Hi - My Phantom 4 just fell out of the sky without warning or apparent reason. I’ve downloaded the flight log and there are no error messages there either! However, on the return flight (home) the box on the bottom right of Google map (Flight Log Recording) the dot turns from yellow to red abruptly. The red dot stays red right up to the point of fall/crash. The box on the left remains yellow! Any advice as to what this means.
Got a link to your flight log?
Apparently “new users cannot upload files” !
Upload your flight log here and post the link to that page back here.
Yeah - I’ve done that a few days ago, thus the question!..
“the box on the bottom right of Google map (Flight Log Recording) the dot turns from yellow to red abruptly. The red dot stays red right up to the point of fall/crash. The box on the left remains yellow! Any advice as to what this means.”
Got it. My response above was just in reply to your comment that new users cannot upload files.
This is what the colors mean:
Yellow = stick is in the center
Red = stick is pushed to the max position
Orange = stick is somewhere in the middle
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FANTASTIC - Thanks for your help!
Any idea, from that log, as to why she fell from the sky like a brick?
Here we go again. It appears yet another P4 battery dislodge or disconnect. This is becoming quite frequent, unfortunately. Nothing in your data shows anything in error that would cause it to fall from the sky. However, I will point out that flying at full fwd elevator and making that hard fast left turn and yaw, could have loosened the battery. It disconnected less than 2 seconds later. These battery disconnects are far too frequent.
Firstly, I’d like to say this is a fantastic forum! I’ve posed a question and its been answered/resolved immediately. THANKS.
In reply to msinger - thanks for the valuable info for the sticks
In reply to Fly_Dawg - I take on-board what you’ve said about the hard-turn and accept FULL responsibility. I suspected the battery had come loose, as it wasn’t fully inserted upon recovery of the remains of the drone. A harsh lesson learnt me thinks guys! Hope others see this post, and hopefully a drone life will be saved (and a lot of hard earnt cash).
Just to add to the above. This is the 3rd P4 battery disconnect I have seen in the past week. Overall, I am only guessing but the total number that I have seen has to be close to 20-25 by now, and all P4’s, P4A’s, or P4P’s. The design in the P4v2 was changed, so I suspect that it was noted as some type of flaw, either in the latching system or the connection points. Granted, there is really no way to be certain if the battery was incorrectly inserted and properly latched unless the pilot recognizes that fact, but there are far too many to be the latter case IMHO.
As far as I can tell, the latching system is identical in the P4P V2. The only visible difference is the addition of the button on the right below. When not fully depressed, the aircraft will prevent taking off.
As I mentioned, it could have to do with the connection points for the battery, which are different than the P3’s. But again, who knows. I don’t know that anyone has found a true answer for the issue. It is most difficult to isolate that type of failure. I just find it beyond coincidence that all of these battery dislodges, or disconnects if you will are all on the P4’s. I have yet to see one on the V2. Just adding a connection sensor to me is simply for pilot peace of mind, so to speak, such that he knows the battery is fully seated. Still a bit of a mystery really in all honesty.
I’m not so sure that’s why it was added. It seems DJI added it to prevent taking off when the battery is not snapped into place properly (which is apparently the cause of many mid-flight disconnects). Or that’s at least what the button does.
I have been following this issue closely also…
And just yesterday for the first time, realize an important note.
I was out flying Fissure 8… and when told brought her home for a battery change…
The light was changing rapidly so I took off the first battery and quickly inserted a new one…
Usually when I am putting a battery on I will tilt her 45º resting on her forearms and pinch both tabs of the battery in when inserting… to prevent wear on the plastic “catch/latch” area… this time I just grabbed a battery and did what I used to do, which is to hold the bird by the two back arms and with my thumbs give equal pressure and just push the battery in until it “clicks”… everything appears normal… started her up and took off… for some unknown reason I hovered about 5ft agl and took a good look at her… then on further inspection I see that the bottom latch on the battery had not closed… So, even though it appear3d ok and did indeed take off, it would have taken just a little aggressive maneuver to maybe pop that top latch off also… then “Bob’s your uncle”
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THANKS to everyone for their help - VERY late update I know, but I’ve had personal issues to sort, sorry.
So - I sent the P4 back to DJI and after about 4 weeks, without warning and/or email, a replacement arrived with no explanation whatsoever! DJI even sent a set of new props, my old props and my old mangled P4 camera! Happy days.
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Thanks for the update. I’m happy to hear you’re back up and running. Did DJI mention what they think failed?
I received a replacement P4 without explanation and with no notice. It just arrived t-of-the-blue. I sent an email asking what the problem was, and I recived a reply saying…
"Thank you for contacting DJI Technical Support.
Upon checking your case, we’ve already shipped the replacement unit out and this was covered under warranty. I can’t guarantee if it was a brand new replacement but we made it sure that the replacement unit is fully functional since they were tested and assessed and has the same performance with the brand new unit.
Please let me know if you need anything
Thank you for choosing DJI and have a wonderful day.
Best Regards,
Jayson
DJI Customer Support"