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DJI Phantom 2

The EPSCoR Modern Blanket Toss crew allowed me to borrow one of their DJI Phantom 2 systems to learn how to fly. During processes of learning how to launch the device I found myself in my classic “I just want to do it” vs “I should probably read the manual”. Turns out DJI has a collection of very nice videos, instructions, wiki’s, and community information flying around the internet but none of it consisted of what I would call a quick start. The following is my version of a quick start.

Quick Start for DJI Phantom 2

Learn how to fly first

Before I did anything with this very expensive tool I learned how to fly a quad copter using a much less expensive quad copter platform. I highly recommend investing in a HubSan X4 107C which you can pick up at Amazon for $60.

Not only did that give me the ability to learn by crashing something that both didn’t hurt myself or others but only cost a few dollars to replace the props while figuring out the controls.

Unboxing and preparing

  • Charge the batteries - this will take 40 minutes per battery
  • Insert batteries in Remote Controller (4 AAs)
  • Install Ground Control on iPad
  • Batteries still charging - go check out DJI documentation:

Batteries

There is a bit of a trick to ‘turning on’ and ‘turning off’ the batteries. I received batteries that didn’t have their brand new ‘how to use them’ stickers but a bit of digging turned up the answer:

Turn On - press button once - then press and hold for 2 seconds

Turn Off - Same deal - press button once - then press and hold for 2 seconds

Launch

  • Prepare Remote Controller
    • S1 and S2 to top most positions
    • Turn Remote Controller ON before starting up Phantom
  • Insert battery
    • Press button once - then press and hold for 2 seconds
  • Wait for the following states in the blinking lights:
    • Blinking or Solid green
  • Turn on camera (not to WiFi mode)
    • Pre