Found a problem with the DJI Mini 2

zeusfl · Mar 26, 2022

I just experience a problem that can result losing my drone in the air. I flew today 2 flights with my DJI Mini 2 and returning to home and I had intention to land, the drone was not responsive to up right stick. I was able just to descend but not to gain altitude. This happened at the last minute of the flying log. I can see clear my up input but the drone does not gain altitude. After shutdown the drone and restarted the problem was fix, but what happened? I can not imagine have that problem far away from me. The problem start around 14:20 minutes from the log

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Yorkshire_Pud · Mar 26, 2022

Have you seen Mini 2 suddenly stopped climbing

zeusfl · Mar 26, 2022

Here the video from the problem captured with my iphone.

TonyPHX · Mar 26, 2022

There seems to be something going on with the Mini2 as this problem is popping up in lots of places. Hmmm.

Meta4 · Mar 26, 2022

zeusfl said:
the drone was not responsive to up right stick. I was able just to descend but not to gain altitude.

This is an interesting issue.
The problem shows up at 14:22.2 and is as you describe.
The drone doesn't ascend with the left stick up.
For almost two minutes, you kept testing and the drone wouldn't respond to left stick up .... except for one time at 14:29.6.

The reason isn't immediately obvious.
@slup likes a good puzzle.
Perhaps he can see something else in the data?

Carll · Mar 27, 2022

Did you just get asked to update a database, and you said yes and went on to fly imediately after?
I did this and got your error, after about two minutes suddenly I could not climb, only descend. I luckily got back by going around a bridge.
What I should have done after updating the datebase is reboot the drone, controller and mobile.

Carl.

Chaosrider · Mar 27, 2022

I've recently seen a few cases of overly aggressive RTH. It thinks the battery level is lower than it is.

Since the landing battery level in tis case was 17%, perhaps that had something to do with the observed problem.

TCS

zeusfl · Mar 27, 2022

Carll said:
Did you just get asked to update a database, and you said yes and went on to fly imediately after?
I did this and got your error, after about two minutes suddenly I could not climb, only descend. I luckily got back by going around a bridge.
What I should have done after updating the datebase is reboot the drone, controller and mobile.

Carl.

Yes I seen the update and I did it, however I did restart the aircraft and iPad before go and fly.

zeusfl · Mar 27, 2022

Chaosrider said:
I've recently seen a few cases of overly aggressive RTH. It thinks the battery level is lower than it is.

Since the landing battery level in tis case was 17%, perhaps that had something to do with the observed problem.

TCS

The problem start when it was not even that low in battery. I expend about 2 minutes testing with the drone next to me. The battery level at 17% should not affect the drone behavior. Not at 17%

slup · Mar 27, 2022

Meta4 said:
...@slup likes a good puzzle.
Perhaps he can see something else in the data?

Unfortunately no ... can't find anything that points to a reason for this in the TXT log, maybe some clues can be in the DAT log but then it's all over to DJI as that is encrypted for a Mini 2.

zeusfl · Mar 27, 2022

This is true as well. I set the max altitude to 393 ft ad the drone show that passed to 400.6 FT
Technically braking the 400FT rule.

Not my fault? Maybe but with the AGL I am sure I am fine.
Even when I set the max altitude to 393FT is the PIC responsibility that everything is accurate. I do not know how FAA will get something like this having a major altitude.

Anyway back to the topic is really weird why the drone does not response and what trigger that behavior after flying perfectly.

Chaosrider · Apr 2, 2022

Meta4 said:
This is an interesting issue.
The problem shows up at 14:22.2 and is as you describe.
The drone doesn't ascend with the left stick up.
For almost two minutes, you kept testing and the drone wouldn't respond to left stick up .... except for one time at 14:29.6.

The reason isn't immediately obvious.
@slup likes a good puzzle.
Perhaps he can see something else in the data?

I was generally interested in this thread because I follow all threads Mini-2, but I became greatly more interested when one of my Mini-2s did *exactly* this on March 30th! See:

Mini-2: First Major Control System Malfunction

To compound the confusion, I have three Mini-2s, and I update all of them whenever a firmware update is available, and I've flown the other two since this event.

Of the three Mini-2s...all with the current firmware...only one showed the problem. Unless I lose my nerve, I'm going to do another timid flight check with the one that showed this malfunction later today.

OP: Have you flown yours since you saw this problem?

Thx,

TCS

Chaosrider · Apr 2, 2022

Carll said:
Did you just get asked to update a database, and you said yes and went on to fly imediately after?
I did this and got your error, after about two minutes suddenly I could not climb, only descend. I luckily got back by going around a bridge.
What I should have done after updating the datebase is reboot the drone, controller and mobile.

Carl.

I had to weave through a bunch of trees to get home. I was planning to come home at 225 ft. I had been hovering at 80 ft filming a flag (I thought), and I couldn't get it to climb at all from that point when I turned to come home. In fact, it dropped down to 50 ft by the time I got home.

These flights are all at about 5000 ft MSL, although I have o reason to believe that matters.

I recreated that flight path with one of my other Mini-2s, but at a stately altitude of 125 ft. No incident of any kind. Putting together an edited copy of that flight is my main drone task for today.

The mystery deepens!

TCS

Chaosrider · Apr 2, 2022

zeusfl said:
The problem start when it was not even that low in battery. I expend about 2 minutes testing with the drone next to me. The battery level at 17% should not affect the drone behavior. Not at 17%

I had 8 minutes of battery power left when the Evil Event started.

TCS

mangurian · Apr 2, 2022

IOS or Android ?

Chaosrider · Apr 2, 2022

mangurian said:
IOS or Android ?

Android, Samsung Galaxy S20 Note. SW current.

I use the same phone for all three of my Mini-2s. One of them had the problem. The other two haven't.

Mystery!

TCS

zeusfl · Apr 2, 2022

IOS in my case.

Chaosrider · Apr 2, 2022

zeusfl said:
IOS in my case.

Well, that certainly argues against a phone-type linkage in this case!

Thx,

TCS

lostit · Apr 2, 2022

Looks like it's stopping you taking off with less than 20% battery remaining, as starting a mission with 20% is dangerous, so it's protecting others from dangerous behaviour.

Similar behaviour to refusing to go above 10m when no GPS lock

Chaosrider · Apr 2, 2022

lostit said:
Looks like it's stopping you taking off with less than 20% battery remaining, as starting a mission with 20% is dangerous, so it's protecting others from dangerous behaviour.

Similar behaviour to refusing to go above 10m when no GPS lock

Where are you seeing the data that says it only has 20% battery power available?

TCS