Phantom 2 Catastrophic Failure after Firmware 3.06
- Thread starter Xrover
- Start date
I too lost my P2 and gopro over the ocean this morning. I'm right now visiting the north shore of Kauai and have flown over the ocean several times in the past few days with no incidents. Last night I upgraded the firmware to 3.06. Early this morning I sent the quad up a couple of times over the ocean bluff here. The first time it came back no problem. There was about 50% of battery left when I sent it up a second time, and expected to be in the air less than 5 minutes. Just when I was ready to return back, the sticks stopped responding altogether and I noticed that the bird was dropping lower and lower. I tried shutting off the controller and waited for auto return home to kick in but the P2 kept descending. It didn't return home first, it just started dropping from it's position. It landed in a cove but am not really sure where it landed there - it could have been in thick vegetation or in the water - my view was blocked as it was dropping. We've got a search and rescue party set up for tomorrow morning to find it (seriously).
I also noticed the throttle wasn't as responsive but at first wasn't so concerned but now I know why.
After the firmware update I did all the normal stuff like making sure I calibrated the stick using RC Assistant, then calibrated the IMU and sticks from DJI Phantom 2 Assistant. Of course did compass calibration on lift-off.
I doubt there is anything I missed but I wish I was still on the previous firmware level.
I also noticed the throttle wasn't as responsive but at first wasn't so concerned but now I know why.
After the firmware update I did all the normal stuff like making sure I calibrated the stick using RC Assistant, then calibrated the IMU and sticks from DJI Phantom 2 Assistant. Of course did compass calibration on lift-off.
I doubt there is anything I missed but I wish I was still on the previous firmware level.
Ok this is a worry, as a recent Phantom2 newbie pilot im getting more worried...
First of all my sympathies go out to the few of you (including OP) for your losses here, alot of hard earnt money and time spent on these, and it's obvious you guys know what you're doing.
A)First of all can we confirm DJI have acknowleged this issue?
B) I see the pic a few pages back you have recovered the main body minus props(how did they come off hitting water?!) and no GOpro. If yes to first question are you sending it back to DJI for inspection? Have you discovered anything yourself?
C) Do we know for sure this is related to the latest revision or coincidental with a component failure age flight time related incident. Or perhaps the 'swiss cheese' effect.
I haven't started flying mine over water yet but was intending to this friday albeit briefly over coastline.
First of all my sympathies go out to the few of you (including OP) for your losses here, alot of hard earnt money and time spent on these, and it's obvious you guys know what you're doing.
A)First of all can we confirm DJI have acknowleged this issue?
B) I see the pic a few pages back you have recovered the main body minus props(how did they come off hitting water?!) and no GOpro. If yes to first question are you sending it back to DJI for inspection? Have you discovered anything yourself?
C) Do we know for sure this is related to the latest revision or coincidental with a component failure age flight time related incident. Or perhaps the 'swiss cheese' effect.
I haven't started flying mine over water yet but was intending to this friday albeit briefly over coastline.
Is it possible that these unplanned descents are now occurring as a result of the 3.06 firmware exposing aged or defective batteries that would typically not display any symptoms?
Sometimes aging/defective batteries can show full voltage when charged but when placed under a moderate load, they experience voltage sag. The new firmware may be less tolerant or have more of a restriction on voltage prior to this auto descent?
Just a thought...
Sometimes aging/defective batteries can show full voltage when charged but when placed under a moderate load, they experience voltage sag. The new firmware may be less tolerant or have more of a restriction on voltage prior to this auto descent?
Just a thought...
^ I'm leaning towrd this too.
Second idea I had, maybe a little crazy, is that 3.06 was supposed to somehow target clone batteries, but due to a mistake its accidentally targeting older batteries or those over a certain cycle count.
Second idea I had, maybe a little crazy, is that 3.06 was supposed to somehow target clone batteries, but due to a mistake its accidentally targeting older batteries or those over a certain cycle count.
It certainly is interesting to investigate the root cause of these issues as there is a hope that the truth may be uncovered.
On an unproductive side note -- unexpected failures (regardless of what type of product we're talking about) can occur when a manufacturer releases firmware that has not undergone exhaustive testing. I am sincerely not pointing fingers at DJI, but the comments (biased or not) from the community wish they could revert back to old firmware versions supports my claim in a general sense... they aren't wishing they could revert back to old firmware without a reason. Let's ignore the people who want unrestricted access to airports though... those are the crazies.
On an unproductive side note -- unexpected failures (regardless of what type of product we're talking about) can occur when a manufacturer releases firmware that has not undergone exhaustive testing. I am sincerely not pointing fingers at DJI, but the comments (biased or not) from the community wish they could revert back to old firmware versions supports my claim in a general sense... they aren't wishing they could revert back to old firmware without a reason. Let's ignore the people who want unrestricted access to airports though... those are the crazies.
3.06 was Beta tested thouroghly by many of us. We all gave it the Green light.
DJI RELEASED IT AS 3.06. But, they added additional features without including them in the test Betas. The main new feature they added without any Beta testing was a Battery Safety feature. I think this new feature is flawed and thus resulting in an unexpected early shutdown of the power system. I don't know how it would be connected to flying over water but the incident posted a few posts up is almost identical in description to mine. And both occurred after updating to 3.06. Both also caused a complete uncontrollable descent at a normal battery level.
DJI RELEASED IT AS 3.06. But, they added additional features without including them in the test Betas. The main new feature they added without any Beta testing was a Battery Safety feature. I think this new feature is flawed and thus resulting in an unexpected early shutdown of the power system. I don't know how it would be connected to flying over water but the incident posted a few posts up is almost identical in description to mine. And both occurred after updating to 3.06. Both also caused a complete uncontrollable descent at a normal battery level.
triumphman said:
Send an email to [email protected] explaing what happened.
I am now communicating with them re: my failure.
Yours is almost identical to mine.
The Phantom Battery is actually 6 cells (3s2p) not 3 cells as would be assumed. I got a bunk battery in a Phantom parts lot recently and took it apart just for curiosity sake. This is probably common knowledge, but I am rather new and haven't seen it posted anywhere and felt it worth mentioning. So in theory a bad cell would not necessarily be obvious looking at the overall pack voltage, but would most definitely be detectable by the "smart" battery...
Guess I got lucky
Just flew 4 batteries today on P2 on 3:06
1st 2 are 3 months old
2nd pair are 2 1/2 months old
Didn't go below 30% on any of them but no weird issues, but happy the bird is flying solid at +16 degrees
Hoping those having problems get it sorted out!
Just flew 4 batteries today on P2 on 3:06
1st 2 are 3 months old
2nd pair are 2 1/2 months old
Didn't go below 30% on any of them but no weird issues, but happy the bird is flying solid at +16 degrees
Hoping those having problems get it sorted out!
Today I also flew 2 batteries worth on my P2V with 3.06 at 17deg MD and everything went well.
Both batteries are 5 to 6 months old and I do run them down to 8% every 10 flights or so - more often than required.
I specifically wanted to look at throttle/climb rate and it looked to me (best estimate) it's the same as earlier loads.
Stability looked the same except for the MD improvements.
The first time I let the battery level trigger an RTH I again noticed the RTH climb rate seems vvvvery slow - much, much, much slower that the climb capability demonstrated with a normal throttle up. The second time I waited for the battery level to trigger an RTH I had it hovering low and close to the home point. It never triggered an RTH so I assume it new it was close enough already. It did trigger the alarm and a while later it autolanded from a 2 foot hover.
So I have at total of 5 batteries worth of flights on 3.06, all exploratory in nature and I have seen no problems yet.
I also did a little GS in a baseball field sized area and it worked well but I can use some practice on setting up waypoints efficiently.
Both batteries are 5 to 6 months old and I do run them down to 8% every 10 flights or so - more often than required.
I specifically wanted to look at throttle/climb rate and it looked to me (best estimate) it's the same as earlier loads.
Stability looked the same except for the MD improvements.
The first time I let the battery level trigger an RTH I again noticed the RTH climb rate seems vvvvery slow - much, much, much slower that the climb capability demonstrated with a normal throttle up. The second time I waited for the battery level to trigger an RTH I had it hovering low and close to the home point. It never triggered an RTH so I assume it new it was close enough already. It did trigger the alarm and a while later it autolanded from a 2 foot hover.
So I have at total of 5 batteries worth of flights on 3.06, all exploratory in nature and I have seen no problems yet.
I also did a little GS in a baseball field sized area and it worked well but I can use some practice on setting up waypoints efficiently.
Did my first flight with the upgraded Firmware 3.06. I did have one issue but will explain. After the firmware update it is critical to perform a full calibration in both the Phantom Assistant V3.2 and RC Assistant software. It took two attempts before I was happy that the calibration was correct as my gimbal went into warp mode behaving like a mad woman's custard. On my first flight the P2 flew off at about a 10 deg angle and thought the declination issue had not been resolved. After landing and doing the compass calibration (dance) it flew as straight as an arrow, so never been happier with very smooth flying in all mauvers. It always troubles me when I hear stories of failure after firmware updates but for me problems usually arise when I miss an important calibration step.
My first battery warning lights came on at 30% and flew it just above head level to 17% then hand held the landing gear to see what happened as the battery drained. At 17% there was still some juice to accelerate if you're in a bad landing spot, but once it drops to 15% it goes into auto landing mode and will just come down no matter what. I don't know how this will work if the P2 is at some distance from home base but I always ensure I'm in close proximity to a suitable landing by the time I hit 20%. The battery power drops quickly from 20% to 15% so get it down quickly and safely, preferably before hitting 20%. After all new updates I don't perform any critical missions until I'm absolutely sure it is bug free. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones with P2 that does what it is supposed to. All I can offer is, be diligent in doing pre-flight checks and don't fly in areas where you can't retrieve a downed copter until absolutely sure all bugs are gone.
My first battery warning lights came on at 30% and flew it just above head level to 17% then hand held the landing gear to see what happened as the battery drained. At 17% there was still some juice to accelerate if you're in a bad landing spot, but once it drops to 15% it goes into auto landing mode and will just come down no matter what. I don't know how this will work if the P2 is at some distance from home base but I always ensure I'm in close proximity to a suitable landing by the time I hit 20%. The battery power drops quickly from 20% to 15% so get it down quickly and safely, preferably before hitting 20%. After all new updates I don't perform any critical missions until I'm absolutely sure it is bug free. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones with P2 that does what it is supposed to. All I can offer is, be diligent in doing pre-flight checks and don't fly in areas where you can't retrieve a downed copter until absolutely sure all bugs are gone.
I've been a happy flier on 3.04.
I changed to 3.06 on Sunday and did the full calibrations etc. I flew on Monday in windy conditions and uncomfortably close to main grid power lines.
Quite a handful to control and I seemed to be going under 6 sats more often than I have experienced before. I put it down to the power lines.
Scary flight but I kept a good height and took my photos (it's a PV2+). Towards the end of the flight, but still at around 35% battery', I had a sudden loss of altitude hovering at around 15 feet. Throttle up didn't work much but enough to step in and catch before it hit the ground. I put it down to VRS and/or pilot error.
This morning I flew two batteries over corn fields half a mile away in distance and up to 450' altitude, well behaved, stable flight and hovers. All well but still only just getting 6 sats and occasional drops below 6 in very open flat land where I would expect 9+ sats. Acceleration and ascent were good, descent is painfully slow.
On the first battery, again at around 30% as I was returning home just 30 or so feet away, coming in slow, level and low (12') for a hand landing she suddenly went down into the corn. Luckily a soft landing. There was really no discernable reason for this at all.
The second battery was a repeat although this time the battery was at about 38%. A little higher drop from say 20' and a little further out. I don't believe it's VRS as I had successfully completed a circular descent from 400+ feet a minute before and was just returning to home (manually in Naza GPS). Thankfully again the ripe corn saved any damage.
As I said I've done the calibrations at home and did a compass calibration before each session. The batteries are new, DJI supplied, just 3 weeks ago with less than 10 cycles on each.
Houston... I think we have a problem!
I really don't want to push my luck to a fourth crash landing. Would it be possible for someone to either explain or point me to a thread as to how I can go back to 3.04?
I changed to 3.06 on Sunday and did the full calibrations etc. I flew on Monday in windy conditions and uncomfortably close to main grid power lines.
Quite a handful to control and I seemed to be going under 6 sats more often than I have experienced before. I put it down to the power lines.
Scary flight but I kept a good height and took my photos (it's a PV2+). Towards the end of the flight, but still at around 35% battery', I had a sudden loss of altitude hovering at around 15 feet. Throttle up didn't work much but enough to step in and catch before it hit the ground. I put it down to VRS and/or pilot error.
This morning I flew two batteries over corn fields half a mile away in distance and up to 450' altitude, well behaved, stable flight and hovers. All well but still only just getting 6 sats and occasional drops below 6 in very open flat land where I would expect 9+ sats. Acceleration and ascent were good, descent is painfully slow.
On the first battery, again at around 30% as I was returning home just 30 or so feet away, coming in slow, level and low (12') for a hand landing she suddenly went down into the corn. Luckily a soft landing. There was really no discernable reason for this at all.
The second battery was a repeat although this time the battery was at about 38%. A little higher drop from say 20' and a little further out. I don't believe it's VRS as I had successfully completed a circular descent from 400+ feet a minute before and was just returning to home (manually in Naza GPS). Thankfully again the ripe corn saved any damage.
As I said I've done the calibrations at home and did a compass calibration before each session. The batteries are new, DJI supplied, just 3 weeks ago with less than 10 cycles on each.
Houston... I think we have a problem!
I really don't want to push my luck to a fourth crash landing. Would it be possible for someone to either explain or point me to a thread as to how I can go back to 3.04?
Yep. Looks like a pattern to me. There has to be some kind of difference between the successfull flights and the unsuccessfull ones.
Looks like both P2 and P2V are affected, so we can rule out things like controllers (2.4 vs. 5.8), Zenmuse, and camera.
Seems that battery mnf. date and/or number of flights on battery also isn't the issue. Can't be the firmware itself, otherwise all would be falling.
But it's obviously the firmware in combination with something.
Also not interference as many have tested and failed in secluded areas. Not water under the craft either.
6 satellites is low. I also get 9+ after takeoff, unless its really cloudy.
Maybe the other pilots falling could confirm low number of sat's?
Btw: descent is slower than the 2m/s on 3.04?
Looks like both P2 and P2V are affected, so we can rule out things like controllers (2.4 vs. 5.8), Zenmuse, and camera.
Seems that battery mnf. date and/or number of flights on battery also isn't the issue. Can't be the firmware itself, otherwise all would be falling.
But it's obviously the firmware in combination with something.
Also not interference as many have tested and failed in secluded areas. Not water under the craft either.
6 satellites is low. I also get 9+ after takeoff, unless its really cloudy.
Maybe the other pilots falling could confirm low number of sat's?
Btw: descent is slower than the 2m/s on 3.04?
Thanks Fyod, for a good summary.
The descent seemed slower, but I could just be imagining it. I think that I am being very cautious regarding VRS.
The descent seemed slower, but I could just be imagining it. I think that I am being very cautious regarding VRS.
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2014
- Messages
- 173
- Reaction score
- 9
I had two batteries that had issues and I documented video of my iOSD where it failed with one battery at 72% and the other with 92%, but the voltage level was below the hidden third level threshold of 10.65V.. See my posts including video here...Xrover said:
Ref Thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=17324&start=138
The thread shows additional information I provided about the batteries. This behavior (failure) was repeated for each battery. I have sent them back to DJI and await their replacement. The video of one of the batteries is shown below.
---------------------------------------
Autoland at 92%
I guess I am the latest victim to a bad battery. Mine will go into autoland just as it reaches 92% or about 1 to 2 minutes of hovering. I have a video that shows the battery level indicator go from full charge to zero from the DJI osd mini.
http://youtu.be/K8YaDtoFVi4
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8YaDtoFVi4[/youtube]
Similar threads
