Phantom 3 pro CRASH "battery error"

[Sharon Brown]

Hello all
I wanted to tell you about a bizarre incident that happened to me today.
I've been half a year flying the Phantom 3 without any problems. I am a professional pilot that have full control and experience of RC flying. This morning, I prepare the phantom for a routine photo flight. the sky was clear, the battery is fully charged, calibrated the compass and made sure the phantom had a lock on the 11 satellites, start the engine and take off.
It was all right and looked like a routine flight but after about 30 seconds flight, at about 80 meters (250 feet), I got an error message "battery error", the video image has gone and eye contact with the phantom 3 has also gone. Immediately I push on the button "return to home" but the phantom gone and never back.
The camera does not record the take-off stage because there was no need for it. In retrospect it was a mistake.
Fortunately, im flying with GPS tracker connect to the phantom and thanks to him, I found my drone on the ground a few hundred meters from my location.
Of course, the Phantom is completely crushed by free falling to the ground.
I'm sure the sudden and incomprehensible disconnect battery is made Phantom fall to the ground. Even after I found him crushed, the battery was still full. I have no idea what had caused it.
As mentioned above, the Phantom is still the manufacturer's warranty.
I intend to approach DJI for an explanation and a solution to this unpleasant situation.
DJI must give unanimous attention because not talking about human error, but the product failure.
I'll be happy to update their answer on the subject.

 

[ParsnipHysorter]

Hello all
I wanted to tell you about a bizarre incident that happened to me today.
I've been half a year flying the Phantom 3 without any problems. I am a professional pilot that have full control and experience of RC flying. This morning, I prepare the phantom for a routine photo flight. the sky was clear, the battery is fully charged, calibrated the compass and made sure the phantom had a lock on the 11 satellites, start the engine and take off.
It was all right and looked like a routine flight but after about 30 seconds flight, at about 80 meters (250 feet), I got an error message "battery error", the video image has gone and eye contact with the phantom 3 has also gone. Immediately I push on the button "return to home" but the phantom gone and never back.
The camera does not record the take-off stage because there was no need for it. In retrospect it was a mistake.
Fortunately, im flying with GPS tracker connect to the phantom and thanks to him, I found my drone on the ground a few hundred meters from my location.
Of course, the Phantom is completely crushed by free falling to the ground.
I'm sure the sudden and incomprehensible disconnect battery is made Phantom fall to the ground. Even after I found him crushed, the battery was still full. I have no idea what had caused it.
As mentioned above, the Phantom is still the manufacturer's warranty.
I intend to approach DJI for an explanation and a solution to this unpleasant situation.
DJI must give unanimous attention because not talking about human error, but the product failure.
I'll be happy to update their answer on the subject.

I'm horrified, and sorry for you! Ugh. Thank you for sharing. Please let us know how DJI responds.

 

[ViperNuke]

Post your logs, as that would be the only way for us to tell or have an idea of what caused your crash...

 

[phantom13flyer]

I'm sorry for the loss. I hate hearing these stories. Hopefully the logs will shied some light on the situation. It does sound like the battery became disconnected perhaps from vibrations but too early to say and not enough information to go on. Good luck and I hope you get back up in the air soon.

 

[Bigskyflyer]

I'm sorry for the loss. I hate hearing these stories. Hopefully the logs will shied some light on the situation. It does sound like the battery became disconnected perhaps from vibrations but too early to say and not enough information to go on. Good luck and I hope you get back up in the air soon.

I agree, sounds like the battery was not locked, but wait to see what the logs show.

 

[Rocket_Aus]

After replacing the shell I can tell yuh that the power module that connects to the battery is a major design flaw....so easy for it not to connect solidly when the battery is inserted.

 

[bobmyers]

After replacing the shell I can tell yuh that the power module that connects to the battery is a major design flaw....so easy for it not to connect solidly when the battery is inserted.

The major problems are those four small pins that feed the balance circuitry. I mm separation and those will loose contact.

 

[phantom13flyer]

Has anyone came up with a DIY fix for this issue with the power module?

 

[Rocket_Aus]

The major problems are those four small pins that feed the balance circuitry. I mm separation and those will loose contact.

I wonder how many crashes have been cause by this module, there are umpteen threads where the bird has lost power yet battery is still secured.

 

[Tricky]

I too would be interested in a reinforced module if there's a basic workaround.

 

[dirtybum]

I wonder how many crashes have been cause by this module, there are umpteen threads where the bird has lost power yet battery is still secured.

Yep happened to me just two days ago! Fresh battery all locked in Up 1 hundred feet out 200 feet bird just drop to the ground broken to pieces battery was still solidly locked in tact and fully charged. First thing DJI asked me is was I on the new update? Made me kind of suspicious did they think that I should be or should not be

 

[Flyer91]

I'm surprised that this is still a possible issue with the Phantoms.

Some of you might remember this from posts on either here or the RCG Phantom Vision thread, and/or it may have been more recently discussed and possibly debunked as not any issue at all.

Anyway ... the root problem was (at that time) felt not so much a separation issue, as much as suspicions that the contact pads for the sense pins being too thin.
The theory was that vibrations were making the sharp spring loaded pins 'chisel' through the thin pads, ultimately causing a disconnect by wearing away the area of contact.

Easy enough to postmortem by using a loupe to see if the pads are worn through in little spots where the pins contact them.

I believe there was a DIY mod offered way back then, but for the life of me I can't remember exactly what it was, or where it was posted.
And, I really would have expected DJI to have addressed that, if in fact it was/is a 'real' issue.
But taking a peek to see how your pads are wearing might be worth adding to a pre-flight checklist, if you're not already doing that, along with verifying the pins all telescope freely ... and keeping the pads and pin tips clean.

 

[alokbhargava]

After replacing the shell I can tell yuh that the power module that connects to the battery is a major design flaw....so easy for it not to connect solidly when the battery is inserted.

Great finding. What a poor design. Looks like a home made thing.

 

[Rocket_Aus]

I wonder how many crashed have been cause by this module there are umpteen threads where the bird has lost power yet battery is still secured.

Great finding. What a poor design. Looks like a home made thing.

Yup as I said only know this from doing a complete shell replacement after powering the bird up I held the bird to have a look at the gimbal it immediately lost power thankfully as I said I was holding it and not flying.Anywho took me three goes to get the module screwed in so it had proper contact,I would hope DJI would rectify this on the phantom4 as it's to late for the p3.

 

[Sharon Brown]

The store where I purchased the Phantom asked me to take some pictures and do not touch anything until I bring it to them. They will discuss with the DJI with my flight log and exercise their responsibility. Details later on...
For now I am very frustrated by the incident.
Thank you for your comments and encouragement from everyone. Good Day

 

[TheRealNick]

The smaller pins are either to communicate with smart battery or to measure the voltage of the other cells. The two large blades are the main path for power. I would hope contact loss on the small pins would not cause a crash....

 

[robinb]

If the small pins loose contact, then the drone will give battery warnings.

One thing I have always do is put a very thin film of silicon grease on the 2 groves either side of battery, this will ensure the battery slides in and out easily and fully until you hear it click into the locking mechanism.

 

[WMAI]

check the days for discharge on the app with the all batterys

 

[Luap]

The pin issue was an issue on the P2 - first imod was make battery contact

The smaller pins are either to communicate with smart battery or to measure the voltage of the other cells. The two large blades are the main path for power. I would hope contact loss on the small pins would not cause a crash....

So would I -
This issue was dealt on P2 - DJI fixed it by increasing the tab size on battery side.
On the P3 there now are an additional 2 pins (4 total) instead of 2 on P2.
If the original poster could post the txt log and dat log it might give an insight to what caused the crash - Discussing pin issue as possible fault is pure speculation without any data.

 

[alrifaimahmoud]

I warm up the bird checking the GPS everything ok battery full after the bird in 80-meter height I get battery error and a big crushed **** phantom with no reason.anyone help why