Thinking of Buying a 920

[thoneter]

Thoneter,

Might you shoot and post a picture of the broken wire and associated location.

Steve Kristiansen helped me diagnose the problem. The picture with the grey glue on the harness is his cgo4. Mine is the cgo4 without the glue. My assumption is that one of the power wires is broken inside the insulation. The CGO4 works if I lift up the wiring harness. So there's nothing internal that's causing the issue. My thought is that it's in the area where the grey glue is located or up above that. Yuneec has a 920 with that wiring harness that they can install for me but they wont send it to me or allow anyone to walk in and pick it up. It's the wiring harness that goes through the slip ring and through the gimbal drive motor.

 

[PatR]

That is a very weak point in the wiring, unsupported, without strain relief. The silicone application is a common home brew failure deterrence.

I can’t tell you what to do but will say Yuneec has more experience with this kind of repair than anyone else. Perhaps have another conversation with them about what they might or can do, along with any assurances they might provide? The following might be viewed by some as off color but I have never heard of Yuneec C.S. performing bait and switch type tactics or any other type of fraud to up their profitability. The only other location I’m aware of that is fully supported by Yuneec where camera repairs is concerned is Terrestrial Imaging. That’s where some vendors send non warranty cameras beyond their ability to repair when Yuneec C.S. is bypassed.

 

[thoneter]

That is a very weak point in the wiring, unsupported, without strain relief. The silicone application is a common home brew failure deterrence.

I can’t tell you what to do but will say Yuneec has more experience with this kind of repair than anyone else. Perhaps have another conversation with them about what they might or can do, along with any assurances they might provide? The following might be viewed by some as off color but I have never heard of Yuneec C.S. performing bait and switch type tactics or any other type of fraud to up their profitability. The only other location I’m aware of that is fully supported by Yuneec where camera repairs is concerned is Terrestrial Imaging. That’s where some vendors send non warranty cameras beyond their ability to repair when Yuneec C.S. is bypassed.

I've emailed and phoned Terrestial, Carolina and 1 other dealer. None have emailed me back or phoned me.

I called and talked to Rose at inside sales and I think she's annoyed for asking questions. She has gone and talked to the repair guys each time I've called. It's frustrating because they stated they don't allow walkins and can't ship the part to me. I looked at the harness and that was my first instinct and thought that there is no strain relief and everytime you connect it to the grip your putting strain on the wires.

I am perplexed as to why they have a slip ring which is factory taped to not slip. Seems like the perfect place to have a 90 degree boot there to direct the harness into the groove of the grip. It's going to cost approximately $280 for Yuneec to repair and another concern is the turn around time.

Ah, what do I know I'm a dumb junk yard dog hick. Like I said before gov't and big business confound me. The lack of common sense, accountability and consideration frustrate me to no end.

Thanks Steve, Pat and all others for your feedback, concern, common sense and and compassion!

 

[PatR]

We aren’t much different. I share the same lamentations.

 

[madatme]

I just stopped at a DJI dealer in Sioux Falls, SD. They said they were an authorized Yuneec service and sales dealer but gave up both as service wanted everything to go back to Yuneec.

They are willing to try and solder the broken wire but would prefer a replacement harness with the slip ring but Yuneec doesn't have that item on hand. Yuneec did offer to use a different harness from a 920 that's in the repair facility but I have to send it to them and I don't know if I want to wait for months. I'm torn on this one as it's not an easy at home fix.

Yeah were getting more snow, rain, sleet etc today along with 30 mph winds. On the bright side I did pass my 107 today. Much tougher than I thought it would be. So you old farts that thought I was to dumm to pass it

Thoneter what study guides do you recommend, I'm going to take mine soon

 

[Dougcjohn]

Dang... You all have been busy Posters the past few days! Leave you alone for a bit and ya become chatty girls! Been out of town on business, just a busy time.

Quick Skim reading to catch the highlights... and several other new threads.

Hey Thoneter, Congrats on the PT107! You smashed it!!! Did that pretty quick or have you been working on it? No harassment comments yet... no fun when you're expecting them!
Congrats on receiving the H920 package and getting her into the air!
From my quick read, sounds like the initial hover flights went great.
Sorry to hear you've encountered some CGO4 issues... that wouldn't be a pleasure point!
IMHO, I'd go with your thought of obtaining the wiring loom, if not obtainable through USA shops I'd even turn to UK shops... shipping is only a few days longer.

Black Bird In the air and purring ... You got me beat, after the H setup, I moved over setting up the Inspire X5R... bouncing back & forth between Yuneec & DJI is a bit different. I'm looking forward to a nice Sunny picnic table, warm temps to finalize the H920 setup, few hovers and a few short yoyo flights to verify all Go.

Pat... ahhh sweet... , it'll take more zing than that to chase me off. I got all teared... Nah! Missed your logic & wisdom of sUAV and side bar comments! Urrg Urrg!

On the H920, as Thoneter mentioned... the Iowa Folk (ya, he's more MN... but still Iowan) had some high winds 20-25steady and 45mph gusts this last weekend... temps in mid-40 to low 50's. I'm looking forward to seeing how well H920 handles the wind or strong intermittent gusts! Playing with the Mavic & Inspire, when wind blew hard the Mavic's head wind flight basically stood still like a bird in strong winds! While the Inspire lost some ground speed but it still pulled impressively very good... Oddly noticeably better with Arms in retracted in upward position.
In comparison, the H480 falls between and with significantly more ground speed lost than Inspire.
I'm curious if the huge 6 props and power of the H920 will pull itself very strong through head winds.
My assumption is the more professional larger class birds are probably strong performers handling wind.

 

[Dougcjohn]

Steve Kristiansen helped me diagnose the problem. The picture with the grey glue on the harness is his cgo4. Mine is the cgo4 without the glue. My assumption is that one of the power wires is broken inside the insulation. The CGO4 works if I lift up the wiring harness. So there's nothing internal that's causing the issue. My thought is that it's in the area where the grey glue is located or up above that. Yuneec has a 920 with that wiring harness that they can install for me but they wont send it to me or allow anyone to walk in and pick it up. It's the wiring harness that goes through the slip ring and through the gimbal drive motor.

Just a thought....
If it functions by lifting the harness, I'd guess it's in the pivot point... the section of wires between insulation and the coupling below. But the point of thought, if it works by lifting up on loom it may be repairable with a little splice & heat shrink if you can trim the insulation away to allow the loom to open up loosely so you can examine and move each wire.

 

[thoneter]

Thoneter what study guides do you recommend, I'm going to take mine soon

I did remotepilot101.com. Videos cover a lot of what is on the test. The practice test not so much. Practice test helps to nail down most ?''s. Many ?'''s on CG and airspace for me.

 

[thoneter]

Just a thought....
If it functions by lifting the harness, I'd guess it's in the pivot point... the section of wires between insulation and the coupling below. But the point of thought, if it works by lifting up on loom it may be repairable with a little splice & heat shrink if you can trim the insulation away to allow the loom to open up loosely so you can examine and move each wire.

I called numerous dealers and checked out a few EU places. I don't think anyone has the harness withe the slip ring. Best I could get was having Yuneec scavage one and them installing for $280. They won't ship it out or allow walk-in.

 

[thoneter]

Dang... You all have been busy Posters the past few days! Leave you alone for a bit and ya become chatty girls! Been out of town on business, just a busy time.

Quick Skim reading to catch the highlights... and several other new threads.

Hey Thoneter, Congrats on the PT107! You smashed it!!! Did that pretty quick or have you been working on it? No harassment comments yet... no fun when you're expecting them!
Congrats on receiving the H920 package and getting her into the air!
From my quick read, sounds like the initial hover flights went great.
Sorry to hear you've encountered some CGO4 issues... that wouldn't be a pleasure point!
IMHO, I'd go with your thought of obtaining the wiring loom, if not obtainable through USA shops I'd even turn to UK shops... shipping is only a few days longer.

Black Bird In the air and purring ... You got me beat, after the H setup, I moved over setting up the Inspire X5R... bouncing back & forth between Yuneec & DJI is a bit different. I'm looking forward to a nice Sunny picnic table, warm temps to finalize the H920 setup, few hovers and a few short yoyo flights to verify all Go.

Pat... ahhh sweet... , it'll take more zing than that to chase me off. I got all teared... Nah! Missed your logic & wisdom of sUAV and side bar comments! Urrg Urrg!

On the H920, as Thoneter mentioned... the Iowa Folk (ya, he's more MN... but still Iowan) had some high winds 20-25steady and 45mph gusts this last weekend... temps in mid-40 to low 50's. I'm looking forward to seeing how well H920 handles the wind or strong intermittent gusts! Playing with the Mavic & Inspire, when wind blew hard the Mavic's head wind flight basically stood still like a bird in strong winds! While the Inspire lost some ground speed but it still pulled impressively very good... Oddly noticeably better with Arms in retracted in upward position.
In comparison, the H480 falls between and with significantly more ground speed lost than Inspire.
I'm curious if the huge 6 props and power of the H920 will pull itself very strong through head winds.
My assumption is the more professional larger class birds are probably strong performers handling wind.

Calls us chatty girls and then says he's gonna wait to zing us. Hmmmm sensing some hypocracy. If only zingy boy had stayed away a little longer.

I had Pat all to myself. I see a green eyed monster!

 

[thoneter]

Dang... You all have been busy Posters the past few days! Leave you alone for a bit and ya become chatty girls! Been out of town on business, just a busy time.

Quick Skim reading to catch the highlights... and several other new threads.

Hey Thoneter, Congrats on the PT107! You smashed it!!! Did that pretty quick or have you been working on it? No harassment comments yet... no fun when you're expecting them!
Congrats on receiving the H920 package and getting her into the air!
From my quick read, sounds like the initial hover flights went great.
Sorry to hear you've encountered some CGO4 issues... that wouldn't be a pleasure point!
IMHO, I'd go with your thought of obtaining the wiring loom, if not obtainable through USA shops I'd even turn to UK shops... shipping is only a few days longer.

Black Bird In the air and purring ... You got me beat, after the H setup, I moved over setting up the Inspire X5R... bouncing back & forth between Yuneec & DJI is a bit different. I'm looking forward to a nice Sunny picnic table, warm temps to finalize the H920 setup, few hovers and a few short yoyo flights to verify all Go.

Pat... ahhh sweet... , it'll take more zing than that to chase me off. I got all teared... Nah! Missed your logic & wisdom of sUAV and side bar comments! Urrg Urrg!

On the H920, as Thoneter mentioned... the Iowa Folk (ya, he's more MN... but still Iowan) had some high winds 20-25steady and 45mph gusts this last weekend... temps in mid-40 to low 50's. I'm looking forward to seeing how well H920 handles the wind or strong intermittent gusts! Playing with the Mavic & Inspire, when wind blew hard the Mavic's head wind flight basically stood still like a bird in strong winds! While the Inspire lost some ground speed but it still pulled impressively very good... Oddly noticeably better with Arms in retracted in upward position.
In comparison, the H480 falls between and with significantly more ground speed lost than Inspire.
I'm curious if the huge 6 props and power of the H920 will pull itself very strong through head winds.
My assumption is the more professional larger class birds are probably strong performers handling wind.

Does the 5 camera live up to the hype? I like the assurances of 6 blades. Inspire is cool but not sold on it yet. Maybe the Iowanian guru can sell me on DJI! Does the acronym stand for Does Just Inuf?

 

[PatR]

Their camera is very good but as usual there are issues with other aspects of their software. Some interesting reading about them are found in RC Groups “official” Inspire 2 thread, where you’ll find 5 or 6 guys telling everyone with problems what they are saying can’t be so. The camera is very good though.

 

[Dougcjohn]

Does the 5 camera live up to the hype? I like the assurances of 6 blades. Inspire is cool but not sold on it yet. Maybe the Iowanian guru can sell me on DJI! Does the acronym stand for Does Just Inuf?

I'd say the X5 Raw is extremely good... very small light package, one of the few that shoots Raw in video & stills and simultaneously captures on SD card DNG, JPG or TIF. The only downside if you use the Raw, the transfer time to HD is not quick and the proprietary SSD512GB (raw card) is extremely expensive on the retail side. But as we've already established... I avoid new & retail.

Before H920, I sold my previous Inspire 1, it was a v1 X3; I picked up an Inspire 1 v2 X5R, a video team had a mild crash which prompted them to use their Replacement Plan Insurance on the Inspire 1, but since that takes time to receive they picked up a new Inspire 2 to continue work. The replacement was a brand new Full Case package Inspire 1 X5R, which I promptly picked up. As normal, I'm always a version behind... better ROI for my hobby growing into small retirement business. The Inspire 2 is a great craft, added many features but only offer it in a new style X5 or X7, no X5Raw yet, and all the Inspire 1 cameras are not transferable to I2. Bummer for the Pro's upgrading, great for the 2nd hand shopper. They moved part of the camera electronics from Gimbal to Airframe on the I2. Currently there is more 3rd party support for the Inspire 1.

The Inspire birds have some very nice features, and sorry to say one of the few birds of this class that has so many 3rd party Software & Hardware support. That is one advantage of them, just about anything available is offered for the Inspire 1. The disadvantages are as previously indicated for any DJI product.

I'm learning to enjoy the H480 class, treasure the H920 as it grows on me and watching the H520 & H-Plus class. The H920 just has class to itself... have no knowledge of getting any photos or work from it yet... just like the size & character, sort of like walking around a WWII AC... appreciation of what they could achieve.

 

[Dougcjohn]

The H920 had it's 1st battery pak of hover flights. Wow, sounds great! Love watching the motors spin up in series.... again, kinda like my analogy of the WWII crafts! Has a different hover, or I'm just skittish of it at the moment... would hate to see those motor arms strike the ground. It does have the "sound" I expected with those props!

Had a Light code wasn't sure of... but believe it to be voltage battery related. The chart & manual indicate R/G/B flash for L1 & L2 battery warnings. I had a Purple / Green flash... later I saw it popped up a Low Voltage Warning on screen for 10 or so seconds. I landed it and took off several times to see when the light code changed, at first I was thinking it was a GPS indicator. Later it started to indicate the RGB flash... so I'm thinking the Green flash might be the initial low voltage warning. Couldn't find any reference to Purple / Green as a code.

OEM Batteries... suck! The IR is in the 11-14 per cell, the drop to low voltage is quick and rebound is huge. Easily take it to 21.6 quickly... land, turn off, rebound to 23.8 in seconds. They'll work to get some perliminary hover flights, but not trustworthy for taking it up.

Observations: Motors have a high pitch (props on or off), when props off I can change pitch by holding boom towards coupling. Not a concern, just noticing a high pitch... not a quite bird.

Video latency on ST24. I'm seeing a small latency on screen. Using my tapping foot in ft of camera as a test; Estimate .2-.4 second. This wasn't present on the H480, is it present on your 920's?

Installed the supplied quick detach mounts... not sure of those, that's a pretty cheeky setup. The small center spring block is temperamental to get into a full lock click on a few. I'll watch those as I mount and dismount props in near future. May work for those planning to leave props on the majority of the time, but then why need QD mounts if leaving on.

On my H920... share if different. The H480 on landing / bottom stick the props drop to a low spin / no lift. On the H920, it doesn't drop to low spin and stays at the edge of hover while idling.... needing to disarm and shut down. If landing on bottom stick, she'll land but doesn't fully settle down hard till disarm. I may need to look at expo on stick too.

Humorously, the 1 man operation of compass calibration is challenging. Removed props, but still large bird to rotate smoothly. Speaking of calibration, I didn't locate any calibration options within the software. The compass is switch initiated and no other calibrations are defined or offered.

I wasn't even able to find a way to calibrate the ST24 Sticks & Switches. There was a small section in one version of multiple that I found that indicated there was no need to calibrate... even the compass unless you received a light code (2 yellow). Indicated the ESC and accelerometer performed their own calibrations as needed without User interaction.

 

[PatR]

With the Plus the motors will eventually slow down from the high idle speed when the stick is held back. It settles gracefully onto the gear if flown appropriately.

For that warning light condition, was the battery door closed and latched? That sounds similar to what I’ve seen with an open door. There’s no documentation reference for it.

As the Plus uses the ST-16 it has the same calibration menu as the H, along with the two step calibration menu in System Settings.

Calibrating the compass is pretty easy if you use a “dead man” to support the opposite arm. You only have to hold one arm that way.

There is about the same latency in the Plus system as well. Not a concern if above or clear of obstacles but I would not want to try using FPV to thread my way through a forest.

I’ve read many of your posts in other sections about payloads. You’re ambitious and well educated. Your foray into R-G-B filters reminds me of several long and mind numbing IR conversations I’ve had with the owner of Hood Technologies. I can’t keep up with anyone that has that many PhD’s...

You're 100% right about the stock batteries, they suck and lean towards being on the dangerous side to be depended on. Seabee was telling me earlier today of the IR for one of the cells in a brand new battery. Worse than yours. Not a battery I would use.

If you are flying without a payload the motors might "screech" a bit. My Plus did. Adding the payload changed the motor pitch considerably.

 

[PatR]

Speed Notes

Today being a nice calm day I played around with the 920 Plus and GPS for a bit. The Plus is normally on the slow side with GPS on at ~23mph-25mph. Performing three back and forth runs about 600’ long generated consistent speeds of 39mph and 41mph.

Like the H the 920 is a little smoother in starts and stops with GPS off.

 

[Dougcjohn]

With the Plus the motors will eventually slow down from the high idle speed when the stick is held back. It settles gracefully onto the gear if flown appropriately.

For that warning light condition, was the battery door closed and latched? That sounds similar to what I’ve seen with an open door. There’s no documentation reference for it.

As the Plus uses the ST-16 it has the same calibration menu as the H, along with the two step calibration menu in System Settings.

Calibrating the compass is pretty easy if you use a “dead man” to support the opposite arm. You only have to hold one arm that way.

There is about the same latency in the Plus system as well. Not a concern if above or clear of obstacles but I would not want to try using FPV to thread my way through a forest.

I’ve read many of your posts in other sections about payloads. You’re ambitious and well educated. Your foray into R-G-B filters reminds me of several long and mind numbing IR conversations I’ve had with the owner of Hood Technologies. I can’t keep up with anyone that has that many PhD’s...

You're 100% right about the stock batteries, they suck and lean towards being on the dangerous side to be depended on. Seabee was telling me earlier today of the IR for one of the cells in a brand new battery. Worse than yours. Not a battery I would use.

If you are flying without a payload the motors might "screech" a bit. My Plus did. Adding the payload changed the motor pitch considerably.

Good thought on light... but the 2 magnets on door were fully clamped and it didn't appear until voltage was on the lower.

On the throttle stick, I'll have to check but I think I recall the H's ST16 had the full down at a small negative... -10 or -15 with 50 mid and 100 full up.
The 920 had 5, 50, 100 so I changed it to -12, 50, 100 for full swing. With props off, I could now hear a mild slow down. I'll try that as a test.

Since post, I did a 2nd hover session with a 3 pak... that performed better... still if levered a few mild to strong lifts... voltage dropped excessive so I'll wait for the Zippies for other than break-in hovering. On light, it reappeared when voltage was about 21.9 and 3 light RGB blink began at 21.8 or 21.7... so I'm thinking it's a early notice to battery.

Thoneter... have you noticed this Purple changing to Purple - Green flash before the RGB flash of 1st Level battery warning? It's about 1 minute in length before the documented RGB flash for 2 seconds Lv1 and the constant RGB flash for Lv2.

Pat, does the 920+ have the RGB flash for battery Lv1 & Lv2.

For motor screech... against my best judgement I had the CGO4 mounted. The screech is only at idle, so you're probably correct. With a little throttle, it fades. It has also faded some with 2nd battery session a tad.

Landing Hover is way different than the H. The 920 wants to resist, or float more... getting it to drop quickly isn't what it wants... although I noticed above 30' it'll drop faster till about 10'.
On final landing, it acts like it wants to stay light on the skids... I've hit the disarm to drop it. Maybe setting Throttle Expo to a small negative value will improve the landing.

Speaking of altitude; the ST24 indication was off... showing 4' when 8, 10' when 20'. Maybe that will improve with a little altitude flying.

 

[Dougcjohn]

Thinking of Thoneter's camera loom... I do hope that can be corrected nicely for you. In examining my CGO4, are you referring to where the loom passes into the top of the Gimbal... the section between belly mounts and gimbal?

The CGO4 is shipped mounted to hand held mount. One thing I did notice on the hand held mount (brain burp on official name), there is a channel in top plate where the gimbal screws up to hand held top plate. That channel held the camera's wire loom from being pressed & squeezed. I wonder if yours accidently got crimped in the plate damaging a wire(s). If so, examining that section of the loom might expose 1-3 wires simply shorting and a few pieces of tape may correct. When I was re-mounting mine, I almost didn't see the channel and started to tighten the plate... I was wondering what kept the loom from being pinched over time and upon examining noticed the wire channel.

Might be worth a look?

 

[Dougcjohn]

The quick detach prop mounts... I think was more the props center unlock pin vs the block having a problem. A very small drop of dry lube (bike light dry lube) into well of prop fixture to seep through the push pin... and wiping excess seemed to greatly improve the click sound and the block locking into the prop.

Still a cheeky setup, a resin carbon embedded material would be better than the soft nylon plastic mounts. Plus, if motor shroud has multiple holes, why not offer 4 holes instead of only 2.

 

[PatR]

Pat, does the 920+ have the RGB flash for battery Lv1 & Lv2.

I'd have to do it again to be sure but IRRC mine just adds a red flash to the Purple-White. First warning adds a single flash, additional warnings add more red flashes. The transmitter vibrates as well.

For me the first voltage warning initiates sometime after 21.8v is reached but before 21.7v. As you've noted the Yuneec batteries don't handle a deep dive with a high current load for crap. I'm still a bit pi$$ed about buying 2 additional sets of Yuneec batteries at full pop with the system without the supplier warning me about them before hand The Zippy batteries really expose the Yuneec battery deficiencies as achieving 21.8v with Zippy batteries does not immediately initiate the first voltage warning. It takes awhile running at 21.8v before the voltage warning kicks in. With the Yuneec batteries the voltage warning occurs almost immediately after hitting 21.8v. Then again, the Zippy batteries (10,000mA) hit 21.8v after 15 minutes or so while three Yuneec batteries (12,000mA) do it after only about 8-9 minutes. The problem with Zippy batteries, if you want to call it a problem. is they remain in the 21.8-21.7v zone that triggers the first voltage warning for a relatively long time, which means that massively annoying first voltage warning pop up has to be cleared over and over and over. Below 21.7v things go nicely for quite a while before hitting the next warning at about 21.5v, which surprisingly is not as persistent as the first warning.