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DJI Care Refresh cover rogue drone
2976 11 2017-6-19
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fans8a5cce77
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I was flying on a nice day last weekend. I went through one battery, changed, took it up again, landed; the next takeoff, I took it up 100 feet or so, and suddenly the drone just takes off into the distance. I could control it somewhat, but it was like someone else had control of it or like they had it on a string just pulling it away.
The GPS on my controller was showing that the drone had not moved from where I went straight up, so I could only fly by the video feed on my phone because by this time, the drone was 1500 feet away. Again, the drone was showing up on my controller like it had not moved, but the distance was shooting up over 2000, 3000, eventually got to 6000ft away.

During this time, I lost contact with the drone and hoped that it would come home, but it never did. I assume this is because the GPS was showing that the drone was only feet from me, so where ever it lost contact, it just dropped down there thinking it was close to home.

Even after this the GPS signal was not updating, and the drone always shows that it is merely feet from where I am. I eventually found the flight path (and also the "find my drone" function took me to the general area), and I went looking for the aricraft over the course of two days. Unfortunately, it landed in some very dense woods; I could not find it, and I assume it is in one of the trees somewhere.

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So my question, pointedly, is since I have DJI Care Refresh and to my estimation this seems to be some kind of equipment/software failure, would this be covered despite the program not covering other lost drones? I have the replay of the flight which shows the drone not moving relative to me but the distance away growing into 6000+ feet away, so I feel like my story is backed up by the logs.



2017-6-19
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fans8a5cce77
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I suppose I am using GPS and RC lost signal interchangeably here, sorry for the confusion
2017-6-19
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DroneFlying
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No, you won't get a Care Refresh replacement but you may be able to get a warranty replacement if DJI determines that the flyaway was caused by a product defect. You should open a ticket with them and they'll request that you use the DJI Go app to sync the flight logs.

If you'd like folks on here to look at it and try to give you some pointers on what might have happened and where to look then retrieve the flight log (TXT file) from your mobile device, upload it to PhantomHelp using these instructions, and then post a link to it in this thread.
2017-6-19
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fans8a5cce77
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-6-19 16:38
No, you won't get a Care Refresh replacement but you may be able to get a warranty replacement if DJI determines that the flyaway was caused by a product defect. You should open a ticket with them and they'll request that you use the DJI Go app to sync the flight logs.

If you'd like folks on here to look at it and try to give you some pointers on what might have happened and where to look then retrieve the flight log (TXT file) from your mobile device, upload it to PhantomHelp using these instructions, and then post a link to it in this thread.

Thanks, here's the log

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/PCHGM6P2LOA6LV9T6LYL/
2017-6-19
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DJI Mindy
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I'm sorry for the flyaway, unfortunately, DJI Care Refresh would not cover lost according to policy. Please obtain after-sale service by the link below after the primary analysis by DroneFlying : http://www.dji.com/support
Our support will help to create a ticket to apply data analysis, if it's malfunction in warranty, we will compensate the lost unit.
2017-6-19
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DroneFlying
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That's an interesting log; you got a "Strong interference now. Fly with caution." message at the beginning of the flight, followed a short time later by almost constant yaw and compass errors, and the aircraft was in ATTI mode the whole time.

Google Maps shows what appear to be bleachers in the takeoff location. Is that what you took off from and, if so, do you know what they're made of? Specifically there have been some type of magnetic alloy (e.g., iron or steel) present where you took off?

You may already realize this, but the final log entry shows latitude, longitude to have been the last location of your drone and indicates that it was landing at that location during the last contact. I understand that it's a heavily wooded area and that you already spent a couple of days looking, but if you didn't already check that specific location it might be worthwhile to try one more time. Also, if you know anyone else who has a drone it may be helpful to have them carefully fly over that area, as things are sometimes easier to locate from the air.

As Mindy mentioned, you won't be able to get a Care Refresh replacement without first recovering the aircraft so as I'm sure you already realize, finding it is essentially worth $750 (minus the $79 care refresh fee) to you. And without recovering it, it's going to be hard to convince DJI that you're due a free warranty replacement due to a product defect.

2017-6-19
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fans8a5cce77
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DroneFlying Posted at 2017-6-19 18:25
That's an interesting log; you got a "Strong interference now. Fly with caution." message at the beginning of the flight, followed a short time later by almost constant yaw and compass errors, and the aircraft was in ATTI mode the whole time.

Google Maps shows what appear to be bleachers in the takeoff location. Is that what you took off from and, if so, do you know what they're made of? Specifically there have been some type of magnetic alloy (e.g., iron or steel) present where you took off?

I'm not sure--they are metal, but I had been there for over an hour with no other issues. I didn't figure out how to get the lat/lon when looking, but my guess from the flight path in the app and google maps was 42.099583, -71.204549, so I started there. Some quick math tells me that's about 350ft off, so it might be worth trying again like you say. It has probably picked up some rain damage by now which probably isn't covered in the Refresh anyway. Thanks again for your help!
2017-6-19
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fans8a5cce77
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Also, how can I delete this thread such that there are not exact coordinates of a 750$ drone for anyone to find?
2017-6-19
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DroneFlying
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fans8a5cce77 Posted at 2017-6-19 18:50
Also, how can I delete this thread such that there are not exact coordinates of a 750$ drone for anyone to find?

I don't think you really need to worry, but I went ahead and edited my post to remove the coordinates and the link to your flight log, and I suppose you can do the same with your own if it puts your mind at ease.
2017-6-20
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hallmark007
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fans8a5cce77 Posted at 2017-6-19 17:58
Thanks, here's the log

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/PCHGM6P2LOA6LV9T6LYL/

This looks like a real fly away, when you took off you had serious compass magnetic problem which interfered with gps so you aircraft went into Atti mode, it most likely went straight downwind your stick movements were small and few so not going to make any difference,
If you were seeing the same picture as it was drifting you would have lost downlink data so no matter what you did with sticks nothing would have happened.

It's not sure how your  interference was caused could be from where you took off , could be the area you were flying in , did you calibrate your compass lately?

As droneflying said check our coordinates because I would say it's very close to that or up a tree.
2017-6-20
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Datadogie
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fans8a5cce77 Posted at 2017-6-19 18:50
Also, how can I delete this thread such that there are not exact coordinates of a 750$ drone for anyone to find?

Too late. I'm boarding a plane from Scotland as we speak. Finders Keepers. Seriously I do hope you can find it. Maybe you need another drone owner to help locate it.
2018-2-18
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fans8a5cce77
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Datadogie Posted at 2018-2-18 09:56
Too late. I'm boarding a plane from Scotland as we speak. Finders Keepers. Seriously I do hope you can find it. Maybe you need another drone owner to help locate it.

As of now, I've spend at least 10 hours looking. If you can find it, I'll buy you a beer
2018-2-18
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