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- Dec 19, 2013
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I bought my Vision and 3 extra batteries on 12/2 at a local dealer outside of Austin. I had read on these forums about all of the flyaway and battery issues and such so I made sure to update everything before my first flight. I flew it 4 or more times a day for the last 2 weeks without encountering any of the problems I had read about.
During the first week I tested out the "Return to home" failsafe function a few times and it worked flawlessly each time. Then I got my head wrapped around the concept of the "Course lock" and "Home lock" and both of those modes worked as stated in the manual. The one thing I didn't test, and frankly haven't read about anybody else testing either was the "auto-landing" upon low battery. I guess I just assumed this would work because of the lack of internet chatter about it. So a few days ago I got the bright idea to have my Phantom hover over the pasture I was clearing cactus in and have it take a series of photos of my progress. I knew I had read in the manual that it would auto land when the battery got low so I tried it. I kept it in GPS mode and I flew it about 200 feet away and about 100' up. I set down the transmitter, got in the tractor and went to work. Periodically I would look over at it and it was flying very steady exactly where I left it. After about 20 minutes I thought I would walk over to the transmitter and see what the battery was at. But before I got to the transmitter the Vision just fell out of the sky and broke the shell and the camera. The next day I went in to my dealer and I asked him what behavior I should expect if I were to just let it hover like that in the air and he said that upon a low battery condition that it would auto land itself. It didn't do that of course because now its in pieces. He told me to fill out a report on the DJI website and he thought that the manufacturer across the pond (china) would replace it. They had previously authorized 2 other Vision replacements for crashes caused by the invalid battery issue. I didn't receive a response from DJI but he did the next day. He told me that what they (the Chinese) said was so bad that he wasn't going to tell me what they said except that they say that it is my fault and there will be no replacement. He disagrees with them and thinks they didn't understand what I was telling them in the report. Granted I thought the report was going to be read in the Austin at the US headquarters not by someone in China. This is the text from the report I sent from the DJI website:
I purchased my Phantom Vision on December 2nd. I updated the firmware on it that day before my first flight. I've flown it nearly everyday without issue until yesterday.
After reading the owners manual I was under the impression that after the second battery low alarm the Phantom would begin to descend and land itself. So I thought that I would have the Phantom hover over the pasture I was working in at about 100' and have it take a series of photos of my progress. Thinking that it would land itself after the battery got low, I made sure that there wasn't anything below it but the pasture for an easy landing on its own.
I proceeded to work on cactus removal. After about 20 minutes, of it not moving an inch in the sky I thought I would go over to where I had set down the transmitter. As I was walking back to the transmitter the Phantom just fell out of the sky without auto landing like I had read that it would.
My much loved bird is now in several pieces due to this apparent malfunction.
I spoke with Jake Lahmann at UAV Direct this morning and he also agreed that the craft should have auto landed itself without problems. This is the one thing I didn't test in the 2 weeks I've had it. Everything else performs as stated in the owners manual. Except that I did notice that the lower right side of all of my photos are blurry for some reason. I think that is a defect in the camera lens possibly.
Thanks in advance for your prompt attention. I am leaving on Tuesday December 24th for Christmas in Tucson with family. I was so excited at the thought of having my Vision for vacation footage. Now I don't know what to do.
Please help!
Sad Santa
Sorry this is so long. Can someone offer up some advise? Everyone should test that low battery auto land and see if it works.
During the first week I tested out the "Return to home" failsafe function a few times and it worked flawlessly each time. Then I got my head wrapped around the concept of the "Course lock" and "Home lock" and both of those modes worked as stated in the manual. The one thing I didn't test, and frankly haven't read about anybody else testing either was the "auto-landing" upon low battery. I guess I just assumed this would work because of the lack of internet chatter about it. So a few days ago I got the bright idea to have my Phantom hover over the pasture I was clearing cactus in and have it take a series of photos of my progress. I knew I had read in the manual that it would auto land when the battery got low so I tried it. I kept it in GPS mode and I flew it about 200 feet away and about 100' up. I set down the transmitter, got in the tractor and went to work. Periodically I would look over at it and it was flying very steady exactly where I left it. After about 20 minutes I thought I would walk over to the transmitter and see what the battery was at. But before I got to the transmitter the Vision just fell out of the sky and broke the shell and the camera. The next day I went in to my dealer and I asked him what behavior I should expect if I were to just let it hover like that in the air and he said that upon a low battery condition that it would auto land itself. It didn't do that of course because now its in pieces. He told me to fill out a report on the DJI website and he thought that the manufacturer across the pond (china) would replace it. They had previously authorized 2 other Vision replacements for crashes caused by the invalid battery issue. I didn't receive a response from DJI but he did the next day. He told me that what they (the Chinese) said was so bad that he wasn't going to tell me what they said except that they say that it is my fault and there will be no replacement. He disagrees with them and thinks they didn't understand what I was telling them in the report. Granted I thought the report was going to be read in the Austin at the US headquarters not by someone in China. This is the text from the report I sent from the DJI website:
I purchased my Phantom Vision on December 2nd. I updated the firmware on it that day before my first flight. I've flown it nearly everyday without issue until yesterday.
After reading the owners manual I was under the impression that after the second battery low alarm the Phantom would begin to descend and land itself. So I thought that I would have the Phantom hover over the pasture I was working in at about 100' and have it take a series of photos of my progress. Thinking that it would land itself after the battery got low, I made sure that there wasn't anything below it but the pasture for an easy landing on its own.
I proceeded to work on cactus removal. After about 20 minutes, of it not moving an inch in the sky I thought I would go over to where I had set down the transmitter. As I was walking back to the transmitter the Phantom just fell out of the sky without auto landing like I had read that it would.
My much loved bird is now in several pieces due to this apparent malfunction.
I spoke with Jake Lahmann at UAV Direct this morning and he also agreed that the craft should have auto landed itself without problems. This is the one thing I didn't test in the 2 weeks I've had it. Everything else performs as stated in the owners manual. Except that I did notice that the lower right side of all of my photos are blurry for some reason. I think that is a defect in the camera lens possibly.
Thanks in advance for your prompt attention. I am leaving on Tuesday December 24th for Christmas in Tucson with family. I was so excited at the thought of having my Vision for vacation footage. Now I don't know what to do.
Please help!
Sad Santa
Sorry this is so long. Can someone offer up some advise? Everyone should test that low battery auto land and see if it works.