammer gets what they deserve. Maybe that might work for you, too.

During the last two seeks I've sold a Mavic 3 and bought a RC Pro controller from people I contacted through this forum. Everything went just fine and we're all happy. If I had a Mavic Pro Platinum controller with a wonky port, I'd definitely trust you to fix it, just based on my gut. Don't let the weasels get you down. Chin up, my friend.

 

[stubaz]

@stubaz, I'm not going to call you stupid and I don't think you should be too hard on yourself, either. I do regret that you're having to deal with that crook. I loathe thieves and swindlers.

Scammers and other such low-life weasels are a small minority of the people we encounter in our lives. Most people are decent and honest, and it's natural for an honest person like you to assume others are honest, too. Most of the time we'll be right in that assumption, but not 100% of the time. We can reduce the risk by being a tad cynincal, taking reasonable precautions, and continually refining our skills in recognizing scammers. But, while we're behaving like decent humans, we might still get bitten once in a while.

The only way to completely avoid being scammed is to avoid dealing with other people and to treat every single person we meet or deal with as a lair and a thief. That would certainly preclude interacting with the rare crook, but only at the expense of mistrusting and avoiding all the good folks.

So, I intend to assume that most folks are as honest as I am. I'll take reasonable precautions, avoid the too-good-to-be-true deals, and document the agreements. I'll trust my gut feeling. Most of the time things will be fine. When a scammer gets though, I'll do what you're doing - put my resources into making things right and seeing that the scammer gets what they deserve. Maybe that might work for you, too.

During the last two seeks I've sold a Mavic 3 and bought a RC Pro controller from people I contacted through this forum. Everything went just fine and we're all happy. If I had a Mavic Pro Platinum controller with a wonky port, I'd definitely trust you to fix it, just based on my gut. Don't let the weasels get you down. Chin up, my friend.

Thank you MS Coast, your post cheered me up and thank you for your kind comments. I totally agree with your sentiments. This can be a cruel world at times, but I take people as I see them and I'm not averse to telling people what I think. Thankfully there are many terrific people in this world and I always look forward to meeting them. Prior to becoming disabled I reported the News on TV for 20 years, That's where I met many many of these people. I was proud to be able to call a deputy Prime Minister a good friend along with numerous politicians and other high ranking officials.
The politicians who get condemned by so many were among the most decent , in my opinion. I recall complaining to one of Australia's longest serving pollies about the cost of becoming an Aussie Citizen. He immediately offered to pay all those fees. The deputy Prime Minister offered to officiate at a special ceremony to make me a citizen. I politely turned them both down as I had already been given Australian citizenship many years before and after serving in the Aussie Navy for 9 years and a Government job for 3 years I reckoned I shouldn't need to apply. I now figure I'll stay a British subject because I have more rights the way I am. I've found sports people and basically everyone I've interviewed have been decent people with very few exceptions.
As you said the majority of people are honest, but some of those when put in the right (or wrong) situation may be tempted to yield to the dark side. I prefer to accept everyone I meet and only distrust them if they do the wrong thing by me. I rarely accept what other people say. I can't recall how often I'm told not to have anything to do with some people and that tends to upset me. Anyway, I don't hold much faith in getting that refund, he doesn't strike me as a guy who cares about what I think, but I've been told I have some British Bulldog in me and when I sink my teeth I don't let go.

Anyway a parcel has just arrived with 3 Battery cases for the Mavic Pro batteries which all failed because I forgot to keep the charged. I sent them away to be brought back to life, but in the process of opening them up they were ruined, So I purchased 3 new cases at $13 each and now I have to transfer the innards of the newly rejuvenated batteries. Won't that be fun? I might add the 3 batteries had never been used from brand new, I only kept them charged, well most of the time. They are all showing 3 LEDs, but they had 4 a few weeks ago so it looks as if they're working correctly. Thanks again for your input, regards Stu

 

[stubaz]

By the way, do Aussies sell on this forum. It seems they're all from over the pond and with shipping costs to here make anything too expensive to buy. I'm always on the lookout for good quality quadcopters, DJI of course. Being on a war pension my choices are usually those in the original release area. Current releases aren't within my budget. :-(

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

I have removed battery cells from their shell with a dead Mavic 2 battery, the drone went into the sea. From memory they were jolly well stuck in via sticky foam padding I think, you may face a fun task if the MP batteries are the same.Careful heat from a hair drier might help.
If the are, be careful and I would suggest, if possible, do this outside somewhere where you can throw a battery onto a non flammable surface with plenty of non flammable clearance around it and an easy escape route from smoke and fumes for yourself.

I wanted the shell but if you old shells are scrap I would be inclined to cut away any loose sections of case and the corners between each pair of case-faces so that you can remove each face of the case on its own.
I'd also suggest watch any dismantling videos you can find.

 

[davefabik]

 

[MaxE1955!]

I loaned my two Mavic Pro Platinum controllers and they both came back refusing to accept the charging cable. I did a lot of searching the Net and found there was nothing which could fix them apart from a new "Button PCB" YouTube had a couple of good videos showing the fix so I found the boards for sale on AliExpress for anywhere between $40 and $100. The $40 version is on it's way from China.

In the meantime I figured I may as well have a closer look at the socket and with a pair of Magnifying goggles and I torch I managed to hold the Torch, a spudger and the controller in a suitable position. Thankfully I'm disabled so I was in bed at the time and found it easier to place the controller on chest and with the spudger managed to get it's blade between the small tang and the upper part of the socket. A little downward pressure positioned the Tang in what looked like a suitable position and I inserted the plug.

BINGO! The word CHARGING appeared on the controller. I laid the controller down so the plug and cable wouldn't be moved and a while later it showed "Charged" Was it a fluke? would the second one do likewise?

No more than 2 minutes later the second one showed "Charging" and this plug was much more firmly seated and went on to show 100% charged. I then went through the charging routine again to make sure both of the previous charges weren't flukes. They weren't, I left both controllers turned on for most of the night and then charged both again, no problems.

I now have both controllers fully functional and accepting normal charges. OK the process with the spudger was fiddly work for a shaky handed 74 year old, but it worked and I'm very happy. So don't bother to buy that Button Board nd definitely no need to buy another $200 to $300 controller. Just don't lever that tang too far past half way. Make sure it's in the center of the socket and you should be ready to charge. I noticed with he first controller the Tang tended to move slightly out of center so I had to pull it a little further down until it stayed put. With the second controller it seemed to find the right spot immediately. I now plan on inserting that small adapter DJI supplied with the Mavic and Permanently secure it in in place to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.

If there are any Aussies who have a similar problem and aren't game to tackle the repair, I'd be happy to do it for you at no charge. I'm an honest man and I'm too old to start scamming people. Send me a PM and I'll send my address.

Who said they can't be fixed? Happy flying to all.

Moral of the story, don’t loan your stuff out to inconsiderate people who mistreat your gear!

 

[dave canada]

I loaned my two Mavic Pro Platinum controllers and they both came back refusing to accept the charging cable. I did a lot of searching the Net and found there was nothing which could fix them apart from a new "Button PCB" YouTube had a couple of good videos showing the fix so I found the boards for sale on AliExpress for anywhere between $40 and $100. The $40 version is on it's way from China.

In the meantime I figured I may as well have a closer look at the socket and with a pair of Magnifying goggles and I torch I managed to hold the Torch, a spudger and the controller in a suitable position. Thankfully I'm disabled so I was in bed at the time and found it easier to place the controller on chest and with the spudger managed to get it's blade between the small tang and the upper part of the socket. A little downward pressure positioned the Tang in what looked like a suitable position and I inserted the plug.

BINGO! The word CHARGING appeared on the controller. I laid the controller down so the plug and cable wouldn't be moved and a while later it showed "Charged" Was it a fluke? would the second one do likewise?

No more than 2 minutes later the second one showed "Charging" and this plug was much more firmly seated and went on to show 100% charged. I then went through the charging routine again to make sure both of the previous charges weren't flukes. They weren't, I left both controllers turned on for most of the night and then charged both again, no problems.

I now have both controllers fully functional and accepting normal charges. OK the process with the spudger was fiddly work for a shaky handed 74 year old, but it worked and I'm very happy. So don't bother to buy that Button Board nd definitely no need to buy another $200 to $300 controller. Just don't lever that tang too far past half way. Make sure it's in the center of the socket and you should be ready to charge. I noticed with he first controller the Tang tended to move slightly out of center so I had to pull it a little further down until it stayed put. With the second controller it seemed to find the right spot immediately. I now plan on inserting that small adapter DJI supplied with the Mavic and Permanently secure it in in place to make sure the problem doesn't happen again.

If there are any Aussies who have a similar problem and aren't game to tackle the repair, I'd be happy to do it for you at no charge. I'm an honest man and I'm too old to start scamming people. Send me a PM and I'll send my address.

Who said they can't be fixed? Happy flying to all.

good job patckworks repairs ,here in NM

 

[stubaz]

Moral of the story, don’t loan your stuff out to inconsiderate people who mistreat your gear!

My goodness Max, you just gave me one heck of a shock, I honestly thought I was looking at a photo of myself. Obviously the photo was yours, but the first quick glance definitely made me take another look. Hey, we may be brothers Same beard same colour (sorry color) but perhaps you're a few years younger by about 6 years I'm guessing.

Speaking of years, you'd think I would have learned by now not to loan my equipment, but no I haven't. I've been bitten many times and lost friends because of it. Tell me, why is always my fault when I ask for something to be returned? That's something I've never figured out. There are only two things I refuse to lend, my wife and my car. Although I do know many guys who'd like a wife like mine. She's the only woman I've ever met who can have a good argument and 10 minutes make me a cup of tea and act as if we never had an argument. She tells me not to buy another quadcopter and when I do she wants to have a look at it. She told me many years ago that when I get my pension I could keep half of it and spend it as I wish. That's the hardest thing for friends to understand and can't figure out why their wives aren't the same. I might add, a lot of that money I've spent buying things for her and she always tells me not to. I simply tell her she told me to spend it any way I wish.

One thing's for sure, I would have a wall full of quadcopters if it wasn't for our arrangement. Sadly they aren't all DJI, but there are enough. Half of them are saved from the scrap heap and I've wrecked a few to get another one working. Now they're all as good as new except for one Phantom 3 which has a faulty gimbal, but who needs another camera when you have the Mavic PP?

 

[slozukimc]

If there's one thing I absolutely hate it's people who set out to con, scam, rip off and otherwise mess up someone's day. It's got me beat how such persons manage to live with themselves. I'm currently being scammed by an Indian living in Sydney Australia, I was in the act of doing a friend a favour by buying a Mavic Air on Ebay. I paid for it and he was supposedly at the bank paying in the same amount. For a valid reason he couldn't pay it into my account and the following morning he told me he'd changed his mind.

I didn't want another Mavic Air and the seller offered me a refund. 5 days later PayPal informs me the Refund "Didn't Go Through" and to contact the seller. I've sent 4 emails and each has been ignored. There's no reason for him to keep my money and I have no recourse to get it back. This is blatant theft and he told me he was a Christian man who's very honest. How can such a person openly steal from someone and still call himself honest. I'm completely baffled as to how he can sleep at night.
Personally I refuse to borrow money in case something happens which stops me from paying it back. If I buy something from a friend I have to pay him immediately and not tomorrow or next week. I've been telling myself I'll never try to help anyone out again, but I know darned well I will. You'd think I'd know better at my age, but the urge to help someone asking for help always wins.

For the first time in my life I'm taking legal action, simply on principle. I'm fed up with being scammed. And after reading your comment I've decided to withdraw my offer to do any repairs, it hurts to have to do it, but I see your point and I'll admit it seems more and more people are turning to the "Get Whatever You can Get Away With" attitude. My inbox gets a minimum of one scam a day. and it almost seems as if my address has a "Please Scam Me" flag added to it.

Thank you for your input Yorkshire, it's appreciated. For anyone planning to call me stupid for trusting people, don't bother, I already know,

Sorry to say it but those who preach their religion and honesty because of such to try and make a business deal are almost always the first ones to rip you off. I am not trying to bash religion. It is just a tactic scammers like to use to prey on those religious enough to believe them.

Mike

 

[dave canada]

Amen

 

[SWTSU]

If the charger/cable is too powerful, ie over a certain wattage, many of the small DJI batteries and controllers will not even light up. Switching to a different cable may be all you need to do to get them charging again.

 

[dave canada]

i got to ask would tht be an external cable your referring to or are the replacement batteries inferior