Anafi loves trees...

[MustangPhil]

I did it too ... my Anafi is stuck on a tree (my fault) 20m above the ground.
... I’m starting to build a pole made of diameter 32 mm PVC tubes... but 20m is rather high !
My first attempt this afternoon was a fail...

I can’t make it the ‘Canadian way’ (cut the tree) like @Agustine did last year...

At the beginning I did not see it, but finally saw it with the help of the sound it makes during crashes... and because I could Restart the motors 10 times with Pix4DCapture (I was using it when it met the tree... higher than I thought). With this app, even after a crash, you can click on ‘start mission’ and the engines will turn...

 

[Liger 1956]

Sorry to hear about your Anafi. You did not crash into the tree, the tree actually reached out and grabbed the Anafi after using its "magnetic" powers to draw it close enough. My wife now tells me off for climbing trees to rescue my planes (I am 64 next week!).

 

[Jagerbomb52]

If you have no luck maybe give this a try.

 

[Rocky the FS]

Now THAT is ingenious!

 

[MustangPhil]

Thanks for the idea. I’ve just finished making one. Will try it and report...

... Enclosed some pictures of the problem and the possible solution... Wish me luck !

 

[Fmaxii]

Well... It’s very high !! Good luck !

 

[Liger 1956]

@MustangPhil Let us know how you get on and any hints and tips that you may have. I am seriously thinking of making one of those devices myself, just in case, as I think that I have all of the necessary parts.

 

[Ana789]

I have doubts, that this tree will allow your arrow to come down again!

Here I probably could "rent" a coconut monkey, to try to get it back.


MustangPhil, how long is your (first) pipe solution already ? How many meters are you missing? Or is it just "swinging" too much? How about using 3 pipes, for stability?
♣ (without the "pedicle" ;-)

 

[MustangPhil]

Hey guys !!! Thanks for your support !!!
I just come back from the forest ... And I got the Anafi back without a dent... Even the props are 'like new'...
... I can't believe it !!!

I suceeded at the first attempt, only one shot with the 2 feet 'arrow'. Trained in my garden 2 or 3 shots before to go on site)

I struggled a little to get the arrow back to the ground 'straight'. But rewinding and descending the cable 2 or 3 times was enough to get it to the ground.
Attached the blue 'string' to the fishing cable (fluorocarbon wire 0,4 mm / 10 kg strength),
and got the 2 ends of the blue nylon string easily.

My shot was not precise enough to catch the exact branch where the Anafi was, but when I shooke the branch I first caught, the target was moving ... After 5 loooong minutes of shaking the branch with the blue nylon string the Anafi fell in the receiving net I prepared on the ground !!!

As you can guess..
I'm happy !!! Thanks @Agustine for the precious link (gonna leave them a comment)
and thank you guys here for your support.

To make this thing work, I shall add you need two other important ingredients :
- You must be a little crazy
- Be optimistic
... And I have both !!

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Fantastic my friend. Now stay away from those trees LOL

 

[MustangPhil]

@Ana789 : The Pole you see on the picture was already 12 m long (half way to target) I had spare poles but it was already too flexible and heavy to work... Gave up solution 1 and used spare poles to make the 'BazooKaDrone'... Extremely efficient... Will keep it in my car !!!

 

[Liger 1956]

I am glad that you got it back. Preparing a catch net was a stroke of genius but how did you know where it would land?

If you keep it in your car how are you going to explain to the Police, if you are stopped, that you are not going spear fishing but drone fishing?

 

[Ana789]

I am glad that you got it back. Preparing a catch net was a stroke of genius but how did you know where it would land?

If you keep it in your car how are you going to explain to the Police, if you are stopped, that you are not going spear fishing but drone fishing?

He need to bookmark this topic in his phones browser

 

[MustangPhil]

Haha ! The receiving net was in fact a 5m x 5m very thin (and cheap) plastic tarp I always have in my car.
As the forest was dense in this area, I just laid the tarp over the surrounding bushes I tried to estimate were the drone should fall (approx 5 m)... and it fell in it (not really in the middle but the shock was absorbed by the tarp deformation).

I didn’t think much about the police, but more about the hunting guards that survey the forest (hunting is still forbidden even now in France that containment has been stopped). So I was carrying all my PVC tubes (heavy weight 2m x 12tubes)... and my wife was holding the BazooKaDrone (I’m not crazy ;o)

 

[Gérard]

Haha ! The receiving net was in fact a 5m x 5m very thin (and cheap) plastic tarp I always have in my car.
As the forest was dense in this area, I just laid the tarp over the surrounding bushes I tried to estimate were the drone should fall (approx 5 m)... and it fell in it (not really in the middle but the shock was absorbed by the tarp deformation).

I didn’t think much about the police, but more about the hunting guards that survey the forest (hunting is still forbidden even now in France that containment has been stopped). So I was carrying all my PVC tubes (heavy weight 2m x 12tubes)... and my wife was holding the BazooKaDrone (I’m not crazy ;o)

Hey guys !!! Thanks for your support !!!
I just come back from the forest ... And I got the Anafi back without a dent... Even the props are 'like new'...
... I can't believe it !!!

I suceeded at the first attempt, only one shot with the 2 feet 'arrow'. Trained in my garden 2 or 3 shots before to go on site)

I struggled a little to get the arrow back to the ground 'straight'. But rewinding and descending the cable 2 or 3 times was enough to get it to the ground.
Attached the blue 'string' to the fishing cable (fluorocarbon wire 0,4 mm / 10 kg strength),
and got the 2 ends of the blue nylon string easily.

My shot was not precise enough to catch the exact branch where the Anafi was, but when I shooke the branch I first caught, the target was moving ... After 5 loooong minutes of shaking the branch with the blue nylon string the Anafi fell in the receiving net I prepared on the ground !!!

As you can guess..
I'm happy !!! Thanks @Agustine for the precious link (gonna leave them a comment)
and thank you guys here for your support.

To make this thing work, I shall add you need two other important ingredients :
- You must be a little crazy
- Be optimistic
... And I have both !!

 

[MustangPhil]

... follow-up :

After the drone was back home, I let it ‘dry’ on the sun and wind. Charged batteries and did some test.
The Anafi was immediately recognized by FF6, it can take off and flew perfectly, but I have no image on my phone’s app.

I also had one ‘vertical camera error’ warning ones or twice.

I reset the drone pushing on the ‘On’ button until I saw 4 red lights on battery, then released the button.
The reset process did work, it asked me to recalibrate the drone, the camera calibration was in the process too.

I could fly it again, no error, the gimbal can perfectly move when I fly and use the SkyController trigger... but still no image on screen...

it looks like if a wire came loose during the crash/recovery process.

I checked the forum, lots of advices regarding the ‘vertical camera failure’ but not much on the ‘no image feedback’, so I’ll open the drone and check the connexions...

Any other ideas are welcome ;o)

 

[Fmaxii]

Even if you have no image on screen, did you test if the SD card could store normal video or black video?
This test could separate a camera problem or a video transmission problem

 

[MustangPhil]

Re-update (sorry for that but hey! It’s my thread ;o)

I followed the step by step YouTube video provided by Parrot on ‘how to repair the Anafi’ up to ‘Step 6’ where the lady dismounts the 2 camera connectors from the main board on top of the Anafi near the front of the Anafi (near the gimbal).

The two connectors (one little 10 mm long x 7 mm wide Green flat rectangle and the brown flat rectangle 15 mm long x 10 mm) do ‘snap off’ the main board when you gently tear them off. I snapped them off and re-clipped them in the same place pressing firmly (heared a little ‘pop’). Then reconnected the led, put the ventilator in place and closed the drone.

Did a quick flight test in my room and ... the video feed back ... is back !

Note for anyone who would hesitate to do that, but when the warranty period is over (and you had a crash) ... you can do it quite easily, take your time, watch the video from Parrot (very well done)

... Edit : I just saw @Fmaxii proposition above while I was writing the update...
Yesterday I could access the content of the memory card to download the images from the Anafi via the FF6 app and the WiFi connexion, so I do not think the problem was related to the SD card. But when I dismounted the Anafi, I also removed the SD card (that I always keep in place inside the Anafi), cleaned the connectors and re-inserted it in the Anafi card holder. It may also have been part of the solution... (I tried to take pictures while it was in flight yesterday but it did not take pictures, so you may be right)