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Spark took a beating in a river bed, should I repair or it's fine?

aleh17

New Member
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Jul 7, 2019
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4
Age
35
Greetings fellow Spark Pilot, long time reader of this forum but until now I register. Yesterday I had my first major crash after 2 months of successful flying. :(

I was flying over a river bed from a metal bailey bridge (bridge may be the cause of the interference?) I took it to about 80 meters from me (263 feet) getting beautiful footage and then it showed me the alert for "weak GPS signal" I never had that before, so I carefully started to bring it back to land, and while it was coming to me I tried to stop but it continued going by itself in the same direction it was coming from without me commanding it, I regained signal for a moment and quickly decided to go full throtle up to save it from some upcomming trees, but it was to late and it crashed against the trees, hit the floor and then stumbled to the actual river bed (ouch), I came down vertically from at least 50 meters (164 feet) to solid Rock... this little guy is sturdy!

I managed to go down to the river bed with a lot of difficulties ( very large rock walls ) but I was able to retrieve her, the damage was not very extensive for the massive fall that was, some minor scratches, 2 missing motor covers? and the frontal sensors glass was missing and the frame for it damaged.

To my surprise, the lil sparko flyes just fine after this, without the lens cover and the motor caps it flis as nothing happened. So my question is, can I replace this parts? If it flies normally should I be worried to fly it like this? Thanks it advance. I'll try to post some footage of the chrash and the flight log.
 

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Hello from the Hoosier Heartland, aleh17.

If you do a Google search for DJI Spark Parts, you can find just about every part for it.

Plenty of "How To..." YouTube videos to guide your repairs as well.

Welcome to the Forum. ?
 
The LED caps can be easily found online (eBay, Amazon) and replaced. I will only be concerned about the front cover. You need to be 100% sure that the crash hasn't messed up the obstacle avoidance system.
 
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aleh17:

Nice posting - you included video from your flight, and event a screen recording of the flight!

The Spark is very sturdy, I doubt that many other drones would be so resilient.

Were you flying in sport-mode? It looks like it because of the herky-jerky action when you got near the bridge. I think the Spark turns off the collision-avoidance sensor(s) when you are in sport-mode.

As nilanjan118 mentioned above, you should replace the LED caps - I think it is red for a reason, it helps filter out unwanted light so the obstacle-avoidance sensor doesn't get confused. The only time I've had a problem is when I'm flying directly into the sun. Without this filter, I think it would have far more problems.

Glad to hear your Spark appears to fly OK.

Welcome to the forum!
 
Hello from the Hoosier Heartland, aleh17.

If you do a Google search for DJI Spark Parts, you can find just about every part for it.

Plenty of "How To..." YouTube videos to guide your repairs as well.

Welcome to the Forum. ?

Thank you! It's good to know there are plenty of parts available however I dont seem to find the sensor glass? maybe its not sold separetly?

The LED caps can be easily found online (eBay, Amazon) and replaced. I will only be concerned about the front cover. You need to be 100% sure that the crash hasn't messed up the obstacle avoidance system.

I just test it, and luckly the aviodance system seems to work fine.

aleh17:

Nice posting - you included video from your flight, and event a screen recording of the flight!

The Spark is very sturdy, I doubt that many other drones would be so resilient.

Were you flying in sport-mode? It looks like it because of the herky-jerky action when you got near the bridge. I think the Spark turns off the collision-avoidance sensor(s) when you are in sport-mode.

As nilanjan118 mentioned above, you should replace the LED caps - I think it is red for a reason, it helps filter out unwanted light so the obstacle-avoidance sensor doesn't get confused. The only time I've had a problem is when I'm flying directly into the sun. Without this filter, I think it would have far more problems.

Glad to hear your Spark appears to fly OK.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks! I tried to include all the details :) . Yeah I was thinking the same about the glass being red for a reason, I have not been able to find that glass alone on the web yet. I was thinking of maybe making a DYI cover using the traslucent "gymbal protector" that comes with other accesories. Bad idea maybe?
 
Thank you! It's good to know there are plenty of parts available however I dont seem to find the sensor glass? maybe its not sold separetly?

That's the part I couldn't find either.

Do you have an old TV remote control to salvage with the lens on the front that you could use?

You might be able to purchase a bit of that IR plastic on line and cut it to fit the Spark?
 
Wow! Sparks are indeed very strong! I forgot mine on the roof of my car and it came off at nearly 60km/h and survived (two props broken and three LED covers came off, which I all managed to find, and some scratches). I'm amazed that the props were not damaged - you should inspect them very closely, particularly the edges, for any nicks that could become tears - you don't want to loose a prop in flight! If you have not done so already, recalibrate all the sensors.
 

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