Mavic 3 Pro motors shutting down at idle after running several minutes indoors.

Markptate1962 · May 25, 2024

My apologies if this has been discussed. I am unable to locate a similar thread on here.

I purchased my Mavic 3 Pro new 1 year ago. B&H. Never crashed. Very well cared for.

Today was a first. I fired up the 3Pro indoors to check for updates. After updating, I allowed the drone to sit idle for several minutes in 73° indoor temperature with the motors running. Something I've done with all of my DJI drones. I do this to watch for unusual vibration with the aircraft while all 4 motors are active. It has always been a part of my preflight check list if you will.

Today, for the first time with my 3Pro, the motors shut down after a few minutes at idle. I'm using the RC Pro. The camera was still operating as evident on the controller screen. In other words - the controller and the aircraft remained connected. I turned the drone off - then fired it back up. This time it shut down in an even shorter period of time using the same scenario as previously described. The drone felt very cool - due to being indoors with indoor temps hovering around 73 or so.

Has anyone experienced this issue? I rebooted the RC Pro and the 3Pro. No changes.

old man mavic · May 25, 2024

why did you have the motors running during the update

Markptate1962 · May 25, 2024

old man mavic said:
why did you have the motors running during the update

I ran the motors after checking for updates - as I typically do to ensure all is functioning properly before taking the drone out for a flight.

Kilrah · May 26, 2024

If you mean starting the motors and not taking off them stopping again would be intended behavior, not some overheating or such.

MROJAS · May 26, 2024

I have read the minis overheat if turned on and sitting for some minutes, engines on or off. These drones don’t have a cooling fan.
It’s stated in the manual

Cafguy · May 27, 2024

Components inside the drone can overheat and cause a shutdown the VTX ( video transmitter) will get VERY hot in a min or so.

Yorkshire_Pud · May 27, 2024

I don't see the point in running the motors for several minutes as a check, any 'bad' vibration would be immediately apparent.
What might be of use is to touch the outer ends of the arms to feel any vibrations but with something the size of a mavic 3 you'd have to be careful not to get hit by a prop. I actually do that with the drone being checked in a hover where it is easier to get access to the arm from below the prop.
If you wish to continue your 'ground runs' try directing to output of a fan over the drone.

Markptate1962 · May 27, 2024

Yorkshire_Pud said:
I don't see the point in running the motors for several minutes as a check, any 'bad' vibration would be immediately apparent.
What might be of use is to touch the outer ends of the arms to feel any vibrations but with something the size of a mavic 3 you'd have to be careful not to get hit by a prop. I actually do that with the drone being checked in a hover where it is easier to get access to the arm from below the prop.
If you wish to continue your 'ground runs' try directing to output of a fan over the drone.

Thank for the feedback. The point of this post isn't the "method" in which I choose to pretrip - but the fact that the drone is shutting off the props in a very cool and controlled environment - all within a very short amount of time. I'll shoot this question over to DJI.

hank970 · May 27, 2024

I'm a relative newbie and wonder why you'd need to check for vibration if you were satisfied that vibration was not a problem in the preceding flight. What, other than a bad motor bearing or prop-damaging collision and impact, might induce a vibration?

Yorkshire_Pud · May 27, 2024

hank970 said:
I'm a relative newbie and wonder why you'd need to check for vibration if you were satisfied that vibration was not a problem in the preceding flight. What, other than a bad motor bearing or prop-damaging collision and impact, might induce a vibration?

The motors spin a fairly high rpm consequently the individual prop blades are balanced. Updating etc.should not affect balance.
Minor nicks and chips on one blade can introduce significant centripetal imbalance in that prop, the further away the chip is from the motor's centre the great the imbalance.

3rdof5 · May 27, 2024

I think the OP's question is, "do the motors time out and stop if just left idling?" Why he is idling his motors is irrelevant to the question. To answer, I honestly don't know if the Mavic 3 times out. I've never tested mine in that scenario. I know the Phantoms will idle forever.

Markptate1962 · May 27, 2024

3rdof5 said:
I think the OP's question is, "do the motors time out and stop if just left idling?" Why he is idling his motors is irrelevant to the question. To answer, I honestly don't know if the Mavic 3 times out. I've never tested mine in that scenario. I know the Phantoms will idle forever.

Thank you sir. You interpreted my question precisely. Perhaps if I had used the term "timed out" - I may not have had all of the other traffic that questioned my reason(s) for allowing the aircraft to idle..lol. The reason this has become concerning, is due to the indoor temps being very cool, and the fact that the fan was running during. There was really no substantial increase in airflow, while the aircraft hovered outside in 100° temps for 15 - 20 minutes - as there was no registered wind speed during such time. I allowed the aircraft to hover for approximately 15-20 minutes outside. No shutdown.

3rdof5 · May 27, 2024

Markptate1962 said:
Thank you sir. You interpreted my question precisely. Perhaps if I had used the term "timed out" I may not have had all the other traffic questioning my reason(s) for allowing the aircraft to idle..lol. The reason this has become concerning is due to indoor temps being very cool and the fact that the fan was running. There was really no substantial increase in airflow, while the aircraft hovered outside in 100° temps, with no registered wind speeds approximately 1 hour after my indoor motor shutdown issues. I allowed the aircraft to hover for approximately 15-20 minutes outside. No shutdown.

Now you have me curious and I'm gonna pull out my Classic and test. I'm well aware of the various DJI models that will overheat when left on with no props running but the Mavic 3 is not one with that issue, it's internal fan takes good care of the aircraft's temp. I'll start mine up cold with a full battery and just let it idle and see what happens and report back...

Markptate1962 · May 27, 2024

3rdof5 said:
Now you have me curious and I'm gonna pull out my Classic and test. I'm well aware of the various DJI models that will overheat when left on with no props running but the Mavic 3 is not one with that issue, it's internal fan takes good care of the aircraft's temp. I'll start mine up cold with a full battery and just let it idle and see what happens and report back...

I am doing the same as I type. Fresh battery. Indoor temps at 74°. This time I will take video for backup.

Yorkshire_Pud · May 27, 2024

It strikes me that 73/74F is not "cool".
Your description. especially with your mention of

Markptate1962 said:
. This time it shut down in an even shorter period of time usin

suggests to me that this is an over heating issue.
I suspect that even with drone's fan running the overall airflow rates through the drone differ quite significantly between idle and hover ,
Directing the output of a fan over the drone during a ground run would test that but I may be wasting my time suggesting that.

Markptate1962 · May 27, 2024

3rdof5 said:
Now you have me curious and I'm gonna pull out my Classic and test. I'm well aware of the various DJI models that will overheat when left on with no props running but the Mavic 3 is not one with that issue, it's internal fan takes good care of the aircraft's temp. I'll start mine up cold with a full battery and just let it idle and see what happens and report back...

I allowed the aircraft to run over 16 minutes and I could not duplicate the issue from yesterday. A good thing I hope.

3rdof5 · May 27, 2024

Yorkshire_Pud said:
It strikess me that 73/74F is not "cool".
Your description. especially with your mention of

suggests to me that this is an over heating issue.
I suspect that even with drone's fan running the overall airflow rates through the drone differ quite significantly between idle and hover ,
Directing the output of a fan over the drone during a ground run would test that but I may be wasting my time suggesting that.

You could be on to something, its possible that with the props idling (but not flying) they might actually interfere with the cooling action of the internal fan causing over heating. I will find out soon enough...

Markptate1962 · May 27, 2024

Yorkshire_Pud said:
It strikess me that 73/74F is not "cool".
Your description. especially with your mention of

suggests to me that this is an over heating issue.
I suspect that even with drone's fan running the overall airflow rates through the drone differ quite significantly between idle and hover ,
Directing the output of a fan over the drone during a ground run would test that but I may be wasting my time suggesting that.

I don't think you're wasting your time. You've got a very good point regarding airflow in flight vs idling. The only difference with today's test is that I have the aircraft on a leather ottoman vs a cold tile floor from yesterday.