Power Down During Flight

[DroneRookie]

After having my Drone for about two weeks, on my 9th flight, my Phantom 2 (w/ H3-3D gimbal/goPro 3+) lost all power. It was at about 50' and I could see that the LED's fully shut off. It flipped upside down by the time it crashed to the concrete below, cracking one of the arms, ruining the motors and doing a pretty good number to the gimbal. Fortunately, I got great video of it taking place and I know for a fact that I didn't do the down to the inside power down sequence.

I contacted the dealer that I got it from and they have the video and are working with DJI on getting me a replacement but I am becoming pessimistic as it has been about two weeks. I ordered it through Amazon and with an Am Ex who has dispute resolution. I bet Amazon would possibly take care of it but wanted to see what the dealer could do first. If not, I know Am Ex would handle it but that would probably take a little work.

Has anyone else had any luck with replacement of a faulty Phantom from DJI? If so, how long did the process take? Any recommendations?

 

[ianwood]

That sucks. It's a known issue where the battery shuts down. Post up a video of your flight if you can. It would be good for everyone to see it. You should get a fully new replacement. Don't accept anything less.

 

[DroneRookie]

Here is the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyiDeF46gWk&feature=youtube_gdata

 

[tom3holer]

I believe I had the same thing happen a couple of weeks ago.

Was flying at about 600m away and 20m high FPV, turned to return and all of a sudden lost all video. Not like a an antenna movement but gone. Never did find it. New one arrives Monday.
I hope this is not another issue with these that we will have to spend months trying to convince DJI there is an issue.

Tom

 

[DroneRookie]

I believe I had the same thing happen a couple of weeks ago.

Was flying at about 600m away and 20m high FPV, turned to return and all of a sudden lost all video. Not like a an antenna movement but gone. Never did find it. New one arrives Monday.
I hope this is not another issue with these that we will have to spend months trying to convince DJI there is an issue.

Tom

Wow, that stinks, total loss. Sorry for you loss.

Was yours a P2, h3-3D gimbal also? Did you contact DJI? That one is a little tougher to prove but my hope is that they took care of you.

It is kind of scary that this can happen. I guess it is just another great reason to not take it over anything important.

 

[tom3holer]

Thank you for the concern.
It was painful as it was only 3 weeks old, H3-3D version, and a bran new GoPro 3+ Black went with it.

I did contact DJI and did a lengthy explanation of what happened and my several years of experience with FPV and multirotors and they did offer to replace it sans GoPro for a 30% discount. It helps but I see there are more apparently power loss situations and they have acknowledged as much.

I will say that I now have a Marco Polo locating devise and will be on every rig I fly from now on.

Tom

 

[Ejazzle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ermCWV_4JdI
just found this video on youtube skip to 1:38

 

[The Editor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ermCWV_4JdI
just found this video on youtube skip to 1:38

No, thats VRS.....and avoidable, nothing like the problems of the loss of power people are suffering.

The P2 power loss situation seems to be occurring with alarming frequency. I HAD thought it was a bad 'C' rated battery that just could not supply the current being asked of it as all these power loss scenarios appeared to happen during accent which is when there is the most current draw and when the most is asked of the battery. However, this one is during a decent which is nothing more than a controlled fall in quad speak and really the rotors spin up to keep the quad level and that's all!

I hope DJI get to the bottom of this but I fear it may be something that simply cannot be fixed with a bugware update as it may well be mechanical in nature with thos ****** awful connecting pins that the P2 uses.

 

[d4ddyo]

That sucks. It's a known issue where the battery shuts down. Post up a video of your flight if you can. It would be good for everyone to see it. You should get a fully new replacement. Don't accept anything less.

Maybe this is what is causing DJI to stop development on the Compass declination Issue... a battery failure issue?

 

[N017RW]

I have never seen the C [discharge] rating for a P2 'smart' battery.

Has anyone?

 

[DroneRookie]

Ejazzle, I might also add that while you dont see it in the video, my drop had no sign of any power being supplied. Motors totally stopped spinnging from what I saw from the ground and all LEDs totally went out.

 

[ElGuano]

I have never seen the C [discharge] rating for a P2 'smart' battery.

Has anyone?

I don't think it's ever been disclosed. Its dimensions, weight, and some of the issues we've seen with it (mostly fixed in firmware) suggests it's a low-C battery (which should be fine for the P2's drain rate). Walkera's Pro-Z-14 5200mah 10C battery seems to match the P2 battery cells' dimensions and weight almost exactly.

 

[Ejazzle]

yes yours is different from this guys and typical of what ive been finding lately.

This guy was flying forward and claims he lost power. Which I thought was weird. All of this stuff is starting to freak me out a little bit. I wish there was an answer...

 

[Kelso Kubat]

this makes me worried to fly my phantom.... GOD DAMNIT... :shock:

 

[adanac]

This makes me want to fly with an F450 instead.