Could not shut down the battery after a flight.

[Midlife Flyer]

I experienced a normal flight documenting a construction site. As I hand caught the aircraft and pushed the battery button it did not shut down. I repeated the two-second process but had the same result. Next, the motors ran up to max speed, noted by the remote screen and the sound. For six minutes I held the craft until the battery lost power. Many thoughts ran through my mind but I didn't wish to let go of the craft as the motors were spinning at full speed. I removed the battery immediately after the power was gone. There were no fried connections on the battery or aircraft.
So, a couple of questions, I have another flight later today, are the motors ok?. No surprise that they were hot. Would this cause damage to the motors? Age them prematurely? The battery will not be used again for miss behaving that's for sure. The day before I used this battery to go through a checklist list of settings and adjusted the gimble. I arrived at this job confident that I had performed my due diligence. The only settings I change for the most part are ones associated with the camera. Should I fly again today?

 

[Fly Dawg]

I repeated the two-second process but had the same result.

Are you 100% certain that you did the "double press"? This happens more than you would think.

 

[Midlife Flyer]

Yes, I had six minutes. It would show that I had only 2 green lights left but then when I pushed the second time nothing happened. What puzzles me is why did the motors speed up? I'm reluctant to fly at the moment due to the max speed taking place. Where is Keanu Reeves when one's drone is at max speed? Not funny I guess.

 

[Fly Dawg]

What puzzles me is why did the motors speed up?

If you could supply the flight data from your device we can take a look and possibly see why this occurred. You can upload your device .txt log to this link:Log Viewer If that does not provide enough information we would need the aircraft .dat.

 

[Fly Dawg]

You will need to share a link back here to the uploaded file.

 

[PhantomFandom]

I experienced a normal flight documenting a construction site. As I hand caught the aircraft and pushed the battery button it did not shut down. I repeated the two-second process but had the same result. Next, the motors ran up to max speed, noted by the remote screen and the sound. For six minutes I held the craft until the battery lost power. Many thoughts ran through my mind but I didn't wish to let go of the craft as the motors were spinning at full speed. I removed the battery immediately after the power was gone. There were no fried connections on the battery or aircraft.
So, a couple of questions, I have another flight later today, are the motors ok?. No surprise that they were hot. Would this cause damage to the motors? Age them prematurely? The battery will not be used again for miss behaving that's for sure. The day before I used this battery to go through a checklist list of settings and adjusted the gimble. I arrived at this job confident that I had performed my due diligence. The only settings I change for the most part are ones associated with the camera. Should I fly again today?

This is very confusing. Can you be more specific on the sequence of events?

• You did a hand catch. At that point did you stop the motors from the controller by holding the left stick down until they stopped?
• When you attempted to turn off the battery, were the motors stopped?
• If the motors were stopped, at what point did they start spinning at full speed? What were you doing at that time?

 

[Fly Dawg]

@PhantomFandom ....The flight logs will answer all of your questions.

 

[Midlife Flyer]

Phantom Fandom, you brought up a point that makes clear something I did but didn't do long enough was hold the left stick back longer. I heard and saw the prompting of max speed so I grabbed with my left hand to stabilize the AC. I learned that one cannot just switch off the battery to stop the propellers. I feel rather stupid today.

 

[Fly Dawg]

I did but didn't do long enough was hold the left stick back longer.

The aircraft should have been at "idle" at that point. It doesn't explain your "max speed" unless you pushed the throttle full forward.

 

[Fly Dawg]

That is unless you did not have the VPS turned off. Then that could be an issue.

 

[PhantomFandom]

Phantom Fandom, you brought up a point that makes clear something I did but didn't do long enough was hold the left stick back longer. I heard and saw the prompting of max speed so I grabbed with my left hand to stabilize the AC. I learned that one cannot just switch off the battery to stop the propellers. I feel rather stupid today.

That's what I was thinking, but your original post was not clear. A drone has never "landed" until the props have stopped spinning. Trying to turn off the battery while they are still spinning is dangerous and probably why it would not actually shut off. Can't say that I have ever tried it, and I don't plan to.

As to why the props started spinning faster, perhaps the drone was trying to compensate for movement (if you move it, it will try to stabilize and stay in position) or perhaps you did move the left stick up. The flight logs will clarify that.

In any case, this was pilot error.

 

[Midlife Flyer]

Yes, my error.

 

[DoomMeister]

Hanging on to the aircraft with the props trying to generate lift makes the FC add more power since the sensors are not detecting upward movement.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Hanging on to the aircraft with the props trying to generate lift makes the FC add more power since the sensors are not detecting upward movement.

That was my original thought above. The VPS should be off when hand catching. Otherwise, if the aircraft detects that it is low to the ground, such as blocking the sensors with a hand or arm, and pulling the stick down, should initaiate an autoland. But with the motors at near idle, an increase in speed would be initiated by the FC. The flight logs would show this, if that were the case.

 

[Midlife Flyer]

Interesting to know this. These construction sites are becoming very dusty which is why I hand catch. I think I'm going to take a new direction.

 

[Fly Dawg]

These construction sites are becoming very dusty which is why I hand catch. I think I'm going to take a new direction.

Just turn off the VPS if you want to hand catch, it should not be an issue. IMO, you don't need it anyway. I never use it. You get much smoother landings without it.

 

[David_Cambridge]

With no stick input and the drone hovering from a hand catch, if you grab it and drag it even a little down, the drone will apply power to return to the hover altitude. It won’t stop trying to regain altitude until you either raise your arm to allow it to return to the altitude it wants, or you pull the left stick back and hold it. It fights pretty hard to regain altitude.

 

[PhantomFandom]

Just turn off the VPS if you want to hand catch, it should not be an issue. IMO, you don't need it anyway. I never use it. You get much smoother landings without it.

I disagree on hand catch with P4. Hand catching a Spark, Mavic Air, or Mavic Pro with downward sensors on is a pain in the neck. The Phantoms are super easy to catch with all sensors enabled. I've done it and never had a problem.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Hand catching a Spark, Mavic Air, or Mavic Pro with downward sensors on is a pain in the neck.

True, but it is still a risk with a Phantom, as slight as it may be. I have only hand caught a few times. Don't really care for it and don't find it neccessary except under certain conditions.

 

[bdooley]

All this reinforces my belief that hand catching is a bad thing - an accident waiting to happen.