September 2018. Flying over ocean in Oregon, battery at 42% suddenly 0% battery in a millisecond, force landing alert and MA lands in two feet of saltwater and sand. Used my DJI refresh and had a brand new MA sent with replacement battery. Even though this was NOT pilot error, as I needed the aircraft to log my vacation and keep the wife happy that I shelled out a grand for this thing. (Did get some very nice vids and stills, so I'm still married) Fast forward to last weekend. Flying in Lake Tahoe, 47% battery, suddenly 0% battery, same scenario. Force landing, etc. Luckily soft landing into some pine boughs about 200" away from home, 5' off the ground. Talked to DJI and was told to send unit with all 3 batteries and controller. Of course, I synced all flight logs, etc. Just received an invoice to replace a flight board due to impact on MA. WHAT?????? This was NOT pilot error! I have been flying for over two years and know my way around flying, not to mention real aircraft! I am appalled that DJI has the nerve to present me with a repair bill. The logs CLEARLY show this being an aircraft error. I'm quickly losing faith in DJI and their products. Good luck to you all if this should happen to you.
Repair Invoice.......... REALLY?????
- Thread starter Brewski472001
- Start date
brett8883
Well-Known Member
You’d be better off posting in DJI’s forum. There they might see your complaint and discuss it with you. We can’t do much for you here unfortunately.
Thanks man. I was posting hoping this may alert others to the plight of dealing with DJI. I have posted to DJI as well. Happy flying!!!!
PhantomFandom
Well-Known Member
I'm a bit confused here on the progression of events. The first time it was covered by Care Refresh. Why was that not the case the second time? If the MA was past its warranty period and Care Refresh period then DJI will always charge you for repair no matter how it happened.
Also in both of these cases, was the flight battery charged to 100% right before the flight?
Have you uploaded the flight logs from the MA so the experts here can have a look?
Very good question. Why didn't refresh cover it? It should be covered under warranty! And Yes, I always fly with 100% battery at the start. I never put a partially charged battery in. The flight logs are in the hands of DJI repair. The odd thing is, I thought it was a defective battery when it happened the first time. That battery was replaced by DJI. The same thing happening with a different aircraft AND a different battery made me think I was doing something wrong. But after exhaustively going through all the data, everything points to battery failure. Having said all that, I have a question. I wonder if the warranty period of the MA that replaced the 1st one through refresh, reverts to the purchase date of the original???
brett8883
Well-Known Member
The logs should be on your mobile device. Post them and we can shed some light
Yes, without logs (and what did DJI tell you caused the crash?) this is just another crashed my drone post.
Dont give up with DJI. Try to calmly explain the situation,. It might take a few different conversations for you to get satisfaction. Dont pay the bill quite yet
If you need help dealing with them, let me know. I have them on speed dial.
You should say DJI will try "try and charge you".....
People need to remember that DJI's warranty can't operate to exclude any rights you may have under consumer protection laws. They will try it on and get away with to if you let them- obviously.
What this means is they are hurting for money, that is, the servicing business is ALWAYS lost revenue?
AnzacJack
Australian Defence Veteran
Definitely like to see these logs interpreted, if it’s a pattern it may affect more people.
Other than that, of both flights died at 40% and went to zero, it would seem that there must be something in common as even on its own it’s a rare event, but twice seems very strange. I’m guessing the only common piece of equipment would be your controller and charger, neither of which I can understand causing this.
Please post logs
Other than that, of both flights died at 40% and went to zero, it would seem that there must be something in common as even on its own it’s a rare event, but twice seems very strange. I’m guessing the only common piece of equipment would be your controller and charger, neither of which I can understand causing this.
Please post logs
brett8883
Well-Known Member
I agree with you about it being equipment. I am trying to post logs now. I use an iPad with my controller and I use a MacBook for my laptop. I'm having difficulty transferring logs from iPad to mac tor this site. 1st time I've had to post logs and having a hard time. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your reply.
brett8883
Well-Known Member
Use iTunes and go to file sharing>DJI Go4> flight records. Make a folder on your desktop or where ever and drag the flight records folder into the new folder on your desktop. Then find the one with the date and time stamp of the flight in question.
Sorry about the photo of the flight logs. I've never tried to upload logs onto the forum. I've done exactly what you're sequence shows and the records just come up as text, not actual visual fight path..etc.
I hope this is what you're looking for. This is the first time it happened. I'll post the other shortly. Thank you so much for your help. I though I was computer literate, , until I started trying to post all this .
brett8883
Well-Known Member
Yep you did great! I’m about to go out flying but I can look at it when I get back
brett8883
Well-Known Member
Well since this isnt the latest one I wont spend too much time on it due to it being a year old but here looking at it for a very short time this looks to be a battery issue clearly.
Blue and green lines are voltage of each battery cell. You start off very similar and they gradually drift apart until the blue line is critically low like as in dead as a doornail. That cell goes down to 2.75 v which is way below critical.
Also note the red line which is the battery temperature which gets up to 145f. You do run it pretty hard and I know it can get hot in Aug in OK but still the smart battery going from 40% to 0 I cant find you at fault for that.
This is my finding after looking at it quickly. Id much rather spend time doing a through job on the more recent one as this flight from aug 2018 really isnt gonna help ya but yea it run out of power due to a failure in one of the battery cells. Why that happened cant be sure but thats why it fell out of the sky
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