Mavic Air Loses height right after auto start

[Hogi]

I am a new user, therefore not sure if this is the right section to pose my question. Lately my 3 year old mavic air suddenly loses height and lands with engines continuing to run at low speed immediately after auto start. I have calibrated all sensors, but it is still happening and primarily during heavy wind conditions. Does any one know what the reason can be? Thank you and stay safe.

 

[StantonZ]

Sounds like a tired/dead battery. Do you have some battery data? Did you charge to full?

 

[Hogi]

Sounds like a tired/dead battery. Do you have some battery data? Did you charge to full?

Battery was good and showed 97% I had to manually intercept the decent and forced it to rise again and it then flew another 12 minutes on the same battery. Not sure how I can obtain battery data. Thanks for reacting

 

[StantonZ]

Battery was good and showed 97% I had to manually intercept the decent and forced it to rise again and it then flew another 12 minutes on the same battery. Not sure how I can obtain battery data. Thanks for reacting

The part bolded (by me) above definitely doesn't sound like a "healthy" battery.
The easiest way I know of to obtain battery "health" data (along with a lot of other things) is AirDataUAV (Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones)

 

[cgmaxed]

I am a new user, therefore not sure if this is the right section to pose my question. Lately my 3 year old mavic air suddenly loses height and lands with engines continuing to run at low speed immediately after auto start. I have calibrated all sensors, but it is still happening and primarily during heavy wind conditions. Does any one know what the reason can be? Thank you and stay safe.

"3 year old mavic air". It's not a mavic air2? Is/are the batteries the same age? If so, you should jsu buy one new battery and see what happens. Also make sure there is nothing caught in you motors that may be causing some kind of drag. Check yoou propellers too. But if it is a mav air 1 and the batteries are over 2 years old, used or not, it is probably the batteries.

 

[Hogi]

The part bolded (by me) above definitely doesn't sound like a "healthy" battery.
The easiest way I know of to obtain battery "health" data (along with a lot of other things) is AirDataUAV (Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones)

Thanks for the advise....will look it up and will post update

 

[Hogi]

"3 year old mavic air". It's not a mavic air2? Is/are the batteries the same age? If so, you should jsu buy one new battery and see what happens. Also make sure there is nothing caught in you motors that may be causing some kind of drag. Check yoou propellers too. But if it is a mav air 1 and the batteries are over 2 years old, used or not, it is probably the batteries.

Thanks for reacting, it’s a mavic air purchased in 2018 as well as 3 batteries. I am not a heavy user and I guess that batteries have been recharged less than 30 cycles each. Haven’t used the drone all winter, could that have harmed the batteries. Propellers and motors all look ok. It’s just weird to see that during auto start the drone rises to approx 3 meters and then suddenly slowly lowers itself To the ground, it doesn’t shut down and propellers keep turning. Normally it would stay stationary after the auto start. The problem has occurred 3 out of 10 auto starts sofar.

 

[cgmaxed]

My experience with LIPO batteries, is that they become very weak and their charge doesn't last long after years of very little use or regular use. I always need to replace them after three years no matter how well I take care of them.

 

[cgmaxed]

Thanks for reacting, it’s a mavic air purchased in 2018 as well as 3 batteries. I am not a heavy user and I guess that batteries have been recharged less than 30 cycles each. Haven’t used the drone all winter, could that have harmed the batteries. Propellers and motors all look ok. It’s just weird to see that during auto start the drone rises to approx 3 meters and then suddenly slowly lowers itself To the ground, it doesn’t shut down and propellers keep turning. Normally it would stay stationary after the auto start. The problem has occurred 3 out of 10 auto starts sofar.

Besides batteries, I see you are having strange behavior. I wouldn't think weak batterries would make the drone go up then down and keep spinning, but I guess it's possible. I have an EVO2 that does something somewhat similar. After a long flight when the batteries are low and hot, I land it, the propellers won't stop, then it tries to take off again, but stops when it tilts forward on its attempt to take off again. Scares the crap out of me. I think, for my evo at least, it's a sensor related issue. If I were you I would try to get one new battery and see what happens.

 

[Hogi]

First thing I’ll do tomorrow is check the voltage on each battery after I inserted them in the drone and watch in the app what the status shows

 

[cgmaxed]

Keep us updated

 

[Hogi]

Flew today and zero problems. Battery status of the 3 batteries as follows

Batterie 1: 41 cycles
Capacity at start: 97% and after 13:51 minutes flying: 14%
Voltage before start: 4,21V. 4,20V. 4,20V. Temp 23c
Voltage after flight: 3,68V. 3,68V. 3,68V. Temp 60c

Batterie 2: 38 cycles
Capacity at start: 99% and after 15,53 minutes flying: 8%
Voltage before start: 4,25V. 4,25V. 4,25V. Temp 23c
Voltage after flight: 3,64V. 3,64V. 3,64V. Temp 64c

Batterie 3: 35 cycles
Capacity at start: 98% and after 14,22 minutes flying: 13%
Voltage before start: 4,25V. 4,25V. 4,25V. Temp 23c
Voltage after flight: 3,68V. 3,68V. 3,68V. Temp 62c

I flew in heavy wind conditions and had no problems whatsoever. I only noticed that the auto landings after each auto start were more or less 8 feet of center point so I had to manually intercept each time

 

[Duggy]

I am a new user, therefore not sure if this is the right section to pose my question. Lately my 3 year old mavic air suddenly loses height and lands with engines continuing to run at low speed immediately after auto start. I have calibrated all sensors, but it is still happening and primarily during heavy wind conditions. Does any one know what the reason can be? Thank you and stay safe.

Good news is MA1 batteries back in stock at Amazon if you need to buy. Bad news is the new price!