Invalid Battery on Phantom Vision..Advice needed.

Forgot to mention - I'm still getting the same light sequence though. Anybody know what it means?
 
TisiRaptor said:
Forgot to mention - I'm still getting the same light sequence though. Anybody know what it means?
From the screen shots it suggest the lights will now follow the sequence on the Phantom Classic
A green red red red is aquiring satellites this gradually drops to green red red then green red to flashing green
Once you have flashing green and no reds you have at least 6 satellites I suspect if you take it outside this will probably happen as the app tells you you have six satellites
This is just a guess I am yet to to do the upgrade but I do own both a classic and vision
 
I should have known better than to do firmware update, i usually wait a while just in case there are problems.

Has anybody tried to plug the battery in the charger, to see if the charger recognizes the battery? My battery is full so the charger just shows the green light.

the new battery is $160 and lasts 300 cycles. that's 55 cents per flight. not bad.

Inkjet printer makers started putting chips on their ink cartridges and we had the same issues. that's what happens when you try to block out the competition.

k
 
Just found this on the Internet

Item 2 seems to confirm my earlier guess work concerning your led's



Please find the following information for Phantom 2 Vision firmware updates. And also share with your customers about this.

1. Overview: :

a) The Phantom 2 Vision Autopilot's firmware is upgraded to v.1.05.
b) The firmware of Central Board is upgraded to v1.0.1.18
c) The PC Assistant Software is upgraded to v1.05
d) Cell Phone App is upgraded to (iOS App: v1.0.28 Android App: v1.0.33), they are now under app store reviews.

2. New (Major) Features:

a) For professional users, you can use PC Assistant Software (v1.05) to enter Naza-like Mode (not exactly the same), to enable the IOC feature and enable the original "atti mode, gps mode, manual mode". In addition, the LED flight indicator will behave like Naza, not Phantom 2 Vision. And please alert users only to enter the Naza-like Mode if they are really professional and know what they are doing, because more and more Phantom 2 Vision users will be those who has no experience of flying.

b) The contact pins may encounter some failure when the Phantom 2 Vision is still in the air, which triggers the "Invalid Battery" warning. And since in this case, the autopilot fails to get the battery data via the contact pins, it gets a "0" battery level which triggers the failsafe of auto-landing due to low battery value. After both of Autopilot (v1.05) and Central Board (v.1.0.1.18) updates, even the contact pins fail the communication, the autopilot won't trigger the "Invalid Battery" warning if you are in the air, and it will not trigger the "autolanding". More importantly, the autopilot will still give you warnings if your battery's voltage is lower than 10.65V. (A little background info: autopilot knows the battery percentage via the contact pins, and it can know the battery's voltage without the contact pins). What's more ? if you are using iOS app v1.0.28, it will popup a message box to tell you that "there is a communication failure of the battery, be careful when flying and come back asap" and sth. like that.

PS: Phantom 2 Vision is a "Ready To Fly" "Ready to Capture" "Ready to Share" thing. But still, it is an aircraft, keeping the contact needles and pads clean is very important. Any dirt and dust may cause a communication failure.

c) 2nd Level Low Battery Warning is set to 15% instead of 20%.

d) We add another level of protection, as stated in section b). That is, despite of the 1st and 2nd battery level warning, there is another hidden "level" which uses 10.65V as the threshold. Either this voltage threshold and 2nd Level Low Battery Warning will trigger the auto-landing. (Of course, you can still maintain the altitude by pull up the throttle stick.)

e) Other minor bugs fixed.

3. Special Notes:

a) Must use the latest PC Assistant Software (v1.05)
b) Must upgrade both Autopilot (v1.05) and Central Board (v.1.0.1.18)
c) Before switching to Naza-like Mode, you need to update autopilot and central board first.
d) Latest Cell Phone App is under review by app stores, the only major difference will be, by using earlier version app, you won't get the popup message "battery communication failure". But it really doesn't matter that much. The review takes about 1 week.

For more information , please visit DJI website or reach your sales representative, thanks!
 
Note: I have never had any of the battery errors before like others have

Hopefully this may help a few others


Both the Phantom Vision 2 Autopilot system, and Phantom Vision 2 central board
need to both be updated together with the V1.05 Assistant software.




If you only do the Autopilot system, you will get the Invalid battery error until
you also do the central board update (ask me how I know) :)

After the upgrade and swicthing on IOC and Atti mode etc
the indicator lights will change to as below

 
Anyone know what "naza-like" means? Why couldn't they just add it to the existing program. What have they taken out of this mode of naza?
 
blueskycam said:
I should have known better than to do firmware update, i usually wait a while just in case there are problems.

Has anybody tried to plug the battery in the charger, to see if the charger recognizes the battery? My battery is full so the charger just shows the green light.

the new battery is $160 and lasts 300 cycles. that's 55 cents per flight. not bad.

Inkjet printer makers started putting chips on their ink cartridges and we had the same issues. that's what happens when you try to block out the competition.

k

The smart battery once fully charged all lights go out, it WILL NOT accept a "top off" charge after that unless it is below approx. 93-94%, this is normal.
 
RemE said:
blueskycam said:
I should have known better than to do firmware update, i usually wait a while just in case there are problems.

Has anybody tried to plug the battery in the charger, to see if the charger recognizes the battery? My battery is full so the charger just shows the green light.

the new battery is $160 and lasts 300 cycles. that's 55 cents per flight. not bad.

Inkjet printer makers started putting chips on their ink cartridges and we had the same issues. that's what happens when you try to block out the competition.

k

The smart battery once fully charged all lights go out, it WILL NOT accept a "top off" charge after that unless it is below approx. 93-94%, this is normal.

Although I did notice (before it appeared this update may have somehow bricked mine :cry:) that if you "switch the battery on" i.e. one press, followed by a longer press, it appears to "wake" the circuit up and accept a further charge until full. I did this accidentally once and noticed this result. It's not documented, though, so do it at your own risk. I didn't do it again.

I contacted my DJI dealer about my receiver update issue and will everyone know what he says in case others have this issue on upgrading.
 
kingcat200 said:
Just found this on the Internet

Item 2 seems to confirm my earlier guess work concerning your led's



Please find the following information for Phantom 2 Vision firmware updates. And also share with your customers about this.

1. Overview: :

a) The Phantom 2 Vision Autopilot's firmware is upgraded to v.1.05.
b) The firmware of Central Board is upgraded to v1.0.1.18
c) The PC Assistant Software is upgraded to v1.05
d) Cell Phone App is upgraded to (iOS App: v1.0.28 Android App: v1.0.33), they are now under app store reviews.

Thank you a thousands times

the update process is a 4 step process
first you hook up the PV and update the driver
then it sees that your firmware is old
then it updates that, or lets you know it needs updating
then you update the first firmware
then you update the auto pilot
then you cycle the PV

THEN IT ALL WORKS AGAIN

Their instructions was not all that clear

k
 
Good info mitchsden and kincat200, thank you. Why the hell couldn't DJI communicate this out properly - to the distributors/dealers so that they could then mailshot all customers who have bought a PV2?

Anyway, now armed with the LED descriptions I will stand a better chance. I assume we still enter calibration mode in the same way? Anybody tried it yet?

Looking forward to trying it the other modes, if I can work out how to set up the control switch properly to invoke the different modes!
 
Upgrade went without issue, it had me cycle power twice.

Setting up the IOC modes was easy and the Vision Assistant was easy to use to set up the switches as well, No need to mess with the TX (RC)assistant to do this.

I set the right switch to have now GPS, Attitude, and RTH, very nice.

You could also assign manual control to this switch but you better know how to fly with no stabilization!

More information available on the LEDs for sure! Lots of patterns, but I took it outside without props and walked thu them with the switches and with GPS acquired. It's pretty logical once you see it in action.
 
LGT said:
Okay, here is the $1,200 question: Is the battery problem fixed???

yes and no. are the terminal connections still able to cause a disruption to the power supply? yes. will this now cause your vision to fall out of the sky? no (well it shouldn't, it will now warn you that this has occurred and suggest you get your vision back home asap)
 
I thought I'd maintain my battery analysis post, to save repetitive explanations, here's what I just added;

Edit 11/16/2013 Today DJI Released new SW v1.05 with new control board and autopilot features. The Invalid Battery behavior is much improved! I just did a bench test, I simulated the following scenarios;

1 - Insert non-smart battery or correct battery with bad data contacts, A battery check is made at power up, if you have contact problems with the battery at start up you will get "Invalid Battery" on the phone software and the Vision's motors can not be started, as before.

2 - Connect battery in place, normal start, you are flying, now the battery looses the data stream in flight. The phone app briefly displays "Invalid Battery" then clears (The phone app will soon be updated, in about a week, when it clears Apple's checks, to say "There is a comm failure to the battery, be careful flying and come back ASAP", something like that). The phone shows a blue battery status with 0% but you are still OK flying. DJI also states that the AutoPilot is still monitoring the battery and will activate the auto-land Fast Red battery warning lights at 10.65V. or 15% fuel. (They also say that you can still maintain the altitude by pushing up on the throttle stick, so you might have a chance to save the Vision from a straight down landing, and getting it back closer if you kept flying).

I tried to simulate the connection breaking and re-connecting in flight, which was difficult with my setup, holding test cables, not enough hands! But I was able to see the connection break, and re-establish. This is good if the battery connection is just occasionally loosing contact in flight as you might not see any data loss.

When you land, if you stop the motors, they will not re-start if the data connection is still lost.

That's it for now, I would still highly recommend using a contact enhancer/conductive grease to preserve these contacts.

The original post is here;

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...7#post26583140
 
Studiowise said:
LGT said:
Okay, here is the $1,200 question: Is the battery problem fixed???

yes and no. are the terminal connections still able to cause a disruption to the power supply? yes. will this now cause your vision to fall out of the sky? no (well it shouldn't, it will now warn you that this has occurred and suggest you get your vision back home asap)

I would say more yes.

There are two heavy duty power connections that supply power to the Vision, these have NEVER had a disruption issue.

There are also the two small data pins that give realtime battery info to the auto pilot, these are what caused problems if the data connection was interrupted, the autopilot would initiate an auto land sequence. Now the autopilot will not initiate a landing sequence if the battery data stream breaks intermittently. The autopilot can still monitor the battery voltage without this data stream and can still initiate an auto land sequence at 15% battery, but even that can be overridden by pushing the throttle up, so you could get it back closer, according to the DJI memo.

This is basically fixed
 
RemE said:
Studiowise said:
LGT said:
Okay, here is the $1,200 question: Is the battery problem fixed???

yes and no. are the terminal connections still able to cause a disruption to the power supply? yes. will this now cause your vision to fall out of the sky? no (well it shouldn't, it will now warn you that this has occurred and suggest you get your vision back home asap)

I would say more yes.

There are two heavy duty power connections that supply power to the Vision, these have NEVER had a disruption issue.

There are also the two small data pins that give realtime battery info to the auto pilot, these are what caused problems if the data connection was interrupted, the autopilot would initiate an auto land sequence. Now the autopilot will not initiate a landing sequence if the battery data stream breaks intermittently. The autopilot can still monitor the battery voltage without this data stream and can still initiate an auto land sequence at 15% battery, but even that can be overridden by pushing the throttle up, so you could get it back closer, according to the DJI memo.

This is basically fixed

i kind of agree but, if I'm reading things right, those small pins CAN still disrupt the power supply because if you power up and get a fault then you will not be able to spin up the props and take off. if you get a disruption mid flight then you can get your craft back but, should you power down the props then you wont be able to power them up again until the fault is 'fixed'.
 
i kind of agree but, if I'm reading things right, those small pins CAN still disrupt the power supply because if you power up and get a fault then you will not be able to spin up the props and take off. if you get a disruption mid flight then you can get your craft back but, should you power down the props then you wont be able to power them up again until the fault is 'fixed'.

Agreed, but these contacts are spring loaded and pretty strong, and they have a "stroke" of almost 3MM so I think these issues have been more like noise. I seriously doubt that they are chattering in flight unless defective. If I got a solid "Invalid Battery" on the ground with clean contacts, I'd consider that a defective unit.
 
RemE said:
i kind of agree but, if I'm reading things right, those small pins CAN still disrupt the power supply because if you power up and get a fault then you will not be able to spin up the props and take off. if you get a disruption mid flight then you can get your craft back but, should you power down the props then you wont be able to power them up again until the fault is 'fixed'.

Agreed, but these contacts are spring loaded and pretty strong, and they have a "stroke" of almost 3MM so I think these issues have been more like noise. I seriously doubt that they are chattering in flight unless defective. If I got a solid "Invalid Battery" on the ground with clean contacts, I'd consider that a defective unit.

i'm bemused by it all!

i posted somewhere (i forget which forum) on the day i got my PV that when i connected it to my PC im sure i saw an 'invalid battery' message pop up for a nano-second. no one jumped on that post because i suspect no-one knew anything about what eventually became a significant issue. ive flown 20 or so significant flights since with no power issues.
tonight, i started the update process and (until the final power recycle) i had the battery message throughout and the assistant software wouldn't display any stats for the battery. now its 'fine' but i actually get the feeling its not but is actually being message suppressed to some degree.

edited to add: and on microscopic inspection , I've got the wiggly trails across my battery gold 'discs'
 
I just got back from a successful 15min flight up to 400' & 200' out after upgrading Phantom Assistant, RC Assistant, & all firmware and very happy to report no issues or unwelcome surprises. Of course one flight isn't enough, but it's good to be out flying again. I found when opening the transmitter (to connect the USB cable) it's not necessary to remove the antenna collar if you separate the halves slightly, bring the cable in from the top & side, preoriented & ready to mate with the PCB connector. If ya got big hands ask one of the kids do do it for you, they're experts at this sorta thing. I also noticed the TX firmware upgrade failed on first attempt and after power-down reset didn't light the green LED on the case. Not to worry, apparently it sets itself to "Loader" mode and just needs to be powered-up & reconnected to the RC Assistant, then you push the Upgrade button again to complete installing. I haven't tried NAZA M mode yet, but I see others have flown successfully as well.

iDrone
 

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