I think I had a faulty battery. I crashed my MA2.

thesotman · Nov 5, 2020

Hi guys,
I was flying my MA2 in normal mode at around 6 km (almost 20,000 feet) when I did an RTH.
I had 59% battery left and hardly any wind. My battery was fully charged when I took off.

When I reached 1 km (3280 feet) my drone started to force to land but I kept pushing the drone up.
At 150 meters (492 feet) my drone landed in a tall tree.
I was not able to retrieve it because the drone landed at the top of the tree.

I was watching Dustin Dunnill range test, and he went to (26000 feet (8 km) and was left with 49% battery when he did an RTH.
And when his drone returned he had 10% battery left over.

My battery must have been faulty to have run out so quickly.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

VenomXts · Nov 5, 2020

Without jumping on you for VLOS, there are a lot of things that can influence battery usage (wind, elevation, temperature, speed, etc.) Long story short one persons long range test doesn't necessarily mean yours. With that being said, your best bet is to post your logs in here and someone more capable of me can take a look at the information it can provide.

How long was the quad actually in the air?

boblui · Nov 5, 2020

In windless condition, the Air2 can do 9 km out and return, total 18 km in normal mode and max speed all the way. May be the speed of RTH is too slow so the battery burned out before the drone reached home . Posting the log will help to find out the reason

thesotman · Nov 5, 2020

I can't post a log because I returned my iPad back where I bought it from.
I was having issues with my iPad going black where I could almost not view the screen.

VenomXts · Nov 5, 2020

thesotman said:
I can't post a log because I returned my iPad back where I bought it from.
I was having issues with my iPad going black where I could almost not view the screen.

sounds like your SOL sorry. Were you able to get the drone out of the tree?

thesotman · Nov 5, 2020

Howard70 · Nov 5, 2020

Sorry to hear of your crash. A couple of thoughts about recovering your drone from a tree. You might check with any arborist companies in your area. If you could find a climbing arborist that was willing to go after your drone after work some afternoon you could possibly get it back for a hundred dollars or so. It may depend who owns the property where the tree is located as you’d want the property owner’s permission to send someone up their tree. If you’re in New Mexico shoot me a message - I dabble in caring for trees on our property and have some basic gear.

Here’s a link to a website popular among climbing arborists - you could post a message there to see if anyone close would give you a hand.

Climbing Forum

All things related to climbing - trees, rock, ladders... all of it!

www.masterblasterhome.com

Alternatively, you could try an arborist throw line and weight in hopes of snagging the drone and bringing it down. Takes some technique so you’d need to practice a bit. Here’s a link to a basic kit:

Notch Acculine and Throw Weight Combo Kit

Notch Throw Weights are super-durable, super-visible weights perfect for the discerning professional as well as the completely clueless first-time climber. Grab your choice of weight and eith

www.treestuff.com

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Howard

hiflyer201 · Nov 5, 2020

bummer..sorry about your loss. I think Howard has some encouraging ideas that I hope might work for you.
Never Never use Dustin Dunhill's distance tests as an example of how to fly your drone.. First of all he has huevo's grandes and I'm not knocking his videos..they're among my favorites but...just don't do it..

Macinfo · Nov 5, 2020

If you know where the drone is, you should make any effort needed recover it, if its damaged, and you have refresh, you can get it repaired. It may as noted, cost you something for someone to assist in recovery if it's beyond your capability. If its really in a very tall tree, your options could be limited..

However, trying to do long range tests with a $800 drone, unless you got money to burn, they are not worth the effort. I am not sure how many videos there are on YT of people trying that and then the last 10 minutes of the video is them trying to recover it..

Phantomrain.org · Nov 5, 2020

thesotman said:
Hi guys,
I was flying my MA2 in normal mode at around 6 km (almost 20,000 feet) when I did an RTH.
I had 59% battery left and hardly any wind. My battery was fully charged when I took off.

When I reached 1 km (3280 feet) my drone started to force to land but I kept pushing the drone up.
At 150 meters (492 feet) my drone landed in a tall tree.
I was not able to retrieve it because the drone landed at the top of the tree.

I was watching Dustin Dunnill range test, and he went to (26000 feet (8 km) and was left with 49% battery when he did an RTH.
And when his drone returned he had 10% battery left over.

My battery must have been faulty to have run out so quickly.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

The answer for me was right here: When I reached 1 km (3280 feet) my drone started to force to land but I kept pushing the drone up.

Pushing the drone up was not going to terminate the forced landing, your focus needed to be on finding a place to land which the controller will alow you to do as it comes down. Once landed you can remote take off again.

You simply cannot cancel a Forced Landing but you can control its decent.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Float on Water.

Tentoes · Nov 5, 2020

WAY too far out!

DanMan32 · Nov 5, 2020

With no wind against you, the AC should make it back on remaining charge if you return when it warns you to do so. If you cancel and wait until later, you take your chances.

Phantomrain.org · Nov 5, 2020

thesotman said:
Hi guys,
I was flying my MA2 in normal mode at around 6 km (almost 20,000 feet) when I did an RTH.
I had 59% battery left and hardly any wind. My battery was fully charged when I took off.

When I reached 1 km (3280 feet) my drone started to force to land but I kept pushing the drone up.
At 150 meters (492 feet) my drone landed in a tall tree.
I was not able to retrieve it because the drone landed at the top of the tree.

I was watching Dustin Dunnill range test, and he went to (26000 feet (8 km) and was left with 49% battery when he did an RTH.
And when his drone returned he had 10% battery left over.

My battery must have been faulty to have run out so quickly.

What do you guys think?

Thanks.

This would make more sense if you the you cancelled the RTH an than tried to bring it back and than you got the Forced Landing Warning. What are the details were missing , did you maybe panic, or stuggle with taking over the RTH or bring it to low to the trees , ??

Here is the Air 2 coming back with only 39% percent battery: Here you can see how winds , rth work with no forced landing until it gets lower.

Meta4 · Nov 5, 2020

thesotman said:
My battery must have been faulty to have run out so quickly.
What do you guys think?

I think there are several possible explanations that don't involve a bad battery.
Your flight data would easily show what actually happened.
Without data, you cannot tell what happened.