Drone with mind of its own

[Fernweh]

I'm doing some photography for a local golf course tommorow , so today I decided to send my drone up just for a couple of minutes to practice some camera angles.

So the battery was quite low (20%). I noticed last week my controller took a knock and might have dislodged something within the antenna but the wire did not break. Anyway as soon as I sent it up about 25 mtrs it started veering away by itself in a complete opposite direction . I quickly pressed the return home button at which point the drone hovered for a couple of seconds in the air and decided to lower itself down on top of a roof about 100 metres away. I then tried to manually bring it back but it did nothing until I lost signal camera cut off and I could not see drone.

Luckily a half hour later I found the drone at the side of a house a neighbourhood away, with only two broken propellers. Cleaned it up and it's as good as new, but as a relatively new flyer can anyone identify what could have went wrong . I feel something is wrong with antenna as I am losing range after like 100 metres ?

 

[msinger]

So the battery was quite low (20%).

Well, that was a pretty dangerous thing to do. You should consider landing when the battery is at about 30%. At 20%, the battery is at or near the critically low level -- which will cause it to land at its current location.

 

[Fernweh]

Ok did not know that. Obviously 20% is a clear indicator was low and to bring it down , but I had only planned on hovering it over my yard at about 25 metres did not expect it to go off in a different direction . But that is very good to know thanks

 

[msinger]

Right. At 20%, it's fine to turn your Phantom on, but it's not a good idea to fly. When the battery is very low, it'll try to auto land -- and, it usually does successfully. But, it could just shut off and your Phantom would drop like a rock if the battery depletes faster than usual for some reason (e.g. it's extremely cold outside).

 

[Fernweh]

I was very lucky I found it undamaged and it didn't hurt someone , going forward il be sure to bring it down when the warning comes on. Thanks again

 

[LJay]

A good way to test your controller signal would be to connect to your phantom, leave it on the ground and then walk away from it. That way there's no risk. Also, no matter how short the flight intended I would not take off with any battery that has less than 80% to begin with. It's just not worth the risk!