Wierd Crash...what happened and what to do?

[Budge]

Hi. So I had my first crash today after a couple of dozen flights over the last 6 weeks since getting my Mavic. I have some good experience building and flying drones over the last 3 years, but I am VERY conservative with the Mavic. I was flying on a deserted golf course below the height of the tree tops and well within LOS. I was bringing the drone directly back to me (forward flight) while descending in Cinematic Mode. Then the props stopped spinning and the Mavic just fell out of the sky. The Mavic seems fine, which I confirmed with a short flight. But the gimble ribbon cable is cut (I think) and I'm getting a gimble motor overload error. I'll attach an image of the cable.

So two things: What happened to cause the failure, and what do I do about the ribbon cable? I'll post a link to my Flight Data. And I'd like to fix my ribbon cable without using my DJI Care if possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

View media item 1205

 

[Budge]

Here is the .DAT file. I'd really like some help to prevent this from happening again.

Dropbox - FLY076.DAT

 

[Budge]

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

View attachment 21142

Probably need @msinger here. My guess is the battery snapped out? That's a somewhat common issue on occasion.

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

@msinger will get the whole story.

Just looking at it, it appears to be a standard flight to me.

I don't know anything, but looking at the battery volts go up as it came back and ultimately shutoff it's weird.

You're not using any external batteries I assume? So maybe that's normal.

I bet the battery came undone.

 

[Kate]

That sux if it was the battery. Did it separate from the frame on the crash?

I have this issue with my current Mavic.
It would have caught me out if It was my first Mavic, so that's just ***** luck

The battery sits flush, one side might eve click so your sure it's good, but it's a horrible crash waiting to happen.

Reminds me of at least one 'Air Crash Investigation'

 

[Former Member]

I'd like to fix my ribbon cable without using my DJI Care if possible.

Plenty of people have done it successfully, if you are trying to DIY. If you want to try it, send me a PM.

 

[Budge]

Plenty of people have done it successfully, if you are trying to DIY. If you want to try it, send me a PM.

Thank you. Will replacing the ribbon cable void my DJI Care?

 

[Budge]

That sux if it was the battery. Did it separate from the frame on the crash?

Yes it did.

 

[Former Member]

It might void your refresh, but if you need to get back in the air asap, and you have electronic repair experience, you can do it in a few hours if you take your time.

The alternative would be sending it in to DJI in Cerritos, and praying that you will be flying again within a month. If DJI determines that it was a warranty issue, then you wont be charged. If they find operator error, then it will cost you $79 if it's your first refresh.

 

[Budge]

I don't know how to evaluate the dat file. Is there any thing there that's different or gives more info than the txt file? Also, I read that the dat file gets split into multiple files, so I don't know if I provided the whole dat record.

 

[BudWalker]

Here is the .DAT file. I'd really like some help to prevent this from happening again.

Dropbox - FLY076.DAT

This incident was caused by an abrupt loss of power. Instead of looking at battery, which is slow, motorVolts data is used. At the very end of the recorded .DAT motorVolts drops from 11.7 volts to about half that.


It would seem that reason for the abrupt power loss is either a battery that wasn't seated properly or a battery failure. The .DAT can't really distinguish between these.

 

[tracer bullet]

I guess I need another sticker on my battery. One says "gimbal cover" so I remember to remove it before powering on, another may as well say "make sure battery is definitely locked in".

Glad your Mavic is (mostly) OK! There is at least one thread here with someone replacing that cable, if you're handy you might give it a try. Worst thing that happens is it still doesn't work.

 

[Budge]

This incident was caused by an abrupt loss of power. Instead of looking at battery, which is slow, motorVolts data is used. At the very end of the recorded .DAT motorVolts drops from 11.7 volts to about half that.
View attachment 21175

It would seem that reason for the abrupt power loss is either a battery that wasn't seated properly or a battery failure. The .DAT can't really distinguish between these.

Thank you. Your software is very cool, but I wasn't sure what to look for since I don't know what "normal" looks like on the graphs.

 

[Budge]

I guess I need another sticker on my battery. One says "gimbal cover" so I remember to remove it before powering on, another may as well say "make sure battery is definitely locked in".

Glad your Mavic is (mostly) OK! There is at least one thread here with someone replacing that cable, if you're handy you might give it a try. Worst thing that happens is it still doesn't work.

I need to decide whether I want to fix it myself and risk voiding my warranty and DJI Care, or just send it in and hope they replace it under the warranty. I believe that I seated the battery correctly. However, like most people, my mavic travels in the bag that came with the fly more combo. And the battery I was using was the one that I put in the Mavic that morning before packing the bag. I probably did not check the battery again because the folded arms cover the battery tabs during transport. I will definitely check from now on.

 

[Kilrah]

People have been reporting much better repair turnaround times lately, 1-2 weeks.

 

[SteveM]

My repair was done in 1 week door to door (last week)

 

[Kate]

Your choice regarding the ribbon vs hassle/cost of Refresh.
I opted for Refresh this time around, and would be shocked, amongst stronger feelings,
if they didn't replace it over that.

If the battery is really lightly locked in, snapping the front arms closed can unlock it btw

 

[Former Member]

My repair was done in 1 week door to door (last week)

Netherlands?

 

[Former Member]

@Budge in this case you have nothing to lose by sending it in and filing a warranty claim. I think they might cover it under warranty. Worst case it will cost you $79 for the Refresh and 3-6 weeks wait time if sent to Cerritos, CA.