DJI Phantom 2 Death Drop Crash Caught on Video

[solargravity]

While capturing footage for our upcoming article on DJI Phantom 2 quads our very own P2 fell victim to a power failure and subsequent death drop crash.

Our P2 was about 30 days old and had about 27 flights logged. As you can see in the video we were taking off and gaining altitude when the failure hit.

http://www.rchelimag.com/dji-phantom-2- ... rop-crash/

 

[poostik]

oof.
hope they rectify the issue.

scary stuff.

 

[Bluegrass]

So what did you attribute the power failure to. A defective battery, one of those cheaper after market batteries, or something else? I did read somewhere about cleaning the contacts where the battery plugs into the quad.

 

[750r]

You stopped the video to quick but looked like the phantom had no lights that would be battery failure it has been reported the battery has some communication problems and quits just a guess on what happend .

 

[solargravity]

So far it's a mystery. I had a new battery fully charged in my P2 and I know for a fact that I had it seated properly. With over 9 years of experience in flying RC helis this is the first drop out of the air like a brick events I have ever had. I'm still awaiting DJI to contact me about this although I've heard from quite a number of people having the same issue.

The thing that made my even unique was that I had 3 cameras rolling. (the video only shows 2 but I have another angle) and that it was early in my flight. The video that I posted skipped my flight check (no one needs to see that) for time but it was about 45 seconds total. Additionally, the quad was fairly new so it would not be the typical wear and tear that you see from older quads.

It's really strange and stressful. What you don't realize is that the day before I was flying over a river with full confidence and even feeling pretty secure about the bird. Now I don't know if I will ever attempt to take my quad over anything like that again.

I will keep posting my findings on my site and here of course.

Thanks for replying.

 

[ianwood]

Did the battery eject from the crash or was it still in place? Did the P2 reboot? This has been reported a few times. Please put the battery in as is (do not charge or discharge) and take a screen shot of the battery page in the P2 Assistant.

Ultimately you need to get the attention of the right people at DJI and make sure they get that battery to do some forensics. So far, I have not seen this myself but any one of the four batteries I have might be a ticking bomb. Not comforting.

 

[solargravity]

The battery did not eject and was intact even after the 10 ft fall. There is nothing else to the video but my dog running around the P2 as it was completely still after that. Secondly, my P2 will not power up at all anymore it simply turns on for 3 seconds and then turns off so I can't connect it to the software. It's all so crazy.

About DJI, I'm giving them a few more days before I start shaking my fist. Like I mentioned in my article on my site I was contacted already via FB and was told a support member would contact me but we are approaching 1 week. I can tell you that I'm not going to rest until this I receive a new Phantom P2 with a new Zenmuse H3-2D.

The unit was not even 35 days old and I only had 30 flights. I understand things happen but falling out of the sky for no reason is a product failure. I'm not about to see $1000 thrown away.

The crazy part is that I was shooting video to boast and promote how amazing the P2 has been. I'm reserving my fury to see what happens and giving them the chance to make it right.

 

[ianwood]

If the battery doesn't work anymore, it sounds similar to this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJvHRJwVkOk[/youtube]

The only difference being you didn't have to spend 3 days looking for it!

 

[JamesD]

.
I don't think I'm going to take my P2 out of the box. It arrived today. Crashes. Compasses, Batteries, Oh My...

Jimmy

Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid...

 

[solargravity]

.
I don't think I'm going to take my P2 out of the box. It arrived today. Crashes. Compasses, Batteries, Oh My...

Jimmy

Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid...

You got that right! I was so confident in my quad until this happened. I wonder how I will be when I get my replacement.

 

[Joel_t]

Wow that sucks. Had mine over water the other day but very hesitant to do it again now. DJI surely have to fully replace everything. Not only do you have the onboard camera but also a ground camera showing it was not user error. Good luck and eagerly await the response from DJI.

 

[jimdenburg]

The battery did not eject and was intact even after the 10 ft fall. There is nothing else to the video but my dog running around the P2 as it was completely still after that. Secondly, my P2 will not power up at all anymore it simply turns on for 3 seconds and then turns off so I can't connect it to the software. It's all so crazy.

About DJI, I'm giving them a few more days before I start shaking my fist. Like I mentioned in my article on my site I was contacted already via FB and was told a support member would contact me but we are approaching 1 week. I can tell you that I'm not going to rest until this I receive a new Phantom P2 with a new Zenmuse H3-2D.

The unit was not even 35 days old and I only had 30 flights. I understand things happen but falling out of the sky for no reason is a product failure. I'm not about to see $1000 thrown away.

The crazy part is that I was shooting video to boast and promote how amazing the P2 has been. I'm reserving my fury to see what happens and giving them the chance to make it right.

Just curious if the battery will power up when disconnected to the Phantom? Have you tried a different battery in the craft? I just wonder if it's an issue with the battery or the craft? Sucks that you had to be one of the unlucky ones, and while these posts make me a bit nervous about flying, I think it's also good to keep in mind that there are thousands of these out there and for every person who's had such a failure there are probably many, many more who have flow without issue. I fly with floats over the water though JIC.

 

[QYV]

hey OP what firmware were you running? Are your RC, P2, gimbal, etc firmwares at current?

 

[GhostMaster]

This is due this new stupid battery... Some DJI Smart Lipo are beiing detected as aftermarket and the phantom crashes in flyght. Stupid batteries and protection.

 

[max01726]

Ahhh mannn this has really got me worried now... i dont wanna be flying it far away or over water and it just drops out the sky! i hope DJI find out what the problem is and fix it asap!

 

[ianwood]

This is due this new stupid battery... Some DJI Smart Lipo are beiing detected as aftermarket and the phantom crashes in flyght. Stupid batteries and protection.

This is incorrect. The original P2 firmware had this problem but it was fixed back in January. What seems to be the case is the built-in controller is failing under heavy load which either momentarily disconnects the current long enough to cause the P2 to to reset in mid-air or it cuts out all together and doesn't work again after that.

 

[GhostMaster]

This DJI protection to not use aftermarket batteries cause this too...

 

[ianwood]

This DJI protection to not use aftermarket batteries cause this too...

Only if you are on the original firmware which was replaced in January, so no, that is no longer the case.

 

[QYV]

I'm on the 3.0 firmware and often when I plug in the P2 and run PAssist it says "non dji battery detected" . usually it goes away.

anyway really curious which version this guy is on. was on

 

[ianwood]

I'm on the 3.0 firmware and often when I plug in the P2 and run PAssist it says "non dji battery detected" . usually it goes away.

anyway really curious which version this guy is on. was on

Current firmware will prevent a non-DJI battery from taking off. But if it detects a non-DJI battery mid-flight, it will not cut the power.