Auto land above 30%?? Scary moment

[BVC]

I'm at lake Tahoe. A bit cold..

Did a evening flight around 4pm for some shots. Full battery. Great shots. Landed with roughly 35% on the battery.

Came back inside to fix a whiskey on the rocks drink. About 10 minutes later the sky was perfect. Fired up the drone and went for another flight. From what I remember the battery was around 33% at takeoff. 3.4v reading.

It started flashing red on the drone and tablet said critical battery, landing. I could press X next to the notice on the left side of the screen to regain control. About 5 seconds later it went back into this mode and I could not prevent the drone from letting me take control again. Thankfully it was in the yard and landed fine on fairly level hard packed snow.. but it was a bit concerning that I couldn't regain control a 2nd time (kept pressing X to cancel auto land and it wouldn't respond on the screen)

I'll pull/upload the flight log when I get home back to the computer but just seeing if anyone has experienced this?

Low battery warning 30% critical set at 20% (factory defaults I think)

 

[BVC]

Because people like photos...

 

[Cale262]

I flew mine today well into 25% without experiencing anything as you describe, I'm running the most current updates.

 

[BVC]

I'm on the last update. I never experienced this before and previously I've flown well into the 20s with no issues.

Only difference this round was I powered off for 10 minutes then fired back up for a 2nd flight same battery.

Outside temps around 30-35. Yesterday was worse.. 22 degrees as the high lol

 

[norazmi_0673]

Nice pics though..

 

[Roly]

I fly in Florida where it's always too hot no matter what. Beautiful pictures, I'm jealous! Best of luck so it doesn't happen again. Contact DJI Support with logs?

 

[Alex E]

Still funny issues in cold weather? Good to know. [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[GreggC]

Dude,
Never, ever, never, take off with a battery that's not fully charged.
Critical battery will land where it is, period.
You my friend got lucky.

 

[BVC]

I live in Sacramento where temps are fairly stable. We at vacation cabin for the weekend so temps are deff colder than normal in Sacramento. My first time with cold weather (below 50 degrees)

 

[BVC]

Dude,
Never, ever, never, take off with a battery that's not fully charged.
Critical battery will land where it is, period.
You my friend got lucky.

That's a bit extreme .. i have never had issues resuming flights on partly consumed batteries.

I can see it being an issue in colder weather that I don't have experience in if that is an issue. However problem lays in the fact all levels were above normal before any fail safes should have kicked in.

 

[fordruid]

Thinking out loud. Battery at 33%. Cold temps which increase drain. Takeoff which is huge drain. Could all of this combined to create a dip in the voltage causing the critical landing?

 

[John Locke]

That's a bit extreme .. i have never had issues resuming flights on partly consumed batteries.

I can see it being an issue in colder weather that I don't have experience in if that is an issue. However problem lays in the fact all levels were above normal before any fail safes should have kicked in.

Dude, you need to read Phantompilots.com more often. This anomaly is all over these pages. NEVER take off without a full charge, never ever. I've lost so much confidence that if my batteries have been sitting for a few days, I top them off regardless (mine are set to discharge starting at 10 days). You need to load the1.6 firmware also to help mitigate this issue, if you don't have it already. It's part of being a Phantom/Inspire owner. The firmware gets whacked if you restart, or start, with a "less then full charge" battery. It's lame for the time being.

You need to visit a casino, it was your lucky day. Great photos.

 

[GreggC]

That's a bit extreme .. i have never had issues resuming flights on partly consumed batteries.

I can see it being an issue in colder weather that I don't have experience in if that is an issue. However problem lays in the fact all levels were above normal before any fail safes should have kicked in.

There are several thread addressing takeoff on a "low" battery,
None have ended well.
I ride my RZR in the desert on the weekends, my Phantom sits shotgun,
I have four batteries, and after every flight even a 10 minute flight I install a fully charged battery before the next flight.
IMO when you landed and before you prepared your drink you should have popped in a fresh battery.
just my .02,
I still contend you got lucky.
IMO a good lesson learned.

 

[BVC]

Thinking out loud. Battery at 33%. Cold temps which increase drain. Takeoff which is huge drain. Could all of this combined to create a dip in the voltage causing the critical landing?

Maybe. Yesterday on a full battery it was around 3.7v which I assume due to 10-20 degree temps. I was easy on the sticks to avoid drastic movements.

Flight logs show more detail but when I landed I was at 30% or so. And i read on here if battery gets to 3v it will completely shut off??

 

[fordruid]

No expert but 3v sounds familiar

 

[Cale262]

The coldest I've flown my P3P is ~-25*C and even full out stick and banking hard I couldn't get the Battery to drop to below 3.4...maybe I'm not trying hard enough

 

[BVC]

Dude, you need to read Phantompilots.com more often. This anomaly is all over these pages. NEVER take off without a full charge, never ever. I've lost so much confidence that if my batteries have been sitting for a few days, I top them off regardless (mine are set to discharge starting at 10 days). You need to load the1.6 firmware also to help mitigate this issue, if you don't have it already. It's part of being a Phantom/Inspire owner. The firmware gets whacked if you restart, or start, with a "less then full charge" battery. It's lame for the time being.

You need to visit a casino, it was your lucky day. Great photos.

I just recently joined. I know it says Feb but I recently got active about 3 weeks or so ago.

My thing with always taking off with a full battery (which I never do with many flights with my p2+ and p3a ) is doesn't the manual recommend not charging the battery if it's 75% or greater? I can see 35% being on the lower side of the scale lol but that's why I sometimes do one or two additional flights on a battery. Sometimes I don't hit 75% on a single flight. Not saying it's right or wrong. Just trying to learn from the situation.

And i should hit the casino! ! Downside is new years weekend full of drunks and these icy mountain roads... i could be a rich man!!

 

[RC Noob]

If you saw full battery at 3.7 V, something is seriously wrong with charging. Full charge should show as 4.25 regardless of temp, when you power up (and then drain a little faster).

 

[dnthomas]

What filter you using on those pics?

 

[John Locke]

My thing with always taking off with a full battery (which I never do with many flights with my p2+ and p3a ) is doesn't the manual recommend not charging the battery if it's 75% or greater?

I'm not sure where you saw the 75% rule stated. LiPo's are not harmed in that way. You cannot overcharge the battery, DJI's so-call "battery smarts" won't allow it. They are harmed if left at 85 to 100% charge for weeks, but DJI has you covered there too since the "smarts" will auto discharge the battery to 60%, which is the best level for long term storage (long term, meaning months). I always top my batteries off before I fly. You should too, even if they show 4 LEDs with the check button. And if the charger won't auto-start when 4 LEDs are showing, turn on the battery like it's in the drone. The battery will then "top off". It won't harm the battery.