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Sorta wrecked my Spark!

NC_Spark_3D

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Apr 20, 2018
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75
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72
I was flying in Sport Mode at about 100 meters when I clicked the landing button. Instead of returning to the home point it came straight down and into the trees about 30 meters from the home point. It went through the branches and crashed to the ground and cracked a leg. It still flies. I guess I will have to take the cover off and glue the leg. Unfortunately, I didn't buy the insurance. :(

Any thoughts or suggestions?
 

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Apparently all the electronics are OK. GPS works, lights, etc. Unfortunately, I don't have a flight record of the final flight because the video was corrupted when I took out the SD card. Probably because of the sudden stop.

I did a short test flight. It took off OK and I was able to hover at about 3 meters and it was stable.
 
If you fly with android you will have your log file on your phone.
Local storage - dji - dji.go.4 - Flight Record. There you can upload the txt file to phantomhelp.com and see what happend. IOS can to, there's an explanation on the site.
GL with ya spark and hopefully it works fine. There is a possibility to change the spark body but how I don't know.
 
I've found if the spark turns upside down either accidentally or deliberately and you're videoing the video file will be corrupted.
 
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I've been looking into recovering these corrupted video files, as I keep forgetting to stop recording and turn the Spark off.

It appears that all that's wrong is that the data that's normally appended when you stop recording is missing, and the video is then 'unfinalised'.

There's a Windows utility that will fix it by using the 'finalise' data from a good video file.

Search recover_mp4_to_h264.exe

I haven't tried it yet.

EDIT: That application has been superseded by a pay version called 'recover_mp4', but there's a free download of the earlier versions of the new app.

recover_mp4 1.92 Free / 2.65 Premium Service Download - VideoHelp
 
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This happened to me. I also did not have insurance.
I opened up a service request with DJI and sent it in for repair, a place in Virginia.
They replaced the body and a set of propellers.
Fortunately the Spark has been great since.
Cost me $157 in total.
upload_2018-5-16_10-36-0.png
upload_2018-5-16_10-40-53.png
 

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Glad to see the Spark is back.

What's with the labor rates?

1/2 hour = $30.
1 hour = $65.

Seems like it should be $60.o_O
 
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I was flying in Sport Mode at about 100 meters when I clicked the landing button. Instead of returning to the home point it came straight down and into the trees about 30 meters from the home point. It went through the branches and crashed to the ground and cracked a leg. It still flies. I guess I will have to take the cover off and glue the leg. Unfortunately, I didn't buy the insurance. :(

Any thoughts or suggestions?
That recently happened to me. Not sure if it was in sport mode or not
 
I was flying in Sport Mode at about 100 meters when I clicked the landing button. Instead of returning to the home point it came straight down and into the trees about 30 meters from the home point. It went through the branches and crashed to the ground and cracked a leg. It still flies. I guess I will have to take the cover off and glue the leg. Unfortunately, I didn't buy the insurance. :(

Any thoughts or suggestions?
sorry to hear you didn,t get the insurance if you didn,t cause your poor like meI suggest to anyone else these little tools are amazing in the stuff they do but they are in the air and move very quickly buy the insurance especially if you are poor i,m very careful with mine, but to much can happen after five battery disconnects the insurance is repairing no costs i,ve noticed several people have had the same problem a simple o-ring to fix the problem is genius or very simple FYI
 
I've been looking into recovering these corrupted video files, as I keep forgetting to stop recording and turn the Spark off.

It appears that all that's wrong is that the data that's normally appended when you stop recording is missing, and the video is then 'unfinalised'.

There's a Windows utility that will fix it by using the 'finalise' data from a good video file.

Search recover_mp4_to_h264.exe

I haven't tried it yet.

EDIT: That application has been superseded by a pay version called 'recover_mp4', but there's a free download of the earlier versions of the new app.

recover_mp4 1.92 Free / 2.65 Premium Service Download - VideoHelp
I tried, but I wasn't able to recover the file. I'm uploading it to dropbox.com now. I'll post again when it finishes uploaded. You or anyone can take a stab at it. Good luck!
 
This happened to me. I also did not have insurance.
I opened up a service request with DJI and sent it in for repair, a place in Virginia.
They replaced the body and a set of propellers.
Fortunately the Spark has been great since.
Cost me $157 in total.
View attachment 5016
View attachment 5018
Thanks for the info. That's a lot cheaper than a new Spark. Out of curiosity, did DJI offer you the opportunity to buy insurance after the repair? If they did, I'd certainly get it!

I notice you can buy a Spark body on Amazon or eBay for about $23. Has anyone ever attempted to transfer the guts of a broken Spark into a new body?
 
I unscrewed the top cover and was able to wedge the break back together. I glued it with Gorilla Glue epoxy. I was able to get some glue into the break with a toothpick. It feels pretty solid. Just to be on the safe side I'm going to put a fiber glass patch on the outside with the same epoxy. I have some very thin fiber glass sheet.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!
 

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I was flying in Sport Mode at about 100 meters when I clicked the landing button. Instead of returning to the home point it came straight down and into the trees about 30 meters from the home point. It went through the branches and crashed to the ground and cracked a leg. It still flies. I guess I will have to take the cover off and glue the leg. Unfortunately, I didn't buy the insurance. :(

Any thoughts or suggestions?
You can get a replacement shell off ebay. Here>
dji spark body shell | eBay
 
Here are links to the files that were on my Spark when it crashed. In addition to the MP4 file, there were two other "dot" (hidden) files that appear to be associated with the MP4 file. I suspect that they are temporary files that would have been deleted after the file was closed by the Spark. Anyway, if anyone wants to take a stab at recovering the MP4 you're welcome to try, and let us know what you find. Thanks very much.

Dropbox - .DJI_0053.MP4.avc1
Dropbox - .DJI_0053.MP4.trinf
Dropbox - DJI_0053.MP4

PS. The MP4 file is over 1 gig! Just so you know. ;)
 
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Nice. Even better. I bought one awhile back off ebay as a spare...just incase.
I saw a teardown video of the Spark on YouTube. I don't think I'd attempt to move all the guts from one shell to another. Might be better to pay DJI to do it - and test it.
 
I saw a teardown video of the Spark on YouTube. I don't think I'd attempt to move all the guts from one shell to another. Might be better to pay DJI to do it - and test it.
I hear you buddy. If you have the tools... time, patience, and most of all dealt with electronics before... shouldn't be too difficult. Lots of youtube videos out there to help.
 

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