Almost had to use my DJI Care last night

Erk1024 · Friday at 1:29 PM

I was flying the NEO indoors and I bumped into a wall. The drone must have tipped too far over. The motors cut out and it bounced hard off the tile floor. When I picked it up, the gimbal wasn't working. One side had popped out of it's holder. I snapped it back in place, and the camera seemed to rotate smoothly, but when I powered it back on, it said the gimbal motors were overloading and the camera would twitch up and down repeatedly. I tried to pull the side of the gimbal out to re-seat it and maybe get out any debris that had snuck in there. Something else snapped into place and vibration reduction part of the gimbal seemed to be correct. When I restarted, it was fine. Whew!

GFields · Friday at 1:31 PM

Wow! The one time I attempted to fly indoors resulted in it flying directly into a wall. But no damage.

Erk1024 · Friday at 1:34 PM

One of the good things about the NEO is that you can try things you wouldn't with more expensive drones, and if the worst happens, you haven't caused too much damage or expense.

GFields · Friday at 2:02 PM

Erk1024 said:
One of the good things about the NEO is that you can try things you wouldn't with more expensive drones, and if the worst happens, you haven't caused too much damage or expense.

I agree. And it a rugged little drone too. I have flown it into a fence and it had no issues

NEO 317 · Friday at 2:07 PM

Erk1024 said:
One of the good things about the NEO is that you can try things you wouldn't with more expensive drones, and if the worst happens, you haven't caused too much damage or expense.

I flew inside once with the phone when I first received the NEO and I didn't crash, BUT, the pitch of the rotors bouncing off the walls left my ears ringing for a few hours.

It was much better outside with the remote and having fun buzzing around the bushes.

I won't fly like that with the MA2 but the NEO is small and nimble.

.

Chrislaf · Friday at 3:29 PM

Glad it was ok @Erk1024. I have only flew my NEO a couple of times in the house and didn't have any major problems. The closest I came to a crash was bumping it into a tree head-on when I was flying low and slow in between trees. The drone just bounced back a bit and I carried on my merry way.

Chris

Spark2NEO · Saturday at 4:36 PM

Erk1024 said:
I was flying the NEO indoors and I bumped into a wall. The drone must have tipped too far over. The motors cut out and it bounced hard off the tile floor. When I picked it up, the gimbal wasn't working. One side had popped out of it's holder. I snapped it back in place, and the camera seemed to rotate smoothly, but when I powered it back on, it said the gimbal motors were overloading and the camera would twitch up and down repeatedly. I tried to pull the side of the gimbal out to re-seat it and maybe get out any debris that had snuck in there. Something else snapped into place and vibration reduction part of the gimbal seemed to be correct. When I restarted, it was fine. Whew!

My Spark would do that as well - too close to the wall and it would go nuts!

Erk1024 · Sunday at 12:27 AM

Spark2NEO said:
My Spark would do that as well - too close to the wall and it would go nuts!

I think what happens is that the Center of Gravity is above the propellers. So if you bump into a wall (let's say sideways) then the drone actually rolls TOWARDS the wall, pushing it harder into the wall. When the angle gets too steep, the motors cut out.

ryguy80 · Sunday at 10:34 PM

The first time I've ever crashed a drone was with this Neo indoors while testing it out the day I received it. Got stuck on a corner wall while in follow mode and went into attitude mode, ascended quickly, then the motors cut out and crashed onto a hardwood floor. Fortunately, it worked just fine after that with no error messages. It also reminded me to get the DJI Care Refresh for the reasonably low price of $22 USD/year.

Erk1024 · Monday at 2:14 PM

I finally had a chance to take it outside to do some flying. The wind was about 15mph. I was using the Goggles3 and MC. I was flying close to the ground, but then I popped up over the trees, and the NEO just basically stopped making any forward progress because of the wind. It also struggled to hover at that point. Wind gradient is a thing. I got low again, and was able to fly wherever I wanted. Fun little drone! I need to practice up on my Manual Controls as that's the next thing I want to try. Need to go find a big grassy field...