Inspire 1 pro started descending, almost falling and sunk into the sea.

[red_raven]

Ok guys it happened. I was just about reaching the bay where i stood at homepoint, batt at 14% when I simply watched inspire throw itself into the sea. It did not answer to me trying to ascend like it would if auto landing were happening.

It was an errorless flight from start
And everything seemed just fine
Dji go didn't show any errors not even at the moment it crashed.

So here I am left without a clue what happened. the log files I know how to access don't show me anything, the inspire is on the bottom of the ocean.

I called Dji in the United States and were told to contact Dji in Netherlands by email and I've already done so but not received any reply since this happened just tonight. how does the dji deal with such cases?

Do they ever take any responsibility themselves or do they try to put this on me?

Is there anyone here who can reach into those log files of mine and find out what really happened?
I would be really grateful if someone would give me some helping hand here.

Here's the airdata log :

Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

 

[Lesmess]

Sorry for your loss, I would never have my bird over the sea on 14% battery full stop. Warning set at 30% and its back to me. I would never trust a battery below 20%. Not much help I know, what sort of condition was the battery, did you have a regular discharge regime to keep the battery calibration on point? Good luck with your dealing with DJI.

 

[theirishdroneranger]

Sorry to hear that mate, hopefully somebody here can assist.

 

[ianwood]

Looks like the voltage dropped below critical level. Battery was in bad shape. You were down to 3.3V and drawing 30 amps. You must have been hammering on it coming back. Sorry for the loss.

 

[luigivisconti]

Hi, when was the last time you calibrated the battery (bringing it at 0%)?

 

[red_raven]

Sorry for your loss, I would never have my bird over the sea on 14% battery full stop. Warning set at 30% and its back to me. I would never trust a battery below 20%. Not much help I know, what sort of condition was the battery, did you have a regular discharge regime to keep the battery calibration on point? Good luck with your dealing with DJI.

The battery life ( the actual life not the charge) was about 80% I think. It's been discharged to under 5%every 20 flights (give or take)

I was somewhat away when it hit 30% I HD already turned around and started to fly home. And at 14% I was about to start the landing process on to the bay, in 50m altitude just about reaching the homepoint. I've done this so many times before, I've even flown the last meters to home ascending against the 10% auto landing. I've never failed.
And the battery shouldn't fail either not at 60% nor 14%
Any allowed point for failure is at 0% and I might add that I've flown (as an experiment, also to get the cells down to 3.3v to reset the battery mah metering (done by dji instructions) and I was amazed to see it hover for 3-4 minutes at 0% state. These are called smart batterys. If you're smart you don't shyt (letters fixed to get the word trough the filters here. Lol) yourself at the door into the wc on you way to take a dump. You just don't. That's what my inspire just did.

And at battery error, the app would show battery error wouldn't it?

 

[red_raven]

Looks like the voltage dropped below critical level. Battery was in bad shape. You were down to 3.3V and drawing 30 amps. You must have been hammering on it coming back. Sorry for the loss.

It does not shuts off at 3.3.... Or at least shouldn't, and have not done so in resetting processes by draining them to lower than 3.3v

 

[red_raven]

The battery life ( the actual life not the charge) was about 80% I think. It's been discharged to under 5%every 20 flights (give or take)

I was somewhat away when it hit 30% I HD already turned around and started to fly home. And at 14% I was about to start the landing process on to the bay, in 50m altitude just about reaching the homepoint. I've done this so many times before, I've even flown the last meters to home ascending against the 10% auto landing. I've never failed.
And the battery shouldn't fail either not at 60% nor 14%
Any allowed point for failure is at 0% and I might add that I've flown (as an experiment, also to get the cells down to 3.3v to reset the battery mah metering (done by dji instructions) and I was amazed to see it hover for 3-4 minutes at 0% state. These are called smart batterys. If you're smart you don't shyt (letters fixed to get the word trough the filters here. Lol) yourself at the door into the wc on you way to take a dump. You just don't. That's what my inspire just did.

And at battery error, the app would show battery error wouldn't it?

Also, being a smart battery. Shouldn't the app provide info is battery is not safe to fly?

 

[red_raven]

Hi, when was the last time you calibrated the battery (bringing it at 0%)?

Few days ago it was completely drained to zero. I do this as instructed by dji.

 

[ianwood]

It does not shuts off at 3.3.... Or at least shouldn't, and have not done so in resetting processes by draining them to lower than 3.3v

Not with a 30 amp load it doesn't! Take a look at this chart and tell me what happens at 3.4~3.3V.

As much as DJI batteries are "smart", you still need to understand the basic workings of LiPo batteries. Your drone ran out of gas.

 

[ianwood]

Also, the whole process of running batteries down to zero percent to recalibrate them (or whatever it is that DJI says they need) is baffling and probably does a lot more harm than good. I've never done it and never will.

 

[red_raven]

Also, the whole process of running batteries down to zero percent to recalibrate them (or whatever it is that DJI says they need) is baffling and probably does a lot more harm than good. I've never done it and never will.

Thanks for your inputs I appreciate it. I have been flying under the impression that dji go would warn me if something goes wrong. It slows me down if the motors are overloaded, but than allow me to fly the drone into the abyss by overloading the battery while using a flying mode designed by same smartasses that decided what kind of battery the device would be equipped with. This is nonsense from my point of view (not saying it isn't the fact) just saying how stupit and not very responsible by dji designs. I had not one battery warning I. This flight and have never been warned or shown anything about this battery being unstable or being told that full throttle on atti is on any way a risky behavior. I've been led to belive that I'm using smart tools that will make adjustments when needed and give warnings when needed.

It's like designing a car that blows up if the gas levels are below 30% while driving in 5th gear. Wouldn't it be demanded that the manufacturer wouldn't equipp the car with that fifth gear?

This is obviously a huge flaw in design. Or at least a huge amount of irresponsibility by manufacturer to not provide information needed to fly safe.
And actually it's just another case of Chinese ethics, use sweet talk about smart stuff and safety to s ll product but not provide the info about the self destruct possibility when using one of the smart function provided.....

I'm pissed about this crash, so I am truly a bit biased here, but is it really to much to ask that advertised smart devices actually outsmart the self destruct function?

 

[red_raven]

Also, the whole process of running batteries down to zero percent to recalibrate them (or whatever it is that DJI says they need) is baffling and probably does a lot more harm than good. I've never done it and never will.

Everyone who has had anything to do with dji tech support knows that there are only retards working there with the exception of chat bots replacing them that very obviously were coded by full blown retards at very best.

But I took the decision to do as they say, but saving all log files as proof of them giving that instructions. That way they wouldn't have anything on me in a case of failure.
I don't like to get into circumstances were I'm told, we'll it's on you because u didn't follow our instructions.....

But it has become very clear to me that almost scary amount of the dji staff in China seems to be struggling trough life with some extra chromosomes on their back.

 

[Kiwipete88]

Yep,that battery just ran out of gas alright,was hot to at nearly 70C.
Same thing happened to me 18 odd months ago,fell from 10m,DJI replaced it under warranty.
I now run auxiliary battery's with my TB47s and a parachute,touch wood have never had a problem since.

Ok guys it happened.

Here's the airdata log :

Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

 

[Mark Taylor]

Send the log into DJI and pray...

From the looks of the data though, cell 1 was just not up to the task of handling that amount of amps.

Need to pay attention to the cell voltages, not just the percentage numbers, you might have made it back if you'd reduced the amps a bit towards the end and given the bad cell a chance to recover a little...

 

[red_raven]

Send the log into DJI and pray...

From the looks of the data though, cell 1 was just not up to the task of handling that amount of amps.

Need to pay attention to the cell voltages, not just the percentage numbers, you might have made it back if you'd reduced the amps a bit towards the end and given the bad cell a chance to recover a little...

I'm also almost shocked by the fact that the heat of the battery is measured, but not even a friendly notice or a warning when the heat gets up to a melting point . It's almost 70 degrees Celsius.... Not Fahrenheit, freaking Celsius! That's a melting point. An egg would cook fine at that heat, seriously.

 

[The Editor]

Also, the whole process of running batteries down to zero percent to recalibrate them (or whatever it is that DJI says they need) is baffling and probably does a lot more harm than good. I've never done it and never will.

Actually there is a very good reason for 'calibrating' assuming you do not fly by voltage rather than percentage which most on here do.
By calibrating or running down the battery to 'zero' or LVC you are telling the firmware where 'Full' and 'Empty' are. These endpoints are constantly moving as the pack ages and the internal resistance of the cells increases and pack capacity decreases. By calibrating you are resetting the fuel gauge.
You, like me probably fly by voltage and not percentage which is never accurate. Unfortunately many, if not most are not experienced with the nuances of lipo chemistry and think that 'smart' packs (which are anything but) will look after them.

 

[The Editor]

Thanks for your inputs I appreciate it. I have been flying under the impression that dji go would warn me if something goes wrong. It slows me down if the motors are overloaded, but than allow me to fly the drone into the abyss by overloading the battery while using a flying mode designed by same smartasses that decided what kind of battery the device would be equipped with. This is nonsense from my point of view (not saying it isn't the fact) just saying how stupit and not very responsible by dji designs. I had not one battery warning I. This flight and have never been warned or shown anything about this battery being unstable or being told that full throttle on atti is on any way a risky behavior. I've been led to belive that I'm using smart tools that will make adjustments when needed and give warnings when needed.

It's like designing a car that blows up if the gas levels are below 30% while driving in 5th gear. Wouldn't it be demanded that the manufacturer wouldn't equipp the car with that fifth gear?

This is obviously a huge flaw in design. Or at least a huge amount of irresponsibility by manufacturer to not provide information needed to fly safe.
And actually it's just another case of Chinese ethics, use sweet talk about smart stuff and safety to s ll product but not provide the info about the self destruct possibility when using one of the smart function provided.....

I'm pissed about this crash, so I am truly a bit biased here, but is it really to much to ask that advertised smart devices actually outsmart the self destruct function?

There is absolutely no flaw in design. It is simply lipo chemistry, physics and an insistence that if something doesn't appear on the screen warning you then it must be ok to carry on flying.
I never have and never will fly by percentage, since it cannot possibly be accurate. If you had been monitoring your pack and cell voltages under load you would have seen you should have brought the aircraft back a long time before hitting LVC.
Sorry for your loss but I'm afraid it's inexperience this time that caused the incident.

 

[red_raven]

There is absolutely no flaw in design. It is simply lipo chemistry, physics and an insistence that if something doesn't appear on the screen warning you then it must be ok to carry on flying.
I never have and never will fly by percentage, since it cannot possibly be accurate. If you had been monitoring your pack and cell voltages under load you would have seen you should have brought the aircraft back a long time before hitting LVC.
Sorry for your loss but I'm afraid it's inexperience this time that caused the incident.

Thanks for your reply... I'll give my previous statement again I'm a photographer, not an electrician. If I need any critical knowledge about battery voltage. It should be provided by dji do the you think? At least they should provide the info that i need to find that info....

And also I would consider it bogus business by dji to provide users with percentage, if it's really volts that matters while the % just mess with our heads.....

But yes, I'm not with broken back off experience. That's true.... But still I find there are matters here that simply aren't right.... There is a gap of knowledge at least that needs to be provided with the devices

 

[Mark Taylor]

As I said before, send in the log and see what happens, sometimes DJI surprises me with what they will accept as their fault, but a detailed analysis of the data isn't going to change the fact that this was an avoidable accident and if you prefer not to get too deep into the care and use of the lipo packs I would respectfully suggest that flying long distances out to sea is probably not a great idea.

Looks like you has a WSW wind which wasn't helping matters as you'd gone somewhat south during your flight and you can see the wind pushing you south as you attempted to return to the take-off point which probably accounts for the higher power drain on the return leg.

Good luck with whatever happens next though, nobody likes to hear about these things going down at sea.