Weird issues with new dji air 3s?

[gleavitt513]

Weird issues with new dji air 3s?

Having some weird issues with my brand new dji air3s. Have only owned it for a few weeks, bought it new.
Within my last two flights however, I've had this recurring issue of what I call "power cycling". It seems at random, the remote begins to rapidly disconnect and reconnect power with my phone, like someone rapidly unplugging and replugging my device.
Once this happens, it either returns to home, or it randomly reconnects.
I also own two other dji drones, and neither have this issue.
At first I thought it was a faulty usb-c cord, so I swapped it out and tried again. Same issue. I have no idea what causes it, or what triggers it, as it's only happened a few times, but not consistently. I have the frequency set to dual band, so my best guess is its a single frequency issue when it switches frequencies?? But if so, why would that cause it to "power cycle"?

The other issue I have, is with the smart rth. When returning to home, it ascends into the sky hundreds of feet above its preset rth altitude, at random. I thought maybe it was the obstacle avoidance sensors, but turning them off doesn't seem to help either. The smart path just randomly arches up into the sky before leveling out again, and then arching up again. Does the smart rth not work at night or something? I'm still very new to this drone, (having upgraded from an air 2 and mini 3) so maybe there's settings I'm not aware about? Let me know what yall think.
Any help is appreciated.

Attached is a screen recording showcasing both issues.lv_0_20260117000638.mp4

 

[AeroJ]

Sorry to hear that - both of those issues quite concerning, not to mention flight disturbing ! Very difficult to trust a drone that is sporadically doing that sort of thing...

I would get the logs off the drone initially, and see if they offer additional clues about what is going wrong. You could try sending those to DJI (don't know how far that will get you given the current situation) or posting them here where experts can take a look and hopefully advise.

Like you I suspect vision sensors somehow responsible for the uncommanded rise problems, but, from what I surmise you can at least avoid so far by not using RTH and piloting it back home yourself ? If so that would seem the minimum you'd have to do if you wanted to continue trying to fly it at night, but if you keep losing control signal as well then that would pretty much ground that aircraft for me until you are much more certain about the cause and can conduct safe, short-range daytime tests.

It might be altogether safer and quicker to try and get a swap-out or refund from the place you bought it.

 

[tribar]

A common cause for "RC not connected to mobile device" is accumulated lint/dust inside the USB-C port of your phone.
The data pins on this connector are slightly shorter then the power pins therefore charging your phone still works "Connected for charging only" message.

Clean the USB-connector on your phone with something small enough and NON-conductive, like a toothpick.
(There are plenty youtube videos on how to clean the USB port).

As for your 2nd "issue", read up on all the RTH modes in the user manual of your drone.

 

[gleavitt513]

A common cause for "RC not connected to mobile device" is accumulated lint/dust inside the USB-C port of your phone.
The data pins on this connector are slightly shorter then the power pins therefore charging your phone still works "Connected for charging only" message.

Clean the USB-connector on your phone with something small enough and NON-conductive, like a toothpick.
(There are plenty youtube videos on how to clean the USB port).

As for your 2nd "issue", read up on all the RTH modes in the user manual of your drone.

Thanks, will be working to clean the ports on both the remote and my phone, will test later today.
As for the rth, as far as I know there are only two types of rth on the air 3s, no? Preset, and optimal. Idk maybe I'm not doing something right, but I had my rth altitude set at 180ft, and as you can see in the video it sporadically rises waaay above that, (around 700 ft!) and from what I can tell, for no obvious reason. Switching between both rth modes doesn't seem to have an affect on the random climbing, neither does switching obstacle avoidance off. (i tried both in the video) but please enlighten me if I'm doing something wrong.

 

[gleavitt513]

Sorry to hear that - both of those issues quite concerning, not to mention flight disturbing ! Very difficult to trust a drone that is sporadically doing that sort of thing...

I would get the logs off the drone initially, and see if they offer additional clues about what is going wrong. You could try sending those to DJI (don't know how far that will get you given the current situation) or posting them here where experts can take a look and hopefully advise.

Like you I suspect vision sensors somehow responsible for the uncommanded rise problems, but, from what I surmise you can at least avoid so far by not using RTH and piloting it back home yourself ? If so that would seem the minimum you'd have to do if you wanted to continue trying to fly it at night, but if you keep losing control signal as well then that would pretty much ground that aircraft for me until you are much more certain about the cause and can conduct safe, short-range daytime tests.

It might be altogether safer and quicker to try and get a swap-out or refund from the place you bought it.

I usually pilot it back by myself without rth, but with these new connection issues I've been forced to rely on it a few times as it is flying without a connection or control.
It actually flew nearly a mile back to the home point after disconnecting randomly while I was following the vehicle I was in. It landed safely directly at my house, but its making my faith waver in the reliability of my equipment.

 

[tribar]

it sporadically rises waaay above that, (around 700 ft!) and from what I can tell, for no obvious reason

Did you read the manual?

I've been forced to rely on it a few times as it is flying without a connection or control.

A disconnect between the RC and the phone does NOT result in not being able to controll the drone.
In fact: you can fly any DJI drone with the RC alone (no device connected).

 

[gleavitt513]

Did you read the manual?

Yes, but I must be blind or stupid because I can't find anything explaining it for my settings and situation. Please, feel free to explain it and dumb it down for my teen un-thoroughness, Im nearly fully expecting this to be user error. (Im still very new to this drone)

A disconnect between the RC and the phone does NOT result in not being able to controll the drone.
In fact: you can fly any DJI drone with the RC alone (no device connected).

Yes, but it automatically starts rth regardless, and despite messing up footage, and being very inconvenient, I may not always be seeing the drone. (E.g. being directly over a car im currently in, moving positions, temporarily losing VLOS for short periods, being behind a subject or obstacle, etc.)

 

[tribar]

Yes, but I must be blind or stupid because I can't find anything explaining it for my settings and situation.

Upper right corner on page 48.

Yes, but it automatically starts rth regardless

Are you sure you didn't press RTH.
As long as the 4 LED's on the RC are NOT blinking together, you can still controll the drone (no disconect) and RTH should NOT be initiated automatically.
I think you got cunfused with what actually happened, panicked a little bit, and pressed the button.

 

[gleavitt513]

Upper right corner on page 48.

If you are referring to it rising to pass geo zones or obstacles, neither are the issue. I actually turned ob off to see if it would help, and there are no geo zones or altotude enforcements around me.

Are you sure you didn't press RTH.
As long as the 4 LED's on the RC are NOT blinking together, you can still controll the drone (no disconect) and RTH should NOT be initiated automatically.
I think you got cunfused with what actually happened, panicked a little bit, and pressed the button

Absolutely positive. I did not press rth. Ofc I can say as much as I want, but I can't prove it. I'll explain what happened, as best as I can remember. (If you want I can try to recreate it, and film me holding and using the remote) I flew away, lost video signal, and automatic rth was initiated.

 

[Dbez1]

If it’s convenient and still possible, return it for another one.

 

[gleavitt513]

If it’s convenient and still possible, return it for another one.

Unfortunately I may end up doing that if I cannot find a solution.

 

[pinzmann]

I’ve had the same RTH issue with my Air 3s. First time a few months ago at night where it started gaining altitude on return. I canceled RTH and flew it back normally. Tried it again the next night and it acted normal. Kinda forgot about the problem till a few days ago when flying in the desert during the day.I was at 75 or so meters and started RTH. Out about 1k meters. RTH set on optimal. I noticed the green return path seemed to project upwards. Sure enough it started to gain altitude on return. Canceled RTH and started flying back. About halfway I set RTH to preset and initiated RTH again, came back normally.

 

[gleavitt513]

I’ve had the same RTH issue with my Air 3s. First time a few months ago at night where it started gaining altitude on return. I canceled RTH and flew it back normally. Tried it again the next night and it acted normal. Kinda forgot about the problem till a few days ago when flying in the desert during the day.I was at 75 or so meters and started RTH. Out about 1k meters. RTH set on optimal. I noticed the green return path seemed to project upwards. Sure enough it started to gain altitude on return. Canceled RTH and started flying back. About halfway I set RTH to preset and initiated RTH again, came back normally.

Yeah, that's the same issue I've been having. Atleast it seems to be consistent. Hopefully its a firmware bug that can be fixed.