I had a phantom 4 but havent used it since early 2018 due to my 2 batteries swelling. After playing with my coworkers drone i felt in the mood to fly again. I looked on amazon but most do not ship here. Finally found one. It was a generic battery. The day i recieved the battery I charged it that night and took it off the charger when done. The first of the 2 test flights went fine. There was a “motor or propeller warning” but seemed fine after takeoff. I went about 3k feet away and returned. Upon landing i did not turn off drone. The next flight started a couple minutes later. About 1.5 minutes into the flight i switched to atti mode. When reviewing the flight record i notcied that the battery level stopped going down (stuck @ 57%) and the red/yellow/green bar time stopped as well (stopped @ 10:49). At around 5300 feet away i recieved notification “the remaining battery is only enough for rth” followed closely by “low power. returning home.” I canceled it and started booking it back home. On the return i lost downlink for 31.8s and then restored. Still in atti mode i was making my back and at 2100 feet away i lost connection and never regained. Battery indicator still @ 57% and bar still @ 10:49. The flight from start to loss of connection was just over 5 minutes. I used “find my drone” and last location of connection but did not find it. Not sure where to look. My home lies just inside restricted zone but was able to take off and fly in it. Where the drone last was and home the restricted zone is in between. Did it try to go around? Did it try to go through? Did it land? Did it drift? Any suggestions? I really need to find this guy. Its been several days already
Please share the flight log here.
The drone should have started landing after it disconnected from the remote controller. Since it was only 8 feet above the treetops, it should be fairly close to the last location in the flight log (21.403785142925496, -158.019320685194).
Likely in this area:
Don't forget to look up in the trees.
I looked in the area already and didnt find it. “Find my drone” put me about 50ft farther but didnt find it there either. Is there anywhere else it could be? In the video when it cutoff, i was about 30-40ft above the bushes.
Your flight log shows the video was recording until the end of the log. Can you share that video?
Cant upload video. I was flying straight back home and then the video cut. Ill look again but is there anywhere else you think it could be?
If you want to share the video, upload it to YouTube.com and share the link here.
Since it was flying in ATTI mode at the time, it would have landed at its current location when the remote controller disconnected. If that occurred, it’s not going to be exactly at the last location in the flight log since it was flying at 32 MPH and would have come to a stop before landing. It should be close to that location though.
Which location did Find My Drone show?
Those two locations are pretty close. Maybe even the same.
In looking at your flight log some more, I don’t think it attempted to land. Here’s what I see:
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You toggled between P-GPS and Sport mode several times at the beginning of the flight.
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At 1m 6.9s, you switched to ATTI mode. The drone was still using GPS at this point, but not to assist with positioning since you were purposely flying in ATTI mode.
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At 3m 23.2s, the battery reached the low level and the drone started returning home.
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At 3m 26s, the go home attempt was cancelled and you resumed flying again.
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At 3m 41.7s, the remote controller disconnected and the drone start automatically flying back home again.
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At 4m 13.5s, the remote controller reconnected to the drone and you resumed flying again. You continued flying toward the home point and started descending from 281 feet down to 148 feet.
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At 5m 1.5s (the last record in the flight log), the drone was flying at a height of 148 feet above the takeoff point. Due to the difference in elevation between the drone’s current location and the takeoff point, the drone was likely closer to 80 feet above the ground (give or take 20 feet maybe).
The “VPS Height” was showing a value between 3 to 8 feet at that time – indicating there was an obstacle close to the bottom of the drone (likely trees). You can see that here:
The drone abruptly disconnected at the end of the flight log with no abrupt changes in position (pitch/roll/yaw), so I’m assuming the remote controller disconnected due to the signal being blocked since the drone was so close to the ground (or more likely trees below).
Assuming that all occurred, the drone would have come to a stop and then started returning home again (along the red line below). With the battery at 57%, I don’t think it would have had any trouble getting back to the home point. Since it did not arrive at the home point, I’m thinking it probably crashed into one of the trees (in the pink circled area below).
I’d start at the last recorded location (21.403785142925496, -158.019320685194) and walk along the red line until you are past any trees or other potential obstacles. The drone probably crashed into something up on top of that hill.
Ill have a look. The battery level and return bar was stuck for most of the flight (battery 57% & bar @ 10:49). I also had a question about the restricted zone in between. If i switched to atti mode, will it fly home through it?
I haven’t personally tried that one, but I don’t think you would be able to fly through a restricted zone while your drone is using GPS (like yours was).
What makes you think that location is restricted? I saw no indication of that in your flight log.
Ah, so, that’s another interesting wrinkle. Perhaps your drone cleared the trees, continued flying toward the home point, and had to land due to a critically low battery level.
While we cannot rule that out, I wouldn’t entertain that one until you’re sure your drone did not crash on top of the hill. Start with the easier search first.
Thanks for all the help. I went out today but didnt find it. I checked all around the circle area and almost all way back home. Im pretty sure it didnt get that close since i couldnt hear or see it. Do you have any other suggestions to where it might be?
Thanks for sharing that video!
It looks like it cleared the top of the hill. Since there appear to be no other obstacles between that hill and the home point, it could be anywhere along that red line between the top of the hill and the home point.
I found it. It was stuck in some trees about 200ft west of where “find my drone” said. Thanks for the help though. Appreciate it
