I finally got the DJI Phantom for my grandson's birthday. I also bought 2 extra batteries for an added flying time. With anything rotating at high speed I decided to buy him a pair of safety glasses. Before I gift-wrapped the box, I read the charging instruction and followed it to the letter. However, I did not get the correct LED indications that was supposed to be. I continued the charging for 2 hours each battery.
My grandson arrived and was very happy to open his gift. Despite the cold weather he wanted to play with the Phantom. So we did what the instructions said. The set up was easy. GPS setup was uneventful. No fussing. Of course, grandpa had to do the maiden flight. The copter was easy to control and seems to be stable in the air. After five minutes the battery was beginning to wane and not enough power to make the copter fly. Having the extra battery, we replaced the spent battery. The replacement took only 5 minutes. Same thing happened to the 3rd battery. So we went back into the house and attempted to charge the batteries. The indicators led me to conclude that it is defective. This is one of the frustrations that I get when you receive a defective item. Particularly it is worse when you ordered the items from the internet. I wrote the manufacturer regarding the item (charger) and all they did was emailed me the charge instructions. I already told them that I followed the instructions to the letter. In my disappointment, I went to my local hobby store and got an ASCEND balance charger. All I did was swapped the connectors, configured it and charged the batteries. No problem! OK, this is a message to DJI - Before shipping any item you must be sure that it passes quality control testing.
To be fair to DJI, I can say that the Phantom is well made and easy to fly. The charger is a junk!
See the the project here: "Arrowhead Court"
