Agree with the above comment. When you fly off a cold battery that is already low, you can't trust the power consistency as the power curve drops off so quickly, even if you're just taking a couple of minute flight.
Just lost pro 3 in the ocean.
- Thread starter JasonJett
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True but your phone or laptop don't fall out of the sky if the battery shuts down. The battery issue is well-documented & has been discussed at great length in many threads. It is simply asking for trouble to fly with a half-depleted battery, especially if it is sitting half-depleted from several days ago. This case makes my point. Had the battery been freshly & fully charged this Phantom would not have been lost.
There is already software in there to fix this. It worked when it warned of the "critical battery warning" on the prior flight. The battery was allowed to sit, voltage recovered (voltage is what the battery uses to determine its condition), & then it was reused without charging. As soon as the battery was placed under load the prior critical condition returned. The way to prevent this is simple. ALWAYS FLY WITH FULL & FRESHLY CHARGED BATTERIES! This isn't the fault of the aircraft or battery. It is 100% operator error & the needless loss of an aircraft.
It isn't a problem with cheap batteries, It is the load demands placed on a partially-charged "cold" battery. Cold doesn't mean "freezing" it just means under 70-75 degrees. There is a thread here somewhere that tested this extensively & demonstrated the problem. When you plug in a battery it determines it's battery state by voltage. Once the battery is off & no longer under load, the partially-charged pack recovers from its voltage drop & the pack cools. Now you plug it in later & the voltage has recovered. Further the battery is at room temp. At first it is only powering the low-current electronics of the Phantom & everything reports fine. But as soon as the motors engage they demand high-current & the battery voltage quickly sags. At this point you are already in the air climbing & placing huge current demands on the battery. If any cell drops to 3.0 volts the pack turns off. This is why you shouldn't fly with a partially depleted pack.
I ALWAYS charge my packs the night before I intend to fly & often top them off the day of my flight.
I ALWAYS charge my packs the night before I intend to fly & often top them off the day of my flight.
Dirty Bird just got it.
It probably showed you a "Critically low voltage error" before plunging.
It probably showed you a "Critically low voltage error" before plunging.
I recommend to configure the app to show the voltage on screen.
That will show the shortest cell voltage.
The thing is that if one of the 4 cells goes under 3 volts the pack will go off even if the battery percentage is high.
This is very likely to happen if you fly it partially charged.
That will show the shortest cell voltage.
The thing is that if one of the 4 cells goes under 3 volts the pack will go off even if the battery percentage is high.
This is very likely to happen if you fly it partially charged.
JasonJett,
THERE IS HOPE AND I CAN HELP
I experienced the same exact thing with my Phantom 4 on Memorial Day. I was flying it at an altitude of 50ft and approximately 1000ft away from me and the power just cut out.
First thing you need to do is go to healthydrones.com and sign up and after that follow instructions and upload your flight log. There will be some very telling information there.
There is something really weird going on with the Phantoms because it happened to my friend later that day by his house.
The day after this happened to me DJI released an update. There was something going on with their firmware that affected the drones.
PM me and I will walk you through the whole process and help you.
I will tell you that after sending all the info to them and 10 days later I was given great news that they will be replacing my unit and giving me a coupon code.
I feel your pain
THERE IS HOPE AND I CAN HELP
I experienced the same exact thing with my Phantom 4 on Memorial Day. I was flying it at an altitude of 50ft and approximately 1000ft away from me and the power just cut out.
First thing you need to do is go to healthydrones.com and sign up and after that follow instructions and upload your flight log. There will be some very telling information there.
There is something really weird going on with the Phantoms because it happened to my friend later that day by his house.
The day after this happened to me DJI released an update. There was something going on with their firmware that affected the drones.
PM me and I will walk you through the whole process and help you.
I will tell you that after sending all the info to them and 10 days later I was given great news that they will be replacing my unit and giving me a coupon code.
I feel your pain
Hey Jason.... I produce a weekly sportfishing show for FOX and use the P3 extensively. We have lost three Phantoms in the water (2 ocean, 1 lake) in the last two years. Not a pleasant feeling and costly. I feel your pain. We just have to be real careful because the only place we fly our Phantom's is over the water so we are bound to lose one once in awhile.
You can check out our episodes on our Facebook page at facebook/anglerchronicles and www.anglerchronicles.com. Take a look.
Thanks,
Danny
www.anglerchronicles.com
You can check out our episodes on our Facebook page at facebook/anglerchronicles and www.anglerchronicles.com. Take a look.
Thanks,
Danny
www.anglerchronicles.com
I can also tell you that once they go in the water, especially saltwater, they are done. We did get one back and there was nothing we could do. But the SD card still performed. We did not lose the video at least.
Sorry for your Loss 
. correct me if am wrong. The only way i can think of the drone loosing power and droping is : is both stick on controller are pushed down ,one to left and other to right or visversa . This combination is used to lift off manually but also stops the drone in emargancy !
Combination Stick Command (CSC) is the method of holding both sticks fully down and in or down and out. By design, specifically for cases of emergency, It shuts off motors instantly, even if in the air. Can't be faster than instantly.
. correct me if am wrong. The only way i can think of the drone loosing power and droping is : is both stick on controller are pushed down ,one to left and other to right or visversa . This combination is used to lift off manually but also stops the drone in emargancy !Combination Stick Command (CSC) is the method of holding both sticks fully down and in or down and out. By design, specifically for cases of emergency, It shuts off motors instantly, even if in the air. Can't be faster than instantly.
Keep in mind, if you have insurance like that found at Neary Aerial Media, they won't replace your ocean-dwelling drone unless you can send it to them for repairs, meaning, if it's deep-sixed, you're out of luck getting any insurance policy you have to cover something you can't prove is actually damaged/missing. That's why I don't fly over water anymore... just too expensive to have the "just do it" attitude. Lots of folks out in the world have mo' money than me and can "write it off " a $1,500 loss with a simple shrug of the shoulders. Sorry for your loss, chalk it up as an object lesson learned.
Funny - It's almost as if people just read Post #1 and then respond without bothering to see what the next ten pages of posts might say....
I haven't read about flying with a less than fully charged battery so forgive my newb ignorance. I have to ask: if a relatively short flight is planned (relative to battery state of charge), automatic RTH on Low Battery is configured along with low battery alerts, what exactly is wrong with flying with a less than fully charged battery? After all, once the bird is in the air a few minutes the battery is less than full even if it was full 100% charged at takeoff. The battery is less than fully charged most of the time. It can't be any other way.
I feel so sorry for you and no how you feel.....
I did the same thing when i was flying p3a around the beach at broome in western australia, it was going well then it just lsnded in about 5 ft of water about 50 yds of the beach. Looked for a long time but no good. Neptune is now flying it.
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I lost a P2V in a lake so I feel your pain. I do a lot of flying over water with my P3A. Just have to hope nothing screws up. If the bird goes down in fresh water and you can get it back it might be salvageable. Salt water. Forget it. I recently added some foam material to my landing skids but I'm sure if it's enough to keep in on the surface. I need to test in a tub I guess.
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Really sorry to hear that. I fear that same situation.. however, I do film these things:
When I bought my Phantom 4 I paid an extra 250 for three years extended warranty plus drops and spills coverage. As long as the drone is recovered the insurance will pay to fix or replace it. So even though the insurance will cover a drone that went down in water in most cases it is a lot harder to recover.
I'm sorry to hear about your loss... I know the gut-wrenching feeling when that happen's. I lost my Phantom 2 vision+ one day when it just flew away! Have since purchased a P3A and no problem as of yet... Sorry Man!
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