Battery error + flyaway..linked?

[thatdaveguy]

So i had my first brown trouser moment today. Before a flight i had a battery error pop up on my screen. Turned everything off, and then back on, still got the error. At this point i noticed that the two middle LEDs were lit on the battery. Swapped over to a (previously used and depleted to 20%) battery. That fired up with no error. Installed the initial battery and this time got the all clear, all 5 LEDS lit. Checked the status in the app, all cells were at the same voltage, everything was green and rosey so i just figured it was "one of those" lol. Conditions were cold, but above freezing, which is still within the dji threshold i believe?

Sent my Mavic off on a trip around 2000ft. Perfect line of sight, no obstructions whatsoever to do a loop around a local monument and back. On the return trip i started getting random obstacle warnings around 100ft above a field. This happend about 5 times then it just went nuts and started flying backwards...totally unresponsive to control inputs. RTH button did nothing, id previously read that shutting off the controller would initiate RTH. Once my controller powered back on, it hadnt initiated RTH, but it had stopped the flyaway. Guided it back to me and landed safely.

Uploaded the flight to Healthy Drones and whilst it doesn't give me any reasoning for the obstacle warnings, it does show that i had another battery error during the flight. looking at the data from Healthy Drones it would appear that this is this particular batteries first use ( i bought 4) is it possibly a defective battery? I cant think of any other reason for this to happen.

Everything is up to date firmware wise, compass/IMU was calibrated ok and the copter had flown flawlessly earlier in the day.

I dont really want to risk flying with that battery again, but are dji likely to believe me if i try and claim the battery made my mavic angry and totally spaz out ??! lol



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[dontfeedthenerd]

Did you update the firmware on that battery?

Close DJI Go, insert that battery, open DJI Go and see if an update pops up.

 

[thatdaveguy]

Ok...im going to put a target on my back and admit the fact i didnt know the batteries themselves had firmware. Controllers yes, the craft itself yes, the batteries i had no idea.

With them being called intelligent batteries i probably should have put 2 and 2 together, but i suppose those are the joys of being new to this hobby

 

[dontfeedthenerd]

No target man, I learned it myself by reading this forum.

 

[thatdaveguy]

Is there any way to check the firmware version on the batteries?

 

[andrewkhoo]

Did you update the firmware on that battery?

Close DJI Go, insert that battery, open DJI Go and see if an update pops up.

How do one check for battery firmware? I've updated both craft and RC but no battery firmware prompt on any of the 3 batteries that I have. And yes, I have battery errors on all 3 of them. :/

 

[4wd]

The imaginary obstacle and braking is typically caused by flying towards the sun a particular problem when it's low in winter.
I can't see an obvious connection between battery errors and not responding to controller let alone reversing on its own. Could that part have been caused by drifting in the wind?
That might happen if GPS fix was briefly lost.

 

[Andrew F]

The imaginary obstacle and braking is typically caused by flying towards the sun a particular problem when it's low in winter.
I can't see an obvious connection between battery errors and not responding to controller let alone reversing on its own. Could that part have been caused by drifting in the wind?
That might happen if GPS fix was briefly lost.

I totally agree. I think the two issues are unrelated. I personally would never turn off my controller to initiate RTH when things are odd. That controller is your life! Just press either RTH button. Make sure you don't have backward flight enabled in app unless you understand it and want it. BTW, sometimes heavy braking can look like backward flight. Good luck and report back any new info!