DJI Admits Mid-Air Battery Shutoffs Were A Problem

[damoncooper]

A customer got this note about his downed Inspire from DJI Support EU. The implications are pretty telling.

 

[skylineaerial]

@damoncooper Extremely discouraging. The last few weeks have drastically reduced my opinion of DJI given their (lack of) customer support and "oh well, your problem" attitude towards many firmware, and even more serious, issues.

 

[licensed pilot]

I confess the message makes no sense to me. What does "no longer a cause for warranty " means?
My first 2 birds were DJI. My third will not be.

 

[damoncooper]

I confess the message makes no sense to me. What does "no longer a cause for warranty " means?
My first 2 birds were DJI. My third will not be.

I read it to mean that since he was not running the latest FW, the fact that his aircraft crashed due to a FW bug in an older version of the FW is reason for not being covered under warranty.

Which means - there was indeed a bug prior to Dec 22 (v1.6) that could cause the battery to turn off in flight.

 

[licensed pilot]

I read it to mean that since he was not running the latest FW, the fact that his aircraft crashed due to a FW bug in an older version of the FW is reason for not being covered under warranty.

Which means - there was indeed a bug prior to Dec 22 (v1.6) that could cause the battery to turn off in flight.

OK, that's the way I read it. In other words DJI is admitting there was a problem with FW prior to Dec 22.

My first 2 UAVs were DJI, the more I learn about them, the more I am leaning towards 3DR or Yuneec for my third...(are they built in the USA?)

 

[Predator]

Sooo we shouldnt worry about battery shut off's if we have 1.6

 

[damoncooper]

Sooo we shouldnt worry about battery shut off's if we have 1.6

1.5 and earlier this would make it I think?

 

[licensed pilot]

Sooo we shouldnt worry about battery shut off's if we have 1.6

"Worrying" appears to be an integral part of flying DJI...

 

[Predator]

"Worrying" appears to be an integral part of flying DJI...

Ironic i am not stressed of flying into buildings or whatever i'm stressed about a prop flying off or the battery drops dead. kinda sad when you think about it.

 

[Mad_angler1]

Will need to see if they keep honouring repairs, they should or issue a mandatory update to ensure your covered.

I also have a slight concern with the new Care package, I have worked in a few industries where these "insurance" policy's were introduced, what I seen was a shift from FOC repairs and sorting out issues that was the companies fault(known issues) regardless of age to if no "insurance" no FOC repair period.

It became a very quick shift basically saying you need insurance to cover you regardless of fault.

I sincerely hope DJI do continue to look after the folks that these kinds of things happen too and not go down that road as its a slippery slope.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rush]

So the implication being that a firmware release absolves DJI of responsibility even if you haven't upgraded? I only just received my Inspire, so don't know all the ins-n-outs of upgrades, but I assume there needs to be a live warning in the app anytime there's an important upgrade that needs to be performed. What about scenarios where you're flying without the app (can you do that actually?) If you're just practicing flight maneuvers and don't want the hassle of camera weight and iPad, for example. How would you know an update is necessary? Add it to your preflight checklist?

 

[Moonie]

Was the battery stop putting out do to cold weather or are they dropping in warmer weather as well?

 

[Ralph thompson]

Rush, I use the Autopilot Logic - autopilot app with my inspire 1 pro. This App does warn you that yr firmware is out of date and I thing, u can't fly with Autopilot unless u have installed all the latest firmwares. BTW autopilot is an amazing app if u want to do pro looking aerial video