Hello All,
This is my first post here and I wanted to introduce myself and share a little story. I am a new owner of an I1 and my goal is to use it commercially for my two businesses, one in photography/videography and the other in structural engineering. I have some experience flying a few smaller/less-sophisticated crafts, but not too much. To that end, I have already met with, and I am in the process of setting up some training sessions with, the NJDroneAcademy. I am excited about it. Also, I have prepped a draft for a Section 333 exemption and will be sending it very soon. I want to make sure my I's are dotted and T's are crossed. If anyone would be kind enough to outline any other tasks that I need to complete to be as legal as possible, I would appreciate it. I read earlier about applying for "N numbers". I realize these are like those on all aircraft and I didn't realize until reading about it earlier that they would be required. I am trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can about the legalization aspects. It is not as clear cut as I would have imagined.
On another note, I am already well aware of the horrendous reputation the DJI has for its customer service. After spending this much money on this aircraft, I am shocked that the customer service has this reputation. I guess it is typical for companies that grow overly quickly. Anyway, I wanted to share a positive experience I had with DJI....
I was upgrading the I1 to the latest firmware and it was failing. I tried a few times and there was clearly something amiss. So, at 2am EST, I went to the DJI support page and opened a chat session with China CS. I was greeted by a pleasant operator that listened to my situation and systematically asked me to perform a few trial updates and send the log files to her. Incidentally, the log file is a hidden file that is created in the DCIM folder on the card in the camera. You have to reveal the hidden folders to find the log file. The text file shows the systematic actions of the firmware update process. I thought this disclosure was a gift in itself as I would not have known this existed. We went through a trial downgrade to try to get things working. No luck. But the log file kept indicating "Device not detected" for 17. I asked a few questions here and there and 17 is the elevation sensor bay comprised of the down facing camera and sonar sensors. She said I should contact the LA office for service. I thanked her and ended the chat after about two hours of being connected.
I decided to take a closer look at things and removed the fuselage top piece. I found a loose end connector on the multi-wire bus that connects the downward camera/sensors. It appears it was only partially snapped in. I pressed it and "snap!". I thought, that had to be it. With the fuselage back in place I finished the incomplete downgrade and then went on the complete the latest firmware upgrade. Voila! Success! So, the moral of the story is that DJI CS is not all bad.
This brings me to another related topic..
Upon inspection, I have found the DJI micro-bus connectors to be of exceptionally poor quality. The multiple wires that feed into the end connection have a tendency to easily pull out from the connector itself. I contrast this with the incredibly strong manner in which automobile wiring is “barbed” into their end connectors. Definitely room for improvement. But, I have to admit, the ability of a person in China to take my log file over the internet at 3am and decipher it and tell me the culprit was pretty **** cool!
Thanks for listening!
This is my first post here and I wanted to introduce myself and share a little story. I am a new owner of an I1 and my goal is to use it commercially for my two businesses, one in photography/videography and the other in structural engineering. I have some experience flying a few smaller/less-sophisticated crafts, but not too much. To that end, I have already met with, and I am in the process of setting up some training sessions with, the NJDroneAcademy. I am excited about it. Also, I have prepped a draft for a Section 333 exemption and will be sending it very soon. I want to make sure my I's are dotted and T's are crossed. If anyone would be kind enough to outline any other tasks that I need to complete to be as legal as possible, I would appreciate it. I read earlier about applying for "N numbers". I realize these are like those on all aircraft and I didn't realize until reading about it earlier that they would be required. I am trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can about the legalization aspects. It is not as clear cut as I would have imagined.
On another note, I am already well aware of the horrendous reputation the DJI has for its customer service. After spending this much money on this aircraft, I am shocked that the customer service has this reputation. I guess it is typical for companies that grow overly quickly. Anyway, I wanted to share a positive experience I had with DJI....
I was upgrading the I1 to the latest firmware and it was failing. I tried a few times and there was clearly something amiss. So, at 2am EST, I went to the DJI support page and opened a chat session with China CS. I was greeted by a pleasant operator that listened to my situation and systematically asked me to perform a few trial updates and send the log files to her. Incidentally, the log file is a hidden file that is created in the DCIM folder on the card in the camera. You have to reveal the hidden folders to find the log file. The text file shows the systematic actions of the firmware update process. I thought this disclosure was a gift in itself as I would not have known this existed. We went through a trial downgrade to try to get things working. No luck. But the log file kept indicating "Device not detected" for 17. I asked a few questions here and there and 17 is the elevation sensor bay comprised of the down facing camera and sonar sensors. She said I should contact the LA office for service. I thanked her and ended the chat after about two hours of being connected.
I decided to take a closer look at things and removed the fuselage top piece. I found a loose end connector on the multi-wire bus that connects the downward camera/sensors. It appears it was only partially snapped in. I pressed it and "snap!". I thought, that had to be it. With the fuselage back in place I finished the incomplete downgrade and then went on the complete the latest firmware upgrade. Voila! Success! So, the moral of the story is that DJI CS is not all bad.
This brings me to another related topic..
Upon inspection, I have found the DJI micro-bus connectors to be of exceptionally poor quality. The multiple wires that feed into the end connection have a tendency to easily pull out from the connector itself. I contrast this with the incredibly strong manner in which automobile wiring is “barbed” into their end connectors. Definitely room for improvement. But, I have to admit, the ability of a person in China to take my log file over the internet at 3am and decipher it and tell me the culprit was pretty **** cool!
Thanks for listening!
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