Mavic 2 falling from the sky - Complete failure

[BJR981S]

Same thing happened to me with my Air two weeks ago over the ocean. 40% battery, 12 satellites, everything going great. Inexplicably, battery dropped to 0%, RTH engaged, then force land. Luckily, wind helped get it to within 20 feet of shore. SPLASH!!! Recovered and used Refresh Express to get a replacement very quickly. They replaced the battery as well. Thing is, I have two batteries purchased with the fly more combo and I'm petrified to use them (over water especially), not knowing the outcome. I have a dispute in process with DJI as I don't believe I should be charged a replacement on the DJI Refresh account, as it was a product defect, not pilot error. I will update. Thanks for posting.

This I see only to frequently and generally relates to not following the DJI precede for fully discharging the battery and then recharging it to calibrate the % battery "Fuel Gauge" and / or the over discharge of a battery to eek out that last few minutes of flight time.

Your battery condition will depend on how deeply your are discharging the battery. Never go below 3.7V on a cell unless you are doing the calibration procedure. Discharging below this level reduces the number of cycles that the battery can perform and reduces the actual stored watt hours of the battery capacity. The results are w=hat you describe. The "Fuel gauge" is inaccurate as it is not calibrated and the battery has the potential to collapse a cell. i.e. go from a reasonable percentage to a small percentage very quickly. Unfortunately when it does this it has also reduced its C rating and can not deliver sufficient current to continue to hold the drone aloft.

I think this is why DJI have difficulty applying warranty in these cases.

 

[cap7ainclu7ch]

Wow between these issues and the gimbal issues this has to be one of the worst releases they’ve had to date. Loved my M2P before the gimbal burned out after a day of use, but I’m sitting this one out until some real progress is made with reliability. Good luck to those dealing with warranty claims. Hopefully DJI steps up and admits that a good amount of units are defective.

 

[basophil]

I have a slightly similar case. it also fell off the sky and into a lake which is 100Ft+ deep and won't allow divers because it's a drinking reservoir. It's a Mavic Pro 2. Believe it or not, I saw from my very eyes the battery popped off, fell like a rock and follows the bird. I was happily watching it coming home after I pressed RTH. About 300ft from home point, it happened. I'm tired talking about it, it stresses me out. Let's just leave it like that. Now DJI is playing hard balls on me and try to analyze again. Still waiting for their reply. The last time they said was they can't verify what happened next because the log was cut. Of course because the battery popped off. there was an abrupt/sudden loss of power. The communication instantly stopped.

When you say "popped off" do you mean it detached from the drone? If so, I assume DJI would maintain it hadn't been properly inserted.

 

[vinmunoz]

When you say "popped off" do you mean it detached from the drone? If so, I assume DJI would maintain it hadn't been properly inserted.

Battery was checked. I know exactly it needs to be clicked. that you need to literally hear the click. The crashed occurred on my 3rd flight in 15minutes.

 

[Fotowil]

In the video I see a kite under the drone, was there maybe another kite in the sky were it hit the rope?

 

[Cheech Wizard]

I don't like the DJI refresh/warranty process. I bought Mavic pro from Dell and got an extended 2 year warranty for like $19.00. I have seen other posts about people getting insurance from State Farm for any where fro $30 and $90 a year. It even covers stolen or lost drones. I know it's a Mavic 2 post , but this has nothing to do with any specified drone.. just a little FYI...

 

[Bigbird48]

Still waiting for a reply to my post 60

 

[RayOZ]

Good luck with DJI support they are absolutely horrible to deal with. My Mavic 2 pro overheated on its maiden flight, fell from 15 ft on the 28th of August and it’s still being investigated. I assume they are trying to find a reason to try and blame me for their product failure.

If you read post #25, OP said DJI said they'll replace his drone.

 

[Cheech Wizard]

If you read post #25, OP said DJI said they'll replace his drone.

Reading IS fundamental.

 

[RayOZ]

Unless you just want to gripe about your own experience and why bad things happen to you.

 

[johnnysac5]

My new Mavic 2 zoom had complete failure yesterday during flight. There was no warning and it dropped from the sky at 140 M. The battery was at 20 % happened in a clear sky. This happened on the 6th flight, I have been flying drones for the last 2 years. I have emailed DJI Support and said they will get back to me, I'll Keep you posted. The recording stopped within a second after the failure you can see the footage here.

That's awful man, I hope DJI takes care of it for you. I was using my Zoom yesterday, 2nd time i've ever flown, and it flew itself into the shed in my backyard even though i wasn't flying it. I just had it hovering. That and posts like this make me very nervous about flying.

 

[vinmunoz]

wow this released have so many issues.

 

[sar104]

wow this released have so many issues.

I guess from that comment that you have never followed any of the previous releases. This one appears relatively trouble free so far.

 

[Jonny_Pain]

Battery was checked. I know exactly it needs to be clicked. that you need to literally hear the click. The crashed occurred on my 3rd flight in 15minutes.

You would think they would let you and even force you to remove the drone from the Resivoir. How will the water quality deteriorate once the Lipo starts releasing its contents into the water?

 

[faj442]

? what is that big H in the circle he's next to?? Is that something for drones or is it s helicopter landing area and if so why is he flying there? and could have anything do do with his bird falling?? Just asking

The big H is an old helicopter pad which is not in use. Normally a warning signal will be given if that pad is in use and will close public access

 

[faj442]

Post Update

I just received an email from DJI Support: following is the translated message

"Data analysis is to be responsible and accurate positioning problems, if they are a non-human problem within warranty, we will provide warranty service to you based on the results of the analysis. Very sorry can not provide specific data analysis reports to you. About your case, the accident may be due to a motor does not respond well to the instruction at the time, leading to an imbalance in the body caused by, but failed to obtain the airframe for further positioning, we consider the customer experience, to provide you with a free treatment program "

DJI dint share the exact reason for this crash and I was told without retrieving the drone data they are unable to say what exactly caused this crash.

DJI forum Thread Mavic 2 falling from the sky

This also helped with speeding up the process as one of the administrators from the forum followed up. But so far I haven't received the new one.
I will post updates here in this forum thread

 

[faj442]

I lost mine too and am awaiting DJI to get back to me. Mine was a motor current error and then dropped 42 feet. Sent them the dat files and all too. I have an airdata account and like their HD Flight player a lot. It will show your joysticks movements as well as what it going on with any errors or warning to go with flight path. Not an isolated event and we think.

I would suggest posting in DJI forum thread Mavic 2 falling from the sky

Al least we can see the admin response

 

[faj442]

I have a slightly similar case. it also fell off the sky and into a lake which is 100Ft+ deep and won't allow divers because it's a drinking reservoir. It's a Mavic Pro 2. Believe it or not, I saw from my very eyes the battery popped off, fell like a rock and follows the bird. I was happily watching it coming home after I pressed RTH. About 300ft from home point, it happened. I'm tired talking about it, it stresses me out. Let's just leave it like that. Now DJI is playing hard balls on me and try to analyze again. Still waiting for their reply. The last time they said was they can't verify what happened next because the log was cut. Of course because the battery popped off. there was an abrupt/sudden loss of power. The communication instantly stopped.

I would suggest you to post in Mavic 2 falling from the sky

Maybe that could help

 

[sar104]

Post Update

I just received an email from DJI Support: following is the translated message

"Data analysis is to be responsible and accurate positioning problems, if they are a non-human problem within warranty, we will provide warranty service to you based on the results of the analysis. Very sorry can not provide specific data analysis reports to you. About your case, the accident may be due to a motor does not respond well to the instruction at the time, leading to an imbalance in the body caused by, but failed to obtain the airframe for further positioning, we consider the customer experience, to provide you with a free treatment program "

DJI dint share the exact reason for this crash and I was told without retrieving the drone data they are unable to say what exactly caused this crash.

DJI forum Thread Mavic 2 falling from the sky

This also helped with speeding up the process as one of the administrators from the forum followed up. But so far I haven't received the new one.
I will post updates here in this forum thread

As diagnosed by @BudWalker in post #11.

 

[dewster]

At least it went into the water. I wonder if this was the reason behind DJI’s missed release date. I hope it can be solved. Otherwise it’ll end up like Karma.