After my drone crash and my son’s lecture to me about proper flying techniques, we assessed the damage and figured out the parts we needed to order. Prior to my son and I assessing the damage together, I had taken the drone into a local drone shop in Bellevue for some input and assessment. They seemed pretty knowledgeable and give me a quick assessment. The motors appear to be OK (I thought so as well). I wanted my son and I to have the chance to look over the drone together and then make a repair decision. As you can clearly see from the photos (in my last post), the camera was torn from the gimble (broken yaw arm). Since the camera is detached from the gimble, the camera cable ribbon is also sheared off and needs replacement.
DJI doesn’t seem to sell just the gimble part to their cameras. They would like you to replace the camera (ours is the Phantom 3 Advanced model with the 2.7K camera). Cost of the replacement camera is $409 (not included any taxes or shipping fees). I found a couple of different suppliers for the yaw arm ($50-$99) on Amazon and Ebay. I purchased the camera cable ribbon directly from DJI for $35 plus $10 shipping. I did find that online at other suppliers for cheaper but thought I’d better go with OEM parts for the cable ribbon.
One of the landing gear/skids was cracked but we will glue or use epoxy that together.
The last part I broke (but I think that it may have been broken when my son and this friend were trying to push it back together) was the compass on the Phantom 3. The compass appears to be in one of the landing skids. The compass itself wasn’t broken but the small cables were cut in half. I think they were sliced when my son and his friend tried to push it together. That cable couldn’t be fixed so I ordered that part as well (roughly $20).
