Sudden Complete Power Loss

EMCSQUAR said:
You guys with Visions & Phantom2s should be looking at those battery contacts. I suspect that battery is the center of most of the newer gen issues.

Well on my P2V the battery fits so tightly that its difficult to get it out again sometimes. I have 3 batteries and they are all the same. Difficult to see how to test the connectors as they are unlike a normal plug.
 
From what I've seen and have been hearing those contacts tend to flatten out, then added vibration while in flight could (key word here) possibly cause surge and/or total loss of connection. And given the way we power these up - a long enough loss of contact would probably send NAZA into start up mode, basically a midair reset which might explain Phantom just dropping like a rock.

I do alot of audio work and know the results of contact loss even milisecs - it's not pretty. I'm just speculating trying to help you Vison & P2 owners out.
 
Taking the lid off the aircraft is not difficult, and all solder joints are easy to get to with the exception of the wires leading from the spade connectors in the battery compartment. Condition of the spades themselves and that data pins is quite easy to check but there's no way to visually inspect the female battery connections which is a shame...
 
Any solder connection that looks like a ball or rounded blob is immediately suspect,
like the one shown in the previous video. Good solder connections tend to look like
a somewhat concave cone, but even poor joints can appear "good-ish" to the untrained eye.

Most are cause by applying insufficient heat to the parts being "joined".
Of course, too much heat can cause damage as well.

You are less likely to cause damage by carefully inspecting, but get a skilled
friend to help with any actual re-soldering, unless you are sufficiently skilled.
 
garygid said:
Check the main power wires from the battery to the board.
One end of one of the two wires probably was not soldered well.


That's what it was... I looked inside the battery compartment and you can see one of the main power leads disconnected...

I attached a few pics... Such a crappy job by DJI...
 

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Wow, that's scary!

I really hate to go to the trouble of opening the P2V up, but I suppose I will to double check this. It is good to hear that not everyone found this condition. So, speaking of that, has anyone else seen a bad solder on the battery wires?

I see 2 occurrences of cold solder in this thread..
 
It looks like I should open my P2V tomorrow and examine the wiring and solder joints.
 
There's no security/warranty seal on the Vision. It's all screws. It's designed to be opened quite easily as there are user-replaceable parts inside: motors, ESCs, etc.

Mine is, so far, fine. But I open it up to check everything regularly. If I had found a manufacturing defect when I first opened it up I'd send it straight back to my dealer for replacement rather than try and fix it myself...
 
Pull_Up said:
But I open it up to check everything regularly.

Hi Pull_Up

I watched your excellent video and many thanks for creating that resource. Am I right in thinking you don't have to drop the camera off first to take the top off or is that a necessary step. I want to open mine up today also.

Shrimpy
 
Camera off is optional. I found it kept getting in the way just a little when I was fitting a Flytrex, but no need to remove it to get access to the screws. I put it in as there had been a couple of people asking about how the servo was powered so that shows you the lead - and how it's easy to remove if you ever want to/need to for repair.
 
Sending to DJI is one thing, sending to a dealer is another.
Do either if them handle preventive maintenance?
What might they charge for the service?

Don't you need to get permission, or an RMA, before sending a P2V in?
Don't you need to have some "problem" with the hardware to get an RMA?

Are all DJI dealers competent to do inspections, and have the time
to deal with inspecting and testing when there are no apparent problems?

So, is there really any viable option other than doing the Quality Control
inspection yourself, or with the aid of a friend?
 
my aircraft was the same. I got on here to look for answers and found this thread. Mine spun out of control for no reason, but didn't impact very had. When going to fire it up again the forward right hand motor wouldn't run. I opened it up and accidently found that when I touched a wire the motor would run. when investigation further found exactly what was described earlier but in my case both wires to the ESC were off the board. You shouldn't have to do this to something you've paid over a thousand dollars for. I bought mine from DJI Direct. I'm not sending it back to hong kong. I want to fly sometime this year!

My resoldering of the wires seems to have gotten me back in the air for now.
 
I carefully opened my P2V's body and examined the solder connections yesterday morning.
Virtually all the large-wire connections (at least 7 per arm) and the main battery connections
(4 connections) were soldered with the blob-solder technique. So, it was impossible to
determine if the connections were well done, since the blob hides the wire and the connection
point, both of which should be inspected. I pushed each connection a little, just to see if
the joint was actually loose, but nothing moved, as near as I could see.

I decided that it was more of a risk to attempt re-soldering, since we have had
comparatively few disconnected wire reports. However, if we get more reports,
I will likely feel compelled to re-solder all the joints.

No parts left over, and it flew, apparently properly, later in the day.
 
I had a very similar crash with my Phantom 1.1.1.

I was flying in Atti mode but had to pause for a moment, so put it in GPS mode. It then started to move on its own to the right. I immediately though "uh oh, this looks my first fly away" and went put it in Manual to try to regain control, but then it just dropped.

On opening it up (I had to, it was dead) I found the power wire from the battery had come clean away from the board. Initially I thought the impact had caused it, but after reading a second thread about sudden power lose, I'm not so sure.

I have never soldered anything, but the advice here is that I shouldn't attempt to re-solder the power wire myself?
 
DanCH said:
I had a very similar crash with my Phantom 1.1.1.

I was flying in Atti mode but had to pause for a moment, so put it in GPS mode. It then started to move on its own to the right. I immediately though "uh oh, this looks my first fly away" and went put it in Manual to try to regain control, but then it just dropped.

On opening it up (I had to, it was dead) I found the power wire from the battery had come clean away from the board. Initially I thought the impact had caused it, but after reading a second thread about sudden power lose, I'm not so sure.

I have never soldered anything, but the advice here is that I shouldn't attempt to re-solder the power wire myself?

Don't worry, go for it, you can do better than they did.
 
DanCH said:
I had a very similar crash with my Phantom 1.1.1.

I was flying in Atti mode but had to pause for a moment, so put it in GPS mode. It then started to move on its own to the right. I immediately though "uh oh, this looks my first fly away" and went put it in Manual to try to regain control, but then it just dropped.

On opening it up (I had to, it was dead) I found the power wire from the battery had come clean away from the board. Initially I thought the impact had caused it, but after reading a second thread about sudden power lose, I'm not so sure.

I have never soldered anything, but the advice here is that I shouldn't attempt to re-solder the power wire myself?

How long have you had your drone? I'm waiting for my replacement now... I don't know what I should do once it arrives... Part of me wants to pretend this never happened, the other wants to dissemble and re-solder every freaking thing...

What are the odds of having the same issue occur twice?

I'm more at awe because I only had the thing a week... Had less than 10 flights... Never one single bump or bad landing... Just... Pop... Freaking thing drops dead out the sky... I still haven't got over it...
 
DanCH,
If you listed your location, perhaps somebody nearby would give you a help.
 
I ended up going through most of the connections inside my phantom poking em with a plastic diddle stick and found 4 more connections all power related that could have with a minor impact or hard landing come disconnected from the main board.

I ask you this. If any American company operated like this, with no customer support whatsoever, how long would they last?

Check your aircraft. If this happens over water or people, you could watch your money sink.
 
JimBob2 said:
I ask you this. If any American company operated like this, with no customer support whatsoever, how long would they last?

I wouldn't say it's a matter of American vs Chinese. In this case, I'd say that quality control matters more than with most other electronics, and mistakes are much more prominent. Of course, DJI should know their stuff when it comes to copters, so...

I still haven't opened my P2V up to check the connections. I did buy a soldering station, so I'm ready to take care of it if I do find problems. My current thinking is I'd rather not *cause* issues by being excessively paranoid and precautious.
 
I have the original phantom but got bored fast with it!
Bought 3d Robotics Bixler plane and was in the Developer edition Iris!
I also own a Hexacopter with APM 2.5
I decided to purchase the DJI Vision for its extended flight time and an extra battery.
I ordered and paid and a week plus went by and nothing? I contacted dji and asked what's happening and should Iorder from a dealer?
I was told it will ship within 2 days and it did but took another week to get to me!
Now iI've flown enough and my Iris is awesome! The Box!er and hexacopter have fpv so they are lots of fun!
Living in New York by Lake Ontario we are getting bad winter, mostly freezing, so can't get out much!
I flew the vision about 6 times with no issues, and last Friday took it out again. I waited like usual to allow GPS, SATs etc to complete.
I pushed title stick enough to get raise when it took off straight up by itself? Then head South, stopped then went East and stopped again the vision raised about 30' and then landed?
I brought It back to same spot and checked it out! I tried again and it did the same thing as I gave chase to try and stop it!
This time it landed in a pine tree!
I am a Journeyman Electrician and Journeyman Instrumentation Mechanic so know electric/electronics!
I removed shell (which has no damage) and found some wiring slightly raised off board?
I took pictures to DJI but never heard for 3 days from them?
When I did they said I had it longer than 10 days and didn't qualify for refund!
I had it exactly 10 days! And called on the 10th day! I sent pictures and they said I had crashed it!
It seems like its a common issue that DJI needs to recall these quads!
Funny they told me to return it to them in California to see what was wrong and fix it?
I don't want that same vision, iI want a Brand New One! Its very poor quality control if they even have quality control?
To me it looks as if the wires were glued! Any vibration would make wires come loose!
But DJI should take care of repeat customers especially after selling us the original phantom and then coming out with the vision so soon and the lowering price on the original phantom!
Now within the 10 day period just because they don't reply to their emails or answer their phones they say I didn't report it within 10 days? I know I'll be putting the word out to others considering buying a UAV! Maybe I'll bring the vision when flying 3D Robotics stuff and when a person interested, I'll show them the vision with shell off and wires hanging!
Well I'm going out flying my Iris by 3D Robotics!
 

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