Vibrating arms

Cacou · Jan 22, 2015

Guys, I'm getting the vibrating arms issue. Pretty strong shaking at all four corners... I had never seen/noticed it before. Argh.

What should I do? I have around 60 minutes of airtime, 5 battery charge cycles - this thing has yet to go very far.

Thanks.

DronePilot · Jan 24, 2015

I have the same issue. It seems like something I may be able to address myself based upon what I've seen from others here however with the warranty tape I think I'll be returning it for a replacement as I don't want to loose my warranty. I don't think after having for just a few days I should have to wait 3-4 weeks for repair either.
and in slow motion

Cacou · Jan 24, 2015

DronePilot, I looked at your slow motion video and that's exactly what I have. Are you returning it straight to DJI, or through your dealer?

DronePilot · Jan 24, 2015

I spent an hour on hold and finally got to the US DJI service center, talked to a nice guy there who seemed immediately familiar with this issue. He assured me I couldn't fix it myself without invalidating my warranty. He assured me that they would do a great job correcting it and checking my unit for any other issues should it come there for service. He also stated that current wait time is 2-3 weeks for repair. I've had my i1 for like 10 days. I've run maybe 6 batteries through it and its pristine still. I purchased from BH and their return policy is 30 days. I think I'll return it for a replacement. Too bad DJI won't just let me correct the issue as addressed elsewhere here http://www.inspirepilots.com/threads/major-vibration.392/ by Rob Suggs.

Remarkable how stable the camera remains despite this vibration. I just think it should be more stable in a hover.

DronePilot · Jan 25, 2015

I contacted DJI support via the website and after showing them the video they told me I should not fly it and I should return it to the dealer for replacement.

Cacou · Jan 29, 2015

Wow. Totally different experience here. I contacted the US (daytime) support line for North America. I explained the problem. The guy told me pretty quickly to send it in to have it checked out. I told him it didn't make sense for me to send out a brand new unit for an indefinite amount of time, especially after all of the shipping delays and flight grounding issues that came up. I told him this was surely a manufacturing (or design?) defect and asked him to instead charge me for a unit, ship it out, while I send mine back in pristine condition and with less than 2 hours of flying time. They could then refund me once they receive it, and take all the time in the world to get it right with that one.

As the call went on, the technician got defensive and brought up all kinds of nonsense, like that it could be the result of me flying without the prop locks, that my dealer could have tampered with my unit (wtf?), and the best one, that it was the first time he heard of such an issue!

Anyways, I gave up with them pretty quickly and called my dealer who's been much more helpful so far. DJI has told him that the prop locks, which I should receive next week, will fix it for sure. I'm skeptical, but hey, what's two more weeks to wait before my unit is fully usable...

RJ Evans · Jan 29, 2015

The oscillations are interesting. I notice that the timing of the oscillation is directly related to the rotation of the motors. Props on opposite corners rotate in the same direction, and as they do, they pulse with each other, flexing at the same time. Diagonal, corner to corner. I'm wondering if this is a prop turbulence issue? I'm not an aerodynamics engineer, so I can only speculate. But, this design is fairly free of airflow obstruction as far as the aircraft body is concerned. The Phantom, however, has a body that appears substantial enough to break up some of the turbulent airflow underneath the aircraft. In any event, I find the behavior very interesting.

Rig · Jan 29, 2015

I agree, prop locks will not fix it. Balancing the props might help. Some are just having issues in general. Mine only does that in certain wind conditions. When there is little/no wind there are not any out of spec vibrations.

Cacou · Jan 31, 2015

DJI support in China, which was less dismissive and nicer than in the US one, has seen a video of my Inspire1 and came back saying they are working on a video that will explain how to fix the vibrating arms. I'm guessing this will be a formalization of what others here have done on their own.

gray52 · Jan 31, 2015

£2.5k for a product then have to repair it after a few flights because of some badly made components, think I will wait a few more months, as this has far more problems than the vision ever did. This should have been launched after it was fully tested, all parts and batteries available.

Alessandro beccaria · Feb 2, 2015

Hi Drone pilot & Cacou... what did you end up doing ? still waiting for DJI feed back ? I have the same issue and wondering what to do.
see below video !

Cacou · Feb 2, 2015

I'm waiting for DJI to post the video on how to fix this. If it doesn't yield good results, I'll take further action.

DronePilot · Feb 3, 2015

DJI has released a video to fix this although they are only releasing it dealers. Apparently parts and training are required to accomplish the correction. I guess the idea is that a dealer can correct this issue rather then needing to send the unit to the repair depot.

Cacou · Feb 3, 2015

I'm curious to know if there are Inspires out there that do not have these loose arms and never exhibit these vibrations. I wonder if DJI fixed the issue in the latest units coming out of production.

Alessandro beccaria · Feb 3, 2015

Hi Cacou,
the arms on mine (which does occasionally vibrate or harmonically shake as better described) seems to be fixed, not loose !
Not sure what the reason of this vibration is ! waiting to read more or hear from DJI !

Cacou · Feb 3, 2015

Alessandro, did you fly it in some wind? When did you order/receive your unit? Thanks.

Alessandro beccaria · Feb 3, 2015

I was one of the early orders: on Nov 14th and received 2nd of January ! No issues sofar except for this harmonica vibration, occasionally !
No I did sofar not fly in some winds ! Only got the prop locks 2 days ago !

Visual Star Media · Feb 3, 2015

After three weeks of using the Inspire, i started experiencing the same issues. Opened a support ticket with DJI and this was their response to the issue.

"Please kindly contact your dealer Coptershop.com; DJI has already provide a solution for this issue, and our dealers are capable to help you out."

I was thrilled to hear that as my dealer had been giving me excellent service. I called about the issue and they told me they weren't authorized to deal with the inspire 1 yet and though they've heard of this common issue, they didn't know what was causing it or how to address it. They advised me to call the DJI offices in LA.

I called DJI LA and they're brilliant answer was that their techs had looked into the issue and said this was "Normal". NORMAL?! I'm at the point where its getting really frustrating to deal with DJI and they are obviously not even sure of whats going on. The regular support ticket guys told me they found a way the "resolve" the "issue" but DJI LA says its not really an issue and its pretty "standard" and normal". This is really infuriating after dropping so much money on a "professional" product.

Cacou · Feb 6, 2015

blade strike, do you have any news on when the fix for the vibrating arms is coming and what it will consist of?

I've been given the runaround for almost two weeks by DJI's LA and China support teams. I won't go into the ridiculous details to avoid inflaming this thread, but I'm getting tired of waiting for my Inspire to be completely functional.

Thanks.