P3P Lost Advice Please

ddh1313 · May 29, 2016

My P3P was lost yesterday and I am fairly sure it will be unrecoverable.

I was flying over a lake at a height of 124ft and went from completely stable flight to seeing water on FPV and lost signal 2 seconds later. During that 2 seconds I noticed a warning pop up about max motor RPM and satellite positioning being off. The last record I have within DJI Go is a vertical descent speed of 36.9mph with 88% battery remaining. I can only assume that it was a prop failure or bird strike. I was not recording at the time (of course). I did not see any birds on FPV. There are absolutely no obstructions to fly into in that area.

We took a canoe out to the location with an extendable pole and tried to stick for depth but could never reach bottom. It is at least 20 feet deep and likely more with maybe 3ft visibility at the surface.

I am curious if anyone can provide advice on what to expect from DJI and how to go about this. Is any kind of warranty claim without recovering the AC going to be a dead end based on forum experience?

Thanks

Healthy Drone Report:
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

BVC · May 29, 2016

Sorry to hear - that sucks

Sounds like a total loss, no matter what the cause was..

tytlyf · May 29, 2016

Looks like the mode changed to atti, but that shouldn't cause it to just fall unless hand was on throttle down.

Oso · May 29, 2016

My guess is a lost prop (max motor rpm warning) and then lost GPS as it tumbled. Healthy Drones is very limited. Is this the P3 that cracked in the car a few days ago?

Try to upload you log files to the site below. If you don't know how to find your files, there are instructions and a video there as well. Just disregard the part of the video that tells you to upload to Healthy Drones and upload to Phantom Help instead. Then post the link back here. People will be able to help you better. BTW - sorry for the loss sir.

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

HWCM · May 29, 2016

ddh1313 · May 29, 2016

Oso said:
My guess is a lost prop, but Healthy Drones is very limited. Is this the P3 that cracked in the car a few days ago?

Try to upload you log files to the site below. If you don't know how to find your files, there are instructions and a video there as well. Just disregard the part of the video that tells you to upload to Healthy Drones and upload to Phantom Help instead. Then post the link back here. People will be able to help you better. BTW - sorry for the loss sir.

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Yes Oso, it sure is (good memory!). I didn't even mention that because I have made a few flights since that time and didn't want to add in a variable that I considered unrelated.

The log parser that you provided is FAR more detailed.. very cool.

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Thanks

Oso · May 29, 2016

ddh1313 said:
The log parser that you provided is FAR more detailed.. very cool.

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Thanks

All the credit goes to @msinger
I just share the link whenever anyone has a need.

Meta4 · May 29, 2016

ddh1313 said:
Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

The last two lines in your flight data tel the story.
They say: Satellite Positioning Off. Fly with caution and Speed Error
This strongly suggests a problem in the electronics that keep the Phantom flying properly.
Contact DJI support and see how things go.

Tenly · May 29, 2016

ddh1313 said:
My P3P was lost yesterday and I am fairly sure it will be unrecoverable.

I was flying over a lake at a height of 124ft and went from completely stable flight to seeing water on FPV and lost signal 2 seconds later. During that 2 seconds I noticed a warning pop up about max motor RPM and satellite positioning being off. The last record I have within DJI Go is a vertical descent speed of 36.9mph with 88% battery remaining. I can only assume that it was a prop failure or bird strike. I was not recording at the time (of course). I did not see any birds on FPV. There are absolutely no obstructions to fly into in that area.

We took a canoe out to the location with an extendable pole and tried to stick for depth but could never reach bottom. It is at least 20 feet deep and likely more with maybe 3ft visibility at the surface.

I am curious if anyone can provide advice on what to expect from DJI and how to go about this. Is any kind of warranty claim without recovering the AC going to be a dead end based on forum experience?

Thanks

Healthy Drone Report:
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

View attachment 55410

Holy ****!!! The *EXACT* same thing just happened to me today. It's gotta be more than a coincidence....

I didn't recover mine either.

ddh1313 · May 29, 2016

Meta4 said:
The last two lines in your flight data tel the story.
They say: Satellite Positioning Off. Fly with caution and Speed Error
This strongly suggests a problem in the electronics that keep the Phantom flying properly.
Contact DJI support and see how things go.

Thanks Meta4, I have about 200 flights on the GO odometer and have NEVER seen anything like what happened on FPV. It went from straight level flight to seeing nothing but water. In fact, at first I thought I had just hit C1 and it was no big deal but then it lost signal and the rest is history.

Thanks to everyone that has commented, I have opened a ticket with DJI support and will follow up on the experience to try and help out anyone else (Tenly) that might be going through the same thing.

HWCM · May 30, 2016

Maybe it lost a prop then went upside down and that is how it lost GPS? Then the free fall would explain the speed error. I know when i pick mine up and flip it over, I get the NO GPS warning, becuse the GPS module is in the top of the AC. It does the same when I put my hand over the top of the shell.
Let us know how it turns out.
Also, notice in the last line, the voltage came up and satellite positioning is off.
It fell almost 100 ft in three seconds. Sure seems like a prop flew off or broke. Isnt there a log reader that shows the speed of each motor individually?

Tenly · May 30, 2016

ddh1313 said:
Thanks Meta4, I have about 200 flights on the GO odometer and have NEVER seen anything like what happened on FPV. It went from straight level flight to seeing nothing but water. In fact, at first I thought I had just hit C1 and it was no big deal but then it lost signal and the rest is history.

Thanks to everyone that has commented, I have opened a ticket with DJI support and will follow up on the experience to try and help out anyone else (Tenly) that might be going through the same thing.

Thanks Ddh1313 - do please let me know when support responds to you. I also opened a ticket last night.

I've been reading these forums for 5-6 months now and I've never seen a problem description like this before. The fact that the exact same thing happened to us within a 24 hour window is extremely coincidental.

I see DJI is selling the Phantom only for just over $700 now (no remote, no battery). Hopefully DJI will look after us and it won't come to that - but if you (or anyone else) is aware of any affordable options for replacing the unit - please share!

HWCM · May 30, 2016

Keep an eye on amazon, I got the whole advanced package and spare battery for $700.

ddh1313 · May 30, 2016

That's a good deal HWCM. I sincerely hope that DJI will work something out though. I always knew that a quad copter is inherently an all or nothing design with no redundancy but to have your $1000 investment drop out of the sky into 30ft of murky water never to be seen again is tough.

RocketBrew · May 30, 2016

HWCM said:
Keep an eye on amazon, I got the whole advanced package and spare battery for $700.

If you live near a Micro Center, check if they still have the P3P for $699. I had a friend pick one up for me last week at the Irvine store. They won't do anything over the phone for this deal, in-store only.

BudWalker · May 30, 2016

ddh1313 said:
My P3P was lost yesterday and I am fairly sure it will be unrecoverable.

I was flying over a lake at a height of 124ft and went from completely stable flight to seeing water on FPV and lost signal 2 seconds later. During that 2 seconds I noticed a warning pop up about max motor RPM and satellite positioning being off. The last record I have within DJI Go is a vertical descent speed of 36.9mph with 88% battery remaining. I can only assume that it was a prop failure or bird strike. I was not recording at the time (of course). I did not see any birds on FPV. There are absolutely no obstructions to fly into in that area.

We took a canoe out to the location with an extendable pole and tried to stick for depth but could never reach bottom. It is at least 20 feet deep and likely more with maybe 3ft visibility at the surface.

I am curious if anyone can provide advice on what to expect from DJI and how to go about this. Is any kind of warranty claim without recovering the AC going to be a dead end based on forum experience?

Thanks

Healthy Drone Report:
HealthyDrones.com - Innovative flight data analysis that matters

View attachment 55410

I think your P3 suffered a broken or lost prop, just like @Tenly . To see why go to Phantom 3 Professional - Flyaway

Tenly · May 30, 2016

@ddh1313 Were you flying with DJI Go at the time or something else? If so - then in the same iTunes location you find the FlightRecords, there may also be a directory called "videoCache". I have that feature enabled and I found an .mp4 file from my flight. I'm about to post a couple of screenshots from it over on my thread - but wondered if you also might have a cached copy of the video from your flight. I think it records the Lightbridge stream whether or not you choose to record to the SD card. Might be worth a look...if nothing else, it may help you zero in on the exact location that yours went under which may help you recover its cold, dead carcass....

ddh1313 · May 30, 2016

Tenly: well I was excited when I saw that folder was 1.9gig but it only has the previous flight where I had activated recording. What did you find on your recording though ! ?

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Tenly · May 30, 2016

ddh1313 said:
Tenly: well I was excited when I saw that folder was 1.9gig but it only has the previous flight where I had activated recording. What did you find on your recording though ! ?

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

I found that the initial anomaly was a dip and steep turn to the right followed by a steep dip and turn to the left followed by a 5-7 second period where it had recovered and was flying level. Most people that have submitted an opinion based on the logs thing it was a prop issue - either broken or spin off but I disagree.

I think my issue was a dying motor - which might explain the brief recovery. If there was a cold solder joint on the motor wires - then the vibrations of flight might have caused intermittent contact.

The only good news I might have is that I found a friend of mine that has a boat and some very advanced fish-finding equipment as well as a submersible camera - so I'm hopeful that sometime in the next day or two, we might be able to recover it... I have a pretty good idea as to where it went down - but I don't know how far something like the Phantom could migrate on its own across the bottom of the lake in 3 days.

I'm also wondering if anyone has reported any success in restoring a submerged phantom to operation - and if so - what approach will provide the best chance at success. I could disassemble as much of it as possible, as quickly as possible and blow it all out with a hair dryer, leaving the rest of it to sit for a few days in bags of rice - or even silica gel.

I don't think It should matter too much how long it's submerged. The oxidation and damage will start as soon as it's removed from the water. If I find it, I may buy a few gallons of distilled water to give it a thorough rinse first.

Are there any other tips for saving something like this?

Tenly · May 30, 2016

ddh1313 said:
Tenly: well I was excited when I saw that folder was 1.9gig but it only has the previous flight where I had activated recording. What did you find on your recording though ! ?

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Hey - if you do end up recovering your drone - the battery will certainly be useless - but if you wouldn't mind, I could use the frame from it if you can cut it open - not the cells, just the piece with the buttons and LED's on it.

I have a couple of aftermarket batteries that don't work anymore because of DJI's latest firmware restrictions - but if I can get that end cap from a couple of defective batteries, I can swap it on my aftermarket ones to make them look like DJI batteries to the firmware... Anyhow - if it's not too hard to do, I'd pay the shipping on it and be very grateful...