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Air2s, critical battery, lost drone

stripercuz

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New Smyrna Beach
Hello

A few days ago I was flying over water and the critical battery indicator popped up with 3% power left. According to the log it says it was at 10% and initiated an auto landing. I tried to hit the RTH button on my smart controller with no luck. It sounds like the drone takes over once it gets into critical levels? At this point the screen froze and the altitude was in the negative digits. The smart controller also mentioned the connection to the drone was lost at this point. I have since opened a case with DJI and I have sent them the entire flight record folder.

I just came across the PhantomHelp.com site and uploaded the flight log txt. file. Can anyone further explain what happened here? DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

In the past if the battery is getting low the smart controller will let me know well before 10%. At this point I can hit the RTH button and the drone comes back safe. Thanks for reading my post. I appreciate any feedback anyone has. Thanks so much!
 
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Hello

A few days ago I was flying over water and the critical battery indicator popped up with 3% power left. According to the log it says it was at 10% and initiated an auto landing. I tried to hit the RTH button on my smart controller with no luck. It sounds like the drone takes over once it gets into critical levels? At this point the screen froze and the altitude was in the negative digits. The smart controller also mentioned the connection to the drone was lost at this point. I have since opened a case with DJI and I have sent them the entire flight record folder.
First up, you flew in an area where recovery would be difficult.
Flying in that environment, you need to keep a comfortable safety margin because premature landing would probably mean loss of the drone.
In the past if the battery is getting low the smart controller will let me know well before 10%. At this point I can hit the RTH button and the drone comes back safe. Thanks for reading my post. I appreciate any feedback anyone has. Thanks so much!
There are two ways that the app usually warns of the need to RTH when the battery is low.
These are copied from the manual:
  • Low Battery RTH is triggered when the Intelligent Flight Battery is depleted to the point that the safe return of the aircraft may be affected.
  • DJI Fly displays a warning when the battery level is low. The aircraft will automatically return to the Home Point if no action is taken after a 10 second countdown.
The recorded data doesn't show any warning for either the battery level/distance combination or the Low Battery Level (which you had set at 15%).
On reaching Critical Low Voltage level (10%) the drone started to autoland and was lost.

I'm not certain why there was no warning or countdown, but there is one thing that might be the reason.
During the flight, you flew until losing signal three times and when signal was restored the drone was in Failsafe RTH.
If the warnings came while signal was lost they would not show in the log.
Each time you cancelled RTH and continued flying.

As the battery reached 13%, with the drone 1450 ft from home, you turned it to fly away to the SE, away from the home point.
When the battery reached the 10% Critical Low Battery Level, the drone was 2090 ft from home and commenced to autoland.
You fought against the autolanding and flew the drone further away until it sank 2360 ft from the home point.

Failing to monitor the battery level and flying away from home when the battery level was low appears to have been the main factor in the loss of the drone.

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Hello

A few days ago I was flying over water and the critical battery indicator popped up with 3% power left. According to the log it says it was at 10% and initiated an auto landing.
There's a lot of things wrong with this scenario...but flying beyond "return" range with <10% battery remaining is an accident waiting to happen.
 
Hello

A few days ago I was flying over water and the critical battery indicator popped up with 3% power left. According to the log it says it was at 10% and initiated an auto landing. I tried to hit the RTH button on my smart controller with no luck. It sounds like the drone takes over once it gets into critical levels? At this point the screen froze and the altitude was in the negative digits. The smart controller also mentioned the connection to the drone was lost at this point. I have since opened a case with DJI and I have sent them the entire flight record folder.

I just came across the PhantomHelp.com site and uploaded the flight log txt. file. Can anyone further explain what happened here? DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

In the past if the battery is getting low the smart controller will let me know well before 10%. At this point I can hit the RTH button and the drone comes back safe. Thanks for reading my post. I appreciate any feedback anyone has. Thanks so much!

"In the past if the battery is getting low the smart controller will let me know well before 10%."

That hasn't changed. The battery charge state is clearly shown on the screen. There's a numerical figure and a circular graphic display. The information is clearly visible on screen and constantly available during flight. It's the pilot's responsibility to look at it and act accordingly.

Losing the drone after flying it beyond sight over water and marsh until the battery is exhausted can't be blamed on the equipment.
 
Many times that you lost connection you were flying at a low altitude, why flying so low ? it is not advisable over water !
Flying low over water is perfectly safe unless there is a landmass, thick forest or something else that blocks the signal.
 
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