Back to Answers Index How do I fix camera issues emergency Did the drone fall from a high altitude? Check the main board for damage as well as the camera "neck". Make sure that all of the wires are connected fully. If you are not receiving any video at all it is most likely that the camera has been damaged and needs to be replaced, which in this case means replacing the entire bottom structure, which you can purchase here. You should also make sure that you have all of the necessary tools. You will need needle nose pliars and varying sizes of screwdriver bits. Past 24 Hours: 0 Past 7 Days: 11 Past 30 Days: 38Having your Parrot drone parts in great condition is essential for the best flying experience and to avoid crashes. This article with drone repair videos show you how to inspect and replace your Parrot AR drone parts. Inspecting your Parrot AR drone parts every couple of days will keep your quadcopter flying perfectly. By checking parts such as cogs, shafts and blades to make sure they aren’t bent, cracked or broken, will help ensure your quadcopters operates at it’s best.

The below videos cover everything from checking and maintaining your AR drone, to replacing parts such as the mainboard, navigation board and central cross which have become broken.  At the very end of this article, we also have some good information on how to fix ultrasound emergency errors on your Parrot AR drone. The Parrot AR is a terrific drone.  It’s fast, acrobatic and fun to fly.  It is also one of the most d-i-y friendly drone on the market.  ar drone battery turnigyEvery part is easily replaceable.  ar drone parrot occasionThe Parrot AR has probably been the best selling drone of all time.flight recorder ar drone software I hope this article and videos are of great assistance so you can quickly get back to having some great flying fun.

How To Replace Your Parrot Drone Parts Maintain And Replace Gear, Shaft and C-Clips Parts This video shows you how to check, inspect, lubricate and replace cogs, pins, shafts, new blades and clips on your Parrot AR.  This is a  thorough video giving you loads of information to maintain and replace your Parrot AR parts. Replace Central Cross Parrot Drone Part This is a detailed video on how to remove and then replace a broken Parrot AR Central Cross.  It takes approximately 2 hours .  The video shows what tools and parts you need and then takes you step-by-step on how to remove the parts and then install the new AR drone central cross part. Replace Mainboard Parrot Drone Part Watch the below drone video and follow the 11 steps to successfully replace you AR Drone Mainboard part. Remove the motherboard cover screws Remove the motherboard cover Remove the motherboard screws Unplug the motherboard battery cable Unplug the 2 motherboard data cables

Mount the new motherboard Plug back in the 2 motherboard data cables Fix the new motherboard screws Plug back in the motherboard battery cable Replace the motherboard cover Final Step : Fix the motherboard cover screws Replace Parrot Drone Parts – Navigation Board Here is how to replace a damaged navigation board.  He certainly makes it look easy.   Watch the below video and follow these 7 steps. Remove the motherboard ( in video 2 above) Remove the  navigation board support Remove the damaged navigation board Mount the new AR drone navigation board Replace the navigation board support Replace the AR drone motherboard Fix the motherboard screw Parrot AR Ultrasound Emergency TroubleshootingIf your drone experiences an “Ultrasound Emergency” error on screen or your drone seems to fall from the sky uncontrollably or doesn’t seem to know distance from the ground. Ultrasound measures the distance from the ground so if you are getting this error, you should bring your drone in to land pretty quickly.  

If the ultrasound isn’t working at all, you won’t be able to take off. So you can try the following to fix the ultrasound emergency error.  Be careful and handle all the parts gently when you open your drone; Before opening your parrot, check to see if you have the latest firmware for you Parrot AR. If not then update to the latest version. Open up the Parrot AR and check all cables to make sure they are correctly seated and that none of the cables are work or damaged.  Make sure all cables are tight and replace and worn or damaged cables. After you have checked all the cables check and blow away and dust etc inside the parts.  Dust causes static electrical interference. Examine the cover over the 2 ultrasound sensors.  The sensors may not be lined up perfectly or the cover may be hampering the sensor.  I have seen where one Parrot owner was able to fix the ultrasound error by simply cutting part of the plastic off. Just about 1 inch of the end so the cover is not anywhere near the ultrasound sensors.

Check the connection to the pressure sensor. Peel off the plastic bottom and take a look at the navigation to mainboard connections.  Remove the three connection points and remove the navigation board.  Next, check the pressure sensor (it’s the black square with a bit of foam visible on the top) on the top side of the board. This may not be stuck on correctly.  Peel it off and stick the black pressure sensor to the board. You many have a faulty transducer.  To fix this you would need to replace the Navigation board and there is a video above on how to replace this part.  The navigation board includes the sensors which are 1 ultrasonic transceiver and 1 ultrasonic receiver. Remember, if your AR Drone is in warranty, then you should contact the Parrot AR support team to have this problem fixed.  Or contact the shop where you purchased your Parrot AR 2.0.  Generally opening your device while it is in warranty will void the warranty. Had a crazy crash with my Parrot AR Drone while I was testing some ideas for the Parade of the Lost Souls (you can see my test footage at left). 

This is how I assessed and fixed it. I hit a street light about 25 or 30 feet up. Down it came crashing. Why, oh why, did I listen to the passing child who insisted I try out the outdoor hull? I usually use the indoor hull at all times because I just think it will help the thing last longer. But no, it came straight down on the corner and broke a rotor gear in half, and broke the pin. Replacing the hardware was easy enough. I had a set of gears and pins already from NCIX, which I'd already used to replace one similar bit of damage. However, when the thing initially crashed, it was in the middle of recording video. When I picked it up, the AR Freeflight app was asking me "Start video repair?" or words to that effect. If you know the actual error message I'm referring to, could you post it below? I said "Yes" to this query, and things starting spinning on the iphone screen - but then it said "Battery too low." I had no other battery with charge remaining, but I tried quitting and restarting the app a couple times with the exact same problem.

When I finally got a new charged battery into the thing, instead of the "start clip repair?" or whatever, it said "Pic Watchdog Emergency." The battery read zero, and I had intermittent access to the "home" button (it would appear and reappear as I tried to take pictures or record video in the app). The takeoff button on the iphone was green, but all four lights on the copter motors were red. I tried doing a reset with the drone's reset button, took the whole thing apart to see if all the connections were good (using Tom Strong's excellent videos), uninstalled and re-installed the app, rebooted my phone .... all to no avail. So I did another restart, and finally got a weird thing happening with "Updating Media Gallery."  That happens every time the drone starts up, but now it was acting weird - kept crashing the app halfway through the progress bar.  Did it several times, and lo and behold - after several tries and crashes, there were some new videos in the media gallery, that had been missing previously - the video of the actual crash, and the video I shot right after the crash which hadn't seemed to actually record at the time.

I hooked my iphone to my Hackintosh, downloaded these videos and deleted them from the phone.  Next time Freeflight started, it did so quickly and without mishap...  but still drone no fly. I went through all the proper steps - uninstalling the app, rebooting the phone, even reset the phone to factory settings and reinstalled the app.  Still no drone fly love. So then I guessed it was a hardware issue.  Everything worked fine - the camera, recording functions etc - but "pic watchdog emergency" and no response to the takeoff button. So I actually called AR Drone Support who walked me through some checks, and finally they said it was either the navigation board or the mainboard.  They had never heard of the "Start Clip Repair?" error either. Navigation board is cheaper (C$69.99 vs C$109.99 for Mainboard), and seems to contain more fragile parts: the gyros, the sonar, the stuff that determines attitude and altitude etc.  That's my candidate for damage after a crazy fall. 

None of the parts had visible damage, but I couldn't tell if certain connectors were supposed to be soldered together or not. In this photo of a Mainboard (which Parrot support sent me - Boss!!!) there are some connectors at the top right, just where it says 1J1600.  That's where the Navboard connects to the Mainboard.  The pins aren't soldered down, but when I connected the two boards, it seemed clear to me that there was a good solid contact, and no room for wiggle.  Parrot support thought the opposite; the lack of soldering there, they said, meant I should replace the Mainboard. But my instincts were the opposite:  Nav Board seemed more inherently fragile VS a sort of guess that maybe the soldering was broken, despite no visible evidence that the main and nav boards had suffered some kind of shear or jarring.  I mean, the two parts are screwed down together really solid; for them to yank sideways and damage that connector would have meant yanking all the screws and anchors as well, no?