Failed remote control fiasco.

[jwilson]

So I just came back from a one month trip to a ocean area. I took my Mavic 3 Pro, Mini 3 Pro, and my RC-N1 controler that came with the mini 3 Pro I bought in April. So it had hardly been used at all. I have two other RC's, but I left them at home. So for the first two weeks everything went fine. Then one day, I started flying, and I was disconnecting at 150 feet. WTF? So I changed drones, and it didn't make any difference. It seemed at times, when the drones warmed up they would work a lot better, but this only happened a couple of times. So the last two weeks of the trip, I hardly got any drone footage.
I emailed DJI about this, and all they had were stupid suggestions, like make sure you point the RC at the drone, update Fly, make sure your away from routers, and have a clear path to the drone. I unplugged my starlink and it made no difference.
So when I got home, I assumed I would send the remote back to America for warranty repair. They told me DJI USA doesn't accept any packages from overseas, because of the high risk they will be lost in shipping. Are you kidding me? Probably a million packages are shipped to America every day. They did say I could send it to a friend in the US, and he could send it to DJI. I have a good friend that would do this, but I'd rather not trouble him.
So I complained about this. They came back, and said I could have it serviced in my home country, and they would give me a 30% discount. I had no choice but to accept this. So I told them to send me the information I need to have it repaired in China, which I'm close to. Now they say I can only do this if I have a Chinese address. Wtf. I've sent drones to China to have them repaired twice before, and they said I could always do that. So now I'm waiting for their latest response. I've probably dealt with 20 different DJI people in the last couple of years, assuming they're really people.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Looking at this from another point of view.

It seems to me that with two drones and two alternative controllers available I would have taken at least one backup controller, especially if the 'mainstay' was largely untested.
If nothing else a backup/alternative controller would increase the possible flight time is you had a glut of flights in one session.

DJI subequently gave you suggested solutions for the disconnection problem that some people are unaware of i.e. point the controller's antennae at the drone, try to stay away from sources of radio interference, ensure that there are no obstacles blocking the signal's path.

Given that the RC-N1 appears to have been the only controller available to you, can you be certain that it is a controller fault and not a change in the interference enviroment ?

They suggest a means of having the drone repaired in the USA but you reject that idea.
Where did you buy the controller ?

I must admit I am surprised there is not repair facility in Japan but, with regards to now requiring a Chinese address, things change and what happened in the past need not continue to be the rule.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Whenever I head out, there's always a secondary controller (fully charged) in the pack... as well as two 10,000mAh power banks for on-the-hoof top-ups. Never actually been caught short since the one and only time something similar to this happened to me, but am a firm believer in the "six 'P's": Perfect Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. That's old-age OCD for you .

The OP's comments about various countries not wanting to ship are quite odd, with America, I wonder if it's down to the anti-CCP/DJI problems rumbling round the US, but China requiring a Chinese source address is downright bizarre... reminds me of all the nonsense in quite a few countries across the European continent about not being able to register as an RP without having a domestic address/citizenship in that country.

 

[jwilson]

Looking at this from another point of view.

It seems to me that with two drones and two alternative controllers available I would have taken at least one backup controller, especially if the 'mainstay' was largely untested.
If nothing else a backup/alternative controller would increase the possible flight time is you had a glut of flights in one session.

DJI subequently gave you suggested solutions for the disconnection problem that some people are unaware of i.e. point the controller's antennae at the drone, try to stay away from sources of radio interference, ensure that there are no obstacles blocking the signal's path.

Given that the RC-N1 appears to have been the only controller available to you, can you be certain that it is a controller fault and not a change in the interference enviroment ?

They suggest a means of having the drone repaired in the USA but you reject that idea.
Where did you buy the controller ?

I must admit I am surprised there is not repair facility in Japan but, with regards to now requiring a Chinese address, things change and what happened in the past need not continue to be the rule.

I tested both drones with my other RC-N1 controller when I got home, and they worked fine. In the future, I will take multiple controllers on important trips. But I've never had a problem with a controller before this. Having to pay shipping twice each way could be fairly expensive.
I've owned DJI drones for 7 years so I know how to use them. If you're flying out over water, with nothing in the way, and you lose connection at 150 feet, you know it has to be the drone or controller.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Having to pay shipping twice each way could be fairly expensive.

It might be cheaper to by a second hand controller on the likes of ebay and keep the old one for spare parts.

 

[Felix le Chat]

I tested both drones with my other RC-N1 controller when I got home, and they worked fine. In the future, I will take multiple controllers on important trips. But I've never had a problem with a controller before this. Having to pay shipping twice each way could be fairly expensive.
I've owned DJI drones for 7 years so I know how to use them. If you're flying out over water, with nothing in the way, and you lose connection at 150 feet, you know it has to be the drone or controller.

Normally, the DJI quality control is way, way better than anything you find with the likes of Autel, Hubsan etc. It's still pretty unusual to find component failures, but they do crop up sporadically. Bloody annoying when it's you that has the knackered controller (speak from experience - that's why the 'heir-and-a-spare' attitude towards any kit I take out into the field with me).

Luckily, hardly used RC-N1's are ten-a-penny to buy second hand thanks to people upgrading to the RC. Good job you had one lying around spare yourself. Yorkshire Pud gives good council, keep the inoperative one for donor parts.

 

[Capt KO]

Agree with posts #5 &#6. RC-N1 remotes are plentiful and cheap. I'll bet that's true in Japan too.

 

[Filmarik]

I understand your frustration.
By definition any equipment can fail and redundancy is always wise to consider before embarking on important job or a major trip. On the other hand DJI controllers are pretty reliable and this is the first time for me to hear of one to fail without warning or particular reason.
Sorry about your bad experience. I recently returned from a bug road trip with RCPro as my only controller

 

[jwilson]

DJI relented, and allowed me to send it to China, without a Chinese address, like I had done 3 times before. I don’t think they train their people very well. I sent it in yesterday. The guy at DHL said they're not allowed to ship LiPo batteries. Fortunately, I checked on the internet, and could show him it uses a lithium ion battery. DJI probably got it today, but I know from experience not to hold my breath. It will be a week before they even look at it. I have two other controllers anyway. It was $50 to ship it.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

It was $50 to ship it.

What is the cost of a second hand controller in Japan or wherever you are ?

 

[jwilson]

DJI replied today. They said the main circuit board failed, and had to be replaced. They didn't say why. My cost for the repair was $38.36. Plus I paid around $50 shipping. I don't know how much a new RC-N1 costs.

 

[GadgetGuy]

DJI replied today. They said the main circuit board failed, and had to be replaced. They didn't say why. My cost for the repair was $38.36. Plus I paid around $50 shipping. I don't know how much a new RC-N1 costs.

View attachment 176277

They are around $100, based upon packaged pricing. More if bought new separately, and much cheaper if bought used, as everyone now has two or three extras lying around!

 

[jwilson]

They are around $100, based upon packaged pricing. More if bought new separately, and much cheaper if bought used, as everyone now has two or three extras lying around!

DJI emailed me today. They said they would not return the defective circuit board, like I requested, because they're worried someone will try to use it again. I asked them if they have any idea why it failed.

 

[GadgetGuy]

DJI emailed me today. They said they would not return the defective circuit board, like I requested, because they're worried someone will try to use it again. I asked them if they have any idea why it failed.

Once you pay the repair invoice, and they replace the unit with a brand new one, they get to keep the old one to do whatever they want with it, likely to be trashed or used for any needed spare parts. That's the deal. They don't analyze why the part failed, unless submitted for warranty replacement, and even then only to eliminate pilot error as the cause. They don't then separately determine why it failed.

 

[jwilson]

Once you pay the repair invoice, and they replace the unit with a brand new one, they get to keep the old one to do whatever they want with it, likely to be trashed or used for any needed spare parts. That's the deal. They don't analyze why the part failed, unless submitted for warranty replacement, and even then only to eliminate pilot error as the cause. They don't then separately determine why it failed.

That's pretty dumb in my opinion. How are you going to improve your product if you don't analyze failures? Now I'm glad I got that battery I didn't deserve, because they screwed me over on this, by not honoring the warranty. That no global warranty policy they have is just another way to screw the customer. When they told me DJI America couldn't accept packages from overseas, that was probably a lie too. And they also lied about it already being shipped back to me, when in fact, all they've done, is sent DHL the shipment information.

 

[GadgetGuy]

That's pretty dumb in my opinion. How are you going to improve your product if you don't analyze failures? Now I'm glad I got that battery I didn't deserve, because they screwed me over on this, by not honoring the warranty. That no global warranty policy they have is just another way to screw the customer. When they told me DJI America couldn't accept packages from overseas, that was probably a lie too. And they also lied about it already being shipped back to me, when in fact, all they've done, is sent DHL the shipment information.

Whatever they do with the replaced product is up to them, and they certainly are under no obligation to share it with you. What you are calling lies are either merely their policies, or part of the "Chinglish" language barrier, wherein an assigned shipment number is considered shipped. FYI: Lots of other U.S. companies also do the same.

 

[jwilson]

Whatever they do with the replaced product is up to them, and they certainly are under no obligation to share it with you. What you are calling lies are either merely their policies, or part of the "Chinglish" language barrier, wherein an assigned shipment number is considered shipped. FYI: Lots of other U.S. companies also do the same.

It has nothing to do with a language barrier. It's a flat out lie. Repair places give their customers the defective parts all the time, so they can see that they are really defective.

 

[jwilson]

This is what DJI said about the cause of the failure:


For the damage assessment, we have consulted the reason of the mainboard damage. They explained that they were able to locate the damage issue but they were not able to trace back to its root cause.

 

[jwilson]

I got the new RC-N1 yesterday. It came fully charged. I guess lithium ion batteries are different than LiPo, because when they send you a new battery, it's fully discharged. Haven't tried it yet. It's raining all the time.

 

[jwilson]

Bad news. I was flying my mini 3 pro with the repaired RC-N1. I noticed that it seemed to be disconnecting at very close distances, and not performing well at all. So I switched to my old RC-N1 that came with my Mavic 3. Totally different. Way more range. So I told DJI about this, and sent them screen captures to show the difference. Their response was I should send back my controller AND my mini 3 pro! So I decided to try the same test with my Mavic 3 pro. Same result. My mavic 3 controller went 6,500 feet before disconnecting, while the repaired controller disconnected at 2,000 feet.
So I emailed them again with screen recordings.
This was their response.

"Thank you for your patience and support in this case.

We have just received the feedback from the engineers, they cannot remotely confirm that there is something wrong with the remote control just through the video provided by the user. If you are still worried of the controller's performance, they suggest that you send it back for physical inspection.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,
Alexiss
DJI Customer Care Team

Are you kidding me?

Here are some screen shots. I could upload the screen recordings later. A monkey could see the difference.