This is a warning to people flying with a Phantom 3 in 'cold' environments....
A couple of weeks ago we were flying in the mountains and after 2 minutes the battery completely died and the drone dropped out of the sky, never to be found again. The reason DJI gave us was that the battery was too cold, and that this was pilot error. However, upon further investigation they admit it was at 14 degrees Celsius, which is well within the -10 to +40 limits they advertise on their website. Dispite this fact, they are refusing to help us with another unit or even admit that this behaviour should not happen.

I see that on the latest firmware notes (2016.6.13), they claim to have fixed the following issue:

"Fixed the Intelligent Flight Battery to prevent automatic restarting in cold environments."

So it seems that there was indeed a very serious problem with previous firmware..... and DJI will not help if you get caught out.

Sorry about your crash. That DJI won't cover your claim is not surprising. Their customer service is not customer oriented, but rather profit oriented. I have first hand experience with this. This practice will catch up with them.

Sooooo many social media posts warning potential buyers.  So yes this behavior of dji blowing off those people with legit issues are going to hurt them down the road.  Just like anyone else!  I blow off steam on Facebook and Twitter when I've been wronged.  

While I empathise with your plight aren't you kinda shading the issue just a little?

Seems you left out a key comment from DJI-Jamie that was in one of your other posts:
"Regardless of firmware, once you armed the motors, you were given a warning that the battery temperature was below 15° C and was told to allow the battery to warm up to at least 25° C before you continue to fly. This message was ignored, which unfortunately means that the consequences could not be covered under the warranty. The battery barely warmed to 13° C when the flight log ended."

While I will admit that selfie on top of Mont Blanc at 15,778 ft is pretty cool (figuratively and literally!) when you choose to fly at those kind of extremes you have to be consciously aware of the risks.

gil Posted at 2016-9-29 13:20
While I empathise with your plight aren't you kinda shading the issue just a little?

Seems you left ...

Oh snap...

/thread

gil Posted at 2016-9-29 19:20
While I empathise with your plight aren't you kinda shading the issue just a little?

Seems you left ...

This is a warning post, so I tried to keep things to the point. If you look at the bigger picture you will probably feel we deserve something more than a slap in the face from DJI. This was the first drone flight at Mont Blanc, which at 4810m altitude is well within the 6000m altitude limit DJI advertise. This project took about 1 year to plan and would have enhanced the reputation of DJI drones considerably.

It's very misleading and hypercritical to sell a drone with a temperature operating range of -10 to +40 degrees, only to blame the pilot when it drops out of the sky at 6 degrees. A drone battery should not fail if it is well within the specification given by the company. The drone can be operated without a screen and so the excuse of "warning the pilot through the app" does not work well at all. It also sounds like a software issue more than anything, which was conveniently patched during their latest firmware update.

m1shootr Posted at 2016-9-29 12:44
Sorry about your crash. That DJI won't cover your claim is not surprising. Their customer service is ...

How many companies cover a lost product in it's warranty ? Having been on this site for awhile now and reading threads with people trying to put blame on DJI for a crash or lost, which was clearly pilot error is ridiculous. Not saying it's the case here, just that too many Phantom owner don't want to put blame on themselves and admit the truth. That they didn't study or practice sufficiently before getting in over their heads. Also all complaies have to be profit oriented, or their no longer a company.

DroneAlps Posted at 2016-9-29 14:38
This is a warning post, so I tried to keep things to the point. If you look at the bigger picture y ...

I'm sorry for your lose, but it does seem like you fit the description in my above post. Not wanting to admit the truth, you messed up. And now you want a free drone replacement from DJI. I can tell you that no one on this site flys a Phantom w/o a device screen, that's how it was designed to be operated. Your argument that it's possible to fly it w/o a device screen means that it's okay to ignore a warning message telling you it was "Not Safe to Fly" at the moment, and you went ahead anyway. Please, it's time to man up and realize you were at fault.

wmcvey Posted at 2016-9-29 22:03
I'm sorry for your lose, but it does seem like you fit the description in my above post. Not wanti ...

This is a warning post for fellow pilots, I'm not trying to get a free anything. A replacement would be nice but that is being dealt with externally. There was no message saying 'Not Safe to Fly'. The green 'Safe to Fly' message was shown the entire time. Warming batteries to 25 degrees Celsius is a recommendation, not a requirement. The drone literally fell out of the sky after 2 minutes of flight with a fully charged battery - are you seriously saying that is pilot error?

I live in central Alberta, so we can relate to cold weather flying. But anying above 0* C, is considered spring or fall here. Hahaha
Anyway, even in summer months, I will often let the drone hover for a couple of minutes upon take off.
Yes, before heading up and out, just to check if there is any malfunction, odd erratic flight patterns, strange anomalies to rectify.

This also follows a brief preflight check, and short time while it's running on the ground.

Smart pilots always go over the craft first. In those couple of minutes, it gives our intelligent flight battery a prewarmming period.
Works for me.


RedHotPoker

RedHotPoker Posted at 2016-9-29 23:31
I live in central Alberta, so we can relate to cold weather flying. But anying above 0* C, is consid ...

Definitely a good idea - although best to get it hovering rather than sitting on the ground if it is a cold day. This was the second battery to be used - the first one performed really well and gave us no reason to be concerned.

Second-third,  still need an initial warming up. A warm intelligent flight battery seems to have all of its faculties in order.
A cold or cool battery, often seems lax and somewhat uncooperative. So it's best to play safe. Swell, that You/we can monitor the battery voltage & temperature in the Go app.


RedHotPoker