Phantom 3 fell from the sky today (lost power?)

Teri · Nov 10, 2015

III% Streve said:
You can post all the links you want. That doesnt make a person smart. It makes them full of half truths and BS that the internet is full of. That "story" has no bearing on Phantoms or Inspires.

If a transmitter jams the controller's functions and overpowers the GPS signal, No drone would be able to fly home. The Battelle device is not for consumers, it will be used by law enforcement and government who will be automatically licensed to use the high power device.

Teri · Nov 10, 2015

III% Streve said:
There is no possible way to "shoot down" a phantom with any kind of radio interference. We are all smart enough to know that it returns to home on loss of signal.

The home point depends on GPS. If that signal is jammed, home becomes wherever the drone is at the moment. Still, the phantom 3 might just land softly if it lost all communications, GPS too.

kirk2579 · Nov 10, 2015

RoyVa said:
If you lost video at the same time she dropped you lost full power, meaning you lost the battery power. The battery may have come loose and dislodged causing a full loss of power or it did not lock when you pushed it in. Either way you could check the log file and I think you will see a total loss of power.
The over current issue is a indicator the quad was trying to draw more power than the battery could provide. The battery may have shut off on over current protection. I would be suspect of that particular battery. Do you get the same error with a different battery? If it did shut off on over current that would explain the loss of video too.

On my P1 when battery was getting about midpoint it would often give my the red led indicators when I throttled it hard or pushed it up fast.
normal flight all would be green only when it was pushed hard at lower power levels it would over tax the available battery.

BTW I had a crash exactly like your video, -- except as I flew back like you did I forgot about the dang coconut tree just behind me.

the video was just like yours , going back and then stopped. the battery was not in quad when I got to it.

4kskyguy · Nov 15, 2015

jwegener said:
Well, it finally happened to me. Audree, my beloved P3 fell from the sky mid flight over the catskills with no warning. I was able to hike down the mountainside and retrieve the (intact) body of the drone, but camera/gimbal is snapped off and gone and the battery is cracked (and had separated from the drone when i found it)

Luckily it didn't fall onto anyone/anything -- and 20 ppl got to witness as it took an epic fall onto a mountainside, smash onto a tree and then the mountainside below -- hopefully not a sight people will see many times again.

I'm really curious to figure out what happened. The video footage and flight logs just stop suddenly at exactly the moment it lost power and fell.

Final flight logs: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

and logs from 2 min earlier in that same flight (until my iPhone didn't seem to work and drone was reporting "lost signal") HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Anyone have any ideas what happened? Would appreciate any ideas. Gonna contact DJI support and see what happens.

One thing maybe worth noting is in the last few months i've randomly been seeing "Overcurrent During Discharge" pop up. But it's never seemed to be a problem. Not sure what overcurrent would even mean...it's delivering TOO much energy?

sounds like you have had a problem from the start - I have never seen that- and a question when do you start landing - what power percentage- I start home at 24% and glad I do because have had glitches coming home and had reserve power.

Dr. J · Nov 15, 2015

I think an earlier post nailed it. The drone suddenly lost power and fell, and you said the battery was seperated from the Phantom when you recovered it. Was the battery recepticle on the Phantom damaged? If not, I bet the battery was not fully snapped in place prior to launch and it shimmied out to the point of disconnecting in mid-air.

John N Kronyak · Nov 15, 2015

Volantis said:
Without further evidence, I would not discount the possibility that someone blasted it with an anti-drone, beamed radio burst.

It would be helpful for DJI to add a signal meter to the display so we can tell when someone is targeting our drone.

I wouldn't think anyone would be hiking the Catskills with an anti-drone ray gun. I've never seen another drone flying anywhere, except for my own. We're out there, but not as invasive as the media leads the public to believe.

garrettdj33 · Dec 6, 2015

This just happened to me today. My camera broke off and the body is beat up. My total flight time was probably 15 seconds.
What's the best thing to do? Can I get it fixed? I just got my drone 2 months ago 2

bobmyers · Dec 6, 2015

garrettdj33 said:
This just happened to me today. My camera broke off and the body is beat up. My total flight time was probably 15 seconds.
What's the best thing to do? Can I get it fixed? I just got my drone 2 months ago 2

Can you post some pictures and the flight log? Did you run the flight log thru Healthy Drones.?

moswissa · Dec 6, 2015

This is STUPID! I was always able to take off with less than 100% battery with my Phantom 1 and 2. Now with this failed battery DJI made, its impossible to trust your craft when flying with less than 100%. There are 100 reasons why you would take off with less than 100%. Pilots may want more than one flight per battery. DJI FAILED ONCE AGAIN! And that this battery cost way more but less reliable only for what 3 min extra life?

4kskyguy · Dec 6, 2015

one thing I have noticed is that if you do not have 100% connection when putting the battery in things go wrong and there have been lots of time I thought i had the battery in all the way when I did not. My son who has his is guilty of this as well. I have gotten all kinds of errors. you can send it to DJI but I would do It NOW before XMAS rush or you wont see it back until February. I'm lucky I'm in Vegas and they have a nearby repair shop. and the guys are right take in your logs ! prove its s defect !hopefully you have updated everything !

joebar.rc · Dec 7, 2015

moswissa said:
This is STUPID! I was always able to take off with less than 100% battery with my Phantom 1 and 2. Now with this failed battery DJI made, its impossible to trust your craft when flying with less than 100%. There are 100 reasons why you would take off with less than 100%. Pilots may want more than one flight per battery. DJI FAILED ONCE AGAIN! And that this battery cost way more but less reliable only for what 3 min extra life?

In rcgroups inspire thread the dji representative (Tahoe Ed) mentioned that dji support is aware of the issue and investigating it. Seems that it is effecting both the inspire and phantom series.
It is definitely not normal and it would probably solved in time, for now let's stick to the 100% suggestion to be safe.

I'm flying helis and fixed wing on lipos sinds they are available and never experienced this so it must be firmware related and that can be solved.

Mark The Droner · Dec 7, 2015

In addition to taking off with less than a full battery, a lack of performing a deep discharge every 20 discharge cycles may also have contributed to the problem.

garrettdj33 · Dec 10, 2015

bobmyers said:
Can you post some pictures and the flight log? Did you run the flight log thru Healthy Drones.?

It was in line of sight, maybe 300ft away, and all of a sudden, it looked like it hit a force field and crashed. What else would help? Should I take it to Best Buy? I doubt they will help me... :/

kphantom · Dec 10, 2015

jwegener said:
Well, it finally happened to me. Audree, my beloved P3 fell from the sky mid flight over the catskills with no warning. I was able to hike down the mountainside and retrieve the (intact) body of the drone, but camera/gimbal is snapped off and gone and the battery is cracked (and had separated from the drone when i found it)

Luckily it didn't fall onto anyone/anything -- and 20 ppl got to witness as it took an epic fall onto a mountainside, smash onto a tree and then the mountainside below -- hopefully not a sight people will see many times again.

I'm really curious to figure out what happened. The video footage and flight logs just stop suddenly at exactly the moment it lost power and fell.

Final flight logs: HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

and logs from 2 min earlier in that same flight (until my iPhone didn't seem to work and drone was reporting "lost signal") HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

Anyone have any ideas what happened? Would appreciate any ideas. Gonna contact DJI support and see what happens.

One thing maybe worth noting is in the last few months i've randomly been seeing "Overcurrent During Discharge" pop up. But it's never seemed to be a problem. Not sure what overcurrent would even mean...it's delivering TOO much energy?

Either a bad battery or something shorting the battery out. Another possibility is a bad battery power connection. Given the over current warning I would think a bad battery.

BudWalker · Dec 10, 2015

garrettdj33 said:
This just happened to me today. My camera broke off and the body is beat up. My total flight time was probably 15 seconds.
What's the best thing to do? Can I get it fixed? I just got my drone 2 months ago 2

I'd like to take a look at the FLYXXX.DAT file that's on the internal SD card. It'll have more info than the .txt file. Would it be possible for you to retrieve that file and make it available through a Dropbox link? Let me know if you need to know how to retrieve that file. If you can't do a Dropbox link there is another way to make it available.

Luap · Dec 10, 2015

You should definitely post the dat file per above post as txt does not have as much data.
But here is a screen shot of the txt taken in Dashware.
Did you take off with no satellites? Seems like you flew 14 seconds before crashing?
Battery current capacity indicates 2015mAh at end of flight or 45% remaining capacity. No way this is correct (if your P3 has not got a faulty motor or something else - again could check this in dat file) as voltage is below 3v/cell! Your battery is fully depleted. From the moment voltage reaches 14v it should do an auto landing- i.e. 4 seconds after motor switched on - but as per chart - it reacts to your full throttle and gains altitude.
Here a post where similar mishaps recorded. Phantom lost connection and fell from the sky for no reason. | Page 3 | DJI Phantom Forum
I just wonder why theses crashes are coming up in the last 2 months or so - probably an issue since fw 1.4?

TheRealNick · Dec 11, 2015

Luap said:
You should definitely post the dat file per above post as txt does not have as much data.
But here is a screen shot of the txt taken in Dashware.
Did you take off with no satellites? Seems like you flew 14 seconds before crashing?
Battery current capacity indicates 2015mAh at end of flight or 45% remaining capacity. No way this is correct (if your P3 has not got a faulty motor or something else - again could check this in dat file) as voltage is below 3v/cell! Your battery is fully depleted. From the moment voltage reaches 14v it should do an auto landing- i.e. 4 seconds after motor switched on - but as per chart - it reacts to your full throttle and gains altitude.
Here a post where similar mishaps recorded. Phantom lost connection and fell from the sky for no reason. | Page 3 | DJI Phantom Forum
I just wonder why theses crashes are coming up in the last 2 months or so - probably an issue since fw 1.4?

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