Invalid Battery on Phantom Vision..Advice needed.

[Pull_Up]

Donteven, is is a defective battery, I wonder? It can happen that they are kaput out of the factory and would explain why you get this issue despite doing everything else right. If it were me I'd be tempted to get onto my dealer to replace my battery pack (if the **** things arrive any time soon - apparently the initial dealer spares orders are en route from China, but may be going by proverbial slow boat...). Do you know anyone else with a Vision you can test another battery pack with, or a local dealer with a demonstrater?

 

[Donteven]

Pull.... I don't think it is a bad battery. I flew a dozen times before updating without any of the battery issues that others were having. I ran it down to 10% and did a full recharge. Still acting up.

 

[iDrone]

Reconnect your PV to the PV2 Assistant software and double-check your Autopilot & Central Board firmware, if you upgraded both you should never see an "invalid battery" message using the (genuine) battery you got with it. This is covered in detail in the DJI Phantom Vision release notes:

http://download.dji-innovations.com...sion/en/Phantom_2_Vision_Release_Notes_en.pdf

b) Contact pins may fail when the Phantom 2 Vision is still in the air, triggering an "Invalid Battery" warning. This causes autopilot to receive a “0” battery level, triggering the auto-landing failsafe. After updating to Autopilot (v1.05) and Central Board (v1.0.1.18), the “Invalid Battery” warning will not occur in-flight, even if contact pins fail. This will prevent auto-landing. Autopilot will provide warnings if battery voltage drops lower than 10.65V (Autopilot can track battery percentage with and without the contact pins). If using iOS app v1.0.29, a message box will pop up to warn that "There has been a battery communication failure. Please fly carefully and bring your Phantom 2 Vision back to you ASAP.”

(as of this writing, iOS app v1.0.29 hasn't been released yet so the "Please fly carefully..." won't appear yet. Not sure about Android)

iDrone

 

[Donteven]

Not seeing Invalid battery.... just going into alarm and trying to land. Here is a screen shot of alarm.

 

[iDrone]

I wonder if one of your two Battery Level warnings is set too high by accident? Connect to PV2 Assistant to double check this, you can program the trip-point for each one. The new lower default is now %15 which according to some just gives you enough time to get back home.

iDrone

 

[Donteven]

OK... I will check that here in a bit. Getting dark now, will fly again in the am if this thing will let me.

 

[John LF]

Hi

I have a similar problem did 5 flights no problems. Then yesterday with my battery charged at 76% suddenly after 2min of flight I get the low battery alert on my iPad, red lights, buzzer sound and a big 0% next to the battery sign.

I come back and land. I switch off the battery and restart. I get a big Battery Failure pop up on my iPad.

Since then I'm incapable of charging the battery, although it has 1 bar on the LED of charge the charger when connected stays green and doesn't switch to red and charge mode.

Any ideas?

 

[Donteven]

So I plugged into the PV assistant, everything was normal, latest updates etc... Battery fully charged and did another test flight. Decided to just go straight up and not risk being out over the water, and after just a minute or so the problem came back. This shot shows battery at 93% and red. I noticed it seemed to only go red when I was actually going up, when I stopped and hovered it would go back to normal. After hanging out for a few minutes, came slowly back down. As battery gets closer to 70% the alarms start to sound on the I phone. I landed shortly after, maybe 5 to 7 minutes of flight and battery is all the way down to 40%. Seems like I should have more juice. Next step is contact DroneFly with the evidence, maybe battery is no good.

 

[iDrone]

The Vision keeps track of its battery in two ways: 1) The battery pack determines & reports it's remaining capacity thru its data terminals to the Vision. 2) The Vision also monitors the battery's output voltage thru the battery terminals. There's a hidden factory-programmed failsafe which kicks-in when the battery voltage drops below 10.65v. When it gets that low the Vision's Autopilot initiates an emergency automatic controlled descent & landing. You can throttle up to keep it from hitting stuff during descent, but I'm not sure about pitch, roll, & yaw.

The percentage indication in the app's display is provided by the smart battery. But if the Vision detects the battery voltage has fallen below 10.65v it will initiate the automatic landing sequence irregardless. So yes, it's very possible you have a battery that won't hold a charge and/or breaks down under load.

iDrone

 

[John LF]

Hi John,

Sorry to hear that but it might be that you have a bad battery as well.
I suggest you try another battery or check with your dealer how to solve it.

Good luck.

Thanks Geert, in the meantime I will get a new battery as I have upgraded all the software on my Vision and want to try it with Naza M mode.

 

[RemE]

Be sure and check the data pins in the Vision, make sure both pins spring back when depressed and released with the blunt end of a plastic pen.

See my post here;

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost ... tcount=695

Lastly, The LED gauge on the back of the battery is another independent place to see battery level. if you get the alarm, raise the throttle stick as needed to override the auto land process and fly back, hover and look at the rear of the battery and check that gauge.

Also, in a hover, punch the throttle up, this puts a quick load on the battery, watch the gauge to see if it suddenly drops, and app may alarm as well. This would indicate perhaps a weak/bad cell in the battery.

 

[Pull_Up]

Just been notified by www.firstpersonview.co.uk that my pre-order for a Vision battery and additional set of props has shipped today. Looks like primary DJI dealers who placed orders as soon as the parts list was released are getting stock arriving now. Looking forward to getting 50 minutes of air time for an hour's session...

Good news for those with diagnosed defective batteries - dealers should have stocks to swap out bad ones from now on.

 

[gpauk]

Ah -- thanks for the info... That's where I got my dji copters from too.. Battery ordered!

 

[RemE]

Update, I did some battery contact measurements, found some interesting data, the battery is not inserting as far as it should into the mating connector in the battery bay.

I updated my battery post with pictures, here;

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost ... tcount=695

 

[lachers]

Hey guys -

Purchased P2V and was flying no dramas, did the firmware update and now have battery issues. Below is a screen shot, any ideas on how to fix this as it appears the updated firmware seems to have caused it.

Ive read through the thread and it doesn't appear as though people have had the error msg on the P2V software like me

Any ideas on solutions???

Thanks in advance

 

[LeoS]

Hey guys -

Purchased P2V and was flying no dramas, did the firmware update and now have battery issues. Below is a screen shot, any ideas on how to fix this as it appears the updated firmware seems to have caused it.

Ive read through the thread and it doesn't appear as though people have had the error msg on the P2V software like me

Any ideas on solutions???

Thanks in advance

Have you tried:

a). Swabbing the battery contacts with alcohol? (particularly the smaller contacts)
b). Checking if the 2 small contact prongs (phantom-side) still work well, they spring back to place?

 

[lachers]

yup - just did it again to make sure (for the 4th time)

 

[iDrone]

Are you certain you upgraded all the PV's firmware?

5.8GHz Receiver V1.0.1.3 2013-11-05
Phantom 2 Vision Autopilot System. V1.05 2013-11-16
Phantom 2 Vision Central Board V1.0.1.18 2013-11-16

iDrone

 

[lachers]

everything saying it's 100% up-to-date

:-/

 

[LeoS]

Are you close to your dealer?
Is there any PV nearby?

Easiest way is to swap batteries with a second set of PV to determine whether the problem is on the PV or the battery.