My p4p dropped to it’s death

[Don Fitger]

While circling over an abandoned grain elevator my 30% battery alarm sounded and within the 5 seconds that I looked down at my display my friend shouted an expletive and was pointing up to where my drone had been but now was only wide open space. My friend said that it was hovering then just dropped, I thought that my truck might have been in the way of my signal but then realized that that wouldn’t have caused it to drop besides I was receiving a signal until the bitter end. It was smashed up real good. When I got home I looked over my flight log and for the first time saw that an over heating warning had come on for about a second before it was lights out. It was about 25 degrees Celsius and I had been hovering for at least 2minutes while trying to figure out how to get it into one of the auto flight things. I phoned Amazon and was pleased beyond belief when after explaining my plight was told that they would gladly ship me a replacement, it’s on it’s way as I write this. Is this something that happens on a regular basis? I am VERY new to the world of flight and truly believe that even if I was watching it sit in the sky it still would have dropped to it’s doom.

 

[Fly Dawg]

I looked down at my display my friend shouted an expletive and was pointing up to where my drone had been but now was only wide open space. My friend said that it was hovering then just dropped, I thought that my truck might have been in the way of my signal but then realized that that wouldn’t have caused it to drop besides I was receiving a signal until the bitter end.

This sounds like a " Critical battery warning and AutoLand....The flight logs can tell you for sure.

 

[Don Fitger]

I just watched it again and the warning was “motor overload, decelerating to safety” or something very much like that. I was looking at one of your previous comments and was trying to download my flight log as per your instructions but I use an iPad for my display but sadly use a pc at home.

 

[Don Fitger]

Maybe I can download iTunes on my pc

 

[Ripper7620]

Maybe I can download iTunes on my pc

Ya, that should work, I had no problem downloading iTunes on my PC.

 

[Don Fitger]

Hey that’s another thing I learned today, thanks Ripper7620

 

[Techcop50]

I assume the grain elevator was steel. Large steel structures can render the compass useless, causing the bird to drift or causing you to send it off in the wrong direction. Motor overload can be caused by striking something with the prop. How close were you to the elevator?

 

[Don Fitger]

No it was an old wooden structure and I didn’t get closer than 25 ft. Could the hovering in heat have caused the motor overload? It said it was decelerating to a safer speed from the motor overload. I just looked at the picture and there is a little tin cladding around the structure.

 

[Techcop50]

25 feet shouldn't be an issue, IMHO. I've had problems with trains at about 8 feet or closer, same on water tanks.

 

[Don Fitger]

I’m a little out of touch and I quite often see IMHO written and I can’t figure out what it stands for, could you enlighten me?

 

[Fly Dawg]

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION.....IMHO

 

[Don Fitger]

OIC oh I see

 

[Fly Dawg]

When I got home I looked over my flight log and for the first time saw that an over heating warning had come on for about a second before it was lights out.

Was this motor overload or battery overheating. Neither should cause the aircraft to simply fall from the sky, unless it was catostophic. Look closer at the logs or share them here and we can tell you.

 

[Don Fitger]

I haven’t the time right now but I intend to sit down this evening and wrestle the flight recording out of my iPad and post it, this may take a little doing but I’m in need of answers and I’m sure that I’ve got enough of an explanation on how to do it. Thanks for your continued efforts and patience

 

[Fly Dawg]

I haven’t the time right now but I intend to sit down this evening and wrestle the flight recording out of my iPad and post it

If you still have the aircraft and it will power up, this may require pulling the flight .dat files from it to determine. We can assist you with that as well, if needed. They require a little more effort.

 

[Fly Dawg]

FYI....The aircraft .dat should have the following information, which would clarify the issue.....

 

[Don Fitger]

I shipped the unit back to Amazon the day after the incident so can I still get some information out of the app in my iPad? I already received the replacement drone and the battery was pushed all the way in so the battery was dead and gone, I had to send the whole drone back in order to get a working battery. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you Fly Dawg, I’m thinking not much can be done now to root out the cause of my unplanned landing.

 

[Fly Dawg]

can I still get some information out of the app in my iPad?

It probably wont be enough but yes. Locate the .txt log on the IPAD and upload it to the link below. Instructions are on the link. After that, share a link to the uploaded file back here. You will need to use Itunes to get the file. And yes, Itunes does work on PC's.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

 

[Don Fitger]

Hi Fly Dawg, I managed to get the flight record open and readable but now I’m having problems moving it around. Nonetheless it seems that one cell in my battery kept dropping faster than the others and by the last entry it was at a 2 volt deviation and I guess that caused the motor overload and subsequent crash landing. I just noticed the upload a file button and Lordy Lordy look at that, a flight record has appeared. I have a great sense of pride at getting this here, you should too!

 

[Neon Euc]

This is scary.... Recently I have seen so many phantom 4's just drop out of the sky. Hard to know if this is a hardware or a software issue. Glad you got a replacement. This may be a one off from Amazon so contact DJI about this and maybe take out state farm insurance as Amazon may not replace it again if this happens. Fingers crossed it doesnt tho