Went out to make a short flight. Was actually going to run the battery down a little more. Turned on my tablet, brought up the DJI app, turned on the controller then the drone. At the top of the screen i am getting "Aircraft Disconnected" Everything worked fine yesterday. Battery on the drone had three lights showing and controller had all four. I am going ahead and charging the battery fully. I thought I did see a firmware up date. Any ideas. I looked on youtube t see if I could find anything and I did. The guy said he thought it might be his controller. I hope that isn't the case. Any suggestions.
Trouble
- Thread starter bullerman1946
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Let me add to the post. If the firmware needs to be upgraded will that disconnect things. It does say I need to update the firmware.
Don't change any firmware until you know what the issue actually is. This will throw more variables into the equation.
Meta4
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Flying with a partially discharged battery is a good way to lose your drone - don't do it.
There's no need to run down the battery anyway.
Actually at times there is a good reason. But you never fly high, nor far. No more than a few feet up and away. It helps with the battery maintenance more so than self discharge. Just from what I have found.
I checked my wi fi connection and for some reason the phantom isn't on there. Guess I will try and get it back on there. I will keep updating. This thing may be too smart for me.
Ok. Will the wi fi only show up on my tablet when the controller and the drone are on? And each time I have to tap it and make sure it is connected. It shows I have a firm ware update. Should I do it if everything is working ok.
Meta4
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Flying with a partially discharged battery is a very bad idea and completely unnecessary.
The smart programming of the batteries does all the battery management needed.
There is no need to run them down - that's a hangover from a previous era.
The hangover being cured by DJi’s Implementation of the Texas Instruments battery monitor tech that includes impedance track and real time fuel gauging algorithms. Battery health and capacity is constantly monitored during usage based on actual real time conditions. The days of needing to run cells close to full depletion to reset mah counters are long gone- thankfully.
Just to clarify what I meant in my statement, I did not mean a "takeoff" with a partially discharged battery. That you should not do I agree.
I have my low battery set to 28% and critical at 21%. When I fly, and complete a flight with lets say 35% remaining and I have completed the actual flight, I generally will hover very low and close until just before low battery ( 30% or so ) then land. Over time I have found that the battery will remain at this level for quite some time before a "top off" is needed. Self discharge does not occur at this level it appears. They seem to hold the "Happy Spot" charge value for a longer period of time as opposed to self discharging from a higher value. Not that it makes that much difference either way, this is just what I have found works best with my own. I have maintained 2 batteries this way for over 2 years, with around 100 charge cycles each and the cell curves still look just fine.
Interesting observation being a characteristic of Li batteries. The self discharge rate is asymptotical being greater at higher state of charge and tapering off.
Any reason why you have your critical level set at 21%? I would set mine at zero if I could. Fighting an autoland isn’t fun and I would really like to have the extra buffer If I have an issue and I’m cutting it fine bringing her home.
As a rule I like to be on the ground at around 30% also.
I rarely fly long distances. I will drop that number if and when I do. That is just an arbitrary value I chose quite a while back that works well for the generally short distance flights that I do. Around 3000-3500 ft distances are pretty much it for me personally. I like to keep it in view. If it weren't for the cree strobes I have, I probably wouldn't fly that far out.
Interesting comments on battery care , since I am a Phantom newbie. The help pages of the DJI app suggest you discharge every 20 charges until the battery is dead, by leaving the battery switched on whilst in the drone. It says discharge can take 48 hours. I'd be reluctant to leave it powered up in a confined space for fear of heat build up, & though I love my P3S I'm certainly not taking it to bed with me! I appreciate the "intelligent" battery is great, as it helps prevent power failure in flight etc, but it sure leads to confusion! I have lithium batteries in a powerful studio flashgun. I leave them alone & just top up the charge before a studio session. The thing is obviously more intelligent than I am, so I'm inclined to let it get on with it. However, I am confused by the app which shows "time to discharge, one day" Surely that can only happen if the phone & drone are both left on? Or does the drone know what time it is, as well as where it is????
This is built in to the battery itself. It does not need to be in the aircraft, and really should not be left there. You set this timer in the app and the battery has the internal timer for discharge.
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The WiFi is generated by the controller. Phantom does not need to be on to see your WiFi.
Have fun
th
Thanks for clearing that up! I always take out the battery when finished using the drone
The aircraft needs to be completely restarted after battery removal...shut down everything..Then start up tablet, controller, and aircraft...
That is fairly obvious. There is no other method. You can however leave the RC on. If that works with your particular configuration. Although not advised. It will work.
