Fast Power Drop...

[rbhamilton]

So I'm outside my house and decided to capture the sunrise. I'm up at exactly 400' and filming away. The power drop has been very slow and steady from the high 90's all the way down to 35% - my typical "go home" level but the sun is just about over the horizon. I figured I'd wait a bit longer - maybe until 20% - still lots of margin for safety.

At 25% and I get the "go home" warning but I hit ignore.

When it hits 20% I've got what I need but I figure I'll do one slow pan around just for effect.

Wow. The power starts dropping like the count down on a bomb in a movie. 20... 19... 18... 17. So FAST! What happened to my slow steady power drop like maybe 1% every 30 - 40 seconds or so? YIKES. I figure I might not be able to complete the entire pan. OK time to head down. Slow and calm and steady. Line up over the driveway, back and forth - avoid ring vortex - easy does it. 16... 15... 14... 13. MORE YIKES.

At 11% I give up all pretense of calm crank the down lever as hard as possible. About now some ring vortex might be a welcome thing!

Only at a point like this do you realize just how **** slow this thing descends and how high 400' really is. I brought that baby down just as fast as it would go.

At 5% I'm wondering just how much it would hurt to catch a drone falling from 80' in the air. Probably do as much harm to me as the drone.

Somehow at about 5' in the air I had the presence of mind to shut down the recording so I didn't corrupt the video. This thing landed with 0%. It may have actually powered down just as it touched the ground or possibly even from 1" up. Wow. Just. Wow. Too freekin close for me. I've learned my lesson. 35% and land. No exceptions.

 

[general01]

If you just recently bought it I would be contacting the dealer as that is a sure sign of a bad battery pack

Sweet pic of the sun rise btw I have only got sunset pics so far(never get up early enough to get a sun rise pic

 

[GSSP]

Your VERY lucky day, for sure.

 

[rbhamilton]

If you just recently bought it I would be contacting the dealer as that is a sure sign of a bad battery pack

This battery was the original. Bought in May 2014. 45 cycles or maybe a few more I think. Starting to show it's age a bit. Probably time to look at ordering another set. I'm putting together a "Day in Scottsdale" video. Last night I got the sunset and this morning shot the sunrise. Now have to fill in the stuff in the middle. Here's my take on a sunset. Next time I'll clean the lens a bit more. I left in a bit of the props showing in the scene for effect. I kinda like how this turned out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZZmIYG6rNc[/youtube]

 

[Fplvert]

Nice video Robert!
I've retired one of my original DJI smart batteries for this problem. The bird would start to auto land at 30%. Have you checked the remaining battery life?
http://youtu.be/vViFGNUjG4g

MHL

 

[flyNfrank]

Nothing like having a major adrenalin rush, huh?

 

[rbhamilton]

Nothing like having a major adrenalin rush, huh?

Lol... yep. No need for a 2nd cup of coffee this morning.

Have you checked the remaining battery life?
http://youtu.be/vViFGNUjG4g

MHL

Great info! I had no idea you could do this. I'll have to charge it back up and check. Thanks for the tip.

 

[general01]

I have worried about this on my vision as its hit 50 cycles on the pack and is showing its age

I suggest retiring it soon

 

[rbhamilton]

Here's the sunrise video. I cut out all the screaming and nearly crashing parts.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXuXWK1H-NY[/youtube]

 

[Mako79]

The life of the DJI "intelligent" battery is 300 cycles.
I've had 2 batteries showing signs of aging at no more than 30 cycles.

And DJI knows this. What did they do? They changed there battery warranty to 3 months. At $150- a pop, these batteries aren't cheap. My next battery will be a Lime fuel as they have 1yr warranty and have shown signs that they are compatible with current firmware 3.08. Did I mention they were cheaper?

I wish there was an option on the smart battery to do a semi charge to 70-80%. Then on day of flight, we can just top up.
I don't trust the 10 day wait for self discharge.

They should set the smart charger/battery up like this.
If lower than 70%, charge unconditionally to 70% and stop.
On the day of flight, we plug the battery into charger and turn it on (tap and long press). This will force the battery to charge to 100%. Now if you don't fly, set the auto discharge to happen after 2 days and drop to 70% for storage. This will prevent damaging cells, and even if you forget to top up, you will still have 14-15 minute flight time.

 

[Bernie]

I agree with Mako79. I picked up a used PV2+, less than 7 cycles on both batteries, yup, both batteries junk. Also batteries 8 months old.

Performed every possible suggestion on this forum, YouTube, etc. Still both will not give me more than 4 minutes flight per battery.

I had the original owner contact DJI, and you guessed it, Crickets chirping. At $130 a battery, and seven flights this is a very expensive hobby.

I purchased 3 Limefuel 5400's and pre-ordered a 6000. They do have they one year warranty, and so far the 5400's work fantastic.
I can not wait for the 6000, btw all updates, etch work 100% with these batteries.

I do not know how the original owner stored / took care of the batteries, however to not respond is just poor customer service from DJI.

I really do hope that DJI does read these forums as the amount of battery business they are missing out is staggering, and growing on a daily basis.

Any response would be acceptable, but no response, just frustrating.

Anyhow I do know some pilots out there want to know how Limefuels perform, hence this rant.. , great batteries, enough said.

BTW. Great hobby, fly safe !!

 

[general01]

Thanks Bernie at least I know it would be covered if it failed prematurely(not that I would want it to)

 

[justin00]

Does your not do the hard-landing-coming-down-regardless-of-anythimg feature when it gets to 17% ???

 

[TMAN1985]

Nice video Robert!
I've retired one of my original DJI smart batteries for this problem. The bird would start to auto land at 30%. Have you checked the remaining battery life?
http://youtu.be/vViFGNUjG4g

MHL

Really informative video! I thought that turned the battery on. Had no idea it checked the life. Thanks

 

[general01]

Nice video Robert!
I've retired one of my original DJI smart batteries for this problem. The bird would start to auto land at 30%. Have you checked the remaining battery life?
http://youtu.be/vViFGNUjG4g

MHL

Really informative video! I thought that turned the battery on. Had no idea it checked the life. Thanks

Yep me and a few other members stumbled on this feature back of this and thought it was the cell checker(to tell which cell is bad)

 

[rbhamilton]

Does your not do the hard-landing-coming-down-regardless-of-anythimg feature when it gets to 17% ???

Not that I could tell. But it was already starting on it's way down at that point. I suppose if I left it up there I would know. As I say, generally it's on the ground by 35% so this low battery stuff is new territory for me.

 

[general01]

Does your not do the hard-landing-coming-down-regardless-of-anythimg feature when it gets to 17% ???

Not that I could tell. But it was already starting on it's way down at that point. I suppose if I left it up there I would know. As I say, generally it's on the ground by 35% so this low battery stuff is new territory for me.

It will kick in at 20% battery life left if your out long distance from home point

Mine did this once and I turned it off in the app(settings low batt return to home) it can also be disabled in the pc app

 

[Serpent]

Two of my batteries are bad: One has about 25 cycles and the drone started descending at 51% capacity over a cliff leading to a hasty landing and subsequent minor damage. I decided to test all my batteries with full discharge hover flights after that. Another battery with about 23 flights (4-5 months old) showed warnings and the drone started descending at 35% capacity. I've made an order for a lime fuel battery.

 

[gary1968]

Great info on the battery check, cheers.

 

[rbhamilton]

I'm holding out for the Limefuel 6000mah batteries. What's weird is Amazon lists the 6000 as in stock but the Limefuel site lists them as on pre-order. Not sure what's up but I'm going to order one and see. With Amazon you can always return it. Which I love.