Mavic 2 Pro Signal Loss No Reconnection No Return To Home

[danCER]

Hello,

I have been flying drone since the Phantom 3 Standard, and also own a Mavic Pro and the Mavic 2 Pro.
Yesterday I flew my M2P over a field behind my house as I often do.
My Max distance from home was 909 feet. I decided to fly back home manually and when the drone got to 637 feet away, I inexplicably lost signal.
At such a short distance, this was unbelievable. I tried reconnecting the cable to tablet, restarting the app, but the controller would not connect to the drone again.
So I pressed the return to home button but it never came back--on its own or by my action.
I tried searching for the drone but it was getting dark and it had been over a wooded area on its original return.
I did get the csv data from the tablet and uploaded it to airdata.com.
It show my drone flying 909 feet away and the back to 637 feet and just stops. It says batter was at 94% at max distance,
There are no warnings of any kind, no notifications. It doesn't say it landed.
It is as if the drone powered off and fell from the sky.
There is a HD Flight player at airdata and it also shows my control sticks movement. I never once placed the sticks in a position to stop the props. I think this would have shown in the airdata details.

Obviously my drone malfunctioned--I have had it since they first went on sale and have never had this happen.
I can see on the google map where the flight ended and I have searched this morning but had no luck.

Just wanted to share my tragedy.
Sad times before Christmas!

 

[PhantomFandom]

Hello,

I have been flying drone since the Phantom 3 Standard, and also own a Mavic Pro and the Mavic 2 Pro.
Yesterday I flew my M2P over a field behind my house as I often do.
My Max distance from home was 909 feet. I decided to fly back home manually and when the drone got to 637 feet away, I inexplicably lost signal.
At such a short distance, this was unbelievable. I tried reconnecting the cable to tablet, restarting the app, but the controller would not connect to the drone again.
So I pressed the return to home button but it never came back--on its own or by my action.
I tried searching for the drone but it was getting dark and it had been over a wooded area on its original return.
I did get the csv data from the tablet and uploaded it to airdata.com.
It show my drone flying 909 feet away and the back to 637 feet and just stops. It says batter was at 94% at max distance,
There are no warnings of any kind, no notifications. It doesn't say it landed.
It is as if the drone powered off and fell from the sky.
There is a HD Flight player at airdata and it also shows my control sticks movement. I never once placed the sticks in a position to stop the props. I think this would have shown in the airdata details.

Obviously my drone malfunctioned--I have had it since they first went on sale and have never had this happen.
I can see on the google map where the flight ended and I have searched this morning but had no luck.

Just wanted to share my tragedy.
Sad times before Christmas!

I would suggest uploading your flight data to PhantomHelp Log Viewer and then posting the link here so the experts can have a look. Since you were in visual range and did not see it fall from the sky, then it seems some other part of the story is missing.

I would start by asking more details on exactly what you saw when you lost signal. If you lost connection between controller and drone then there would be no need to disconnect the cable from the tablet as you did. Also when you pressed the RTH button, did you press and hold? It's not just a momentary press.

The flight logs will probably give us more information. However if it was a sudden power loss, then the tablet flight logs will also abruptly end with no explanation.

 

[danCER]

However if it was a sudden power loss, then the tablet flight logs will also abruptly end with no explanation.
[/QUOTE]

That is exactly what happened. The flights logs do abruptly end with no explanation. The google map of my flight at airdata also abruptly stops.
When I pressed RTH, a message on screen asked me to confirm...but there was no going home. It didn't automatically return as it should have or when I pressed RTH.
There had to be a power loss even though I had over 90% battery.
The following is from airdata and I did not cut anything out at the end--the chart does start at 2:23 minutes into flight..., Nothing looks out of the ordinary in any column.


that is all that was recorded.
I did find my drone today minus battery with significant damage. The video on the sd card also shows normal footage and it just ends--no crash recorded -nothing banged into it.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I did find my drone today minus battery with significant damage.

One of the possibilities for this sudden power-loss could be a battery that comes out in flight. There could be a few reasons for this, not snapping it in tight enough before take off being the most common.

Generally, when a drone hits the ground and causes the battery to pop-out at impact, the battery is near by the crash site. If you can't find the battery in the general area, that could be an indicator that it came out in-flight (adn therefore landed farther away from the impact site).

Chris

 

[danCER]

One of the possibilities for this sudden power-loss could be a battery that comes out in flight. There could be a few reasons for this, not snapping it in tight enough before take off being the most common.

Generally, when a drone hits the ground and causes the battery to pop-out at impact, the battery is near by the crash site. If you can't find the battery in the general area, that could be an indicator that it came out in-flight (adn therefore landed farther away from the impact site).

Chris

Thanks, I thought I had snapped the battery in place as I usually do but it could be a possibility.
I wish I could afford another M2P but may be content with the original Mavic Pro for now.

 

[DanMan32]

You didn't have visual at only 600ft away?

Another possible reason for disconnect is battery swelling. In my experience with my battery swellings, the swelling should be quite noticeable on install, such as being tight to latch, for it to later cause power loss.

 

[brittex]

Thanks, I thought I had snapped the battery in place as I usually do but it could be a possibility.
I wish I could afford another M2P but may be content with the original Mavic Pro for now.

I have noticed "battery swelling" with my M2Pro after having it about a year, and noticed that the battery is not snapping into place as it used to. It now requires more effort to make sure it is locked down.

 

[swimpmeister]

Just a side note, I was highly impressed with my M2P yesterday as it warned me on app that my battery was not installed correctly even though the drone was powered on. Sure enough it was just barely loose. I added a step on my preflight checklist to make sure I don't make this mistake again

Good luck with yours friend

 

[W2EJ]

Batteries for the Mavic 2 series made in July/August 2018 are known to be a problem. Once they begin to swell, they no longer lock into the drone securely. DJI is well aware of this problem, and can be persuaded to replace them. They sent me three new ones to replace the bad ones I got with my original fly more package.

 

[danCER]

You didn't have visual at only 600ft away?

I was looking at the tablet screen for a second--which is perfectly acceptable--when everything went black and the Signal Loss message appeared. The drone must have immediately fell from the sky--it did NOT hover--so when I looked for it, it was nowhere to be seen

 

[offtheback]

Batteries for the Mavic 2 series made in July/August 2018 are known to be a problem. Once they begin to swell, they no longer lock into the drone securely. DJI is well aware of this problem, and can be persuaded to replace them. They sent me three new ones to replace the bad ones I got with my original fly more package.

You were lucky/persistent to get the swollen batteries replaced.I ihad 3 JULY/AUGUST 2018 that swelled and were out of time warranty but not # flights and after several phone calls gave up.

 

[DanMan32]

I was looking at the tablet screen for a second--which is perfectly acceptable--when everything went black and the Signal Loss message appeared. The drone must have immediately fell from the sky--it did NOT hover--so when I looked for it, it was nowhere to be seen

That's reasonable enough. Likely then it lost power.

 

[W2EJ]

You were lucky/persistent to get the swollen batteries replaced.I ihad 3 JULY/AUGUST 2018 that swelled and were out of time warranty but not # flights and after several phone calls gave up.

I know I was lucky, but I'm not the only one. The phone guys told me what they told you. I then started a chat, and that's where I got them to listen. I had to send them screenshots showing the battery data from DJI Go4, and a short video showing how the batteries would rock on their swollen bases. Maybe it's not too late for you?

 

[sar104]

Hello,

I have been flying drone since the Phantom 3 Standard, and also own a Mavic Pro and the Mavic 2 Pro.
Yesterday I flew my M2P over a field behind my house as I often do.
My Max distance from home was 909 feet. I decided to fly back home manually and when the drone got to 637 feet away, I inexplicably lost signal.
At such a short distance, this was unbelievable. I tried reconnecting the cable to tablet, restarting the app, but the controller would not connect to the drone again.
So I pressed the return to home button but it never came back--on its own or by my action.
I tried searching for the drone but it was getting dark and it had been over a wooded area on its original return.
I did get the csv data from the tablet and uploaded it to airdata.com.
It show my drone flying 909 feet away and the back to 637 feet and just stops. It says batter was at 94% at max distance,
There are no warnings of any kind, no notifications. It doesn't say it landed.
It is as if the drone powered off and fell from the sky.
There is a HD Flight player at airdata and it also shows my control sticks movement. I never once placed the sticks in a position to stop the props. I think this would have shown in the airdata details.

Obviously my drone malfunctioned--I have had it since they first went on sale and have never had this happen.
I can see on the google map where the flight ended and I have searched this morning but had no luck.

Just wanted to share my tragedy.
Sad times before Christmas!

If you want an estimate of where the drone will have crashed, based on position, velocity and wind field, then post the txt log or AirData link.

 

[Bigbird48]

I think he said he found it

 

[MaxHam]

The big question for me is if it is even possible
to initiate RTH in the app after the drone lost power.

I would think that shouldn't be possible.
Thus the ability of the OP to do so is a hint there wasn't power loss?

 

[sar104]

I think he said he found it

Right - I missed that.

 

[danCER]

The big question for me is if it even possible
to initiate RTH in the app after the drone lost power.

I would think that shouldn't be possible.
Thus the ability of the OP to do so is a hint there wasn't power loss?

I said I tried to initiate RTH, and yes there was a message to confirm when I pressed return to home on tablet--but the drone never even tried to return to home. My tablet or controller never beeped the RTH cry...
I am convinced that once signal loss showed on screen, the drone was on its way down--totally powered off for whatever the reason: loose battery, circuit malfunction etc.

 

[MaxHam]

I said I tried to initiate RTH, and yes there was a message to confirm when I pressed return to home on tablet--but the drone never even tried to return to home.

That's what I mean - the system let you give the command for RTH.
If there was total power loss the system shouldn't have the option.
Maybe it's just sloppy Go4 coding.

 

[bheiser1]

Batteries for the Mavic 2 series made in July/August 2018 are known to be a problem. Once they begin to swell, they no longer lock into the drone securely. DJI is well aware of this problem, and can be persuaded to replace them. They sent me three new ones to replace the bad ones I got with my original fly more package.

Three of my four batteries were manufactured in July/Aug 2018 :-(. I bought them all in Nov/Dec.
I’m watching them closely and now also tracking their performance on Airdata. I see some occasional “major deviations”, and a whole bunch of “minor deviations”, almost all from cell 4 (occasionally cell 3) similar to what’s described here in other threads.