Another Drone (Mavic 2) Turning Itself On

[RadioFlyerMan]

Thanks Slup. I'm hoping others chime in as I'm looking for consensus. My Mavic 2 turns itself on when the RC is not on... 1x/week for the last three weeks, sitting on a desk where nothing could push its button. Yes I will be removing batteries for storage but right now am trying to figure out if it's a battery problem or something else in the drone kicking the battery on.

So far it sounds like there's no way the flight controller or any other element of the AC could kick the battery to life - only the on/off switch or a problem with the battery itself can cause this. Everyone in agreement???

A malfunctioning battery can cause strange things. I have a Mavic Pro battery that continues to power the rear status light in a dim, off color mode after powering down the battery. It’s not an original DJI battery. I stopped using it except to power my RC amp.

 

[Gordie_Z]

A malfunctioning battery can cause strange things. I have a Mavic Pro battery that continues to power the rear status light in a dim, off color mode after powering down the battery. It’s not an original DJI battery. I stopped using it except to power my RC amp.

I "liked" your reply as a thank you. I was not meaning to say I liked that you have a goofy battery!

 

[BigAl07]

I just replaced a M2P battery this week that would "Turn On" the aircraft as soon as it was inserted and locked into the battery bay. After some inspection the battery had a very distinctive "burnt plastic" smell. Even the Customer Returns Guy at BestBuy smelled it and the put it into a LIPO bag for security when I returned it for a replacement.

This was only ONE battery out of four. Purchased NEW on 12/24/2020.

 

[Gordie_Z]

After searching around these forums, there's certainly ample evidence my random turn-on problem might be the battery.

I am hoping a few more people might chime in to agree with Slup that no non-battery component of the drone could start it up. That way I could definitively eliminate the drone as the problem and focus on the battery.

 

[Thomas B]

If it’s only 1 battery it’s the culprit. Drone should wait for you to push the battery button.

 

[BigAl07]

After searching around these forums, there's certainly ample evidence my random turn-on problem might be the battery.

I am hoping a few more people might chime in to agree with Slup that no non-battery component of the drone could start it up. That way I could definitively eliminate the drone as the problem and focus on the battery.

Do you only have ONE battery? Otherwise you can test other batteries to see which one "TURNS ON" without pressing the button.

 

[Gordie_Z]

Thanks Thomas B and Drone Master.

OK, taking into account posts and thumbs up it looks like Slup, RadioFlyerMan, and Thomas B are (mostly) on board with Slup's initial comment... "the only thing that can power on the battery (without pushing the button) is a malfunction in the battery."

Though, "If it's only 1 battery it's the culprit" seems to open the door to "If it's two batteries or more some non-battery part of the drone is turning the battery and everything else on." Is that a reasonable interpretation??? Or are we sticking with "only a battery button or malfunctioning battery can power a battery on?

Sorry to beat this to death but this Mavic 2 Pro turns itself on, it might happen with either battery (the first time I thought it was a pre-firmware update one-off and didn't pay attention to which battery was in), I sent its DAT to DJI last Fri. (29Jan), they said 24 -48 hrs to diagnose, haven't heard from them, and I can return it for the next two days. But, it doesn't have the somewhat common dreaded can't-get-horizontal-horizons problem and it flies true whereas I see reports some don't. So, not having a data-based diagnosis, if I knew the design dictated that non-battery parts of the drone could NOT turn the battery on I'd keep the drone. If some non-battery parts COULD be self-starting themselves and the battery then I can't say the drone is definitely not involved and I'd send the whole thing back and take my chances with the next one (and pay - the first was bought on sale). That's my story.

 

[Gordie_Z]

Do you only have ONE battery? Otherwise you can test other batteries to see which one "TURNS ON" without pressing the button.

BigAl07 - I have the one that shipped with the drone and an extra I bought. Your suggestion is what I've been doing. But at one random turn-on a week I won't be able to make a determination by Friday (the post I just posted either above or below this one explains this so I won't repeat it here).

 

[Kilrah]

Then return it and get another one.

 

[BigAl07]

The AIRCRAFT itself doesn't have a power on/off. It's basically always ON waiting on POWER to be applied (via inserting battery and hitting POWER button on the battery).

I'd say if there is any doubt whether it's the aircraft of the battery return BOTH for replacement as you have nothing to lose by replacing both. Shouldn't it be a One for One swap and no $$ changing hands.

Don't take chances if you don't know for sure where the culprit is (it's one or both batteries). When in doubt EXCHANGE them out for NEW everything.

Here's another thread about the same thing and DJI did give the user some helpful information (return the battery).

Mavic 2 Pro Battery turns on drone and it wont turn off.

Anyone ever have this happen? I install one of my batteries and the drone turns on immediately, all by itself, flashing four reds. It also wont turn off, I have to remove the battery. This only happens with one battery and just happened yesterday for the first time. Called DJI and they have...

mavicpilots.com

 

[Gordie_Z]

Yeah, looks like a return might be the best bet. Maybe DJI will get back to me by tomorrow noon and let me know without a doubt if it's the aircraft or one or both batteries. Until then I might ask in the mod forum if they can definitively rule out the aircraft (some of them mod the batteries so they're pretty intimate with this). And, I'll watch for any random turn-ons and record info about each.

Thanks again (oh, having gone part way through the return/exchange process in Amazon I only see the option to return the Mavic 2, not replace/exchange. Maybe if I do the whole process I'll see how to replace/exchange).

 

[hiflyer201]

looks like a return might be the best bet. Maybe DJI will get back to me by tomorrow noon and let me know without a doubt if it's the aircraft or one or both batteries.

With DJI, you must return the drone and battery for them to be able to make any kind of decision. Do not rely on the person you are talking to on the phone. That is a complete waste of time. Amazon has a very simple return policy and so does DJI. They just send you a shipping label.

Don't take chances if you don't know for sure where the culprit is (it's one or both batteries). When in doubt EXCHANGE them out for NEW everything.

Listen to Big A...he knows what he's talking about!

 

[Tiger64]

Do those batteries have smart discharge?
If they do is it possible that there is a fault causing battery to turn on when it goes into self discharge?
That would also explain why only happening once a week.

 

[BigAl07]

Do those batteries have smart discharge?
If they do is it possible that there is a fault causing battery to turn on when it goes into self discharge?
That would also explain why only happening once a week.

Yes they have SMART Circuitry that will auto-discharge to a safe storage level.

Either way the battery is ON (providing power to terminals) before the power button is pushed. It should NOT be trusted and replaced asap.

 

[Gordie_Z]

OK, thanks for all your help. Some maintained only a battery can turn a Mavic 2 on but it seemed most that replied to this thread or a similar one I asked in another MavicPilots forum felt that without knowing if the aircraft OR the battery was initiating the random start-ups an exchange for a whole new Mavic 2 was the best bet.

So I set up an exchange yesterday. If I ever hear from DJI which component (aircraft or battery) was responsible for the random boot-ups I'll post their response.

 

[myekul]

woke up this morning and found my mavic 2 pro turned on. luckily i had it out of the case and spread open and the cover off the lens so hopefully no gimble problems or overheating. looks like it was on a while battery almost drains completely. good thing i woke up when i did.
is china trying to spy on me? if so they got a good view of a white wall.

 

[Cymru]

I had a dodgy battery that auto turned on whenever plugged in. DJI replaced it under warranty.
No button pressing needed, it just came on immediately when plugged into the drone.

 

[Joe4flight]

I always put away my MPP without the battery attached to avoid issues like this.

woke up this morning and found my mavic 2 pro turned on. luckily i had it out of the case and spread open and the cover off the lens so hopefully no gimble problems or overheating. looks like it was on a while battery almost drains completely. good thing i woke up when i did.
is china trying to spy on me? if so they got a good view of a white wall.
[/QUOTE]

 

[TruckeeSnowblower]

Thanks Slup. I'm hoping others chime in as I'm looking for consensus. My Mavic 2 turns itself on when the RC is not on... 1x/week for the last three weeks, sitting on a desk where nothing could push its button. Yes I will be removing batteries for storage but right now am trying to figure out if it's a battery problem or something else in the drone kicking the battery on.

So far it sounds like there's no way the flight controller or any other element of the AC could kick the battery to life - only the on/off switch or a problem with the battery itself can cause this. Everyone in agreement???

I don't know if you figured out your situation yet but I was having the same issue with my Mavic Pro 2 turning on by itself. I took the battery out of the AC and left it sit for about 10 days. When I proceeded to check the battery status it was dead. I attempted to charge it and it wouldn't light up. Turns out this particular battery was causing my startup issue.

 

[Gordie_Z]

I don't know if you figured out your situation yet but I was having the same issue with my Mavic Pro 2 turning on by itself. I took the battery out of the AC and left it sit for about 10 days. When I proceeded to check the battery status it was dead. I attempted to charge it and it wouldn't light up. Turns out this particular battery was causing my startup issue.

TruckeeSnowblower - I ran across an account of an engineer with the problem I had. My Mavic 2 Pro would randomly turn on but in my case the battery or batteries involved would charge back up. So, note that his and my cases are different than yours in that yours doesn't re-charge. The engineer apparently carefully tracked all his batteries and narrowed it down to the turn-ons only occurring with one (maybe two, I forget) batteries. When the other ("good") batteries were in, the drone never turned on by itself - so the drone was not the problem. My uneducated guess is that many of the problems like this are bad batteries. But, please get more opinions as I'm new to drones.