In October of last year, I sent my AC with an RMA to DJI for an ongoing video issue I was having. I also included my RC, which had a loose antenna. The shipping took six days each way but I was impressed by the service which took only two days. When I opened the case I discovered two things. The camera had been replaced and I no longer had a remote controller. I phoned DJI to inform them and was told that my chances of locating my remote were zero. He told me that they would send a replacement and I expressed concern that it might be a refurbished unit. He insisted that it would be a new one. When it arrived, in late November, I hooked everything up to check the operation of the replacement camera. Everything seemed to work fine but with the start of winter and the problems with batteries and the colds affect on them, I decided not to fly until spring. In the meantime, I had installed the most recent firmware.
After a cool windy start to spring, today I took it out for its first flight, post repair. With all calibrations done and all values within range, I started the motors and immediately noticed something unusual. The motors started revving repeatedly. Not enough to become airborne but after revving a few times it settled into an idle. I pushed up on the throttle and hovered about ten feet off the ground. All seemed normal for a few seconds, but all of a sudden it darted backwards about two feet and stopped. Fearing that it might run into me I raised it up another ten feet but it started reacting erratically. I barely managed to get it on the ground safely and proceeded to recheck the values, which were normal. Puzzled, I took off again. There was that unusual revving after motor startup but I climbed up and it immediately started traveling backwards. My first thought was that I was in ATTI mode and it was being carried by the wind. A quick check of the switch confirmed that I was in GPS mode, so it left me with thinking it was RC calibration, which I had done when I first received it. This time the landing was incredibly difficult however, successful. I brought up the RC calibration screen and discovered that I couldn't start the calibration process. Finally, after several tries, I discovered that the right hand stick would only go up to 73%. Then I realized that if I tapped the case of the RC with my finger the percentage change without touching the stick. I wondered if that "new" RC was used and reboxed.
I phoned DJI and was told that the controllers were out of stock and that maybe they could repair the one I had. An RMA was created and I was told it might be a couple of weeks for new stock to arrive. The call ended and when I opened the email to start filling out the paperwork I discovered that this time, there was no prepaid Fedex label. What a slap in the face!
After a cool windy start to spring, today I took it out for its first flight, post repair. With all calibrations done and all values within range, I started the motors and immediately noticed something unusual. The motors started revving repeatedly. Not enough to become airborne but after revving a few times it settled into an idle. I pushed up on the throttle and hovered about ten feet off the ground. All seemed normal for a few seconds, but all of a sudden it darted backwards about two feet and stopped. Fearing that it might run into me I raised it up another ten feet but it started reacting erratically. I barely managed to get it on the ground safely and proceeded to recheck the values, which were normal. Puzzled, I took off again. There was that unusual revving after motor startup but I climbed up and it immediately started traveling backwards. My first thought was that I was in ATTI mode and it was being carried by the wind. A quick check of the switch confirmed that I was in GPS mode, so it left me with thinking it was RC calibration, which I had done when I first received it. This time the landing was incredibly difficult however, successful. I brought up the RC calibration screen and discovered that I couldn't start the calibration process. Finally, after several tries, I discovered that the right hand stick would only go up to 73%. Then I realized that if I tapped the case of the RC with my finger the percentage change without touching the stick. I wondered if that "new" RC was used and reboxed.
I phoned DJI and was told that the controllers were out of stock and that maybe they could repair the one I had. An RMA was created and I was told it might be a couple of weeks for new stock to arrive. The call ended and when I opened the email to start filling out the paperwork I discovered that this time, there was no prepaid Fedex label. What a slap in the face!
