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Lost drone trying to RTH - 'max power load reached' issue

No, I did not lose it, however I was just wondering if I might had the same message, when it drifted.
I've edited the above text to reflect that my mini is ok and I wish you best of luck in finding yours.

Later Edit:
After creating the airdata account and syncing the logs from DJY, I see that I had the same message when mine drifted. I only have it once in a single log from all 4 of the flight logs that i have. Yes, I only flew it 4 times until now.

Not Enough Force/ESC Error (repeated 38 times)
 
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Believe it or not but mine showed a bit of the same symptoms yesterday.
I flew in the park with my son, took off with a full battery and decided to go up for some nice pictures. I cannot recall how high it was when it happened but the Mini did drift aside about 20m without any intervention from me. It looked like it was blown aside by wind and then just recovered by itself. This happened only once, for a couple of seconds at an altitude above 30m and I flew for about 40+ minutes all over the place but only in a 200m radius. I have set a 120m max altitude.
Do you have a clue about the wind strength?
And did you calibrate the compass prior to your first flight?
Remember, the compass was last calibrated in China and nobody knows about magnetic fields the MM could have been exposed to during its voyage. Finally, magnetic contions are quite different between China and your location.
 
No, sorry! No clue about wind strength. And no, no calibration done as the App showed it as OK.
Some did re-calibrate theirs if there were errors, but besides this warning and only once, my logs are clean.

Will look into wind conditions from now on, as I've read a lot today, in these 3 threads about lost drones.
Let's better be safe than sorry !
 
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The app cannot detect a compass deviation on ground. It can only make a guess based on the values the three magnetometers are reporting in relation to the horizon derived form the accelerometers. When the drone is in the air and the flight controller e.g. finds out by GPS that the drone must move to north the drone will rely on the compass for flying to north.
But if the compass data is wrong and the drone will fly to east instead, the FC will see the mistake from incoming GPS data and then either report a compass error or even more worse, just fall into atti mode where the drone will be blown away from wind. In any case it will get confused.

I still don't understand why DJI doesn't put a first flight instruction into the quick start manual, asking for a compass calibration prior to first takeoff!
 
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Sadly, I've lost my mavic mini today. I was flying it and I noticed it said 'Max Power Load Reached' which is weird because I've never had that message before ever. I was about to loose signal and so I just initiated return to home, and it was returning fine, then it stopped and started drifting to the side. I do not know what to do, I tried searching for it for about 3 hours and couldn't find it.
Here are the logs, can anyone help me please?

Here are my Phantom Logs - DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com
I want to know what my options are. Note: I did not put my contact details on the drone at all
sad.gif

I know exactly what happened ...I’m an experienced drone pilot and have flying rc aircraft and DJI drones for years..
The issue is the mavic mini (I have one also)...just doesn’t have the thrust to overcome high winds.
I tested mine yesterday in a high wind zone and at 2000 feet out over fields when I turned around bang it was stuck at 2 to 3mph even on sport mode....if I had pressed RTH then it would have tried to fly a straight line back to me but it simply doesn’t have the thrust power so it will drift ....you need to fly these minis back manually using the tacking method of zigzagging across the sky back towards you...this will up your airspeed and eventually get the drone within sight.....if you flew it manually you would have got it back.
If RTH happens coz sometimes we lose signal cancel it if you see drone can’t move and try and fly it back manually in the way I mentioned above.....this is no fault of the drone but pure pilot error..these little drones should not be flown in high winds....
 
I know exactly what happened ...I’m an experienced drone pilot and have flying rc aircraft and DJI drones for years..
The issue is the mavic mini (I have one also)...just doesn’t have the thrust to overcome high winds.
I tested mine yesterday in a high wind zone and at 2000 feet out over fields when I turned around bang it was stuck at 2 to 3mph even on sport mode....if I had pressed RTH then it would have tried to fly a straight line back to me but it simply doesn’t have the thrust power so it will drift ....you need to fly these minis back manually using the tacking method of zigzagging across the sky back towards you...this will up your airspeed and eventually get the drone within sight.....if you flew it manually you would have got it back.
If RTH happens coz sometimes we lose signal cancel it if you see drone can’t move and try and fly it back manually in the way I mentioned above.....this is no fault of the drone but pure pilot error..these little drones should not be flown in high winds....

Tacking is a myth - it has no useful effect in aviation because there is nothing to push against.
 
The app cannot detect a compass deviation on ground. It can only make a guess based on the values the three magnetometers are reporting in relation to the horizon derived form the accelerometers. When the drone is in the air and the flight controller e.g. finds out by GPS that the drone must move to north the drone will rely on the compass for flying to north.
But if the compass data is wrong and the drone will fly to east instead, the FC will see the mistake from incoming GPS data and then either report a compass error or even more worse, just fall into atti mode where the drone will be blown away from wind. In any case it will get confused.

I still don't understand why DJI doesn't put a first flight instruction into the quick start manual, asking for a compass calibration prior to first takeoff!
I know it’s not what you requested, but... Read the full manual if you haven’t. It’s available only online. Other useful info too.
I keep a copy of my manual on my phone for quick reference.
And...
 
The issue is the mavic mini (I have one also)...just doesn’t have the thrust to overcome high winds.
Tend to agree, Mini is weaksauce and I think the Spark had way more punch than this little dynamo. Really hope newbie pilots be careful with this little bird and she's fragile and it does suck to lose an expensive toy to the elements.
 
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I have a couple of Phantom 4’s (1 standard and 1 Advanced) 2 Mavic Pro’s and recently received my Mavic Mini. I quickly realized that the MM is great for still air flying, But simply not designed to fly in even moderate windy conditions. It like asking a Volkswagen to compete in the Indy 500 Race. These things do have limitations and trying to exceed their limitation cannot be blamed on the aircraft or its design. Regardless of what the YouTube channel “content providers” say, you gotta use some common sense when flying. Unless, like a lot of the YouTube “Pros”, your getting you’re gear for free from manufacturer’s for review and exposure and don’t really care if you trash a free drone!
 
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Im sure the mini has its limitations however when mine decided to land in the sea after giving the max power load reached warning the wind speed recorded on the airdata.com log for the flight was only 8.4 mph less than half the figure given by dji. The forecast for the day was actually 4 to 6 mph and when i started the flight you couldn't feel any wind at all.
 
I guess there is some issues for Dji to take care of on the MM.

I think mine is working ok but there is loads of strange messages? Like heavy wind when I know there is not. Even sometimes notice a drift that should not be there.

Today I had the app freeze for me several times. All numbers froze and did not change anymore. Luckilly I the video feed still worked.

And one thing that feels a bit strange is how the MM loose the signal. It is so abrupt with almost no warning? And that the signal always better when the drone flies away. When it returns it is much more prone to signal loss? Like the MM somehow is blockning it’s own signal?
 
What are my options? I bought the fly more combo so I literally have all the accessories. I don't want to buy the normal package because it comes with stuff I don't need like a controller.
 
Here is the data for my final flight before the mini decided to ditch in the sea.


Will I get another you asked SecureHttp, after this event, yours and several others reported on the dji forum this weekend with the same thing happening I will take some convincing that they are safe in the air.

Look at the wind speeds...

 
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Im sure the mini has its limitations however when mine decided to land in the sea after giving the max power load reached warning the wind speed recorded on the airdata.com log for the flight was only 8.4 mph less than half the figure given by dji. The forecast for the day was actually 4 to 6 mph and when i started the flight you couldn't feel any wind at all.

What you are looking at on AirData is not the actual wind speed - that is just a ground level forecast. Too see the computed wind speeds you have to look at the wind map tab. See above.
 
What are my options? I bought the fly more combo so I literally have all the accessories. I don't want to buy the normal package because it comes with stuff I don't need like a controller.
If you contact DJI they will review data and probably offer you 15% discount off deal from the craft only (excludes everything) so a bit cheaper. I found they usually arent much cheaper than just buying the whole kit and selling the bits you dont need.
 
I asked them if I could buy the craft only via customer support chat and they said they don't sell drone only
If you contact DJI they will review data and probably offer you 15% discount off deal from the craft only (excludes everything) so a bit cheaper. I found they usually arent much cheaper than just buying the whole kit and selling the bits you dont need.
 

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