So I received a used Phantom 3 4k and just had to get the camera fix up. Got it up and running completed an hour or two of flights. Then when I took it up this evening was just going to go up and take a few pictures and come straight back down. At first it said batteries were too cold, so I took them inside and let them warm up a bit. Then went back out and tried again. No warning this time so I take off and start going straight up. Plan was to go to about 200' and rotate take pictures and come back down. Battery was at 53% figured I'd only be up a minute or two. Start going up watching the drone and then as I get close to the height I want start looking at the tablet. Click to take my first picture and look up and cannot see my drone anymore. I'm looking then hear a noise (the final few feet of the fall), then the drone slams hard down onto the deck after an apparent free fall of 182'. Needless to say the drone is toast now. Flight record is attached, what caused the drastic fall in battery level and why no warning and just an immediate free fall from the drone. And yes the battery was fully clicked into place. Thanks.
Phantom Free Fall
- Thread starter Bg3sport
- Start date
It appears your battery couldn't handle the cold temps and just gave out.
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com
Posting the flight records is not that easy follow this link and post them from their ! Sorry to read about the terrible crash.....Hope the flight records will tell what happen...I guess the P 3 4K was out of warranty right ?
DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Larbear you beat me to it by a few minutes LOL.....Great Job.
I'm very happy No one got hurt especially you..and No personal properly damage too !
DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Larbear you beat me to it by a few minutes LOL.....Great Job.
I'm very happy No one got hurt especially you..and No personal properly damage too !
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2019
- Messages
- 96
- Reaction score
- 56
- Age
- 33
As per DJI manuals, it is generally not recommended to fly on partially charged batteries. Lithium-Ion batteries are known to give out or give false charge readings when not fully charged before use.
Here's the flight record in a zip folder, wasn't sure the best way to upload. Just trying to figure out what caused the rapid drop in voltage and why it just shut off and fell straight down without warning.
Meta4
Premium Pilot
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2014
- Messages
- 15,303
- Reaction score
- 9,247
Look at the flight data here: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com
... and pay attention to the battery cell voltages.
Within 10 seconds under the effort of climbing, the battery was already at critical low voltage level of 3.3 volts per cell.
Pushed harder, it dropped further and the cold won't have helped any.
The % indicator is only reliable when you start with a fully charged battery.
There was a warning at 12.8 seconds.
You made several errors in judgement. 1) Always fly with a fully charged battery. Taking off at 50%, even for a short flight, is pushing fate - especially in cold weather. 2) DJI also cautions against flying in cold weather, fog, rain or snow. Your wildly varying battery voltages, up to 1/2 volt difference, shows the battery cells were struggling in the cold weather. 3) You flew your drone straight up right over your head within 4 ft. of home point. This causes very weak or loss of signals between your RC and drone when flying right over your head - perhaps why your drone was not responding to your stick commands. What was your air temperature? - must have been around freezing to get the battery cold warning. The temperature at 200 ft. is also considerably colder. If humid and around or below freezing, the props may have built up ice or ice forming on the battery contacts. The warning that propulsion is reduced to save battery was a red flag for cold temperature, failing battery, and perhaps the props getting bogged down from ice. I'm sorry you lost your drone, but hopefully this will serve a lesson to others to read the manual and ensure you operate within the DJI recommended parameters. Those limitations are given for a reason.
Not necessarily so. It is not unusual to see the cells deviate. Especially under varying load's.
I wouldn't say considerably at that altitude. Maybe a few degrees at best but definitely not significantly so.
The above being said, I don't think that this was cold related as much as it was the fact that the battery was not fully charged before flight and apparently, looking at the data Cell#1 had an issue from the start. It was far lower than the other 3 for the entire flight. Granted all 4 were at or below critical levels beginning at approximately 13 seconds, Cell#1 dropped off quite significantly at approx. 23.8 seconds as shown below. 3 seconds later the battery shut down. The rest is self explanatory.
Thats really some Very Very fine information.....I agree !...very highly detailed too...precise !
I understand all of what I read here, but I've never heard that going straight up on take off is dangerous.
Fastest route to losing signal and control of the AC is straight up. That's because the tip of the antenna is the weakest point in terms of signal strength.
Up and out would be OK.
AS Long as you hold the RC unit at 45 degs to the ground on a straight UP take off...its NOT a dangerous at all Jefferys !....ITS when the RC is held near straight UP and down is dangerous with the drone STRAIGHT over head.. holding the RC horizontal to the ground gives the receiver in the drone the very best signal...hope i made my self clear ?
Yes. MCM, thanks. The antennae also are moveable, and hopefully I would remember to reposition them after horizontal flight.
N017RW
Premium Pilot
Notwithstanding, avoid flying directly overhead and below you.
In the former the antennae do not have the ideal exposure to each other and in the latter the fuselage shadows the a/c which can be problematic.
In the former the antennae do not have the ideal exposure to each other and in the latter the fuselage shadows the a/c which can be problematic.
I would think it best to walk away, with the controller, from the take off location when going straight up.
Last edited:
That's a VERY GOOD idea :
" what go's UP must come down " ! and with the great accuracy of the Drones GPS.....its gonna come back down really close to the Take Off point...so at least move say 10 feet or more away from the take off zone and wear a construction helmet like the iron workers wear !
" what go's UP must come down " ! and with the great accuracy of the Drones GPS.....its gonna come back down really close to the Take Off point...so at least move say 10 feet or more away from the take off zone and wear a construction helmet like the iron workers wear !
Similar threads
