Phantom 3 Pro Catastrophic Battery Failure

[III% Streve]

I was invited by a scuba diving company to go 30 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico to document their activities from their boat, I turned them down. If I lost my P3P over that water, I'd be SOL ( So Out of Luck ) so as a policy I refuse to fly over water. AFAIK there is no "drone" insurance policy available that covers total loss as a result of pilot error or act of God. Note I said AFAIK

Water has no inherent danger in a general sense. Yes, sonar can have issues maintaining altitude and position cant be held very well. But the problem really lies in the inability to safely fly out of GPS lock! Far too many people totally rely on that alone to keep them in the air. And is something EVERYONE should practice with regularly. Another ridiculous farce is the BS about GPS having issues over water. Boats have navigated the seas for a LONG time with GPS. They obviously don't show up at the wrong country from time to time due to poor data!

Loosing a bird from 300 feet over water simply because its water is impossible! And a dunk in freshwater typically wont hurt anything.

 

[Benco]

Some funny reads on here. As a newbie I've learned to charge battery to 100% and don't fly over water. I still haven't taken my P3A out of beginner mode, I've only flown a few times, just trying to get the hang of it.

 

[III% Streve]

Some funny reads on here. As a newbie I've learned to charge battery to 100% and don't fly over water. I still haven't taken my P3A out of beginner mode, I've only flown a few times, just trying to get the hang of it.

Welcome to the club. Unfortunately, the two things you have learned have no merit. No documented proof of validity, and are therefore absolutely false. Water at least has the inherent VPS issue below 3 meters. But above that there is no difference than flying over an open field! Anyone that says otherwise has no idea how GPS works!

 

[Mike Harvey]

I notice at 2:24 into the video the Mode readout goes from P-GPS to "LANDING". The P-3 was still showing a 16 ft. altitude. What was that about?

 

[aburkefl]

Thats absolutely insane. I have over 300 flights now, and my batteries have a cumulative 72 charges. There is no logic or documentation to back this crazy habit!

I second that. I have taken off many, many times without a full charge. If the Phantom has flown for just a couple of minutes and there's still 90% (or more) left on the battery, there is no real evidence that one should not take off again with that battery prior to recharging it. I think I have flown again with a battery when it was down to barely above 50%. You'll still get the warning at 30% (left mine on that default for the first warning). Yes, it isn't a very long flight between 50% and 30% but I generally don't need much time - just ridiculous to waste the battery power.

 

[aburkefl]

Welcome to the club. Unfortunately, the two things you have learned have no merit. No documented proof of validity, and are therefore absolutely false. Water at least has the inherent VPS issue below 3 meters. But above that there is no difference than flying over an open field! Anyone that says otherwise has no idea how GPS works!

Shot a neat multi-minute video of some canals at a local park. Set it to music and my wife loved it. She said "you're getting braver and braver. I see you flying over that water."

I told her that at 100 feet it doesn't mater a lot. If it lands in the water I'll probably lose it. If it falls to the ground from 100 feet there isn't likely to be much left anyway!

 

[Aquarius4058]

I'm sad to say I'm now the owner of a salvaged P3pro that crashed into a lake in Maine. I was able to borrow a boat and fish it out of the lake.

What upsets me is the battery failed at 58% I did contact DJI and they are only giving me a 30% discount on another new P3pro.

Here is the crash.

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Here is the flight right before I changed to my second battery.

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I feel empty not having the ability to just go flying. I'm still waiting on the 30% discount from DJI to email me the link to purchase the new unit, but I may have to call them on Monday to try in speed up the process.

Sorry for your loss... I've read in an article about flying above water (Sad that I forgot where I read it), I think I've actually watched it from youtube about a warning flying above water that you have to turn OFF the VPS when you are flying in P-GPS cause the VPS will not be accurate. That is why every time I fly above it, I never get too low to where the VPS get's activated. If so, I will put the flying mode to ATTI or disabled the VPS from the Go App. just to be safe. And in your case, by watching the video, the VPS did not accurately sense the actual altitude and just gradually descend 'til it hit the water. Did you try to push up the throttle at the time before hitting the water? I wonder.

 

[Aquarius4058]

Thats absolutely insane. I have over 300 flights now, and my batteries have a cumulative 72 charges. There is no logic or documentation to back this crazy habit!

I agree, I've been flying my quad lower than full charge and never had a problem so far. I've taken off with 65% left over charged from previous flights and honestly haven't encountered any problems. I wonder if this is really an issue about not to take off with a partially charged battery?

 

[Aquarius4058]

Hey mate.. Wts ur battery capacity right now for ur 72 charge cycle?.. Mine at 22 charges is at 4000.. 89% capacity.. Is this normal??
Thanks

Not normal base on my experienced. My battery that came with the quad has already around 28 charged times. I've deep cycled it once (20th. charged) and still showing a 100% life.

 

[Nizar Ghosn]

.. the same here, i have flown my p3p since a week ago from 100% till 55% then i stock the battery till yesterday(an 9 days long), then i did get it airborne yesterday night without recharging both of my batteries (55% both), the same critical low battery error happened on both but fortunately my drone was still above me hovering so, it lands safely ... !!! need to find a solution or contact DJI !!!

 

[twist4]

Unless the manufacturer specifies that the tanks have to be full-- which in this case DJI specifies or recommends that the batteries be charged fully. This is a no brainer for any rc aircraft that depends on lipo battery power for the fuel source as any experienced rc modeler will tell you.

Everyone that has been through Federal Aviation training will say, you take off with as much fuel as practicable. Fuel left behind is useless.

If you are aware there have been software issues with less than full charge after a start-up, it is entirely practicable to take the warning seriously and rotate a fully charged battery in there....seems to me.

 

[III% Streve]

Thats why every commercial flight that leaves the ground has a full tank of fuel I'm betting! Oh wait... Almost none of them do! Granted there is a weight consideration. But the point is that if you need 20 gallons to get the job done, then you make sure you have 30 and go. THAT is what "take off with as much fuel as practicable" means!

 

[Bret Lucas]

Oh god is this BS about battery issues below 100% on take off still going? Feels like the average IQ in this forum is dropping. [emoji16]

 

[twist4]

Oh god is this BS about battery issues below 100% on take off still going? Feels like the average IQ in this forum is dropping. [emoji16]

The problem with software is it will give intermittent failure at the worse time, Murphy.

You making jabs of this sort, show nothing but the IQ level you possess.

Please prove to us the software cannot glitch in the startup routine, when it inspects the Intelligent battery circuit and expects 100%, but sees less. But, the bug could be, Every once in a while for other circuit and software routine reasons it sets a register bit that is read by the failsafe timers, as good to good 100% and not what it really saw.. But, silly you, it works most of the time.

There is simply no way to know the consequences of that, at this stage of the software post-release development. But, if you don't know software, you don't know. You just say buggy. I say follow the instructions from the guys that made the machine.

You know, you can ignore the manufacturer. For example, you can pull the snot out of a Cessna 152 , at the right time and attitude and take the wings right off.

You simply became your own test pilot.

 

[bobmyers]

The problem with software is it will give intermittent failure at the worse time, Murphy.

You making jabs of this sort, show nothing but the IQ level you possess.

Please prove to us the software cannot glitch in the startup routine, when it inspects the Intelligent battery circuit and expects 100%, but sees less. But, the bug could be, Every once in a while for other circuit and software routine reasons it sets a register bit that is read by the failsafe timers, as good to good 100% and not what it really saw.. But, silly you, it works most of the time.

There is simply no way to know the consequences of that, at this stage of the software post-release development. But, if you don't know software, you don't know. You just say buggy. I say follow the instructions from the guys that made the machine.

You know, you can ignore the manufacturer. For example, you can pull the snot out of a Cessna 152 , at the right time and attitude and take the wings right off.

You simply became your own test pilot.

Agreed and comparing the P3 to a full size aircraft that runs on aviation fuel has absolutely no relevance to a P3 running on a 4 cell lipo. Full size aircraft determine fuel requirements by weight and distance they have to trave-- there aren't talking about a 20 minute flight--
Anyway, when folks post crashes wanting to know why they crashed and make the statement that they had 50% battery left from yesterday's flying-- RTFM.

 

[III% Streve]

The problem with software is it will give intermittent failure at the worse time, Murphy.

You making jabs of this sort, show nothing but the IQ level you possess.

Please prove to us the software cannot glitch in the startup routine, when it inspects the Intelligent battery circuit and expects 100%, but sees less. But, the bug could be, Every once in a while for other circuit and software routine reasons it sets a register bit that is read by the failsafe timers, as good to good 100% and not what it really saw.. But, silly you, it works most of the time.

There is simply no way to know the consequences of that, at this stage of the software post-release development. But, if you don't know software, you don't know. You just say buggy. I say follow the instructions from the guys that made the machine.

You know, you can ignore the manufacturer. For example, you can pull the snot out of a Cessna 152 , at the right time and attitude and take the wings right off.

You simply became your own test pilot.

Except that only people here, with NO knowledge of the software OR hardware, are the only ones trying to say to never fly multiple flights on a single charge. Good try though.

 

[III% Streve]

Agreed and comparing the P3 to a full size aircraft that runs on aviation fuel has absolutely no relevance to a P3 running on a 4 cell lipo. Full size aircraft determine fuel requirements by weight and distance they have to trave-- there aren't talking about a 20 minute flight--
Anyway, when folks post crashes wanting to know why they crashed and make the statement that they had 50% battery left from yesterday's flying-- RTFM.

Unfortunately, there has never been a flight that was determined to end in a crash that was stated by DJI to have been blamed on it being a second or third flight on a single charge. The reference to a real aircraft STARTED when some fool told me I didn't know what I was talking about and that a real pilot would correct me. It never happened. And never will. RTFM doesnt imply that one should read in to it.

 

[Shammyh]

Can we possibly get back OT?

~~~

What we really need is some data.

Perhaps a few folks could kindly take the risk and do a controlled flight (like hovering within ground effect zone on a non-windy day) starting with a 100% charged battery, and a 50% charged battery, and report back their voltage numbers from the controller-side logs.

Rinse, wash, and repeat SEVERAL times. Emphasis on several, as larger sample size is always better.

Then we can compare the discharge/voltage curves and see what's what.

It's possible there is indeed some sort of bug or other oddity where the Phantom responds differently when starting with a less-than-full battery.

It's also possible, that there is no connection at all.

But rather than yell over/at/around/near each other, why don't we do some tests, get some data, and then make a slightly more informed yelling match. ;-)

 

[aaronrivera]

Not normal base on my experienced. My battery that came with the quad has already around 28 charged times. I've deep cycled it once (20th. charged) and still showing a 100% life.

Hi there
Actually my battery life went up to 100% again aftr deep cycle..
It keep changing though last i check it was 98 but wid only 4100mah. Hmmmmm mystery again

 

[Shammyh]

Couldn't hurt. Ha ha.
Batteries, never leave the ground without them!View attachment 35882

Couldn't help either.

Listen, I'm a digital native and I've participated in many internet forums over the years, quite literally since their inception.
I get the impetuous to post silly things. I also get the impetuous to annoy people for the sake of lolz.

There's a time and place for everything.
Some threads are stupid, funny, messes where we all get to joke and have fun.
Other ones are serious, technical, problem-solving discussions.
And yet others are name-calling pits of tedium.

Clearly you wanted to poke the bear, and that's fine. I'm a big fan of it myself. Still does nothing to solve the question at hand.

Sometimes I really miss the old XDA-devs days where "if you don't have something to contribute, don't post anything at all" was not only a rule, but a way of life.
OT was not tolerated, especially in technical threads, and the ban-delete hammer was strong and swift.

I appreciate Phantom-Pilots is not very heavily moderated, and basic tenants like "search before posting" are not enforced in the slightest.

~~~

That said, we, the users, have the choice to decide how useful we want this forum to be.

The greater the noise (including my post here), the weaker the signal.

Just be cognizant that for every OT post, every name called, and every internet-meme image, you are diluting the quality of the thread, not only for yourself, but for everyone else.

I'm not a moderator, nor am I the forum police.
I'm simply a fellow user who wants to learn more and contribute what knowledge/insight I can to others.