Hi guys, especially those who got Spark fell from the sky in mid-flight:I have read an article about the same issue with Gopro Karma few months ago. ~2,500 units fell from the sky during flight and they had to recall the unit.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/ ... launch-recall-crash

So, my question is, do you think it is the same cause for your Spark, have you checked your battery latches, are the latches tightly locked when it fell?
If you see the clip below, the guy also had the latch issue with his Spark:


Have you ever tried another battery pack and relaunch after the fall, is it still fall mid-flight?
My purpose of this thread is to try figure out the issue with sudden power-off, is it firmware issue or just a hardware issue.


Thanks for your feedback, we users all want to know so that to relief our worry when having fun with Spark.

edited.
Cannot figure out it was the user problem (battery was not lock tightly) or the Spark power off during the flight.

Mine seemed to all latch in good. I have(had) 5 batteries and they all fit pretty snug without obvious latch problem.

If you see his earlier vid.. he crashed it once (earlier)... he tried to fly spark out of a window...

eylneb Posted at 2017-7-16 19:47
If you see his earlier vid.. he crashed it once (earlier)... he tried to fly spark out of a window...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xKKxXQ9RXw

Yes, I am aware of this video. And his AC is perfectly normal in this video. It only powered off mid-flight when the battery latch loose (in the video I attached). This also strengthen my assumption that: " The battery loosening is the reason that shut off the AC mid-flight", same issue with Gopro Karma.

BriRi Posted at 2017-7-16 19:39
Mine seemed to all latch in good. I have(had) 5 batteries and they all fit pretty snug without obvious latch problem.

Thank you for feedback. Did you get a chance to try another battery pack or your AC is too damaged to fly after the crash?

Thank you for bringing us the attention. If any one had drone crashed like this case, please contact us and provide the related flight log. We would love to help analyse the data and find out the reason.

man i see 2 pieces falling from the sky......One is for sure the aircraft and the other is battery...... so i guess you did not put  correct the battery ....

Anuvis Posted at 2017-7-17 02:07
man i see 2 pieces falling from the sky......One is for sure the aircraft and the other is battery...... so i guess you did not put  correct the battery ....

Hi, sorry but seems like you mis-understood this thread, that guy in the video was not me (who opened this thread). And yes, that guy in the video failed because the battery fell out. Therefore, I made this thread so that other people who got their Spark fell dueing flight can confirm if they have problem with battery or it is the software issue.
Thank you.

Had the same thing Saturday (bird lost power mid-air). My girls were flying with iPhone. Had flown 2-3 short flights a few days ago when they first got the spark, then 3 batteries worth a couple days ago, all without incident. Today on battery 3, we were flying with iPhone in a normal outdoor practice flight at about 30' when it stopped (lost power), flipped and dropped. Power was off and the GO app had a warning about landing or something.

Fortunately we were at the local flying club airfield and it fell into weeds and soft dirt, so no damage. Once we dusted the bird off, we flew the rest of the battery just fine.

I'm an experienced Inspire pilot but this was something new. Did not see any reason for a power loss mid-flight.

While my girls' spark is fine, my spark arrives today. And I shoot over water!!!!!!  

Based on this thread, it may be possible that the battery is not fully locked in and/or making complete contact. However, as I mentioned, after the power-off accident, we did fly a few more times on that same battery without remounting it and had no issues. That suggests, but does not provide conclusive proof, that this may be a software/firmware or manufacturing issue. The spark is losing power mid-flight.

One thing is certain: It is 100% NOT PILOT ERROR for those birds that are experiencing loss of power mid-flight with the spark. A loss of power cannot be initiated by the pilot mid-flight without using an RC and forcing the motors to stop. My reading of several posts here and in the other thread on this issue is that many people were using a phone or hand gestures, which precludes manual deactivation of the motors.  

Hopefully the cause of this failure can be discovered and fixed by DJI soon! Not acceptable to have these things falling out of the sky and, in many cases, significantly damaging them or even losing them if over water.

I had my Spark fall out of the sky on 2 separate occassions.  Just checked all 3 batteries....they are fine.  The saga continues!

I also experienced the power cut issue. In my case it definitely was not a battery latch problem. The battery is fine and latches perfectly. I suspect it's a bug in the firmware that causes the system to reboot.

hfog Posted at 2017-7-17 11:36
I also experienced the power cut issue. In my case it definitely was not a battery latch problem. The battery is fine and latches perfectly. I suspect it's a bug in the firmware that causes the system to reboot.

I think it is more about hardware than the software, you can see my analysis here:

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... 90&page=1#pid872835

Let's assume it is what you suspect: the firmware (software) forced the system to restart, then at least the power should still be on (after restart) when Spark touch the ground, correct? (The Led at 4 arms should be on).
But I guess your Spark totally off when you picked it up?

nwhit Posted at 2017-7-17 09:21
Had the same thing Saturday (bird lost power mid-air). My girls were flying with iPhone. Had flown 2-3 short flights a few days ago when they first got the spark, then 3 batteries worth a couple days ago, all without incident. Today on battery 3, we were flying with iPhone in a normal outdoor practice flight at about 30' when it stopped (lost power), flipped and dropped. Power was off and the GO app had a warning about landing or something.

Fortunately we were at the local flying club airfield and it fell into weeds and soft dirt, so no damage. Once we dusted the bird off, we flew the rest of the battery just fine.

Hi, Thank you for your feedback, However, please see anther thread I just posted today to analyze the issue:
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... mp;page=1#pid872835
I doubt that it is firmware (software) issue. Because, let say, if it is software, they should have fixed and released the update already because obviously drone falling from the sky is not something to overlook.
However, no real action from DJI until today, that strengthen my guess that the issue might be in the hardware (I hope I am wrong though, because I am also owning a Spark). But there might be quality issue here that some Spark got issues, some dont. (Or not yet)

nwhit Posted at 2017-7-17 09:21
Had the same thing Saturday (bird lost power mid-air). My girls were flying with iPhone. Had flown 2-3 short flights a few days ago when they first got the spark, then 3 batteries worth a couple days ago, all without incident. Today on battery 3, we were flying with iPhone in a normal outdoor practice flight at about 30' when it stopped (lost power), flipped and dropped. Power was off and the GO app had a warning about landing or something.

Fortunately we were at the local flying club airfield and it fell into weeds and soft dirt, so no damage. Once we dusted the bird off, we flew the rest of the battery just fine.

Hi, I just come up with an experiment to test if it is the battery or the Spark issue as following, and I believe only you can help us to understand since you have 2 units:
So, for now we will test to understand if it is the battery issue or the aircraft issue:
1- To test battery: can you please help trying to put that battery (which was used with the fall Spark) in another Spark to test if it also fall midflight? If yes, obviously it is the problem of the battery. If not, then it may be the issue of aircraft. To determine if it is the issue of aircraft, try the next test.
2- Please use another battery to put on the falling Aircraft before, if the AC also fall with another battery, then obviously you have the faulty unit (Send back to DJI for warranty I think). If there is no issue with the AC, and also no issue with the battery you tested in the test number 1, then I had no idea. Maybe instead of doing the calibrate, we should pray hard for the drone not to fall, lol.

Thank you,

Yes, that would be a good test. Unfortunately, the battery in question has been removed from the bird and recharged with the other 2 batteries my girls have, so no way to tell which battery was in the bird when it powered off.

Phuong Do Posted at 2017-7-18 01:26
Hi, I just come up with an experiment to test if it is the battery or the Spark issue as following, and I believe only you can help us to understand since you have 2 units:
So, for now we will test to understand if it is the battery issue or the aircraft issue:
1- To test battery: can you please help trying to put that battery (which was used with the fall Spark) in another Spark to test if it also fall midflight? If yes, obviously it is the problem of the battery. If not, then it may be the issue of aircraft. To determine if it is the issue of aircraft, try the next test.

On a joke side , I was really LOL on this one "To test battery: can you please help trying to put that battery (which was used with the fall Spark) in another Spark to test if it also fall mid-flight", so "can you try to %$%^% another SPARK using the battery, if you ^%^& another SPARK, yes, was a battery issue"

Yes, if someone were dumb enough to fly a spark at high altitude over a hard or wet surface!!!  

But I do agree that the problem may be a batch of bad batteries. That is possible since these are "smart" batteries. For example, are "shut off" when you get them and need to be on a charger for a minute or two before "activating". Thus not impossible that there is a firmware or hardware issue with a batch of batteries.

Would be a good idea for anyone who has had this problem to try isolating the battery used during the crash to see if other batteries have the same issue. In the case of my girls' crash, we had the battery that came with the bird plus 2 others purchased at a local shop, so the battery batches were different. Unfortunately, they are now mixed up so cannot remember which battery was used during the power-off crash.

In line with the bad battery batch theory, I did fly at the club field yesterday using all 3 batteries from the spark that had crashed. No problems from any of the 3 batteries, just like in previous flying except the one crash. I also flew with my new Fly-more spark that came with 2 batteries. No problems. The original spark came with the 1 battery, and we bought 2 other batteries from a local dealer. Those 2 batteries were, obviously, from a different production batch.

My thought is this: I have read a post where the person said it definitely was the individually purchased battery that failed and not the one that came with his spark. It is also possible that my crash happened with one of the later purchased batteries.

PLEASE, ANYONE WHO HAS HAD A MID-AIR POWER-OUT CRASH, please post if you had only original batteries or were using a later-purchased battery. This might help determine if there is a possibility of a bad batch of batteries causing this issue, or if that theory can be eliminated. If people have power failures with the battery(s) that came with the spark, then it lowers the chance of a bad production batch of batteries. At least we would know that.

My mid-air shutdown happened with the batteries from the flymore combo, don't have any separately purchased.

hmmm what happen if one unconsciously issue a CSC? That could be 1 possibility

eylneb Posted at 2017-7-20 15:10
hmmm what happen if one unconsciously issue a CSC? That could be 1 possibility

No, that is not the case for any reported power-off mid-flight crashes. Additionally, the csc command only stops the motor, it does not power off the bird.

I have doubts that battery is likely to disengage on its own as the two latches although minuscule, seem to hold the battery well in normal operation.   Unfortunately, I can confirm that the same latches are not strong enough to take impact to the drone and once the battery was forced out of place, some breakage can occur.  I have experienced  something like that after runaway spark hit the tree end battery got disengaged.  One of the latches broke off, making the battery useless for subsequent flights, as it cannot be secured properly.  Guys who experienced crashes of Spark, it is

tomsella Posted at 2017-7-26 03:21
Happened to me as well 3 times. Last was fatal and I had to get the unit fixed by DJI. Fixed "under warranty". Took about 3 weeks which totally sucks, and now I'm waiting for them to send a replacement battery since it cracked, and while they say "don't ship is batteries" they did not send a new one from the get go. They don't seem to fully read the support tickets.

Lastly, I think the fault lays with the batteries. Maybe a latch issue, but maybe it's one of the protections kicking in (overheating?).

Per another poster request: happened with original battery purchased with Spark.

Happened to me as well 3 times. Last was fatal and I had to get the unit fixed by DJI. Fixed "under warranty". Took about 3 weeks which totally sucks, and now I'm waiting for them to send a replacement battery since it cracked, and while they say "don't ship is batteries" they did not send a new one from the get go. They don't seem to fully read the support tickets.

Lastly, I think the fault lays with the batteries. Maybe a latch issue, but maybe it's one of the protections kicking in (overheating?).

Same issue- normal spark flight for about 6 minutes on fully charged battery. Dropped out the sky at about 80 feet into about 1 foot of sea water. Appears that this is now a 'known issue' and DJI is issuing a mandatory firmware update. I think this is fine, it happens with new tech. However, DJI customer service has been atrocious, and appears be purposefully designed to evade its warranty obligation.

Long story shorter: called DJI, and was told that drones dropping in water should not be repaired (company policy & safety issues), and if they find that it was equipment malfunction, they would replace it for free. Sent in the drone, and their repair facility  determined it was a equipment malfunction (the now 'known' issue), but attempted to repair the water immersed drone(!), and sent it back to me. After many hours on the phone, and speaking to multiple 'supervisors', all of which acknowledged that the drone should not have been repaired, I sent my drone back, with the promise of replacement (apparently, however, the repair facility is firewalled from their customer service facility- they can't talk directly to each other (!?!)). Of course, I received a bill for $496 from the repair facility. After many more hours of speaking to 'supervisors' (had to explain the situation each time to every new contact), nothing has happened, except reminders for me to pay my bill . One of the supervisors, Lance (support.na285@dji.com) assured me that he would personally take care of it- as evidenced by him providing me his direct email. But has not returned a single email (>5 sent) or phone call. It has now been over 6 weeks, and they still have my drone.
I am glad to hear that DJI has offered a mandatory patch for this issue, but has been willfully negligent in honoring it warranties. I would suggest that other users experiencing this report to the FTC and BBB, and am talking to my lawyer about legal action. Will post with any updates.

schanda Posted at 2017-8-28 19:47
Same issue- normal spark flight for about 6 minutes on fully charged battery. Dropped out the sky at about 80 feet into about 1 foot of sea water. Appears that this is now a 'known issue' and DJI is issuing a mandatory firmware update. I think this is fine, it happens with new tech. However, DJI customer service has been atrocious, and appears be purposefully designed to evade its warranty obligation.

Long story shorter: called DJI, and was told that drones dropping in water should not be repaired (company policy & safety issues), and if they find that it was equipment malfunction, they would replace it for free. Sent in the drone, and their repair facility  determined it was a equipment malfunction (the now 'known' issue), but attempted to repair the water immersed drone(!), and sent it back to me. After many hours on the phone, and speaking to multiple 'supervisors', all of which acknowledged that the drone should not have been repaired, I sent my drone back, with the promise of replacement (apparently, however, the repair facility is firewalled from their customer service facility- they can't talk directly to each other (!?!)). Of course, I received a bill for $496 from the repair facility. After many more hours of speaking to 'supervisors' (had to explain the situation each time to every new contact), nothing has happened, except reminders for me to pay my bill . One of the supervisors, Lance () assured me that he would personally take care of it- as evidenced by him providing me his direct email. But has not returned a single email (>5 sent) or phone call. It has now been over 6 weeks, and they still have my drone.

That sounds serious, have you tried contact DJI moderator on the forum/ And the DJI admin on Official DJI Spark owner group on facebook? I think they are all quite helpful and many cases solved with their support.

Hello,

my Spark fell out of the sky, too.

The Battery fell of because the plastic latches on the battery are broken.

Basically the top is shaved off. (See photos)






It's not like I have very often detached / attached the battery.

This is my only battery and the drone is quite new.

The plastic on the battery latches is too weak and thin.

Try this for some peace of mind:

http://s.aliexpress.com/6ZBJzq6z

(from AliExpress Android)

This happened me today too. Flew it about 5 meters in the sky, and saw the battery eject and the drone and battery were recovered within 1 meter of each other. The camera/gimbal is broken and one of the bottom led covers came off. How much will this cost to repair. I've sent it back to DJI.  

having lost my first spark to a battery drop and destruction when it hit the ground I DON'T fly my Spark without one of these:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2574130

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2740246

The same thing happened to me the other day. I was flying for about 7 minutes, and then all of a sudden the battery fell out. The drone went one way, and the battery the next. If fell in snow, so hopefully nothing electrical was damaged. I always check right after I install the battery to make sure its snug, and it still fell out.

From everything I have seen, they seem defective.

the little spark likes to misbehave in sports mode, battery ejection, gps and yaw errors in sharp turns at distance from the rc

be careful out there

double check the terimals are clean they could short out with dirty and any other build up. also dont fly with a hot battery fresh off the charger give it time to cool down. i include this in my pre flight check and havnt had an issue at all currently at 109 flights  

So my battery fell out much like all the reports above!!. Managed to find the Drone but not the battery. DJi have advised I send the Drone in for Analysis (?) which I will do and then hope to claim a battery from Warranty.. Just hope I don't have the issues from DJi that I am reading above..

My DJI Spark fell out of the sky today because the battery disengaged five minutes into the flight. I heard the motors go quiet, then I saw the battery fall to the ground. A few second later the Spark came nose down. This is from about 150ft so lots of damage to everything. To make matters worse, this Spark is less than 1 week old. I knew the battery attachment was poor because I don't usually hear a healthy click when the battery latches. I made it a point to double check it before flight. I consider this a manufacturing fault. I hope they will honor a warranty repair. Next time, I will use an elastic to hold the battery as a backup.  I'm glad it didn't fall on any person or property. I posted the video right up to the instant when the battery separated.

I have seen a video of ones spark that i found odd as he was comparing to the new air. There was a gap between battery and spark that mine does not have. Do not know if he ever had any issues but think he would have after seeing the difference between his and mine. I took screen shots and compared it to mine and i had no space or gaps.

Hola, soy Ricardo, tengo un Spark y si bien es una maravilla como anda, el problema es su extremadamente corto alcance. Hace varios meses que lo tengo y por falta de experiencia, solo hice vuelos cortos a unos 50 o 60 mts y siempre con el CR. Recientemente intenté manejarlo con mi celular. En modo FCC y en la banda de 5.8 Ghz estando a 0.20 mts, la señal llega tan debil que el indicador de la aplicación apenas llega a la 3er linea. A 2 metros, la intensidad de señal baja a la 2da. A 10mts esta en color rojo en la primera, con la mensaje: "mala calidad del canal de radio". A 20mts no se ilumina ninguna linea y persiste el mensaje de mala calidad. A 25mts se desconecta. Con el control remoto provisto, la situación mejora algo, maximo 150 mts. Que podrá estar pasando ?
Pienso que mi Spark tiene un defecto en el emisor de WiFi y de ahí su corto alcance. No encontré algo en la configuración que cambie esta situación. Alguien sabe que se puede hacer? Desde ya gracias. Saludos desde Argentina

Buenas con todos, tengo un Dji spark y desde que lo compré solo pude calibrar la brújula dos veces, luego cuando iniciaba el despegue mostraba un mensaje de calibrar brújula conectado a más de 15 satélites, cada vez que lo quiero calibrar siempre sale al final el mensaje de que hay carga magnética pero la barra está en verde, al parecer pienso que es un problema de firmware porque ya probé calibrando la IMU y el control pero la brújula sigue igual .. Al volarlo aveces en algunas zonas dice GPS y se pone en vuelo normal pero luego vuelve el mensaje calibrar brujula, también el vídeo y las fotos, aveces salen algo lageados o las fotos mitad con un color verde ... Por favor alguien que me pueda ayudar, gracias

I was flying my spark yesterday. And it starting to show different heights. I was flying about 100m up when it started to show my that i am 5m above the grond. I can in to land and changed out the batteries. And then launched again and about 20m up the same thing with the height jumping. Can anyone please help!!!!!