Sudden Power On after Battery insertion

AnGo · May 22, 2020

Hi,
yesterday I had a strange experience with the MA2. I had it folded with battery removed for charging. When it was changed, I just wanted to drop the battery back in the MA2 and pack everything away in the bag. In the moment when the battery was inserted, the MA2 suddenly and unexpected powered on, while folded and with gimbal protection on. Motors initialized, internal fan and position lights went on. However I didn't even touch the power button, nor kept it pressed long enough to power it on. Is this a known behavior?
Regards

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2020

AnGo said:
Hi,
yesterday I had a strange experience with the MA2. I had it folded with battery removed for charging. When it was changed, I just wanted to drop the battery back in the MA2 and pack everything away in the bag. In the moment when the battery was inserted, the MA2 suddenly and unexpected powered on, while folded and with gimbal protection on. Motors initialized, internal fan and position lights went on. However I didn't even touch the power button, nor kept it pressed long enough to power it on. Is this a known behavior?
Regards

Not known yet, but also not totally surprising. Always pull out the upper and lower arms before inserting the battery. That way it goes in level and straight, and you avoid shorting some contacts that simulate powering on, by squeezing it in between the closed arms at an odd angle.

AnGo · May 22, 2020

GadgetGuy said:
Not known yet, but also not totally surprising. Always pull out the upper arms before inserting the battery. That way it goes in level and straight, and you avoid shorting some contacts that simulate powering on, by squeezing it in between the closed arms at an odd angle.

Thanks, but I had the front arms extended already. Otherwise the battery would not fit in between the folded legs. Also I didn't use any force, the battery went in as usual. Only the reaction of the MA2 was unusual.

Matt8900 · May 22, 2020

I'm not 100% if this is possible or not however you can remove the battery from the drone without powering off the battery, and vise versa.
Could it be possible the battery was powered on before inserting?
I'm not sure of the interaction if this was the case but I'm sure you could test this by removing the battery, powering on the battery while out of the aircraft, then inaerting, and seeing what happens.

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2020

Matt8900 said:
I'm not 100% if this is possible or not however you can remove the battery from the drone without powering off the battery, and vise versa.
Could it be possible the battery was powered on before inserting?
I'm not sure of the interaction if this was the case but I'm sure you could test this by removing the battery, powering on the battery while out of the aircraft, then inaerting, and seeing what happens.

Good point!

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2020

AnGo said:
Thanks, but I had the front arms extended already. Otherwise the battery would not fit in between the folded legs. Also I didn't use any force, the battery went in as usual. Only the reaction of the MA2 was unusual.

Were the lower arms also unfolded?

AnGo · May 22, 2020

Matt8900 said:
I'm not 100% if this is possible or not however you can remove the battery from the drone without powering off the battery, and vise versa.
Could it be possible the battery was powered on before inserting?

When I took the battery off the charger, all LEDs were off. I just took it from the charging cable and put it inside the drone, holding the battery at the left and right sides where the two release buttons are. Just in the moment it was locked in the drone, the 4 green LEDs on the battery's power button went on by themselves, and the drone as well.

AnGo · May 22, 2020

GadgetGuy said:
Were the lower arms also unfolded?

No, as they they did not disturb physically for the battery insertion, I let them folded

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2020

AnGo said:
No, as they they did not disturb physically for the battery insertion, I let them folded

Try and reproduce the behavior. Only you know exactly what you were doing at the time. It may be a quirk of your drone, or some other inadvertent action that is turning the battery on. Try it with the lower arms folded, just like you did the first time. If it happens again, then try it with the lower arms unfolded. Try inserting the battery while the battery is already on, to see if that replicates the immediate powering on you experienced. During all testing, remove the gimbal guard and the props, to prevent any issues from the power coming on again, just in case! Let us know your results!

AnGo · May 22, 2020

I will try. Possibly it is related to the charging directly before. I now always remove gimbal protector to not risk any damage to any motors before inserting a battery, even if there is no intention to fly.

Brockrock · May 22, 2020

Try repeatedly tapping that particular battery pack in a way that simulates inserting it into the copter's battery bay. It could be that there is an internal issue with that battery's switch, and the action of placing it into the copter caused it to turn on.

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2020

AnGo said:
I will try. Possibly it is related to the charging directly before. I now always remove gimbal protector to not risk any damage to any motors before inserting a battery, even if there is no intention to fly.

Yes, the gimbal protector is the most important part to make sure it is removed during any possible inadvertent powering up. I leave mine off until I know I'll be leaving the house with the drone.

I just confirmed that I can reproduce the exact same behavior by inserting a battery that is already turned on. The most likely scenario is that you inadvertently turned the battery on while removing it from the charging cable, or during insertion. The lights in the MA2 batteries are much dimmer than the lights on the M2 batteries, and it might not even be noticeable that they were lit in a well lit area while inserting the turned on battery. You can also turn on a battery while it is on the charger, and it will remain on when removed.

GadgetGuy · May 22, 2020

Brockrock said:
Try repeatedly tapping that particular battery pack in a way that simulates inserting it into the copter's battery bay. It could be that there is an internal issue with that battery's switch, and the action of placing it into the copter caused it to turn on.

I think it is more likely that the battery he inserted was already powered. I just reproduced the behavior by inserting an already powered battery.

Brockrock · May 22, 2020

GadgetGuy said:
I think it is more likely that the battery he inserted was already powered. I just reproduced the behavior by inserting an already powered battery.

Very likely, and you are right about the new style lights. They are very dim, and when flying yesterday in the bright sun, I had to shade them with my hand in order to see if the pack was on or off. Not a complaint, but certainly something to be aware of..