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Forced landings (battery warning) at 51% battery

Dronedownunder

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Hi all!

New to Mavic Mini ownership, and had a concern today while flying around a farm.

I have had no previous issues flying my mini, and will attach a typical flight log below - this is from the first flight I took today from 100% battery.

I had no issues at all.

The second flight and it's log are below.
Basically, it flew fine at not a massive altitude (I also have the height ceiling for RTH at max)

At around 51% the screen displayed (strong wind warning) so I adjusted my position.

After this, it then displayed RTH - battery critical. I manually flew it back to base, which took the battery amount shown.

I lowered it to around 10m above the ground and allowed it to hover. It then again displayed the battery error on screen, so I landed it and switched off.


My question is - is this a faulty battery? In the logs it states only strong wind warning.
I noticed the voltage for one battery cell shows as red for a few entries though.

From what I could see from the DJI fly on-screen notifications, it seemed to want to RTH once it reached 50% battery. Is this a setting I could change if that is the case?

The battery also reached ~ 45C according to the app. It was a hottish day of around 31C

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance
 
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Hi, not a direct answer, but regarding the following "I also have the height ceiling for RTH at max". Don't set it higher than neccesary, because higher up the winds are stronger; and the Mini might have a difficult job to fight it. A lot of mini's were lost this way because they are a bit underpowered.
 
Hi, not a direct answer, but regarding the following "I also have the height ceiling for RTH at max". Don't set it higher than neccesary, because higher up the winds are stronger; and the Mini might have a difficult job to fight it. A lot of mini's were lost this way because they are a bit underpowered.
No worries - I haven't gone higher than 200m from the ground and generally fly only when there is no strong wind forecasts, but I will definitely go and set it to ~ 250m as I don't foresee going above that :)

I usually just fly around farms so it hasn't ever been taken very high, and this is the first time I've had the issue. I found it odd that the log said strong wind warning, but did not mirror the "critical battery" warnings I received in the DJI fly app!

But like I said - new to the Mavic mini scene so I welcome any advice and will take that on board, cheers
 
Hi, 200-250 meter is very high for a small drone. In Europe (and probably also in the USA and DownUnder), this is not even legal. Download an app which shows windspeed at higher altitude, like UAV. And remember, the RTH kicks in when you lose connection to your drone; it will ascend to 200m and probably loose the battle against the wind up there. A lot of reports here on the forum regarding Mini's that were lost due to the wind.

However, you can set the max height much higher than the RTH height.
 
Hi, 200-250 meter is very high for a small drone. In Europe (and probably also in the USA and DownUnder), this is not even legal. Download an app which shows windspeed at higher altitude, like UAV. And remember, the RTH kicks in when you lose connection to your drone; it will ascend to 200m and probably loose the battle against the wind up there. A lot of reports here on the forum regarding Mini's that were lost due to the wind.

However, you can set the max height much higher than the RTH height.
Thanks heaps! Downloaded the UAV app now and will refer to it in the future.

I was only about 60m high at the time, which is why I was confused about it showing strong winds in the record, but critical battery at 51% on the app.

I did update the firmware recently, if it is a known issue.
 
Hi all!

New to Mavic Mini ownership, and had a concern today while flying around a farm.

I have had no previous issues flying my mini, and will attach a typical flight log below - this is from the first flight I took today from 100% battery.

I had no issues at all.

The second flight and it's log are below.
Basically, it flew fine at not a massive altitude (I also have the height ceiling for RTH at max)

At around 51% the screen displayed (strong wind warning) so I adjusted my position.

After this, it then displayed RTH - battery critical. I manually flew it back to base, which took the battery amount shown.

I lowered it to around 10m above the ground and allowed it to hover. It then again displayed the battery error on screen, so I landed it and switched off.


My question is - is this a faulty battery? In the logs it states only strong wind warning.
I noticed the voltage for one battery cell shows as red for a few entries though.

From what I could see from the DJI fly on-screen notifications, it seemed to want to RTH once it reached 50% battery. Is this a setting I could change if that is the case?

The battery also reached ~ 45C according to the app. It was a hottish day of around 31C

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance

Swap out batteries and repeat the flight, if the issue doesn't come up it's likely the battery. I'd label that battery so you know which one is the potential "risky" battery, if it happens again with the same one dispose of it. I looked over your logs, didn't see anything odd on your voltage. Heat could be the contributing factor in the forced landing but it's hard to see from the logs.

As the previous poster pointed out, 250-300m for the Mavic Mini is very risky; recommend lowering to 100m. Big differnece in wind speed when you're up at 300m.
 
Swap out batteries and repeat the flight, if the issue doesn't come up it's likely the battery. I'd label that battery so you know which one is the potential "risky" battery, if it happens again with the same one dispose of it. I looked over your logs, didn't see anything odd on your voltage. Heat could be the contributing factor in the forced landing but it's hard to see from the logs.

As the previous poster pointed out, 250-300m for the Mavic Mini is very risky; recommend lowering to 100m. Big differnece in wind speed when you're up at 300m.


No worries at all, cheers for the advice. I'll swap it out for a new battery soon and see if the issue presents again.

I will definitely not go close to 250m again. It's my first lightweight drone, so I guess I got overconfident haha.

I was definitely only 60m tops when the issue presented though which was very odd to me. Hopefully a fresh battery fixes the issue!

On a side note - would the form factor of a large Mavic such as a pro he more wind-resistant than a phantom 3?
 
On a side note - would the form factor of a large Mavic such as a pro he more wind-resistant than a phantom 3?

I can't speak to the Phantom 3 but can to the Mavic Pro. I've flown the MP with 40mph winds and it doesn't flinch, it's a beast drone. Granted you still have to keep your wits about you because if the headwinds are stronger than your UAS' top speed you're not going to fly it back! What I do in high wind days is fly headwind in the beggining of the flight, that way when the battery is low and you need to come back you have a nice tailwind.
 
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There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the battery. However, the smart RTH level (green trace) was changing with detected wind speed, even at low distance. That happened in both flights, but in the first one the battery was fresh and the battery level (blue) remained above it:

Battery_1.png

In the second flight the battery level fell below the RTH level, which triggered the warnings:

Battery_2.png

712.5 |STRONG WIND WARNING. AIRCRAFT UNABLE TO RETURN TO HOME AUTOMATICALLY. LOWER ALTITUDE IMMEDIATELY AND RETURN TO HOME MANUALLY)
712.5 STRONG WIND WARNING
714.5 STRONG WIND WARNING. AIRCRAFT UNABLE TO RETURN TO HOME AUTOMATICALLY. LOWER ALTITUDE IMMEDIATELY AND RETURN TO HOME MANUALLY(CODE: 30149)
 
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as you said you had a MM then the lower you can set your RTH height the better when you go to a new place to fly make setting the RTH height part of your pre flight routine
a good starting point in rural areas is around 40m or 120 ft ,this will clear most trees with a bit to spare
also try to fly into the wind on the outward leg of your flight, the MM works out how much battery it needs to get back to home, based on height and distance and it will RTH when it thinks that those points are reached it does not know how strong the wind is,only that it is getting buffeted about trying to hold position
when doing a RTH if you see that it is not making good progress back home, then you can cancel RTH and fly manually back, a good way to get home is to descend slowly as you fly this has the effect of getting you lower as well as closer to the home point, of course all these things are dependant on your surroundings at the time ,in the UK the max height you are allowed to fly is 120m or 400 ft ,and believe me with something as light and small as the MM you would not really be wanting to fly at that sort of height even on a calm day
 
May i say you were really really silly flying a MM at that sort of height of 500 feet, what if a plane hit it or the wind blew it a way what then, also do you have insurance. ?????
 
May i say you were really really silly flying a MM at that sort of height of 500 feet, what if a plane hit it or the wind blew it a way what then, also do you have insurance. ?????

He's in Australia...Majority of that continent is wide open areas with 0 aircraft. Not everything is like England. Let's not get into a drone police discussion, there's plenty of that and it's not needed here.
 
He's in Australia...Majority of that continent is wide open areas with 0 aircraft. Not everything is like England. Let's not get into a drone police discussion, there's plenty of that and it's not needed here.

We have 120m / 400’ rule throughout the entire country too.
Yes the mini keep it close and low regardless of what it feels like on the ground.

The OP obviously has a lot to learn about drones and legalities Chris, so it is a great place to learn there here.
It’s part of helping them here to both get their aircraft back and keep manned aircraft safe too.
 
And also part of slowing down the relentless march of legislating us into oblivion.

The same rules have been in place for decades.
Quads have really opened up a whole new level of safety aspects though, the fact these drones can fly for many km out of VLOS, much more so than older fixed wing models in general.
 
Just on the app before, and only now on the website that's your first post @Dronedownunder
Welcome to the forum.

You will learn lots here, and the assistance with inquiries is very forthcoming, and generally info is fairly accurate.

Do read some of the mini forums, crash / flyaway, it'll show you what to be aware of.
Also the many sub sections re regional topics, the Oz section.

Google CASA drone rules, and have a little read up.
Also download either of the 2 mobile apps (OpenSky and Air Mobility), plus there are 2 (or 3) web versions for maps with airspace restrictions.

Edit, I just noticed Airmap has one there listed now too.
 
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Tacking onto this thread rather than creating a new one since my issue is the exact same as the OPs title. Hope this is correct forum behavior... happy to delete my comment and start a new thread if that is better.

New Mavic Mini owner here. Flew my MM without zero issues through two of my three batteries (got the fly more kit). Then noticed drone had a firmware update pending so I ran that. Then was prompted to update battery firmwares too. Updated all three. Now when any of the three batteries get to 50% the app alerts me to same forced landing / battery warning issue. This is happening on all three of my new (maybe 5 charge cycles) batteries! I even left them charging overnight after discharge thinking maybe the battery need some kid of re-calibration. No luck. I can 'cancel' the forced landing popup and continue to fly the drone as normal (before firmware updates) on the batteries, too. I have also opened a ticket with DJI as of today, but know forums are usually the best place for help. :) Thanks in advance!
 
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Tacking onto this thread rather than creating a new one since my issue is the exact same as the OPs title. Hope this is correct forum behavior... happy to delete my comment and start a new thread if that is better.

New Mavic Mini owner here. Flew my MM without zero issues through two of my three batteries (got the fly more kit). Then noticed drone had a firmware update pending so I ran that. Then was prompted to update battery firmwares too. Updated all three. Now when any of the three batteries get to 50% the app alerts me to same forced landing / battery warning issue. This is happening on all three of my new (maybe 5 charge cycles) batteries! I even left them charging overnight after discharge thinking maybe the battery need some kid of re-calibration. No luck. I can 'cancel' the forced landing popup and continue to fly the drone as normal (before firmware updates) on the batteries, too. I have also opened a ticket with DJI as of today, but know forums are usually the best place for help. :) Thanks in advance!

You need to post a flight log showing that behavior if you want an explanation.
 
10-4. I'll perform a test flight for this specific purpose for the battery then get set up with Airdata and move over my log files (got your guide open in another tab now). Will follow up with findings. Thanks!
 
Follow up: I believe I have discovered the cause of the drone performing auto RTH. After looking at my flight logs and GPS paths, the flights where this came up were very complex and "squiggly" paths. I was flying in woods and around trees a lot. I've come to the conclusion it figured it would be just as complex a route back to the home location and was alerting me at 50%. This was confirmed by 3 flights (one on each battery) at home with basic hovers and nearby fly routes. The RTH didn't trigger at 50% and I returned back on my own around 30%.

Thanks for pointing me to reviewing flight logs. That was key in gaining better understanding of the system!
 
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