redserv
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Drone lost - need help
- Thread starter Jackcutrone
- Start date
FOUND IT!!!!!!!!
I went back out today and took a ton of photos up into the trees which are now barren of leaves. As long as I was there, I thought I would do a ground search as well. I was walking along the bank of a creek that runs through the south edge of the woods. I just happened to look at the creek and saw a Mavic prop sticking out of the water. Woo-Hoo. I retrieved the Mavic. I had searched the creek previously including the area where I found it, so perhaps one of the gusty days we had blew it out of a tree and into the creek. Frankly, it was just pure luck that I looked at the creek and saw it since I had given up on the creek due to the earlier searches. The DJI Mavic Pro gods were being kind to me today.
It was within 30 or 40 feet of SAR104's calculated trajectory. I am not surprised. It may even have been closer to his entry point but once inside the woods I can't get an accurate GPS read.
The one thing that jumped out at me after I pulled it out of the muck was the fact that it still had the battery firmly attached. Several people whom I respect, I think both Meta4 and SAR104 had said that the abrupt loss of power shown in the flight logs must have been the result of the battery having ejected. That is not the case. It is fully inserted into the battery compartment and latched securely so I really would like to know why it abruptly lost power. Any ideas anyone?
At any rate, I can now send it into DJI on my refresh claim and get a refurb'd one that I will sell not that I bought one form Thunderdrones.
I went back out today and took a ton of photos up into the trees which are now barren of leaves. As long as I was there, I thought I would do a ground search as well. I was walking along the bank of a creek that runs through the south edge of the woods. I just happened to look at the creek and saw a Mavic prop sticking out of the water. Woo-Hoo. I retrieved the Mavic. I had searched the creek previously including the area where I found it, so perhaps one of the gusty days we had blew it out of a tree and into the creek. Frankly, it was just pure luck that I looked at the creek and saw it since I had given up on the creek due to the earlier searches. The DJI Mavic Pro gods were being kind to me today.
It was within 30 or 40 feet of SAR104's calculated trajectory. I am not surprised. It may even have been closer to his entry point but once inside the woods I can't get an accurate GPS read.
The one thing that jumped out at me after I pulled it out of the muck was the fact that it still had the battery firmly attached. Several people whom I respect, I think both Meta4 and SAR104 had said that the abrupt loss of power shown in the flight logs must have been the result of the battery having ejected. That is not the case. It is fully inserted into the battery compartment and latched securely so I really would like to know why it abruptly lost power. Any ideas anyone?
At any rate, I can now send it into DJI on my refresh claim and get a refurb'd one that I will sell not that I bought one form Thunderdrones.
Skywatcher2001
Well-Known Member
That's what I thought too, but when I checked into it, both the DJI Refresh and the DJI warranty require the return of the old one. I read the in effect insurance policies for each and both refer to being conditioned on the return of the unit.
I kept hearing rumors that some people had gotten their drones replaced despite having lost it in water or whatever, but I tried to run all of these down and not one person ever said they themselves had gotten a replacement in such a case. It was always, well I heard of someone who did but never first hand. And the language of their policies are clear, you have to return the old one to make a claim.
Good to hear that you found it. If you can get the DAT file off the aircraft then we can perhaps figure out exactly what did happen.
I’m trying to dry it out. The terminals where the battery connects are pretty corroded. We’ll see. But yes I am really curious to find out what happened.
Skyflyer129
Well-Known Member
Congratulations on finding it, I bet that’s a weight off your mind. Your persistence and good advice from some of the gurus here facilitating a favorable outcome. Well done!
Blue skies, from SoCal.
Congrats on getting it back. Man that was a long wait for closure. Nice job ?
There are firsthand accounts in this forum where DJI replaced their drone under warranty based on what the logs said, despite the drone being unrecoverable. If you hadn't found it, you wouldn't have been any worse off putting in a support case.
When I read post 62 saying he'd found it, It sent chills up my spine. Great you found it, perseverance paid of. Well done to SAR to calculating it to within 40ft, excellent work guys.
redserv
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Congrats man, I was following this story very closely. I am looking forward to finding out what happened
I looked and looked. Two posters seemed to suggest that they had gotten a replacement without the old one but didn’t state that definitively. I pm’ed both but they never responded. I even enlisted the aid of a moderator without success. I also started a new thread asking for people who had gotten a replacement without sending in the old one to contact me and despite many views of the thread no one responded.
I know what I read in DJI’s statement of warranty and Refresh Care and both explicitly require send I gotta in the old one.
so if you could point me at one of the threads to which you refer I would appreciate it as I am very curious.
There have been several cases of drones lost (mostly in water) where the log data unambiguously showed aircraft failure - mostly IMU if I recall correctly. DJI accepted those data and replaced the aircraft. I'll see if I can dig out some of those cases.
First of all, I want to thank this great Mavic Pilot website's members who have taken such an interest in my crash and offered all kinds of great help, especially SAR104 who located it for me so that I even had a chance of recovering it. That prop sticking out of the water was both a surprise and, as you can imagine, a tremendous relief. After all the precautions I had taken to ensure I could find it if it got lost, like the Trackimo which didn't give accurate readings under the leaves in the forest. I felt kind of silly not being able to find it and I never would have without SAR104's magic. BTW, when I found the drone, the Trackimo was no longer attached so it must have gotten knocked off when it hit the trees and is still out there in the woods somewhere.
So I am mystified as to why there was a complete loss of power since the battery was still in place. SAR104 suggested I try to download the DAT file from the quad to see if that gives a clue. If I remember correctly there is a circuit board in the battery itself. I think that its possible that that circuit board shorted out or something which killed all power to the Mavic. But I am not very knowledgeable about the circuitry in the Mavic and battery but think it may explain what happened.
Right now I have the Mavic and battery in a plastic bag in the basement with a plate of oil-dri to suck out the moisture. It is still damp. I have a hydrometer in the basement to track humidity. This being winter, it showed 39% humidity in the basement. When I put it in the bag with the drone it jumped up to 46% so it still has a lot of moisture in the drone. I won't do anything until it completely dries out.
But I am concerned with how I am going to get to download the DAT file. It must have been sitting in the creek for a while and I am sure that the circuits and solder joints must be corroded. I can see corrosion on the terminal on the unit where the battery plugs in and on the battery terminals too. Since I am making a Refresh Care claim, I don't want to do anything that might give DJI an excuse to deny the claim. So for sure, I don't want to take it apart. But I am concerned if I put in a fresh battery, it might short out from the corrosion and ruin the battery or short out and cause a fire in the drone itself, or both. So I am looking for advice or suggestions on that score.
Also, I would like to try to charge the battery that was in the drone to see if that still works, though I recognize that most lipo chargers won't charge a completely dead lipo as I am sure this battery is after sitting in water for so long. And to see, if I am right, whether the battery circuit board is also shot. But again, I am hesitant to plug it into the charger for fear of shorting it out and causing a fire in the battery or ruining the charger. So any suggestions about that would be welcome also.
So I am mystified as to why there was a complete loss of power since the battery was still in place. SAR104 suggested I try to download the DAT file from the quad to see if that gives a clue. If I remember correctly there is a circuit board in the battery itself. I think that its possible that that circuit board shorted out or something which killed all power to the Mavic. But I am not very knowledgeable about the circuitry in the Mavic and battery but think it may explain what happened.
Right now I have the Mavic and battery in a plastic bag in the basement with a plate of oil-dri to suck out the moisture. It is still damp. I have a hydrometer in the basement to track humidity. This being winter, it showed 39% humidity in the basement. When I put it in the bag with the drone it jumped up to 46% so it still has a lot of moisture in the drone. I won't do anything until it completely dries out.
But I am concerned with how I am going to get to download the DAT file. It must have been sitting in the creek for a while and I am sure that the circuits and solder joints must be corroded. I can see corrosion on the terminal on the unit where the battery plugs in and on the battery terminals too. Since I am making a Refresh Care claim, I don't want to do anything that might give DJI an excuse to deny the claim. So for sure, I don't want to take it apart. But I am concerned if I put in a fresh battery, it might short out from the corrosion and ruin the battery or short out and cause a fire in the drone itself, or both. So I am looking for advice or suggestions on that score.
Also, I would like to try to charge the battery that was in the drone to see if that still works, though I recognize that most lipo chargers won't charge a completely dead lipo as I am sure this battery is after sitting in water for so long. And to see, if I am right, whether the battery circuit board is also shot. But again, I am hesitant to plug it into the charger for fear of shorting it out and causing a fire in the battery or ruining the charger. So any suggestions about that would be welcome also.
Mossiback
Well-Known Member
Congrats on getting it back! Were you able to pull the SD card out? After cleaning the connectors you might be able to retrieve info from it.
Yes, I was able to get the SD card out and open it. However, I thought the only thing on the SD card was photos. Is there a flight log on it too and if so, how do you access it? I thought the flight records were on memory built into the Mavic.
Mossiback
Well-Known Member
I should have been more specific. Instead of info, I should have used photos/video. EDIT: The Some flight logs should be on your mobile device that runs Go 4.
Last edited:
Fly Dawg
Well-Known Member
That is correct. The aircraft log is on board the aircraft and not on the removable SD Card.
I did pull the flight records from my iPad some time ago and have reviewed those. All that they show is that at about 4 minutes into the flight the records stop. That would be when I lost all power, SAR104 suggested that the DAT file internal to the Mavic might have additional information that would show why the power suddenly and completely quit,
Fly Dawg
Well-Known Member
SAR104 is correct. It is possible, depending on timing of the shutdown, if indeed that is the case, which is quite likely.
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