2 New Mavic Mini's Overheated on the same day - One is a total loss

[Radioman56]

Hi Guys! I do mostly commercial drone work with the Matrice 210 and a couple older P4P's so I purchased my Mavic Mini in February to have a super compact drone for an upcoming vacation (canceled due to Covid-19) and have some Fun!. I also purchased one for my Nephew to get him into the hobby before Christmas. We went to a nearby lake in IL last weekend (June 6 2020) and within about 4 or 5 minutes he was getting an overheating message (this was his 4th flight since Christmas). We brought it down and put it back up again in another couple minutes and the same thing happened after a few minutes and this time it auto-landed and struck a tree branch and crashed about 4 feet. The drone was actually not damaged but we kept it grounded anyway. At that point we both flew my Mini for a couple minutes more and then while over the lake about 600 feet out and over 50% battery life left I got the over-heating message again and this time it auto-landed in the water! A guy in a Kayak saw it go down and tried to locate it for us but couldn't find it. Pretty disappointing and I'm not sure if this was just a bad quality control batch that managed to sneak through or a larger problem. I tried to see if others were having the problem as well and have started seeing a growing number of identical issues. It was only 81 deg F at the time and I think DJI says it will operate in temperatures just over 100 deg F. It appears that now since it's summer in a lot of the world more people are experiencing the problem and it may not have been just a couple of bad drones. Please let me know if others on the forum are having the issue and what you did to fix the problem. I heard there is no fan, just a heat-sink. I built my last 2 computers so I have a lot of Thermal-paste left over to try to re-seat the metal heat-sink if that is the answer. Afraid that will void my DJI warranty, but I'd like to get everyone's take before proceeding.. Thanks!

 

[bmwbob]

Screenshot of issue and warranty!

 

[Motorcycle Rider]

Sorry to hear that you are having problems with your two minis, and lost one of them.
Mine has flown flawlessly, not a single issue.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

27C is quite warm for here but something to bear in mind, thank you

 

[sar104]

Hi Guys! I do mostly commercial drone work with the Matrice 210 and a couple older P4P's so I purchased my Mavic Mini in February to have a super compact drone for an upcoming vacation (canceled due to Covid-19) and have some Fun!. I also purchased one for my Nephew to get him into the hobby before Christmas. We went to a nearby lake in IL last weekend (June 6 2020) and within about 4 or 5 minutes he was getting an overheating message (this was his 4th flight since Christmas). We brought it down and put it back up again in another couple minutes and the same thing happened after a few minutes and this time it auto-landed and struck a tree branch and crashed about 4 feet. The drone was actually not damaged but we kept it grounded anyway. At that point we both flew my Mini for a couple minutes more and then while over the lake about 600 feet out and over 50% battery life left I got the over-heating message again and this time it auto-landed in the water! A guy in a Kayak saw it go down and tried to locate it for us but couldn't find it. Pretty disappointing and I'm not sure if this was just a bad quality control batch that managed to sneak through or a larger problem. I tried to see if others were having the problem as well and have started seeing a growing number of identical issues. It was only 81 deg F at the time and I think DJI says it will operate in temperatures just over 100 deg F. It appears that now since it's summer in a lot of the world more people are experiencing the problem and it may not have been just a couple of bad drones. Please let me know if others on the forum are having the issue and what you did to fix the problem. I heard there is no fan, just a heat-sink. I built my last 2 computers so I have a lot of Thermal-paste left over to try to re-seat the metal heat-sink if that is the answer. Afraid that will void my DJI warranty, but I'd like to get everyone's take before proceeding.. Thanks!

Have you checked the flight logs to figure out what was happening? And are you sure it was the aircraft overheating, and not your mobile device?

 

[Mossiback]

...And are you sure it was the aircraft overheating, and not your mobile device?

Would an overheating mobile device cause the Mini to auto-land?

 

[sar104]

Would an overheating mobile device cause the Mini to auto-land?

Not directly, but a combination of settings and events might lead to autoland. Without the log it is complete speculation, but I've never even seen an overheating message from an aircraft.

 

[Lurch003]

Sorry to hear you've not had the best experience.
Watched a YT vid of a guy flying his mini at 3000m above sea level and he kept getting "too low temp" warnings, so assume it would work the other way too. The more work you make the drone do, the hotter the battery gets so could be a combination of a number of things- but like @sar104 said, only way to know is to check the logs.

 

[SW_Drone_Guy]

it auto-landed in the water!

Sorry for your loss, Radioman.
I've had my phone overheat while the Mini flew on with no overheating issue. So far, my phone has been more heat-sensitive than my MM.
I've avoided the hottest days (it's forecast to hit 110f today - that's 43C) but I've wondered what would happen to the Mini if it overheated. Thanks to your story, I'll know to heed the warning when I see it.
Happy flying

 

[Capt KO]

Care Refresh and a GetterBack float are necessities anytime you fly over water. Sorry for your loss. Haven’t had that problem, yet, in FL.

 

[hiflyer201]

Airdata would give the battery temp.

 

[MavicairLou1]

27C is quite warm for here but something to bear in mind, thank you

Sorry to hear that but I’ve never had one bad issue with my mini and I live right outside Phoenix AZ and fly my mini even in the hottest days out here 112 F - 118 F I haven’t flown it on any days hotter than 118 F yet but still no issues at 118 F

 

[Richy mini]

Hi, sorry to hear , I'm wondering wether you used the same batterie on the second flight? I've had no problems like that.

 

[DanMan32]

The MM doesn't have a fan so it will overheat if you have it sit too long on the ground. Haven't heard it do that in flight though.

 

[Hill Top Rez]

Did you have the prop guards on. They make the mini work harder and cause air resistance. I have never experienced any issues with mine, yet.

 

[Davros007]

Wasn’t sitting in a car beforehand, heating up?

 

[m80116]

Been flying in 30°C sunny weather so far, not a single problem. Probably the bottom heat shield wasn't touching the thermal pads below.

I am wondering why you kept sending it out expecting a different result... it was defective. A thermal compound problem is quite an easy DIY fix although I don't recall if you have to break the factory seals to undo some screw or separate the back hips. The lower white slatted cover is clip on.