Water Loss

[Jthompsonmd]

P3 pro, took off and hovered over water for about 30 seconds.
Some kind of warning light flashed, drone immediately started to land...in the water. Battery was full.

I did not have enough time to steer it back to me because it landed so fast.
Drone sunk, water retrieval device did NOT WORK. It's at bottom of lake.

Anyone have advice on whether the company will replace due to malfunction , or am I just screwed?

Thanks.

 

[msinger]

Check out your TXT flight log to see if it explains what happened. You can upload and view it online here. If you'd like other people to review and comment on your flight log, then please post a link back here after you upload it.

 

[Jthompsonmd]

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Jthompsonmd]

i see 2 alerts on flight data...

-Motor Overloaded. Aircraft will decelerate to ensure safety.

-Critically Low Power. Aircraft Landing. Throttle up to reduce the speed of descent and use sticks to avoid obstacles. (BATTERY WAS 50% !?!)

 

[Numone]

Taking off with 50% battery is asking for trouble. It shows cell deviations across the board from take-off which can show the battery is overloading and, sure enough, that popped-up at 26s and then auto land kicks in at 39s. Bad news and I'm sorry you've lost your AC.

 

[Jthompsonmd]

does it appear to be purely a battery malfunction?

I've flown many times, and always land at 30%, but I've never had it land automatically at 50%.

it seems something else went wrong...any insight is appreciated.

 

[msinger]

I'm not sure if the battery (or aircraft) malfunctioned, but I can offer you one piece of advice that should help you get out of this situation if it happens again in the future. Hold the throttle in the full up position (to temporarily stop the descent), steer the Phantom to a better landing location (e.g. over your boat), and let go of the sticks to allow it to finish auto landing. Your flight log shows you watched it descend for about 13 seconds without attempting to control it with the sticks.

 

[Jthompsonmd]

yes, i don't think i was paying full attention, until i noticed it was coming down.

may be a silly question, but will the company replace the drone due to malfunction, and since the water retrieval device did not deploy?

 

[msinger]

will the company replace the drone due to malfunction, and since the water retrieval device did not deploy?

Not sure. Check out their company policy and/or contact them directly.

 

[Meta4]

does it appear to be purely a battery malfunction?
I've flown many times, and always land at 30%, but I've never had it land automatically at 50%.

The big problem is that you launched with a partially discharged battery.
When you do that, the % indicator is not reliable at all.
Look at the voltage the battery was able to deliver.
You need a minimum of 3.3 volts per cell for the Phantom to be able to fly.
You had cells below 3.3 V under load at 49%, after only 30 seconds in the air.
That is what triggered the Critically Low Power autolanding.

Never launch with a battery that has been sitting around and has partially discharged

 

[With The Birds]

When was the battery charged? What was the days to discharge setting in the battery?