Mavic mini issues.

mavic.mini.photography · Dec 25, 2019

My drone did this exact thing but sadly i was flying over water when mine did it.

My flight logs.
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

MAvic_South_Oz · Dec 25, 2019

This insufficient power thing is a major issue with the mini.

DJI really should turn off sports mode option at the very least, until they work it out, or make a lipo battery option.
I guess lipo is not really a sub 250g option, or they probably would have used them from the outset.

Until this is somehow fixed, pilots should either not use sports mode, or use sports mode with great care, probably within 20m or so.

Andym123 · Dec 26, 2019

MAvic_South_Oz said:
This insufficient power thing is a major issue with the mini.

DJI really should turn off sports mode option at the very least, until they work it out, or make a lipo battery option.
I guess lipo is not really a sub 250g option, or they probably would have used them from the outset.

Until this is somehow fixed, pilots should either not use sports mode, or use sports mode with great care, probably within 20m or so.

I’ve gained info about prop problems. Courtesy of Steve Coutts on you tube. Interesting reading

old man mavic · Dec 26, 2019

Andym123 said:
I can fly yes but for the flying I want to do it isn’t worth the risk now. ( over rivers, lochs etc). Only flying I’ll be doing is after I change the props for test purposes. Rain here for next few days so need to wait for a break in that.

onty change the props if they are damaged,you should be doing a visual inspection, either after a days flying, or before you go out to fly again check them for edge contact damage or fine cracks they should last for many flights if looked after

Andym123 · Dec 26, 2019

old man mavic said:
onty change the props if they are damaged,you should be doing a visual inspection, either after a days flying, or before you go out to fly again check them for edge contact damage or fine cracks they should last for many flights if looked after

Supposedly some of the minis were dispatched with props that are faulty and there’s early ones and later ones. This appears to be fixing the issue for a lot of people. Haven’t had a chance to change mine yet but will be trying it

Andym123 · Dec 27, 2019

MAvic_South_Oz said:
This insufficient power thing is a major issue with the mini.

DJI really should turn off sports mode option at the very least, until they work it out, or make a lipo battery option.
I guess lipo is not really a sub 250g option, or they probably would have used them from the outset.

Until this is somehow fixed, pilots should either not use sports mode, or use sports mode with great care, probably within 20m or so.

I’ve gained info about prop problems. Courtesy of Steve Coutts on you tube. I’ve not tried mine yet but will do

GerdS · Dec 30, 2019

Uncommanded descending!

I have read about and seen videos about this before, but today I experienced it by myself.

My Mavic was on its way back to me in a distance of about 50m and an altitude of about 12-15m. I stopped above grassland near to a small street and then it begun descending for several meters quite quickly. I was able to compensate with the throttle stick and fly back for landing.

At home I immediately uploaded the log file to Airdata.com for analysing the incident. I found no error or warning messages, all seemed to be ok. But when I took a close look to the barometric and sensor altitudes I found out that the barometer reflected the descending while the sensor altitude stayed same. Even when I manually increased altitude it took quite long until the sensor altitude did react and increase, too.
Lighting was ok, sun was shining, so I have no other explanation that either a hardware problem of the sensor based altimeter or a serious firmware bug.

My Mavic Mini is about 2 months old, with actual firmware and had no issues during flights until today...

Andym123 · Dec 30, 2019

GerdS said:
Uncommanded descending!

I have read about and seen videos about this before, but today I experienced it by myself.

My Mavic was on its way back to me in a distance of about 50m and an altitude of about 12-15m. I stopped above grassland near to a small street and then it begun descending for several meters quite quickly. I was able to compensate with the throttle stick and fly back for landing.

At home I immediately uploaded the log file to Airdata.com for analysing the incident. I found no error or warning messages, all seemed to be ok. But when I took a close look to the barometric and sensor altitudes I found out that the barometer reflected the descending while the sensor altitude stayed same. Even when I manually increased altitude it took quite long until the sensor altitude did react and increase, too.
Lighting was ok, sun was shining, so I have no other explanation that either a hardware problem of the sensor based altimeter or a serious firmware bug.

My Mavic Mini is about 2 months old, with actual firmware and had no issues during flights until today...

I have logged a ticket with DJI however I’m currently away for the holidays so will chase this up when I’m back. I’m hoping it’s something that can be fixed with firmware or props

GerdS · Dec 31, 2019

Here is the log at Airdata.com. The interesting part is starting at about 16m 7s.

sar104 · Dec 31, 2019

Andym123 said:
I have logged a ticket with DJI however I’m currently away for the holidays so will chase this up when I’m back. I’m hoping it’s something that can be fixed with firmware or props

There's no obvious explanation in the logs for the uncommanded descent. It would be interesting to see the motor speed and PWM data in the mobile device DAT file, if you can retrieve it.

How to retrieve a mobile device DAT file: How to retrieve a V3.DAT from the tablet

GerdS · Dec 31, 2019

Here are both log files from my incident. Remember that this happend during the second flight with same battery without a power-cycle between, therefore the log begins at about 9 minutes.

sar104 · Jan 2, 2020

GerdS said:
Here are both log files from my incident. Remember that this happend during the second flight with same battery without a power-cycle between, therefore the log begins at about 9 minutes.

Yes - that certainly looks like an uncommanded and unexplained descent:

Can you find the mobile device DAT file, FLY048.DAT?

m80116 · Jan 2, 2020

GerdS said:
But when I took a close look to the barometric and sensor altitudes I found out that the barometer reflected the descending while the sensor altitude stayed same. Even when I manually increased altitude it took quite long until the sensor altitude did react and increase, too.

Is the laggy or unsensitive response in time and/or value of the altitude sensor tied with this particular incident or is it just its modus operandi even when the drone is flying normally ?

GerdS · Jan 3, 2020

sar104 said:
Yes - that certainly looks like an uncommanded and unexplained descent:

Can you find the mobile device DAT file, FLY048.DAT?

Here it is.

sar104 · Jan 3, 2020

GerdS said:
Here it is.

Ah - wrong FLY048.DAT file. There may be more than one ending in FLY048 - you want an earlier one.

BudWalker · Jan 3, 2020

GerdS said:
Here are both log files from my incident. Remember that this happend during the second flight with same battery without a power-cycle between, therefore the log begins at about 9 minutes.

My ZIP app says this .zip is corrupted. Can either @GerdS or @sar104 attach the .txts to a post so I can see them. Thanks.