Battery issue got my first crash - awesome footage
I have a Phantom 2 2nd version since 2 years. I’m using 3 original DJI batteries. The oldest one (2 years now) has had 81 recharges. I noticed in my last 2 flights some strange things. First a sudden drop in percentage, and unable to stay at the same height.
I actually thought I need to drain the battery and recharge it.
I drained the battery with a charger down to 8%, then I stuck it in the phantom and let it drain down to 0, or at least this is what the software was showing. Anyway once that was done the full capacity went from 5120 mAh to 4930.
I then charged the battery with its original charger. It seemed to charge well, in fact it took 1 hour and 35 minutes which is the normal time. So I was confident to go test it keeping the drone not too far in case of a emergency landing. But I also wanted to take advantage of the fog to take some nice footage.
So before anyone starts shouting let me tell you that the place I’m flying is 100% safe.
No people, no cars or houses nearby and no small air traffic because of the fog.
So as I started I had 98% and had 12,4 V which decreased immediately down to 11,2 V.
As you will see in the video I never paid much attention at the voltage, and I assume many like myself are looking at the percentage. Clearly the battery has having some issues. You will see that as I’m climbing voltage drops and battery blinks. This equals to the red blinking lights which I could not see anyway because of the fog.
So I’m now focusing and making sure that the craft is not having odd behavior like not holding the height. I’m so focused that I forget that my screens battery is running out. After 6 minutes of flight as I’m returning home and coming down on altitude my screen goes black. No problem, I have a spare battery and connector on my tripod. Too bad I had taped the connector to do a clean job, and while I’m trying to untape I hear that the drone is losing altitude. So I boost it up. Finally after almost 1 minute I restart the black pearl monitor and see how my drone is just above the trees. I try to throttle up but it just went down. It's only was 50 meters (150 feet) away from me but I only found it quickly because the gimbal was making noise. I was relieved that I had no damage, not even a broken propeller. It appears the automated landing kicked in when the battery went low, but I don’t know why it did not return home, because that is how I set it.
Anyway, I hope this can help other newcomers to recognize battery issues in time. I’m sure most of the crashes, after pilot mistakes, are battery related. Wonder how many phantom are lying in some woods desperate to be recovered. Mine screamed loud enough. He was lucky.
Opps small mistake in the text.Look!
I have a Phantom 2 2nd version since 2 years. I’m using 3 original DJI batteries. The oldest one (2 years now) has had 81 recharges. I noticed in my last 2 flights some strange things. First a sudden drop in percentage, and unable to stay at the same height.
I actually thought I need to drain the battery and recharge it.
I drained the battery with a charger down to 8%, then I stuck it in the phantom and let it drain down to 0, or at least this is what the software was showing. Anyway once that was done the full capacity went from 5120 mAh to 4930.
I then charged the battery with its original charger. It seemed to charge well, in fact it took 1 hour and 35 minutes which is the normal time. So I was confident to go test it keeping the drone not too far in case of a emergency landing. But I also wanted to take advantage of the fog to take some nice footage.
So before anyone starts shouting let me tell you that the place I’m flying is 100% safe.
No people, no cars or houses nearby and no small air traffic because of the fog.
So as I started I had 98% and had 12,4 V which decreased immediately down to 11,2 V.
As you will see in the video I never paid much attention at the voltage, and I assume many like myself are looking at the percentage. Clearly the battery has having some issues. You will see that as I’m climbing voltage drops and battery blinks. This equals to the red blinking lights which I could not see anyway because of the fog.
So I’m now focusing and making sure that the craft is not having odd behavior like not holding the height. I’m so focused that I forget that my screens battery is running out. After 6 minutes of flight as I’m returning home and coming down on altitude my screen goes black. No problem, I have a spare battery and connector on my tripod. Too bad I had taped the connector to do a clean job, and while I’m trying to untape I hear that the drone is losing altitude. So I boost it up. Finally after almost 1 minute I restart the black pearl monitor and see how my drone is just above the trees. I try to throttle up but it just went down. It's only was 50 meters (150 feet) away from me but I only found it quickly because the gimbal was making noise. I was relieved that I had no damage, not even a broken propeller. It appears the automated landing kicked in when the battery went low, but I don’t know why it did not return home, because that is how I set it.
Anyway, I hope this can help other newcomers to recognize battery issues in time. I’m sure most of the crashes, after pilot mistakes, are battery related. Wonder how many phantom are lying in some woods desperate to be recovered. Mine screamed loud enough. He was lucky.
Opps small mistake in the text.Look!
