BATTERY ISSUES (Early Autoland)??? POST HERE

Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Here is a good example of autolanding kicking in around 35% on a very routine flight. The Phantom is lightly loaded, with a Fatshark TVL600 pan & tilt camera instead of GoPro + Zenmuse. Plenty of data to look at on the output from the iOSD Mini...

http://youtu.be/HuUPynIt1Jo

ElGuano -- note the battery voltage hits 10.7v just before the 2:00 mark. Wondering if that's the 10.65v (or below) that you mentioned in your post, and that once that voltage is experienced by NAZA, he is much more likely to go home and ignore % left or rebound above the 10.65v level.

Kelly
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Double-D said:
Well you can add me to the list.
Only had my Vision+ for about a month. Today I was totally surprised when I saw the low battery warning on the app at 53%. It flickered on and off a few times before staying on at 51%. It was over water so headed straight for home. Not sure when auto land initiated as I noticed the percentage dropping strangely rapidly but was around 40% which it fell to very fast. By the time I landed it was on 3%. I turned it off immediately rushed inside to look at the battery status on the assistant software and it read 1%.

Vision+
Firmware - 3.04
Warning levels - 30%/15% default
Discharged - 28 times
Battery life - 91%
Auto land initiated - 40%
Flight condition - slow and calm

Later I charged it up to 62% and flew again.
Low battery warning @ 33%
Auto land initiated @ 29%
Power cycled and lifted off and flew for about 1 min then auto landed again.

As per the Dji guidelines I did a thorough discharge at 20 cycles.
I do charge my batteries 100% straight away after flight (after reading the posts I'm not sure if that's a Good or bad thing) but I use them almost every day only missing the odd day due to weather.
currently charging this battery from 29% and will test again tomorrow.

Let's get to the bottom of this issue guys.


An update using problem battery.

Charged problem battery from 29%
Full charged to 91%
Got warning @ 69% 8min
Auto land @ 68%

Also noticed
Percentage of charge @ 67%
Cell 1 @ 3880mV
Cell 2 @ 3743mV
Cell 3 @ 3874mV
Current Capacity 2660mAh

Looking back at my screenshot of yesterday
Percenage of charge @ 1%
Cell 1 @ 3788
Cell 2 @ 3804
Cell 3 @3784

I'll do a full discharge cycle and see waht happens.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Double-D said:
Double-D said:
Well you can add me to the list.
Only had my Vision+ for about a month. Today I was totally surprised when I saw the low battery warning on the app at 53%. It flickered on and off a few times before staying on at 51%. It was over water so headed straight for home. Not sure when auto land initiated as I noticed the percentage dropping strangely rapidly but was around 40% which it fell to very fast. By the time I landed it was on 3%. I turned it off immediately rushed inside to look at the battery status on the assistant software and it read 1%.

Vision+
Firmware - 3.04
Warning levels - 30%/15% default
Discharged - 28 times
Battery life - 91%
Auto land initiated - 40%
Flight condition - slow and calm

Later I charged it up to 62% and flew again.
Low battery warning @ 33%
Auto land initiated @ 29%
Power cycled and lifted off and flew for about 1 min then auto landed again.

As per the Dji guidelines I did a thorough discharge at 20 cycles.
I do charge my batteries 100% straight away after flight (after reading the posts I'm not sure if that's a Good or bad thing) but I use them almost every day only missing the odd day due to weather.
currently charging this battery from 29% and will test again tomorrow.

Let's get to the bottom of this issue guys.


An update using problem battery.

Charged problem battery from 29%
Full charged to 91%
Got warning @ 69% 8min
Auto land @ 68%

Also noticed
Percentage of charge @ 67%
Cell 1 @ 3880mV
Cell 2 @ 3743mV
Cell 3 @ 3874mV
Current Capacity 2660mAh

Looking back at my screenshot of yesterday
Percenage of charge @ 1%
Cell 1 @ 3788
Cell 2 @ 3804
Cell 3 @3784

I'll do a full discharge cycle and see waht happens.

I noticed that your cell 2 is the same as mine ..about 100mv difference from the other two cells and on this battery of mine its the worse one that goes into auto land around 36%. My new 3rd battery arrives today so looking forward does it make a difference from my other two nearly new ones .
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

@erico,

Yeah I noticed that.
I have another battery only a few cycles less. Just took it for a flight and it still works fine.

I sent an email to my dealer today asking for a replacement. Waiting for a reply.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Something to consider, if it is a hardware issue, are they likely to admit there is a problem ? If they did, would they be prepared to replace every smart battery out there ? Could they even afford to replace every battery ? Would admitting liability effect the reputation of smart batteries to the point where DJI customers would no longer accept them thereby drying up a lucrative revenue stream.

My thoughts are, no,no,no,yes.

If this can't be fixed with a firmware update, I foresee DJI bluffing their way through this as best they can and that isn't going to end well for any of us...unless some smart cookie comes up with a hack that allows the use of regular batteries in a caddy that fits the DJI fixture that simplifies this whole unnecessary smart battery concept.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Hi;

If such thing happens and the phantom starts to auto land can I cancel the procedure and bring back home?

The manual says that i can keep the copter from descending by giving full throttle but can I also give roll/pitch control?

Imagine you are over water at 80% battery and the phantom starts to autoland. I much rather flying it 100 more feet by risking running out of battery than watching it drown in a controlled descent.

Sorry if this is asked before, the search didn't bring any related result.

Thanks.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

WessexWyvern said:
Something to consider, if it is a hardware issue, are they likely to admit there is a problem ? If they did, would they be prepared to replace every smart battery out there ? Could they even afford to replace every battery ? Would admitting liability effect the reputation of smart batteries to the point where DJI customers would no longer accept them thereby drying up a lucrative revenue stream.

My thoughts are, no,no,no,yes.

If this can be fixed with a firmware update, I foresee DJI bluffing their way through this as best they can and that this isn't going to end well for any of us...unless some smart cookie comes up with a hack that allows the use of regular batteries in a caddy that fits the DJI fixture that simplifies this while unnecessary smart battery concept.


I see your point .. but reading on this forum we still seem to be in the minority of users getting this problem ( at the moment ) .. I would have thought there would have been a lot more as both my nearly new batteries are having this problem .

So if it is a battery problem which I think it is and because of the cost of them I think it should not be a big problem to replace them via their dealers. That way everyone wins . Smile

We will still buy the DJI batteries .. they will still make good profits .

But then again that's called “ Customer Service .”
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

@Aerovisual: In my experience, full throttle will give you 0.2m/sec rate of climb and 95% throttle will hold altitude. All other inputs work, so you should be able to limp home. Mission likely over, though.

Kelly
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Got another new DJI battery yesterday .. just in from testing...

Weather windy .. I would not normally fly in this but wanted to find out results.
Charge 96%
Phantom 2 in Naza mode with just FPV
Flight time 18 mins
At 20% the rapid flashing come on ( that's what I had set in assistant ) . No auto decent :) Still had full control .
So well happy .. its working as it should and even though I did not fly it hard it had to work hard holding its position in the gusts.
I am going now to send both my batteries back to my dealer with my results . I am convinced its the batteries .

If my dealer replaces them I will join the ranks of the other happy campers !
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

A follow up post.

I went to discharge my suspect battery by letting it run. It was 65% when I turned it on, took off for 10 sec and auto landed and percentage dropped to 2%. By the time I turned it off it read 0%. Gave it a full charge last night. Today I placed it in the phantom and app read 99% but auto landed again at 65%.

I've now given up on this battery and still waiting for a reply from my dealer.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Aerovisual said:
Hi;

If such thing happens and the phantom starts to auto land can I cancel the procedure and bring back home?

The manual says that i can keep the copter from descending by giving full throttle but can I also give roll/pitch control?

Imagine you are over water at 80% battery and the phantom starts to autoland. I much rather flying it 100 more feet by risking running out of battery than watching it drown in a controlled descent.

Sorry if this is asked before, the search didn't bring any related result.

Thanks.

In theory, yes. However when this happened to me I was unable to over ride it. When I reported it here, thinking it might be unusual, someone else said the same thing happened to them also so the answer is don't count on being able to over ride it. That's why this whole thing sucks, particularly the whole 'smart battery' concept.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

erico said:
WessexWyvern said:
Something to consider, if it is a hardware issue, are they likely to admit there is a problem ? If they did, would they be prepared to replace every smart battery out there ? Could they even afford to replace every battery ? Would admitting liability effect the reputation of smart batteries to the point where DJI customers would no longer accept them thereby drying up a lucrative revenue stream.

My thoughts are, no,no,no,yes.

If this can be fixed with a firmware update, I foresee DJI bluffing their way through this as best they can and that this isn't going to end well for any of us...unless some smart cookie comes up with a hack that allows the use of regular batteries in a caddy that fits the DJI fixture that simplifies this while unnecessary smart battery concept.


I see your point .. but reading on this forum we still seem to be in the minority of users getting this problem ( at the moment ) .. I would have thought there would have been a lot more as both my nearly new batteries are having this problem .

So if it is a battery problem which I think it is and because of the cost of them I think it should not be a big problem to replace them via their dealers. That way everyone wins . Smile

We will still buy the DJI batteries .. they will still make good profits .

But then again that's called “ Customer Service .”


If whatever problem is means there's a chance that it could happen to every battery out there, I'm afraid your optimism will probably prove unfounded. I don't know if there's a consumer law that protects each and everyone of us in our respective countries from a relatively obscure Chinese company that doesn't have a household name to protect such as Panasonic or Volkswagen for example. If DJI just say 'tough- it's not our problem' what are we going to do?
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

The more I think about the 10.65v "hidden trigger" mentioned by ElGuano, the more I think that may be a key piece of the puzzle. Two weeks ago I flew a full battery in a boring hover a few meters up, specifically looking to film the pre-mature auto-landing. The battery behavior (on a battery that has shown pre-mature auto-landing before) was consistent with the 30%/15% settings, I.e., no pre-mature auto-landing. It was a stress-free flight for the battery, presumably with a monotonic drop in voltage until 15%. Compare that with other more typical flights where battery demands are more dynamic, and one might briefly draw the battery below the 10.65 trigger on a hard climb or fast run, then back off on the draw, and despite the battery recovering from the brief sag, and having plenty of power left for several more minutes, the firmware decides no, time to come down.

If those of you testing the auto-landing and have iOSD (and ideally DVR, or telemetry back from P2 voltage on board) can watch the battery voltage in the iOSD as you near the mid 10's of volts, and also watch the battery icon and tail lights, you should be able to test this theory on your problematic batteries. Note that 10.65v is likely rounded up to 10.7v on the iOSD display, so anytime you're seeing 10.7v you're theoretically close to the hidden trigger point.

Of course if you're seeing auto-landing well above 10.7v, then there is something else at work here, though perhaps in addition to, not instead of, 10.65v.

If the problem (at least for some of us) is the 10.65 hard-wired trigger, the solution is similar to other issues we're having -- open up the firmware a bit more, allowing experienced users to modify (or disable) the hidden trigger voltage, and while you're at it DJI, please allow user-configurable max descent rates and pitch and roll limits.

Kelly
 
BATTERY ISSUES (Early Autoland)?? POST HERE

Quick update. Just got done flying my bad battery and it flew for 10min 30sec and went to second level and started to Auto land and as I was landing it safely I looked at battery lights and the 3rd light was blinking (which blinks between 50%-62%) and as soon as I landed, it went to 2 solid light which is 49%. Took it to the PC and hooked it up to the assist and the battery was at 49% or 11.45 volts. No good!!!! I wish I had FPV and OSD with DVR so I could record this crap!!! Still getting worse every flight.

***********Updated Post Title.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

Have you tried cleaning the battery contacts?

I noticed that a couple of people mention that when they tried a new battery the problem went away so that suggests to me it's the batteries contacts that are the problem. I'm sure a lot if people have already figured that out but it's worth mentioning.

This is clearly a serious problem, so far it has only happened to me once but I have a feeling we are going to see more of this, I found a couple of videos on YTV dated 2013 where this happened and as I read through the various battery problem posts I have a feeling they are all connected including the falling from the sky incidents.

As you are trying to collect names to try and put pressure on DJI, perhaps you could change the title of your post to something 'if you are having battery problems please read' to try and avoid people starting a new post and to get as many people on the list as possible.
 
Re: 25%-40% Battery Warning and Auto Descend??

WessexWyvern said:
Have you tried cleaning the battery contacts?

I noticed that a couple of people mention that when they tried a new battery the problem went away so that suggests to me it's the batteries contacts that are the problem. I'm sure a lot if people have already figured that out but it's worth mentioning.

This is clearly a serious problem, so far it has only happened to me once but I have a feeling we are going to see more of this, I found a couple of videos on YTV dated 2013 where this happened and as I read through the various battery problem posts I have a feeling they are all connected including the falling from the sky incidents.

As you are trying to collect names to try and put pressure on DJI, perhaps you could change the title of your post to something 'if you are having battery problems please read' to try and avoid people starting a new post and to get as many people on the list as possible.
Cleaned the battery contacts with some q-tips and rubbing alcohol and it maybe got the battery an extra minute of flight, but still auto landed at around 40%. :cry:
 
Geert,

How many cycles on those problematic batteries?

Kelly
 
I will be updating the few more people that are having this issue soon and posting an updated list.

Also another update, I called DJI North America and after about 5 calls, 3 auto hang ups and one was sitting in que 18 callers back and waiting 40 minutes to get to 5 callers left just to get disconnected. On the 5th call, waited again 18 callers back for 40 minutes, and i actually talked to a George. I told him all the battery issues and after a few simple question and him saying it sounds like a bad cell, he emailed me a RMA# for a tier 1 warranty, which he told me was pretty much a part replacement. I will send it in tomorrow and it should get there quick since it is going about hour up the freeway, then i will sit and wait for a replacement (he said around 2 weeks,so 3-4 probably).

So if you live in North America maybe try to call DJI. Always worth a try.
 

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