Introduction and crash

vh_enriquez · Jan 5, 2017

Hello,
I live in Mexico city and been flying for around a year now. Until 10 minutes ago, I had an Inspire 1 v.2 with 100 flights made by myself. I was flying during the night with everything in order and hit return to home when the TB48 was at 60%, it was coming from 2.5 kms away and 430 mts of altitude. Once it was landing in vertical, at 170 mts, with a battery at 29%, it suddenly shut off and fell. I will get it tomorrow, as it crashed on top of a wall and fell into a neighbor's background, only the gimball fell on my side, but the impact and sound was very hard, so it will be totalled.

Does anyone has an idea of what could have happened? The battery had only about 6 charges, it was almost new and was fully charged today.

Is there a way I can send the flight information? if so, how and to whom ?

thanks
Victor Enriquez

lake_flyer · Jan 5, 2017

vh_enriquez said:
Hello,
I live in Mexico city and been flying for around a year now. Until 10 minutes ago, I had an Inspire 1 v.2 with 100 flights made by myself. I was flying during the night with everything in order and hit return to home when the TB48 was at 60%, it was coming from 2.5 kms away and 430 mts of altitude. Once it was landing in vertical, at 170 mts, with a battery at 29%, it suddenly shut off and fell. I will get it tomorrow, as it crashed on top of a wall and fell into a neighbor's background, only the gimball fell on my side, but the impact and sound was very hard, so it will be totalled.

Does anyone has an idea of what could have happened? The battery had only about 6 charges, it was almost new and was fully charged today.

Is there a way I can send the flight information? if so, how and to whom ?

thanks
Victor Enriquez

Sorry for your loss
But you must be grateful your neighbour wasn't enjoying the view of the night sky in the backyard while your bird came crashing down with terminal velocity from 170m high (in pitch dark!).

Moshe Hagshur · Jan 5, 2017

Did you charge the battery just before flight or the battery was charged like 2-3 days before and you assumed that if it showed 100 percent
You decided to flight?

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The Editor · Jan 5, 2017

You were over 1,400ft up and more than 1.5 miles away?
Didn't think flying at night in Mexico was legal either!

I'll leave this to the forum......... but I can't condone that kind of irresponsible flying.

lake_flyer · Jan 5, 2017

Totally agree. If you want to fly without any responsibility for rules or safety at all, don't come here whining about your lost bird. Just take it like the cool dude you want to be.

vh_enriquez · Jan 5, 2017

My country is at this moment under siege. If you have read the news we have mobs attacking business, property and everything. Its a total chaos, so that flight was with personal and family security purpose of surveillance as they were near my location. I am not here to whine, I am looking for answers in order not to have that kind of accidents again. BTW, my country has different rules for flying drones and is not as tight as yours. About the battery, it could have been charged about 4 days prior, I am not exactly sure, as I charged that same day a TB48 and a TB47, and I was going to use the 47, but at the end switched to 48, but I have 5 of them, so I am not exactly sure if it was the one charged the same day or a few days before. All of them have less than 8 cycles. Whenever I do a flight like this, its always under a very strong security reason.

brad90631 · Jan 5, 2017

If you have 5 batteries with 8 cycles on them, how do you get 100 flights?

here is a list of the current Mexico laws regarding Drones.

Mexico Drone Laws

All drone flights must be operated in daylight only
There are no laws on operating drones weighing under 2kg other than they cannot be used at night
A permit is required for operation of drones weighing between 2kg and 25kg
A permit and pilot license are required for operation of drones weighing over 25kg
Despite the lack of Mexican drone laws you should still be careful when operating a done in Mexico. Try to maintain visual contact with your drone at all times and avoid flying over large crowds or near airports

giavonnie · Jan 5, 2017

I think lake flyer and editor should ease up a little as I'm sure neither of you break any laws ever such as speeding or whatever the guy just wants some help if you don't agree with what he has done then you should abstain from commenting as you don't know Mexico and or his situation as he kindly tried to explain we all don't live in a Country as good as the USA

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vh_enriquez · Jan 6, 2017

I know mexican law. In fact, the law does not rule it, it is a circular from DGAC, which is the lowest document level in a legal regulation here. I live in the outskirts of Mexico City, surrounded by 70% forest, my house is the last one. During that flight 85% of what I crossed was forest, and it was 2am. This is the kind of SERIOUS RISK i was talking about:

We are having thousands of people like that nationwide at this moment. Yesterday a big group of them were heading to where I live with my wife and a 2 year old son during the night. If I have to evacuate, I need to go towards them for .5 mile, then head away to the middle of nowhere in 4x4, I cannot just run to the back and go. Gas stations and supermarkets are shutting down because they are getting looted or burned. What would you have do if a mob like that was heading to your home? Because I also lock & loaded everything.

Whoever has been on the field (Im a former federal agent) knows that you dont always have to go by the book if you want to solve something or be safe.

Yes I could have wounded a neighbor, but the possibility and result that that happened was nothing compared to what would have happened to all of us (including my neighbors) if we were surprised while sleeping.

I´m sorry, but 911 does not work here.

Security costs, and assuming minor risks protecting greater interests is justified from my point of view.

vh_enriquez · Jan 6, 2017

Here are the 100 flights, I didnt make it to the 101, at least not with this aircraft. My stock TB47 has most of the them and a TB48 which I already replaced. The rest are new and fresh batteries.

Hey guys, I came here to make friends and share experience. We all learn from each other. Even though you don´t like them, I am sharing with you these great pics from that trip.

By the way, what does growth of value and LV20 means?

madgadget · Jan 6, 2017

I can only assume what growth of value and LV20 mean so I'll address your original question. DJI and some others suggest fully discharging your lipos after 20 charge cycles. Although the memory effect is quite different from other battery chemistries partial discharge, storage voltage and even length of dormancy all play a role in a battery's performance and OA lifecycle.

Unfortunately the intelligence of the I1 battery does not include failure prediction. So based on the information provided I presume it was in fact one of your older packs charged 4 days prior and not discharged per recommendation and instead of sustaining flight power to 20% or so it instantly failed. imo
Good to hear your family is safe and no one was hurt or property damaged.
Fly safe and take care of your efuel...

vh_enriquez · Jan 7, 2017

Thanks madgadget, I guess my mistake is going to cost me high. When reaching 20 cycles on a battery, does the full discharge is until 0%? Aren't LiPos supposed to die if you take them until 0?

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NH Phantom · Jan 7, 2017

I'll add my .02. I would do anything it takes to protect myself and my family regardless if it legal or not.

Welcome to the forum. Hope things get better for you

vh_enriquez · Jan 7, 2017

Thanks NHPhantom. A question for all: so if I charged a battery days before and it still shows 100%, I just have to put it on the charger again, or discharge it safely and then recharge it again?

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madgadget · Jan 7, 2017

vh_enriquez said:
Thanks madgadget, I guess my mistake is going to cost me high. When reaching 20 cycles on a battery, does the full discharge is until 0%? Aren't LiPos supposed to die if you take them until 0?

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You'r welcome and that's correct, however the intelligent batteries won't really go to 0 following this service routine. There are more elegant "expensive" methods but here is a simple tried and tested solution.

Ralph thompson · Jan 7, 2017

Enriquez, first I'd strongly recommend closer adherence to the currently accepted rules, they're for yr and our safety. VLOS & below 400 ft, follow daylight VFR rules. Develop a serious check-list which includes battery checks, join Healthy Drones. Since I live in Canada & temperatures can be challenging, I have extra battery checks including, eg with the Inspire hovering 5 ft of the ground, select Main Controller Settings<Aircraft Battery in the Go App & check the battery temperature & voltage of the 6 separate cells. If the 6 cells vary by more than 0.02 v (i believe this is an acceptable variation) consider switching batteries and cycle the battery when u get home. There is a nifty device called the Phantom Angel that will safely discharge the Inspire battery. U can then recharge it & the 6 cells should be back to +- 0.01 v. I'm not an electrical whiz so open to a correction on these numbers. Fly safe.

vh_enriquez · Jan 10, 2017

Thanks Ralph and Madgadget!

AJW · Jan 10, 2017

Did you see the voltage levels drop while you were flying. I m assuming your battery was not really charged to 100% and you probably used the one which was charged days prior.

The Editor · Jan 10, 2017

Ralph thompson said:
Enriquez, first I'd strongly recommend closer adherence to the currently accepted rules, they're for yr and our safety. VLOS & below 400 ft, follow daylight VFR rules. Develop a serious check-list which includes battery checks, join Healthy Drones. Since I live in Canada & temperatures can be challenging, I have extra battery checks including, eg with the Inspire hovering 5 ft of the ground, select Main Controller Settings<Aircraft Battery in the Go App & check the battery temperature & voltage of the 6 separate cells. If the 6 cells vary by more than 0.02 v (i believe this is an acceptable variation) consider switching batteries and cycle the battery when u get home. There is a nifty device called the Phantom Angel that will safely discharge the Inspire battery. U can then recharge it & the 6 cells should be back to +- 0.01 v. I'm not an electrical whiz so open to a correction on these numbers. Fly safe.

0.2 (200mV) not 0.02 (20mV).

And totally agree - battery management is as important as aircraft management/maintenance

vh_enriquez · Jan 10, 2017

This may be a dumb question, but can someone explain me with apples what should I look for on the battery voltage and cells? Which is fine, which is an alert and what to do? Thanks

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