Just lost pro 3 in the ocean.

[JasonJett]

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.

Who offers that insurance and how much is it for the inspire?

 

[GrammatonxXXxCleric]

I do it for the takes :

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, Phantom 3 Willamette bridge of sighs trailer

 

[Eric Casimiro]

So sorry to hear about your loss... I know the Gut-wrenching feeling when that happens. I lost my Phantom 2 Vision+ about a year ago when I had a fly-away. Since then I have purchased a P3A and no problems as of yet...

 

[Mark The Droner]

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? ....

You take an unreasonable risk in your Phantom crashing.

Today is your opportunity to learn. So I suggest you grasp that opportunity and read this thread from the beginning.

 

[Trackman1]

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.

When we apply power we draw down the cell voltage. These battery's are better able to provide that draw when they are warm. (40c or more)
But they don't start out at 40c. At least not in most cases. So when we start with a full battery it is not warmed up yet. But it has enough voltage
that we can't draw it down to the shutdown point. As we use the battery the margin between full voltage and the shutdown point decreases.
But the battery is getting warmer and better able to provide current draw and maintain the voltage above shutdown.

So when we start out at 56% we don't have the margin that a full battery has and the battery's temperature is below it's best working temperature
allowing it's voltage to be drawn down to a critical point. Especially if full throttle is applied.

That is the difference between a battery that is at 50% and still flying and one that is at 50%
and just starting flight. If the ambient air temp was warm (say 30c) and the battery was close to that, you might get away with an easy going flight. No power moves.

But rather than take the chance. Just start with full charge.

 

[m0j0]

New pilot.. Do not take off with less than a fully charged battery. Just don't. My experience on over 100 flights with the P3 has been nothing short of amazing. I completely trust the bird.. One time I took off with a batter I thought was fully charged. I thought the percentage displaying was my tablet charge. It was not. I launched flew about 5 minutes and received a warning about remaining battery. This was a battery that I had flown down to 50% a few days prior. Even at 50 percent charge is should not have been at 12% after only a few minutes flying. It is really apparent that the battery doesn't properly display available charge after it has been sitting. Especially if it enters into the auto discharge state. So... Charge it to capacity fly it. Do not fly a battery that has been discharged most importantly do not fly a battery that has entered auto discharge.

 

[DCDrone]

It appears that the P3 gets confused at times an thinks a partially discharged battery has more power left than it really has.

That's an interesting theory. I've heard people comment both ways about the partially-charged battery concern, but no one seemed to have an explanation for why a partially charged battery should cause a problem.

I wonder if anyone has bench-tested that theory to confirm a partially-charged battery's readings don't match its actual status. I guess that could be done post-mortem on a crashed one too.

 

[djphantom2015]

Really sorry for your loss, but I cannot stop repeating this. Avoid water if you cannot take some measure from stopping it sinking.

 

[photojunky]

I am rally sorry to hear that. I noticed it takes a lot of force with my battery to push it into place. Maybe it lost its connection but it probably is the partial charge issue, regardless.... My condolences.
Photojunky Drone Zone Vlog

 

[aeronautic1]

Just got home from the beach. I am working to get the file uploaded. As far as the not being over water. My buddy was flying and something similar happened. His fell from about 250 ft up and it fell into some bushes. Luck..maybe so. But he did break some parts but was back flying within a few weeks. Is this a once in a lifetime thing..maybe so. But i can tell you from experience today that seeing it drop into the ocean with no easy possible way of getting it back was just too hard on my stomach. Dont take the advice. its ok I was just trying to vent. it seems like some folks on here understand my pain. It just felt good to get it out and maybe something might help someone else.

Consume mass quantities - It wont hurt so much. I feel your pain.

 

[Tony Cowan]

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.

Over water. Over land is no difference. If it falls it's toast. Just that simple.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[WetDog]

Really sorry for your loss, but I cannot stop repeating this. Avoid water if you cannot take some measure from stopping it sinking.

Why? It's always a risk - benefit calculation. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of over water hours on Phantoms. Some of them crash. Some of them crash on dry land. Lots of them do fine. And they get lots of nice video and stills. If it lands on the ground, you get pieces parts. If it lands in the water, you likely lose it. If you have a flotation device you have to have some way of retrieving it. Are you taking a boat with you? Otherwise it's lost as well unless it just happens to float back to shore.

If I lose a bird on the water, I get to start over. It would smart but I'm not in this hobby to collect the things - they're tools. And sometimes tools break. Quit obsessing about water and spend your energy checking everything pre flight, making sure your battery is charged and understanding how to fly.

 

[VFA22Bonefish]

Really sorry to hear this... Good luck with recovering her

 

[Dirty Bird]

Once more. The battery determines its state-of-charge by checking the voltage. As the pack runs down the voltage drops. Once you land & remove the load from the battery the voltage recovers. Also the battery cools which means it can't deliver full power. Now you plug the pack in a day or two later. The Phantom reads the now recovered voltage & all looks good. You only have the computer, GPS, cam, & lights running. Small stuff that doesn't draw lots of power. Again everything looks good & you think everything is fine. But when you punch it to lift off the motors immediately demand lots of amps. The battery is now at room temperature so very quickly the voltage drops &, if any cell reaches 3.0 volts, the battery immediately shuts down. Thus your Phantom comes crashing down to Earth.

WHY RISK YOUR PHANTOM??? CHARGE THE DAMNED BATTERIES!!!

That's an interesting theory. I've heard people comment both ways about the partially-charged battery concern, but no one seemed to have an explanation for why a partially charged battery should cause a problem.

I wonder if anyone has bench-tested that theory to confirm a partially-charged battery's readings don't match its actual status. I guess that could be done post-mortem on a crashed one too.

 

[Monte Olsen]

I don't know why it fell. I wish I did. It just seem to have lost power. I'm totally upset about it.

I don't blame you for being upset. It's one of the reasons I've looked at selling my P3A and getting a Yuneec. They have far better customer service in situations like this. I hope you find a solution and that DJI covers the loss.

 

[WetDog]

Once more. The battery determines its state-of-charge by checking the voltage. As the pack runs down the voltage drops. Once you land & remove the load from the battery the voltage recovers. Also the battery cools which means it can't deliver full power. Now you plug the pack in a day or two later. The Phantom reads the now recovered voltage & all looks good. You only have the computer, GPS, cam, & lights running. Small stuff that doesn't draw lots of power. Again everything looks good & you think everything is fine. But when you punch it to lift off the motors immediately demand lots of amps. The battery is now at room temperature so very quickly the voltage drops &, if any cell reaches 3.0 volts, the battery immediately shuts down. Thus your Phantom comes crashing down to Earth.

WHY RISK YOUR PHANTOM??? CHARGE THE DAMNED BATTERIES!!!

I'm not really sure why this is always such a Sturm Und Drang. Just charge the things. If you think you might fly tomorrow, charge them overnight. Won't hurt them. If you have multiple batteries, get the DJI adapter - you can charge four batteries without thinking about it. Get a couple of extras. I often run the battery partially down before I land. I could just take off again, but I make a habit of slapping a new one on. It's really a no brainer. That way you mitigate whatever issue DJI has with battery voltages and loads. You get extra time in the air in case of alien invasion (you of course want to document that). You get extra time in the air in the event that landing doesn't go as planned or you get lost.

I know some people who always run their gas tanks nearly dry before the fill them. Never understood that philosophy. It's not like your getting any extra mileage, saving money or saving time. Walking home is a PITA. So is crashing.

Fill it up!

 

[Monte Olsen]

I do it for the takes :

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, Phantom 3 Willamette bridge of sighs trailer

I have to tell you, that video of Willamette Falls is absolutely stunning. It's the best I've ever seen, and the music with it is terrific.

 

[Monte Olsen]

I do it for the takes :

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,

,

,

, Phantom 3 Willamette bridge of sighs trailer

Your videos of Portland, the Fremont, Broadway and Steel Bridge and the Willamette are exceptional. Never seen Portland at night from those angles before. Thanks for sharing some great footage!

 

[impilot51]

I'm not really sure why this is always such a Sturm Und Drang. Just charge the things.

It seems because some folks believe that it should not be the way that it really is, and then feel that arguing about it, or lamenting the sad state of DJI's response or lack of response (your choice) will somehow bring about a change. I'm not pointing to any one person BTW. It seems that there is a lot of resistance from quite a few people on this one.

Bottom line is a less than fully charged cold battery does not have the margin to deal with the high current demands that are often placed upon them. They simply feel that it has 50% of its capacity left, so I should be able to fly 50% of the amount of time that I can with a fully charged battery. Its a fundamental misunderstanding of how these batteries work, especially under load and cold, coupled with a unwillingness to accept what others tell them (often from the standpoint of hard luck personal experiences).

The old adage about a horse and water seems to apply.

 

[Kima kim]

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.

Had it fallen on the ground from over a hundred feet, it would have been the same thing. It would have been crushed to bits. Sorry to hear about your horrible experience!