Batt warning fell from sky

[Kiwipete88]

The same thing happened to my I1 X3 about 18 months ago,at that time it was written into the firmware that if a cell drops below 3v the battery switches off for protection (great)
Healthy drones,now airdata showed a bad cell,this particular battery only had about 10 cycles on it,anyway I sent the flight data to DJI for analysis and received a packing slip the following day,at that stage the I1 was 11.5 months old,so just in warranty.
DJI came to the party,2 weeks later the I1 was returned all repaired with a new X3 and battery.
I now have the V2 Pro and the C2 button setup for battery info,and I always keep a close eye on.

 

[Adelberg aerial imaging]

The percentage will turn red when the entire sum voltage drops but not when one or two cells are out of balance or have individually dropped. When a single cell drops below 3.00 the ac will turn off

 

[Adelberg aerial imaging]

Well mine ac is beyond 12 months, but the battery had one charge and 100% life.

 

[George Binns]

The voltage indicator does change color and I've seen mine go red above 3.5 volts. I can't remember if I read or just assumed that the voltage display is showing the lowest cell.

You are correct, it does change colour, BUT ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR PRE-SET WARNING. It does NOT change colour to signify bad cells! That is the flaw that DJI need to fix in the software!
The fact that it CAN change colour under certain conditions means that it could be an easy fix for DJI if they really didn't want customers machines falling out of the sky without any warning!

 

[Donnie Frank]

I was flying on my fourth battery suddenly got a red cell damage battery warning and it tumbled from the sky from about 100 feet pretty much totally destroy anybody gone through this procedure with the JI and how long does it take and what do they do thank you

Which firmware version are you on? Some of the earlier versions had a known battery bug. Also, did you run the FW update on *all* your batteries? I made the mistake of updating only one of my batteries. I just happened to notice erroneous FW versions one day. Some investigating netted the fact that I was getting different FW versions with different batteries. So I reran the FW updates for the 2 of 4 that weren't updated. All is good now.

 

[Donnie Frank]

You are correct, it does change colour, BUT ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR PRE-SET WARNING.

All caps, eh? I hate to be the bursterer of bubbles, but....

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My Critical Warning was *set* @ 30%.

It does NOT change colour to signify bad cells!

True! And stop yelling! HA!

That is the flaw that DJI need to fix in the software!

I experienced this odd reading one time. I have not tried to recreate this issue. I simply make sure batteries are fully charged when I run my friend's X5 camera.

The fact that it CAN change colour under certain conditions means that it could be an easy fix for DJI if they really didn't want customers machines falling out of the sky without any warning!

Tru dat! That said, I'm not sure which FW version my buddy's X5 camera is on. I know it's the latest version, whereas my bird is back 2 versions, on v1.08.xx. I'm sure the firmware version mismatch has something to do with this anomaly. That said, as long as I install a fully-charged battery, she flies like a dream with the X5 or X3.

 

[Ralph thompson]

You only have to have scanned a few forums to recognize that the batteries are a weak link & so I've added to my pre takeoff checklist " check cell balance, all 6 within .02 v" & then at 5 ft, "check cell balance". I replace the battery if either check fails. I have noticed that when you accelerate, say to climb, the system seems to drain mainly from 1 or 2 cells & I wonder if this is why problems occur, if it's drawing from a weak cell.

 

[Scoobywrx05]

Well in my case heathy drones data showed : new battery charged 1 time with 100% life, took off with98% battery . Data showed it turned off with 76% but cell 3 only dropped to 2.95. V with no warning on the main screen. No notifications other battery percentage. Clearly a defective battery.

Same exact thing happened to mine. Just made a gradual turn and started to push the right stick forward and it dropped to the earth. Went and picked it up broken hearted and in disbelief. Put the battery back in and it read 4 volts across every cell and 70 percent left. One cell out of the 12 that are in it (tb48) was dipping down to just under 3 volts with a load on it. The other cell in parallel with it is in great shape but couldn't hold the voltage high enough for the both of them when under a load. So the so called smart battery said I don't like that, somethings wrong and decides to shut itself off. Luckly it happened out in a big field and nobody was hurt. I'm surprised dji hasn't been sued over a piss poor battery design. What makes anyone think it would be a good idea to cut all power from an aircraft in flight with no way to control it after the fact. It maybe different if it could autorotate but as I'm a witness they do not do that very well. Lol.

 

[elguapo]

At this point unless DJI helps me out with replacement, I may sell all the inspire 1 batteries, aux batteries, controller, lenses, etc and go to the inspire 2 with two batteries.

I am sorry for your loss, it can happen to any of us at any moment with the I1.

In the unfortunate even DJI does not help with your situation I am interested in a second controller for my I1.
Please keep me in mind for the controller.

 

[Rodger That]

I had the same problem with my inspire failing from the sky 2 months back when it was 15% battery left . It ended up being my new software on my iPhone and not having the update firmware. Also don't know how this is related but my phone battery was also bad and would conflict with the remote somehow. How this helps .

 

[Method007]

I had the same problem with my inspire failing from the sky 2 months back when it was 15% battery left . It ended up being my new software on my iPhone and not having the update firmware. Also don't know how this is related but my phone battery was also bad and would conflict with the remote somehow. How this helps .

Dude. What are you saying. Are you saying that you believe your iPhone was the cause of your Inspire 1 falling from
The sky?

 

[Adelberg aerial imaging]

I will simply add to the already frustration many have faced with DJI after sale " service". Its now been 7 weeks since I sent in my Inspire 1 pro after a new battery turned off with 76% remaining power in flight causing 619.00 damage. I have made 16 phone calls, and 21 emails, attempting to get the aircraft,gimbal and battery replaced. DJI denied any liability even after I sent the logs for Air Data illustrating the date of the battery, 1 charge, 100% life. Yesterday, I received back a drone and gimbal that were not mine, registered to another person. The repair estimate was to repair my drone, which had 32 hours of flight time. The one I got back is a totally unknown entity to me. The one they sent back is not fully operational. None of my 10 batteries will fully seat into the compartment. The gimbal is very abrupt and slapping around harshly when activating making strange noises. They did not send back my original battery or a replacement. When I called yesterday, I was told logistics would email me withing 48 hours. Ive heard that about 5 times over the past month. While I fully respect the fact DJI produces thousands of quality drones with hugh advances we could not have imagined 5 years ago, there is simply no way I have any words to describe how terrible their after the sale service is. I am convinced there is no one there that can fully understand English, or straighten out these issues.

 

[Adelberg aerial imaging]

The refirb unit they sent has a bad connection between center board and imu! The gimbal sounds like metal grinding in the spring at the top.. so the saga continues

 

[jlrsn]

The refirb unit they sent has a bad connection between center board and imu! The gimbal sounds like metal grinding in the spring at the top.. so the saga continues

Sorry to hear that after all that time they lost your components and sent you junk! What recourse do you now have?

 

[Adelberg aerial imaging]

Well I suppose I can dispute the charge via PayPal until I get my ac back fixed

 

[Mr Phantom]

I will simply add to the already frustration many have faced with DJI after sale " service". Its now been 7 weeks since I sent in my Inspire 1 pro after a new battery turned off with 76% remaining power in flight causing 619.00 damage. I have made 16 phone calls, and 21 emails, attempting to get the aircraft,gimbal and battery replaced. DJI denied any liability even after I sent the logs for Air Data illustrating the date of the battery, 1 charge, 100% life. Yesterday, I received back a drone and gimbal that were not mine, registered to another person. The repair estimate was to repair my drone, which had 32 hours of flight time. The one I got back is a totally unknown entity to me. The one they sent back is not fully operational. None of my 10 batteries will fully seat into the compartment. The gimbal is very abrupt and slapping around harshly when activating making strange noises. They did not send back my original battery or a replacement. When I called yesterday, I was told logistics would email me withing 48 hours. Ive heard that about 5 times over the past month. While I fully respect the fact DJI produces thousands of quality drones with hugh advances we could not have imagined 5 years ago, there is simply no way I have any words to describe how terrible their after the sale service is. I am convinced there is no one there that can fully understand English, or straighten out these issues.

That was not fun to hear. I thought they had improved on their customer service and repair services?
Apparently not then. DJI are too big for their own good, when you own 80 percent of the drone industry you don't have to care about single customers unfortunately.

About the gimbal making a sound, i don't know exactly which sound you mean, but my x3 gimbal and some other x3´s I've seen makes a noice while its rotating at startup.

So what happened with your case ? How much was the estimate and did you end up having to pay for the repair or did they at least exchanged the items for better ones?

 

[Mr Phantom]

The same thing happened to my I1 X3 about 18 months ago,at that time it was written into the firmware that if a cell drops below 3v the battery switches off for protection (great)
Healthy drones,now airdata showed a bad cell,this particular battery only had about 10 cycles on it,anyway I sent the flight data to DJI for analysis and received a packing slip the following day,at that stage the I1 was 11.5 months old,so just in warranty.
DJI came to the party,2 weeks later the I1 was returned all repaired with a new X3 and battery.
I now have the V2 Pro and the C2 button setup for battery info,and I always keep a close eye on.

Up to which firmware version has that function so its turning off the craft when a single cell drops below 3 Volts?
That doesn't sound good at all.

Im on 1.6 and haven't felt the need to upgrade. Maybe i should then?

 

[The Editor]

Up to which firmware version has that function so its turning off the craft when a single cell drops below 3 Volts?
That doesn't sound good at all.

Im on 1.6 and haven't felt the need to upgrade. Maybe i should then?

All of them - nobody should ever be airborne when a cell is close to 3 volts. If they do it's only a matter of time before they crash their aircraft.
All Lipos will fall off a cliff at 3 volts irrespective of whether it's a DJI pack or not.

 

[Mr Phantom]

All of them - nobody should ever be airborne when a cell is close to 3 volts. If they do it's only a matter of time before they crash their aircraft.
All Lipos will fall off a cliff at 3 volts irrespective of whether it's a DJI pack or not.

okay but instead of turning off the battery mid air shouldn't it at least try to land the craft immediately before it switches off the battery ? That sounds a lot better than just turning off the battery mid-air.

Or have i misunderstood when he wrote that "the battery switches off" ? Doesn't it happen instantaneously?

 

[The Editor]

okay but instead of turning off the battery mid air shouldn't it at least try to land the craft immediately before it switches off the battery ? That sounds a lot better than just turning off the battery mid-air.

Or have i misunderstood when he wrote that "the battery switches off" ? Doesn't it happen instantaneously?

Take a look at this curve.....
At close to 3v its bye bye time anyway. No time for the aircraft to land once the plateau is reached