[UPDATE] Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What happened?

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Well, it happened again. :x I'm calling it "Sudden Death Syndrome". I was flying over the Pacific Ocean when the Phantom suddenly dropped like a stone into the ocean. This time I caught it on FPV video so you can share my frustration. Any idea what happened?

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I had calibrated the compass prior to take off. Notice @ 2:35 that a small sudden drop occurs prior to the fatal plunge. After the first drop the Phantom righted itself. When this happened I thought it was a gimbal glitch and didn't give it much thought. Only after looking at the video did I notice the Phantom dropped 30 feet during that first glitch. Flight behavior prior to the drops was normal.

FWIW, this Phantom 2 has 2.0 ESCs. Some people have reported issues with the 2.0 ESCs, but usually this happens when the rotors are suddenly stopped, as in a tip-over or crash. This Phantom has never crashed or been tipped over. I ALWAYS hand-catch. Could this malfunction been an in-flight ESC issue?

BTW, here is a picture of my ESC from a few weeks ago:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25150850/esc.jpg

This is the second time I've lost a Phantom 2 in the ocean due to SDS. Circumstances were almost identical, but this was a P2 V1.0. See: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=29862.
 
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Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Sorry for your lost. I recognize you from the take off spot and the past flights to the oil rigs, ballsy flights and was afraid for you that this would happen some day. Thanks for all the videos you have made for us in the past.

From what I can see, it looks like a motor or ESC issue. The first glitch was temporary, it looks like it lost power in one arm then recovered in about 1 sec with a 10m drop. You hovered around a bit, started to move again and at least 1 motor cut out for good. The voltage and battery looks OK through the flight and nothing else seems wrong right up yo the point of loosing stability and altitude.
 
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Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Mine dropped like that just before it fell out of the sky. I *think* mine was only running on three motors after it fell about 10 feet. When I tried to turn around, the change in wind direction was more than it could handle and tumbling it went! I was able to retrieve mine. The ver2.1 ESC looked ok, but the motor didn't function even when hooked to another ESC.
The way yours fell and then recovered, I wonder if the motor had a heart attack or something

http://youtu.be/cyZYxv3PSOo
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

terry, your quad's failure symptoms are very similar to mine! The motor cuts out, recovers, then cuts out again. In your case it happened multiple times. It's interesting that you had the new ESC's and yet still had motor issues. What's up with these **** things? I want to replace mine (again) but I have serious doubts about the reliability of the powertrain.

At least this didn't happen during my trip to Meteor Crater last weekend. Then I would be really pissed!
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Not of much comfort or help, but at least you can rule out battery failure and GPS. Bummer :-(

I do wonder about those ESCs. Did you do the inspection to check your motor wires were clear of the MOSFETs ?
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

What motors were fitted ?

The newer ones ?
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

robinb said:
What motors were fitted ?

The newer ones ?

For me, I had the newer motors....the 2312 and ver 2.1 ESC.. It was my 4th flight into 12 mph winds, so it was working pretty hard.

Hughie said:
Not of much comfort or help, but at least you can rule out battery failure and GPS. Bummer :-(

I do wonder about those ESCs. Did you do the inspection to check your motor wires were clear of the MOSFETs ?

Yes, my wires were well off of the mosfets.

I did a little bit of troubleshooting. I ordered a new motor and ESC. When I placed the old motor on the new ESC just to see what it would do, and it did not work. It hand-spun easily with no friction. At any rate, I replaced both the motor and the ESC.
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

jflyer3 said:
terry, your quad's failure symptoms are very similar to mine! The motor cuts out, recovers, then cuts out again. In your case it happened multiple times. It's interesting that you had the new ESC's and yet still had motor issues. What's up with these **** things? I want to replace mine (again) but I have serious doubts about the reliability of the powertrain.

At least this didn't happen during my trip to Meteor Crater last weekend. Then I would be really pissed!

Jflyer, I bet you are probably wondering if the Bermuda Triangle moved to the Pacific and is swallowing up your Phantoms. I know what you mean about the doubts, but ya gotta get another one!!!
 
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Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

madsonp said:
Sounds to me like a good excuse to get a new Inspire. :eek:


i can't imagine losing 2 crafts for the same reason, especially if DJI does nothing to help out towards purchase of new one would make me really uneasy spending another 3k on inspire 1.

imagine losing an inspire1 :shock:
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

In the ESC picture I do not see the 2.0 on it. With the blue mark, it looks like the wrong ESC for the 2312 motor.
Not saying that's what took it down, just an observation.
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

:(
Sorry for your loss, JFlyer, that really sucks.

I had a simmilar drop on my P2V. Fortunately it wasn't over water. My bird had some magnetic sand bits in one motor.

Since then, I have always launched from my case or backpack and hand caught landings.

MHL
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

terrylowe said:
robinb said:
What motors were fitted ?

The newer ones ?

For me, I had the newer motors....the 2312 and ver 2.1 ESC.. It was my 4th flight into 12 mph winds, so it was working pretty hard.

Hughie said:
Not of much comfort or help, but at least you can rule out battery failure and GPS. Bummer :-(

I do wonder about those ESCs. Did you do the inspection to check your motor wires were clear of the MOSFETs ?

Yes, my wires were well off of the mosfets.

I did a little bit of troubleshooting. I ordered a new motor and ESC. When I placed the old motor on the new ESC just to see what it would do, and it did not work. It hand-spun easily with no friction. At any rate, I replaced both the motor and the ESC.

I'm confused. I was asking the OP :eek:
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Marlin009 said:
In the ESC picture I do not see the 2.0 on it. With the blue mark, it looks like the wrong ESC for the 2312 motor.
Not saying that's what took it down, just an observation.

Those look like the original v2.0s which were shipped with the first batch of new version quads. I have three in mine. They are meant to be compatible with the 2312s, but if they were that compatible why would they have issued an update to 2.1 so soon after.
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Hughie said:
Marlin009 said:
In the ESC picture I do not see the 2.0 on it. With the blue mark, it looks like the wrong ESC for the 2312 motor.
Not saying that's what took it down, just an observation.

Those look like the original v2.0s which were shipped with the first batch of new version quads. I have three in mine. They are meant to be compatible with the 2312s, but if they were that compatible why would they have issued an update to 2.1 so soon after.

The update to 2.1 because of the well documented failures here of version 2 with the new 2312 motors.
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Hughie said:
Marlin009 said:
In the ESC picture I do not see the 2.0 on it. With the blue mark, it looks like the wrong ESC for the 2312 motor.
Not saying that's what took it down, just an observation.

Those look like the original v2.0s which were shipped with the first batch of new version quads. I have three in mine. They are meant to be compatible with the 2312s, but if they were that compatible why would they have issued an update to 2.1 so soon after.

Good question. My P2 V2 is at DJI now getting them replaced. Mine did not have any V# on them and according to DJI a blue or red mark on the capacitor is bad, it should be yellow. Seems a strange way to determine the correct ESC but that's what they told me. I had only flown a half dozen times and had no issues.
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Marlin009 said:
Hughie said:
Marlin009 said:
In the ESC picture I do not see the 2.0 on it. With the blue mark, it looks like the wrong ESC for the 2312 motor.
Not saying that's what took it down, just an observation.

Those look like the original v2.0s which were shipped with the first batch of new version quads. I have three in mine. They are meant to be compatible with the 2312s, but if they were that compatible why would they have issued an update to 2.1 so soon after.

Good question. My P2 V2 is at DJI now getting them replaced. Mine did not have any V# on them and according to DJI a blue or red mark on the capacitor is bad, it should be yellow. Seems a strange way to determine the correct ESC but that's what they told me. I had only flown a half dozen times and had no issues.

I would be interested in the source of that information and some more detail, because mine have blue marks. I have probably done 30+ flights so far.

Where did DJI post that information ?
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

There was a posting on their Facebook page.
 
Re: Phantom plummets into the Ocean. Have FPV video. What ha

Hughie said:
I would be interested in the source of that information and some more detail, because mine have blue marks. I have probably done 30+ flights so far.

Where did DJI post that information ?

They didn't but I have previously. I called and spoke to them after opening mine and finding the blank labels. Previous threads about them would lead one to believe the marks had no relation to the ESC version or compatibility. Apparently that is not the case.

When I talked to him he asked me what color mark it had. He wasn't concerned with the label, the beeps during start up, serial #, etc just the color of the mark. Red and blue = bad, yellow = good. They sent me a PPD label to send it in.

I spoke to them yesterday. They flew it and confirmed they were in fact wrong and will replace them.
 

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