No Signal, Did not return to home - Did the battery cut out?

[BroncoMarc]

I was flying my 2 month old P3A yesterday and it suddenly went to No Signal. I was only about 1500 feet away and the last reading on the battery was around 40%. It never returned to home. We went to the last position within a few minutes and I didn't hear it. Yes, I was using an aftermarket battery which I regret now. It was my 2nd flight on that battery.

It went down in a wooded area and I have not found it yet. We searched for 1/2 hr and didn't see it. Once I got home and got connected to WiFi on my tablet I could get satellite view on the map and I see that we were searching in the wrong place.

Since it just suddenly went to No Signal, can I assume that the battery just cut out and it fell out of the sky at the last position that it showed on my tablet? If so, that would really help with the search. Unfortunately it's 3 hours away!

- Marc

 

[Trackman1]

Upload your flightlog.txt file from your device and post the link back to this thread..
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

 

[Fly Dawg]

If you mean you lost complete RC signal ( Not Just Video Feed), then it should have been able to make a return from 1500 ft at 40% battery, all things being equal ( Good weather, no wind etc..) If it happened to reach critical battery level on the way back, then it could have auto landed anywhere between that point and home. As above though, check the logs.

 

[Reed L]

Since it just suddenly went to No Signal, can I assume that the battery just cut out and it fell out of the sky at the last position that it showed on my tablet? If so, that would really help with the search. Unfortunately it's 3 hours away!
- Marc

Nope, "No SIgnal" means that you lost video feed and the bird should still fly just fine but with a black screen.
If you never touched the control afterward, it would have hovered until the low battery "fail safe" kicked in and then it should have returned to home and auto landed... Did you have the antennas pointing up or out? Did you look up in the air for it or did you see it drop?
Just a couple basic questions that can answer to a lot
Also depending on the tablet, you may have a back up cached video of the flight if you use that function.

 

[BroncoMarc]

Attached is a screenshot of my last view. Antennas were pointed up. I don't believe I touched the controls once I lost signal. We drove to a spot that was close enough to where it should have been within a few minutes and did not hear anything, so I'm guessing it was down at that point, but it should have still been in the air with the battery level it had. I never saw it or heard it in the air after I lost signal. It was on the other side of some woods that would dampen the sound. I was 1500 ft to the left in the screen shot attached.

I've flown out of range before and it has always returned. I've never been out of contact more than 10 seconds.

I'll grab the log when I go home for lunch.

 

[Multicoptertec]

Are you sure you didn't leave the home point too soon? Maybe the bird did go home. I assume you had a home point set. What were your RTH settings? Go home, land, hover? What was your RTH altitude?

 

[BroncoMarc]

Someone was at the position I took off from. It did not return. I checked the RTH settings in the app and it says 0. I'm assuming that's a setting stored on the aircraft. It should have been well above the trees. I believe I was at around 300 ft.

 

[BroncoMarc]

I checked the flight recorder files and there is no file with yesterday's date. The last date is 7/12.

 

[Trackman1]

You need everything turned on to see that setting and you have no bird.

Has your phone/tablet been connected to the internet since the accident?
Make sure it has.

Then look for the log and try to play it back.
If you can play it back then you should be able to find the file.

 

[BroncoMarc]

Yea, my tablet is currently connected to the Internet. I don't see the log from yesterday or the flight I made on Friday.

What do I need to do to 'play back' the log? Do I need to re-connect to the controller?

 

[Reed L]

Yea, my tablet is currently connected to the Internet. I don't see the log from yesterday or the flight I made on Friday.

What do I need to do to 'play back' the log? Do I need to re-connect to the controller?

No, it depends on what tablet you have. On Android, go to pictures, select the device folder, the last movie file will be it.

 

[Trackman1]

No need to connect control.
Open go app. Top left corner of screen there is a small arrow. Tap that to see logs..
Just tap on a log file and it should open in a google earth view of your flight.
Tap the play button to start playback.

I think Reed is talking about the cached video.

 

[Trackman1]

Marc. If you have never signed into DJI on your tablet, you might not see logs.
This happened to me once on a re-install. I never signed in and the logs were not available.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I was flying my 2 month old P3A yesterday and it suddenly went to No Signal. I was only about 1500 feet away and the last reading on the battery was around 40%. It never returned to home. We went to the last position within a few minutes and I didn't hear it. Yes, I was using an aftermarket battery which I regret now. It was my 2nd flight on that battery.

It went down in a wooded area and I have not found it yet. We searched for 1/2 hr and didn't see it. Once I got home and got connected to WiFi on my tablet I could get satellite view on the map and I see that we were searching in the wrong place.

Since it just suddenly went to No Signal, can I assume that the battery just cut out and it fell out of the sky at the last position that it showed on my tablet? If so, that would really help with the search. Unfortunately it's 3 hours away!

- Marc

Was your battery fully charged before launch?

Are you sure your battery didn't abruptly shut down in flight?

 

[BroncoMarc]

Ok.. That's cool. I haven't seen that before. I logged in and found the flight log and was able to play it. But, how do I export it? I still don't see it in the file system of the tablet (android by the way).

I did figure out how to send myself a picture of the log. It's attached. As you can see I definitely wan't out of range.

Yes the battery was fully charged. The abrupt shutdown is what my question is. I want to know if it fell from the sky at the last position it reported, or if it went flying off.

 

[Reed L]

Yup, I figured he got to the map view from his first post, but... being that there was no data plan I'm thinking that a flight log for this flight might not be available, but if the cached flight is recorded, then he's got a start.
Plus depending on your location, there's plenty of people here willing to come and help with a fly over

 

[Reed L]

Ok.. That's cool. I haven't seen that before. I logged in and found the flight log and was able to play it. But, how do I export it? I still don't see it in the file system of the tablet (android by the way).

I did figure out how to send myself a picture of the log. It's attached. As you can see I definitely wan't out of range.

Yes the battery was fully charged. The abrupt shutdown is what my question is. I want to know if it fell from the sky at the last position it reported, or if it went flying off.

In Android, it will come up in pictures if it's there. The last place that you see it at the end of that dirt road is the last place that it would be before it initiated RTH. Flying off isn't an issue with the P3 series. From there it will be somewhere between the the arrow and home, straight across the brush between the 2. If you don't find it where the red arrow shows, then a fly over would be a quick and easy way to see if it's in the top of a tree.
Between opening and responding with my lassst°°° reply I fell asleep for an hour... lol. After I posted°°° your 20 minute older message appeared, and my face is still red, hehe

 

[BroncoMarc]

I might be going back this weekend to look again now that I've got a better idea where it is. We were searching just based on the last image from the camera and we were a couple hundred yards north of where it shows the last location. I've got a friend with a P3A that should let me borrow it to do a fly-over.

I doubt anyone on here is in the area, but if anyone is interested in looking, this is at the Badlands Off-road park in Attica, IN. Last known location is here: Google Maps

 

[Trackman1]

On Android I get the log by connecting to computer and browsing to DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord

 

[BroncoMarc]

DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord does not have anything dated 7/17. The last thing in that folder is 7/12. However, I am able to play it back using the Flight Log screen.

All the flight logs on that screen have a green dot in front of them except for the two from 7/17. What does that mean?