Has anyone experienced this message during flight and still managed to land safely without issues?
Warning Message during flight: Motor idling (loose or missing propeller)
- Thread starter Mario_SB
- Start date
alokbhargava
Premium Pilot
Is there a restriction on altitude from your settings? And you are crossing it? Give more details to us.
I can guess that controls are trying to suddenly limit height by reducing motor speed and large deviation in motor currents is triggering this message.
Give us your logs.
Anyway check props for safety
I can guess that controls are trying to suddenly limit height by reducing motor speed and large deviation in motor currents is triggering this message.
Give us your logs.
Anyway check props for safety
There were no restrictions on altitude. The only thing I can think of is that I was coming back against a crosswind in ATTI mode but I have no idea. I'm working on getting the flight data.
I had this same issue on one of my first flights. I looked at my phone and it had three different errors on it including the motor idling error, but the quad and video feed were reacting just fine and working normally. Brought it back, inspected the quad, turned everything off and on again and never had that error again. I looked at my logs, but the log for that flight was split into two different parts. Healthy Drones showed a data disconnect at the time of the file split, and DJI Go app log did not show any errors during playback (which was not split up). As long as there's no physical damage to the craft and the error doesn't pop up again I wouldn't worry about it.
Looks exactly what happened to me. I'm willing to bet the first log will show some sort of data disconnect error. I have a feeling the app likes to freak out on short total disconnects. What versions of firmware and Go are you running?
Running, DJI GO v2.8.0 (2547) and firmware version 1.8.80....I was running the motors full throttle on a four mile round-trip. On the way back I switched to ATTI mode and I'm wondering if the crosswinds and the speed of the unit had something to do with the errors. It was traveling at ~ 42 mph.
The quad might not have liked being knocked around at that speed, may have thrown the error from aggressive stability correction? Does the error show up in the DJI Go log when you play it back?
I wonder if it reached an RPM that the motors typically only hit with no load (no props) due to the wind pushing the craft faster.
No. The error did not show up on playback which I thought was strange but I agree on the quad not liking being knocked around at the speed. Calculation, over-correction overload perhaps??
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Sounds plausible but then I again I don't have any understanding of the physics of this thing. Working on the flight logs. I managed to download two separate *.dat files off the quad itself. Does that help or do we need the flight logs off the iPad?
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Hello
I also encountered a similar message with my P3A some while ago (motor obstructed or propeller loose) just 20-30 m away from me, on a calm day, with the P3 clearly visible in front of me, hovering in P mode.
No changes in the flight characteristics at all and I had both full control and good video feed. I aborted the flight anyway and landed immediately.
In the log I later noticed that at the time it happened the aircraft momentarily also lost GPS signal, but it never got into Atti mode.
I don't think I will ever find out what it was. Bug strike? Upon inspection there was absolutely nothing wrong with the copter or the props. I have since then flown 30-40 times, both high and far, slowly and aggressively, but the message never came back.
I wouldn't worry if I were you. If you truly had a malfunction with an idling (or obstructed) motor in flight, I doubt that your bird would still be in one piece.
//Thomas
I also encountered a similar message with my P3A some while ago (motor obstructed or propeller loose) just 20-30 m away from me, on a calm day, with the P3 clearly visible in front of me, hovering in P mode.
No changes in the flight characteristics at all and I had both full control and good video feed. I aborted the flight anyway and landed immediately.
In the log I later noticed that at the time it happened the aircraft momentarily also lost GPS signal, but it never got into Atti mode.
I don't think I will ever find out what it was. Bug strike? Upon inspection there was absolutely nothing wrong with the copter or the props. I have since then flown 30-40 times, both high and far, slowly and aggressively, but the message never came back.
I wouldn't worry if I were you. If you truly had a malfunction with an idling (or obstructed) motor in flight, I doubt that your bird would still be in one piece.
//Thomas
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Hi Rowland,
Thank you for your interest in this. An 805 Drone Club sounds interesting but unfortunately I don't have a Facebook. I know, I know... I'm working on it though. This issue is really weird and frankly it was kinda scary for me because I was certain that my P3 was about to fall out of the sky at any moment. Here is a link to the dropbox. I uploaded two *.DAT files as it seems like the flight record was split into two.
Dropbox - Flight Logs
Best,
Mario
Thank you for your interest in this. An 805 Drone Club sounds interesting but unfortunately I don't have a Facebook. I know, I know... I'm working on it though. This issue is really weird and frankly it was kinda scary for me because I was certain that my P3 was about to fall out of the sky at any moment. Here is a link to the dropbox. I uploaded two *.DAT files as it seems like the flight record was split into two.
Dropbox - Flight Logs
Best,
Mario
Here are the flight logs + dat files off the bird. Hopefully you can see what went wrong.
Dropbox - 5-7-16
There are two .DATs, each for a separate flight. Did the warning message occur in each of these flights? Would it be possible for you to post the .txt files for these two flights? It might be easier if you uploaded them to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/ and then provide the link here.
I added the flight logs (txt files) to the same linked dropbox folder. I believe the warning message appeared around the same area where the file spit into two. I remember thinking that it was probably going to crash but at-least it was over an isolated area.
I wasn't able to do much with this flight. FLY399.DAT corresponds to the two .txt files. I don't know why the .txt got split into two files but it's clear that those two .txts correspond to FLY399.DAT.
The warning message didn't appear in the .csv generated by DatCon from FLY399.DAT. But, I think that's because DatCon doesn't know about those types of messages. I had asked for the .txt file so that I could know what time the message occurred which would help locate that info. That would've allowed me to implement that in DatCon.
I believe you when you say that the message doesn't appear on the playback because I've seen the same thing. In my case the Go app said "compass error" which did not appear on the replay. Several months later with a newer version of the Go app what appears is "GPS no signal" on a greyed out screen. Go figure.
Sorry I couldn't help much. If it happens again I'd definitely be interested in looking at the .DAT and .txt for that flight.
The warning message didn't appear in the .csv generated by DatCon from FLY399.DAT. But, I think that's because DatCon doesn't know about those types of messages. I had asked for the .txt file so that I could know what time the message occurred which would help locate that info. That would've allowed me to implement that in DatCon.
I believe you when you say that the message doesn't appear on the playback because I've seen the same thing. In my case the Go app said "compass error" which did not appear on the replay. Several months later with a newer version of the Go app what appears is "GPS no signal" on a greyed out screen. Go figure.
Sorry I couldn't help much. If it happens again I'd definitely be interested in looking at the .DAT and .txt for that flight.
Thank you for taking the time to look into this. It hasn't happened again but I will definitely let you know if does. Do you think this might have something to do with how the firmware limits the battery output when it's flying to hard? On some occasions I've also received a warning message that says "Propulsion output is limited to ensure safety of battery". Just a thought.
