Just lost pro 3 in the ocean.

[JasonJett]

It's not my intention to through spitballs at all. But some of the comments are directly disrespectful to me as a person. Some comments would not be said in public just behind the keyboard. 12 years ago I bought a $500 rc airplane. I flew that thing around for days and months. Loved every minute. So when you have a much larger investment, I wouldn't think it needed more attention to flying then my rc plane. Keep in mind most drone pilots are late to the game. We have been doing this for years with regular rc planes. So as for me not realizing the new technology could be flawed is not a thought that would seem crazy. Again if you read just a couple comments I could see where my post would stick out. But read all of them and then tell me the same. Thank you for your input.


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[CCDD]

1. It looks cool. 2. It looks more professional. I do have some work I am doing for the county. 3. It is a hobby with hopes of doing some commercial work to get paid. The saving was more of an issue with the wife. Not because I couldn't afford it. The truck was a very used 2000 Chevy 2500 with almost 300,000 miles again I think I ended up with the better deal lol


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The only haters of an Inspire are those that either haven't flown or can't afford one!!! I love my P3P as well as my Inspire 1. They are different, very different. The Phantom is quick an nimble and just a blast to fly, the money invested doesn't make my stomach turn should it decide not to return or take a plunge in the water. My Inspire 1 is heavy and much larger with a noticeably solid feel, and yes, much more substantial to look at. Many have said it appears to be from a Terminator movie. Gracefully takes off and lands with a solid footing, extra wide, retractable landing gear allowing you to set it down nearly anywhere without fear of a tip over. Nearly silent, no sounds of swarms of bees like the Phantom. The P3P can be annoying to some, even when flying at heights above 200ft. The Inspire just "hums", it does make quite a presence no mater where you fly. In regards to portability, the P3P is more convenient however, this is one of its very few shortcomings. The other is battery life, I own 2 TB47s and 2 TB48s. To date, I'm getting only 14 minutes and 17 respectively without dropping below 25%.

 

[Rypper1]

If it's the same thread and same post I'm thinking of, a member in that thread posted that he had a detailed talk in person with some DJI tech guy and the DJI tech told him that the current battery firmware that everybody was using had a fatal bug in it and that was why users were experiencing the drops from the sky. He said that DJI was actively working on fixing the bug and it would be fixed and distributed ASAP. But several weeks later that same member posted that he found out the tech guy fed him BS (see link below) and there was no bug in the firmware after all. That's not to mean there isn't a problem, it just wasn't a recognizable firmware error. So in summary, it seemed there was no solution to the problem in sight, other than to always always always launch on a fully charged battery.

Edit: Here is the post: Auto battery discharge.

Well dang it. Yea that was the post I was referring to. Just goes to show that DJI will lie their way out of problems instead of actually fixing them.

 

[0DRK3RT]

@bobo he's referring to my post. I pointed out that it wasn't until post #48 (after HD logs were uploaded) when he told us he flew it on a partially discharged battery. Opened up tons of speculation until we learned this tidbit of info.

@jason, As for my Inspire comment, my bad dude. Didn't mean to insult you. If you like the Inspire go for it. But don't blame the P3 when you lost it because of your unfamiliarity with it.

Rushing out to buy a bigger more expensive drone seems like a knee-jerk response to what happened to you. The Inspire is definitely a cool bird. I'd love to buy one. Point is, if you don't take the time to thoroughly learn everything about your aircraft, you'll likely be out another $3000.

And flying an old RC trainer plane 12 years ago doesn't make you knowledgeable in all things RC

 

[Rypper1]

@bobo he's referring to my post. I pointed out that it wasn't until post #48 (after HD logs were uploaded) when he told us he flew it on a partially discharged battery. Opened up tons of speculation until we learned this tidbit of info.

Actually he said in post #18 that he had a low battery and other messages before the flight. So it may not be your post he is referring to.

 

[CCDD]

As most of you know, not everyone that owns a Phantom or Inspire visit these forums. For the most part, forum members are on here to share experiences and help others, many are now just starting out with a Phantom. A few members are here only to criticize those that appear to not have the knowledge that they do. Every single one of us at one time or another was a unfamiliar with these products. Although the "partially charged" battery issue has been widely discussed on this forum, it doesn't warrant the backlash towards the OP for leaving out critical information that some have viewed as being intentional.

 

[JasonJett]

It's Monday..lets all be happy and fly safe. I was prob taking some comments to seriously because of my frustration or lack of how much knowledge I really needed to make sure my drone makes it home in one piece.

The knee jerk reaction is kinda what it is. I have to get a new drone and I saw one that really looked a lot more professional that my p3p. So it's kind of timing and yes my frustration and fear of another p3p dropping again. Maybe a trust issue. Anyway I can tell you one thing. I bet I don't lose another drone due to it not being charged[emoji23]


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[Mark The Droner]

... if you don't take the time to thoroughly learn everything about your aircraft, you'll likely be out another $3000.

...

They're down to 2 now...

 

[JasonJett]

They're down to 2 now...

Who is down to 2?


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[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

The Inspires are down to 2, as in thousand dollars.

I just want to say, I think the OP has been humble in the face of a lot of unnecessarily strong opposition.

0DRK3RT: "... if you don't take the time to thoroughly learn everything about your aircraft, you'll likely be out another <price of Inspire>."

Oh, you've never crashed? Or made a mistake that you learned from?

Expecting everyone to learn EVERYthing about these crafts by-the-book, with no experience, before flying is not reasonable.

Yes, RTFM, but I learned a lot of what I know through experience. I didn't completely lose a craft in the ocean, but I've crashed enough to require repairs.

Sometimes I get lucky too. Hoo boy, the number of times that've I landed and thought "THAT could have turned out VERY bad" are numerous. This time, the OP was unlucky and it cost him. And I think he's learned a lot from it.

Chris

 

[JasonJett]

Yes what he said!


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[0DRK3RT]

Oh, you've never crashed?

No. And when I do it'll be my fault 100%.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Uneducated is exactly right lol

You want to play the game? Learn what you can.

By your logic I hope you have a kid, don't teach them how to drive and toss them the keys to your car. They have teenage stuff to do. Not learn how vehicles work or how to drive them. How hard can it be.

...people these days always making excuses for their failures. Pathetic.

Lets all take a deep breath and calm down. Everyone is new to the game at some point and not everyone learns the same way. If you have something you can help the OP out with feel free to post it. If you just want to berate the OP or another members, please don't post it here as it is inappropriate behavior. We are all suppose to be here for the camaraderie and for the love of the aerial platform.

So this is the friendly warning to all members, warnings will follow for anyone who can not follow my advice.

 

[pomonabill220]

Yes what he said!


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I just read this complete thread, and I am SO VERY sorry to hear that you lost your quad!!!
I cannot imagine what that was like, but I have a pretty good idea that it wasn't your intention!
Yes, it does look like your battery did discharge very rapidly (cell 4, then 1 followed by 2 and 3) and the quad (probably) just shut down due to under critical battery voltage being reached. Probably the battery management controller in the battery shut down the battery from the looks of it.

I know that I will always try and "top up" my battery after flying and letting the battery cool down, call it parinoia (it won't start charging if it is too hot anyway), and it sounds like you will always make sure your battery is fully charged now too.

I think that the voltage display is misleading as it doesn't show the CAPACITY of the battery, just the voltage, and that is very inaccurate (for ANY battery) method to measure available AMPacity of a battery.
Under load is the only way to determine the battery's "health", and even then not totally accurate as that takes time into account and is still "ideal".

Again, so very sorry to hear of the loss! Hope you get what you want and take this lesson into account!
Take care!

 

[agung budhi]

I just flew my p3p out about 200 ft off the deck and over the ocean about 150 ft. It was doing great and then all of a sudden it lost power. It plunged into the ocean like I have never seen before. My heart skipped a beat. I saved and saved for this thing and eventually had to trade a truck to get one. It was too far out to swim for it. My wife is extremely mad and I'm hoping it washes up on shore tonight and I can retrieve it tomorrow. This post was really to let people know...it doesn't matter how much you trust your drone. If you want to keep it..don't go over water.

Hi, I also have experience fly from patrol ship, because reason strong wind fully battery can fast getting low in 5-7 minute .Agung

 

[marc312]

I feel sorry for your loss OP!

There is some really good advice on this thread. While I knew about only flying with fully charged batteries, I did not know about displaying battery voltage on the app.

It's ridiculous that we have to be so careful about the battery before flying. DJI is targeting a very wide audience with these Phantoms, not just technology inclined RC hobbyists. People buy these drones because they are easy to use - only to find they are not so easy. Heck, they are sold at the Apple store.

DJI needs to design better monitoring algos to help users understand the state of their battery. For one, instead of just the battery voltage, I would like to see that info for each cell. And if one cell is looking low, I would want loud alarms going off so I can take action.

Same thing with the props. So many of us loose a bird because of not properly securing them. Under tighten: they fly off; over tighten: they crack. It shouldn't be that hard to get it right.

Don't get me wrong: it still love DJI for bringing us the ability to easily operate a flying camera. But they need to do a better job fixing the flaws in their awesome product.

 

[N017RW]

DJI needs to design better monitoring algos to help users understand the state of their battery. For one, instead of just the battery voltage, I would like to see that info for each cell. And if one cell is looking low, I would want loud alarms going off so I can take action.

I wouldn't rely on an algo.

I use batt. voltage telemetry and a timer.
Never fails, trends identified, flight times adjusted as batt ages.

 

[marc312]

I wouldn't rely on an algo.

I use batt. voltage telemetry and a timer.
Never fails, trends identified, flight times adjusted as batt ages.

I'm not saying we should just rely on algos but they could certainly help a lot of us avoid loosing our equipment.

 

[snerd]

I'm trying to jog my memory here, but wasn't the problem with partially-charged batteries being flown in "cold" weather? And, it was fixed in a later firmware update?

 

[Mark The Droner]

Yes, "cold", as in a cold winter battery exasperates the problem, but the problem still exists with a warmer battery.

Some time ago like last fall a member named GeneralTso or something like that claimed a DJI tech told him first hand that it was a clear firmware bug and that it was fixed in a firmware update but then that same member posted in another thread weeks later that he tested it and it actually was not fixed.