Invalid Battery/Abnormal Battery Communication Diagnosed

Sorry to hear of your problems chaps

Just curious as to what mode you were in Vision or Nazza

Thanks in Advance
 
happydogs said:
how can i remedy this? i'm thinking of maybe soldering a tiny bit to the end of the prongs...or maybe drop a tiny drop on the circular contact points to, in effect, "raise them".

thoughts?

Solder isn't a good solution for this problem. For one you will be adding mass to the connectors and could make the problem worse by lowering the resonance of the contacts and overcoming the spring tension even more. Second solder isn't a good contact medium. It will be a less reliable conductor than the bare pins themselves.

If the problems are being caused by bouncing pins that interrupt the signal from the battery the most reasonable solution is to redesign the contacts on the Phantom to be buckets with friction tabs inside instead of flat contacts. This is a tried and true connection method. The friction will keep the pins from moving as well as allow for more contact area than just the tip of a contact point. The person that designed that data connection obviously is not the right kind of engineer to evaluate the potential risk of such a decision.

Alternately if that isn't practical what will be needed is a "spring" material with a resonance outside the vibration range the Phantom generates.
 
LandYachtMedia said:
happydogs said:
how can i remedy this? i'm thinking of maybe soldering a tiny bit to the end of the prongs...or maybe drop a tiny drop on the circular contact points to, in effect, "raise them".

thoughts?

Solder isn't a good solution for this problem. For one you will be adding mass to the connectors and could make the problem worse by lowering the resonance of the contacts and overcoming the spring tension even more. Second solder isn't a good contact medium. It will be a less reliable conductor than the bare pins themselves.

If the problems are being caused by bouncing pins that interrupt the signal from the battery the most reasonable solution is to redesign the contacts on the Phantom to be buckets with friction tabs inside instead of flat contacts. This is a tried and true connection method. The friction will keep the pins from moving as well as allow for more contact area than just the tip of a contact point. The person that designed that data connection obviously is not the right kind of engineer to evaluate the potential risk of such a decision.

Alternately if that isn't practical what will be needed is a "spring" material with a resonance outside the vibration range the Phantom generates.

the voice of reason
 
The first step is to make sure that the contacts are clean.

The second step is to get the existing spring-loaded contact pins to depress their
springs at least a full mm instead of just barely touching the contact dot.
 
yes...my contacts were clean...this is such a critical part of the setup that it just seems there should be a better way to do it.
 
What about some tiny gold sleeves that fit over the existing pins? Thats what it needs. Simple and cheap. A $20 dollar fix. We'd all buy it whether we need it or not. It would be easy to install and would supply an instant fix.
 
mine dropped like a brick - no motors appeared to be on and no lights on the way down - stone cold dead. We never got any kind of alarm or alert back to the ipad when it cut off....just the two very brief 'abnormal battery communication' messages about 90 seconds before (I studied the time stamps on the photos we were taking and it looks like we were actually snapping a picture as it shut down...very bizzare twisted image )

As for temp - it was about 45d F or so and I've flow when the temp is down in the 30's without any problems.
 
just got word that dji repair center in Los Angeles has my bird and that i'll hear back from them when/as they work on it.
 
also - was flying in Vision mode....and all lights and telemetry looked normal til it just shut off. No stunts, no rapid spins - just a slow climb when it just died.
 
MrFlats said:
What about some tiny gold sleeves that fit over the existing pins? Thats what it needs. Simple and cheap. A $20 dollar fix. We'd all buy it whether we need it or not. It would be easy to install and would supply an instant fix.

Any idea on where to buy something like that?
 
happydogs -

I contacted my dealer (Atlanta Hobby) - who told me that if it flew out of the box, it wasn't their problem. They told me to contact DJI. So I emailed DJI - waited three days, emailed again on Saturday...and have no response (Tuesday today).
How did you get DJI's attention?
 
Those of you who have upgraded to the latest firmware (currently v1.08) and who are experiencing "drops from the sky" or persistent "invalid battery" warnings despite upgrading would be well advised to contact your dealers -and- copy your report and file it with DJI using the following link: http://www.dji.com/tech-support/report-problem/

Response time appears to be a few days if DJI USA responds, or about a week if the overseas factory responds. If you don't file a report w/DJI, you're at the mercy of your dealer. If you purchased by credit card, some will allow you to revoke acceptance and demand a refund or credit.

iDrone
 
OK - finally heard from DJI. Very helpful customer support person ... my Vision is California bound. No idea of the cost, but they told me the electronics were covered regardless - If I understood him correctly, I'll be charged for the body shells and one motor (maybe).
However, as for the source of the battery problem, I was told that the only thing that could cause this kind of complete power loss would be if the battery itself had not been snapped into place properly, and actually disconnected in flight. It makes a pretty distinctive snapping sound when you install it, and did not come out of my Vision until it hit the ground - but I guess I could have not snapped it in far enough or something... ...I'm 99.5% sure I did, but DJI sounded equally certain that I didn't.

They agreed to look check out the battery that was being used, and let me know if that could be defective in some way. If anyone's still checking in on this thread - I'll keep it posted.
 
i got my bird back from the LA repair center. they said all they did was to replace the camera (after the fall from the sky it no longer worked).

have now done several flights...it is perfect...just like before 1.05 and 1.08 updates.

NO invalid battery signals...and i'm using the same battery. so, whatever, now it's fine.
 
noreason4 said:
MrFlats said:
What about some tiny gold sleeves that fit over the existing pins? Thats what it needs. Simple and cheap. A $20 dollar fix. We'd all buy it whether we need it or not. It would be easy to install and would supply an instant fix.

Any idea on where to buy something like that?
why could you not just slide a small piece of brass tubing from any hobby store over it
 
its back!
DJI attached a note saying they replaced both my battery and the battery contactors. Did a full rebuild...even gave me some new stickers. They took awhile to get back to me - but did a great job, did it fast, and did it all under warranty.
 

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