P4P Landed without Choice with 24% Battery Remaining

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I was flying this morning and when my P4P said return home because of low battery and distance from home point I hit return home. The battery was at 27% so it was heading home like normal and then gave critical battery warning and started landing with 24% battery remaining. I was unable to stop landing and it landed in a street. I'm lucky it was early in the morning and was able to recover it. It only had 1553 ft to go to home point. What is the issue?
 
Is your it set to "Smart Return To Home" in your settings or "Land"?
 
Also, on Critical battery warning the phantom will land, what % of battery power do you have set in the App to trigger critical battery? Default is 20% with 30% for low battery warning.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
The battery reached the critically low level. When that happens, your Phantom will auto land. There is no way to cancel that landing.

FYI, the Phantom determines when the battery critically low by reading its current battery voltage level.
 
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I have the return home set to go to home point and settings at 25% and critical at 10%.
 
Just went out and tested in controlled area and it did it again on 3rd battery. This time at 25% is said returning home but then just landed 48.5 ft from home point. So frustrated! I usually fly over water so this is a big concern.
 
Please upload one of your TXT flight logs here and post a link back here.
 
I have my low battery and critical set for 25% and 10%.

When the bird says it is landing now (about 8-9%), I am able to arrest the descent using the left stick to add power and fly it to where it needs to be. I test this about every other day with at least one battery.

Does the P4Pro behave differently?

AD
 
Just went out and tested in controlled area and it did it again on 3rd battery. This time at 25% is said returning home but then just landed 48.5 ft from home point. So frustrated! I usually fly over water so this is a big concern.
May I suggest a Low Battery Warning at 30%...much more reliable...
 
I think I might change back to 30%, just not worth it with the areas I fly. I don't feel like it's completely accurate on battery percentages after last firmware update.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Better to be safe then sorry...any recommendations on when to turn back on long distance flight?


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I also wonder if the other 2 batteries firmware might not be updated? Could this cause the problem?
 
Better to be safe then sorry...any recommendations on when to turn back on long distance flight?
There are too many variables to give a simple answer.
But if you want to always take your Phantom home and you fly over water, it's a good idea to leave a safety margin for when things don't go as planned.
I also wonder if the other 2 batteries firmware might not be updated? Could this cause the problem?
Probably not.
 
A little tip about batts;
Loosing 10% from 90% to 80% will be slower, than loosing 10% from 30% to 20%. Your batt discharging chart is sort of hyperbolic (less cap - faster discharge) - you should keep it in mind.
Also, if you keep discharged battery for too long (week+) this will cause banks degrading faster
 
What are the best settings for the batteries? I also had my P4 sit down just behind a fence so the time I got around the fence it was picked up by a car and never seen again. I'm currently using 25% and critical of 10%. I figured out why it didn't RTH when I was testing it second time. The aircraft is programmed to auto descend if within 65ft. I think the issue that prompted this was probably my error after much reading and analysis. I thank you all for the comments. I never post because there are some very negative comments sometimes posted.


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I agree Pachakuti the batts seem to drop fast near full discharge. I've also been told not to keep charged but I fly almost daily.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
D tpa, DJI recommends to keep battery at 60-70% charge level if you don't use it.
As for critical levels. On my Phantom 2 Vision I never flew once batt hits 30%, 30% is when I start to land no matter what. I had very sad expeirence once, batt went 30% I tried to return home, but seems like voltage wasn't enough and it started to descend even with throttle stick full up. I managed to land it like its ****** F16, but was lucky to have clear surface by.
My creed - never fly under 30%. Always keep an eye on batt level and remember there's a point of no return. I usually land my phantoms at about 35-40%
Better buy couple of extra batts when risk with extra seconds flying and loosing bird
Safety first, folks! ;)
 
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I keep my lipos stored at 45% right around 3.80 volts..... 60 to 70 is to high its not storage charge. Dji never really gives good advice regarding lipos like the "discharge to 8℅ " deal. This was likely to reset smart electronics in lipo but not good for lipo itself...thats crazy. I fly helicopters and have a 100 mph e-revo so i know how to use lipo's if u were to discharge that low your packs would be beat. Rule of thumb is 80/20 only fly about 80 percent of the battery leaving 20 percent. I never would go below 20℅ especially in cold some lipos cant be trusted in that range. Could possibly cause an early landing even tho u have critical set to 15℅ this is because lipos have voltage sag and gets worse with lower percentages also if u are bashing around in sport mode and vattery level is low like that this could also cause an unwanted landing. With my heli's i always land and have about 20 ℅ left i dont want to fall out of the sky!.... anyways When i get done flying and need to store for a week or so i charge to about 40 to 45 percent which is normal storage charge on lipos.
 
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