- Joined
- May 20, 2014
- Messages
- 94
- Reaction score
- 15
This is now the 4th battery failure I've had with the Phantom 2 Vision. All of my batteries had been charged about 20-35 times. My batteries were bought in twos at different times.
Each time there is failure the drone starts to auto-descend. This time it happened over a small forest during RTH. I realise it was risky to fly in a spot without visibility but I'm comfortable enough to have an idea of it's position and rely on RTH in most cases.
Video follows:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bqdwdv7ux9yp4jg/DJI00106_battery_failure.mp4?dl=0
The remarkable thing was the motors were still spinning after the crash. It was about 20 meters up a tree. I ran into the forest with spiders, leeches and prickly foliage. Following the sound I was able to locate the drone and the tree it was hanging from the branches of. I took GPS position from my phone to be able to return to the spot.
After that we found some very helpful park rangers who came and tried to help by shaking the tree, then trying to climb the tree (yes about 20 meters up) and then throwing small branches up the tree without luck. I was thinking a long ladder with a long pole may dislodge it. Eventually more people came (a total of 5) and one was able to climb a small (25cm diameter approx.) slippery tree. I was amazed. They got it down. Gimbal was hanging off and drone was covered in green from the leaves and branches.
After a big effort to clean up the drone and re-attach the hanging gimbal she was flying fine again within a few hours. Few small scratches mind you. A big storm came later that day...
DJI sucks at batteries. I really hope it improves with the Phantom 3.
Lessons learnt:
- If in doubt of battery failure without visibility switch to Atta mode and full up on left stick to keep it from descending. Then try to bring her home.
- Be extra careful to fly on batteries <60% charge even for short flights.
DJI needs to improve:
-Audio alert on mobile device and drone when battery problem
-In event of drone crash cut the motors and make loud audio alert until the battery depletes.
-In event of drone RTH then also use audio alerts from drone when coming close to home.
In my case the 'Find my Phantom' function didn't help as it had lost the video signal before and it wouldn't even show the last know position.
Each time there is failure the drone starts to auto-descend. This time it happened over a small forest during RTH. I realise it was risky to fly in a spot without visibility but I'm comfortable enough to have an idea of it's position and rely on RTH in most cases.
Video follows:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bqdwdv7ux9yp4jg/DJI00106_battery_failure.mp4?dl=0
The remarkable thing was the motors were still spinning after the crash. It was about 20 meters up a tree. I ran into the forest with spiders, leeches and prickly foliage. Following the sound I was able to locate the drone and the tree it was hanging from the branches of. I took GPS position from my phone to be able to return to the spot.
After that we found some very helpful park rangers who came and tried to help by shaking the tree, then trying to climb the tree (yes about 20 meters up) and then throwing small branches up the tree without luck. I was thinking a long ladder with a long pole may dislodge it. Eventually more people came (a total of 5) and one was able to climb a small (25cm diameter approx.) slippery tree. I was amazed. They got it down. Gimbal was hanging off and drone was covered in green from the leaves and branches.
After a big effort to clean up the drone and re-attach the hanging gimbal she was flying fine again within a few hours. Few small scratches mind you. A big storm came later that day...
DJI sucks at batteries. I really hope it improves with the Phantom 3.
Lessons learnt:
- If in doubt of battery failure without visibility switch to Atta mode and full up on left stick to keep it from descending. Then try to bring her home.
- Be extra careful to fly on batteries <60% charge even for short flights.
DJI needs to improve:
-Audio alert on mobile device and drone when battery problem
-In event of drone crash cut the motors and make loud audio alert until the battery depletes.
-In event of drone RTH then also use audio alerts from drone when coming close to home.
In my case the 'Find my Phantom' function didn't help as it had lost the video signal before and it wouldn't even show the last know position.
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