This is my first drone so I’m not sure what I did wrong. Just bought the mini 4k list week and was flying it in the backyard away from any obstructions while I practice. I took it up ~200’ to try sport mode. After about a couple minutes I heard attitude mode and saw a red light on the drone as it fell to the ground. It’s destroyed. I did buy the protection plan, but what did I do wrong? I’ve had others in a FB group say I shut it down by moving the sticks to the corners, but pretty sure I didn’t. Also, if I’m understanding correctly I could only stop the motors in that fashion if the drone was in an emergency mode which is the default setting in the app. Again, if I understand ATTI mode is not considered an emergency? I’ve already sent it back for replacement, but I’d like to figure out what I did wrong. I did upload the log. If I did in fact stop the motors, would that show in the flight record?
The 1st line in the log stating ‘motor unable to rotate’ was from landing in the grass and trying to takeoff again. I moved it to the concrete patio at that point and took off. Appreciate any insight.
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/D8FYQ5TK8J8OKA34TGW2TOXZFDJG23RT
Yes – and that did not happen.
At 13m 24.4s, you can see the following messages:
- Motor unable to rotate
- Motor stuck
- Check for objects blocking the motor
- Not enough force
It appears one of the motors was either not able to rotate due to a hardware failure or possible contact with a 3rd party accessory (if using any installed near the motors).
It doesn’t sound like they even attempted to review your flight log. The sticks were not in that position prior to the incident.
Thanks for looking at this. No 3rd party accessories are installed. I’ve had a couple people in that same group, and I laughed, say that someone electronically shot it down. I know it’s technically possible, but is that something that could have really caused this? I’m just trying to find out what happened, and if it was something I did, so I don’t do that again.
If this was some sort of hardware/software failure or glitch should I call DJI? I ask because I returned it under the Care Refresh and if it was no fault of my own, then they should replace it without using the Care Refresh?
I guess anything is possible, somehow. However, it’s pretty unlikely anyone would have such a device that would be able to take out a single motor/ESC on the drone.
I think it’s likely some kind of hardware failure caused the issue. If that’s the case, DJI should replace it for free under warranty. I’m not sure what they will do though now that you sent it in under DJI Care Refresh. They might just replace it without further investigation.
Try working with DJI support to provide these additional details if you haven’t already.
I just got off the phone with them. The had me pull the log, the .dat from the controller, and told me someone would contact me from care refresh once they receive the drone. I don’t think that’s going to happen as he kept saying ‘maybe they will reach out’. I’m with you. I think I should have looked at the logs before I sent it back in. We’ll see what happens. Thanks again.
When I click on your picture I get “couldn’t download” so I cannot see what all the messages are. But it looks like you got about a dozen alarms before it finally crashed (the red dots). It would be interesting to know what those were. Generally, if you get a bunch of these, you should stop flying and find out what is wrong.
The drone will switch to “atti mode” if it cannot run its normal position holding software. Loss of GPS or a conflict between GPS and the magnetic compass will do that. IMU problems might have a similar effect.
anyway - what you did wrong was to ignore all the warnings …
Which warnings are you referring to?
I don’t see any related/important warnings before the issue started at 13m 24.4s. After that point, there would have been no way to control the drone since one of the motors was not functioning.
Like i said, i cannot see any of the log, just the map. There are a dozen red dots on the map. Red dots usually mean a warning or error message.
The link I posted still works. The only alert I received was the Attitude one that I mentioned. The warnings you mentioned all occurred within ~5 secs.
The link does not work in either browser on my desktop. Perhaps it’s my antivirus. It does work on my phone with its tiny screen.
I think what likely happened is that the first time you got the stuck motor warning, there really was something wrong with the motor, but it just happened to clear itself. You went into sport mode where the motor would have to work harder. It lasted for 7 minutes then jammed again (some dirt had gotten into the bearing perhaps). You can see that the controller put a lot of current into the motor for 1 second and then basically declared the motor was dead. You were at 189 feet with one motor that would not rotate. All the other messages were from trying to fly on only three motors, tumbling and flipping in a way that the IMU and compass could not cope with.
The message you chose to ignore was the first “unable to rotate” message. I probably would have done the same. Although …after seeing this I might be a little more cautious about taking to the sky until I was sure the motor was good.
Thanks Ken. Here’s what I don’t understand. I did not receive any warning, unless it just pops up without any audio notification? I was watching the drone, not my screen. Are you saying there a warnings that can be displayed on the screen without an audible tone?
If it’s something serious it should appear in a black box on camera view. The exact appearance may depend on which drone or controller. The sound (if any) can be turned down, or off, in the setup. You might check that.