Will this be repaired under warranty?

[Henfri]

Hello,

I noticed that one of the motors of my Mavic Pro is running hotter than the others.
When looking into it from above I can see 'scratchmarks' on the windings. I think this may be the result of the event described below:

I once took of with the mavic and at an altitude of about 1m one of the props continued on its own and the drone fell on the wooden table I had taken off of. There were no damages, but when trying to mount a new prop, I noticed that I could not properly lock it. After analyis, I found some foreign object on top of the windings. When I found the lost prop, I figured, that that was one of the three 'flaps' that do the locking. Probably, that piece was inside of the motor and caused these abrasions/scratchmarks on the windings.

I do not know why this flap got detached from the prop. The only suspicion that I have is, that the prop could have received some damage when I contacted a branch of the tree (albeit the blade did not receive any damage).

Will DJI just repair this, or do I need to prepare for an argument with them?

Regards,
Hendrik

 

[Kilrah]

Why would they repair under warranty when your usage caused damage? Warranty is for manufacturing defects.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Unless it was a first flight, I'd say they wouldn't cover it . . . they are not to know if the props are regularly taken off (or left on all the time), and breaking one of the prop mount tabs wouldn't be hard if fitting and removing regularly.

There is a thread on here about a member noticing a prop and checking, he found a tab broken, and was able to just get it out ok from inside to motor.
Just wanting to share my experience. Another example of why we inspect our propellers. (with pics)

 

[Henfri]

@Kilrah: You seem to take for granted that the contact with the tree was the cause of the prop mount tab (I am not talking about the prop). Why are you so sure? That was several flights before.

Greetings,
Hendrik

 

[Henfri]

@MAvic_South_Oz Thanks for the link.
Unfortunately I was not lucky enough to notice before the flight.
@Kilrah: As you can see, this can also happen without battle damage.

 

[THE CYBORG]

I think due to you admitting hitting a tree you would stand a slim chance of a warranty repair.

A little advice - if you contact DJI have a discussion not an argument

 

[Henfri]

I should add, that I did not fly into the tree, but that the Mavic did during a waypoint mission:
I flew the mission manually with about 1-2 m clearance to the tree in altitude.
When flying automatically, it flew too high and I was too slow to react. It flew forward, so I see two four faults here:
1) it flew higher than before
2) it did not stop despite the obstacle avoidance being on
3) I did lack experience and did not have enough clearance when 'programming' the mission
4) I did react to slowly

But: Will DJI even bother and analyze the logs for this kind of repair?

Regrads,
Hendrik

 

[THE CYBORG]

Only way to see is contact them but think carefully how you word things.

No offence intended but would you do a free repair to someone admitting user error as in “ I was too slow to react / the prop could have received some damage when I contacted a branch of the tree “ ?

 

[Henfri]

Thanks for your reply.
With this single line: No
With the full context from my post above: Maybe.

I have read several posts of Mavics completely lost and only logs sent to DJI where the Mavic was replaced, as DJI admitted mistake on their side. I was (positively) surprised by that.

But again: Will they even bother to analyze the logs in this case?

 

[Kilrah]

They probably will, but if you had a prop fly off the logs will show a prop flew off. And it is your responsibility to check props correctly before a flight, DJI can't do that for you.