Hi,

I just bought my first drone, a Mavic, some weeks ago, and it's a joy to fly with it.

But I'm unsecure of something.

If I turn on the Mavic and just let it stay on a table, the fans begins to sound loudly like the Mavic is overheating and then the rear begins to flash red and then it stays red. And I get a warning in the DJI GO4 app. Then I immediately turn the Mavic off.
Is that normal?
If I take off before the fans begin and fly around I don't get the warning (wether the fans begin or not I don't know, since the propellers are making a lot of noise).

The very first time I turned it on I hadn't removed the gimball clamp because I thougt the cover was the clamp (rookie mistake :-) ) and I ofcourse got a warning because of that, but the fans were also making noise. Could this has caused the fans starting while the Mavis is standing still?

I just want to be sure it's safe to fly with.

Yesterday, I when I wanted to upgrade the firmware and app (Firmware: V 01.04.0000 - DJI GO 4 App iOS: V 4.1.10), the wifi was unstable and caused the upgrade of the firmware to be very slow (and because I had upgraded the app I had to log in again). And then the fans in the Mavic began and the rear flashing read and then stayed red. The upgrade failed and I got a warning. But I couldn't turn the Mavic off beacause the two middle leds on the battery was on. I couldn't turn off the remote as well. So I removed the battery and in the end I succed turning everything off and by using another battery to complete the firmware upgrade.
But now the one battery seems to be out of function. But I have read some threads here in the forum about that issue with suggestions I'm going to test when I'm with a stable wifi conection again.


I haven't tried flying with the Mavic after the firmware upgrade yet, but hopefully I'll do it in a couple of hours.


So buttom line:
Should the fan start when the Mavic is standing still on a table for a short period.
If, no did it cause the battery to malfunction while upgrading and what should I do about it?

Best


Jost
Denmark

The Mavic can get quite warm/hot in general and its normal for the fans to spin after short while even on top of a table standing still... i always take the Gimball cover and clamp off when updating firmware or changing settings to help ventilation when the fan starts and also as the Gimball sometimes moves during firmware updates.

Hi,
When you are testing, updating, etc, use a small fan to blow air directly at the Mavic.
That should keep the fan from coming on.

~Bill

BMelody Posted at 2017-9-28 05:33
Hi,
When you are testing, updating, etc, use a small fan to blow air directly at the Mavic.
That should keep the fan from coming on.

+1                           

" just let it stay on a table, the fans begins to sound loudly like the Mavic is overheating and then the rear begins to flash red and then it stays red. Is that normal?"


Yes it's a normal process for the Mavic. Fans kick in to cool off.  No worries, update to latest F/W, enjoy and head out to fly.

Thanks for the answers :-)

I think it's safe to go out and test it, so I will do that now :-)

I thought my unit was defective as well when I first got my Mavic but after reading and viewing several youtube videos I found out that air needs to be forced into the mavic so it wont turn on the internal fan.  This is why the mavic is more energy efficient when moving compared to being stationary in the air. Always remove the Gimbal Cover when stationary/ updating FW.

When it’s sitting still you don’t have air flow going thru that’s when the fan comes on and cool down the electronics, nothing to worry about.  

323 Mavic Posted at 2017-9-28 08:18
I thought my unit was defective as well when I first got my Mavic but after reading and viewing several youtube videos I found out that air needs to be forced into the mavic so it wont turn on the internal fan.  This is why the mavic is more energy efficient when moving compared to being stationary in the air. Always remove the Gimbal Cover when stationary/ updating FW.

^^^ Agree 100%


Honestly, I took the time to read the manual even before I purchased the MP. In general, I think some read it, some don't but for me I just like to be informed and have some insight into the product.

This is normal. Mavic Pro owns a highly integrated design, it contains 24 processors inside the drone, so it will get heated very easily. Don't worry about this. But I would not suggest leaving the drone on the ground for a long time after powering it on, except there is a special need, like firmware upgrade.

i always use a fan when i update ...no problems...that is whay they pun the fan inside

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-9-28 19:37
This is normal. Mavic Pro owns a highly integrated design, it contains 24 processors inside the drone, so it will get heated very easily. Don't worry about this. But I would not suggest leaving the drone on the ground for a long time after powering it on, except there is a special need, like firmware upgrade.

And what about the simulator? I thought the mavic had to be connected to use it

Same problem and same concerns. Sounds like not a huge issue.

Samoth Posted at 2017-9-29 00:43
And what about the simulator? I thought the mavic had to be connected to use it

Yes, it needs to be turned on when using it, you can initiate it when operating a simulator, I used it the other day and didn't seem too much of overheat problem or I just ignored it.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-9-30 03:00
Yes, it needs to be turned on when using it, you can initiate it when operating a simulator, I used it the other day and didn't seem too much of overheat problem or I just ignored it.

But you just advised not to keep the Mavic for too long on the ground...

Samoth Posted at 2017-10-10 11:27
But you just advised not to keep the Mavic for too long on the ground...

Yep, it is not recommended leaving it too long on the ground if you are going to fly it, it might cause the compass error or so. But if there is a need, you can do so. Reboot the drone and do a compass calibration after that. And more importantly, wait for the self-checking and make sure that the aircraft status is working properly before taking off.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-11 03:38
Yep, it is not recommended leaving it too long on the ground if you are going to fly it, it might cause the compass error or so. But if there is a need, you can do so. Reboot the drone and do a compass calibration after that. And more importantly, wait for the self-checking and make sure that the aircraft status is working properly before taking off.

That doesn't really make any sense. Why would leaving it on the ground for too long spontaneously cause a compass error? And where did the recommendation come from to do a compass calibration if it has been left on the ground for too long? And for that matter, what exactly is "too long"?

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-10-11 03:40
That doesn't really make any sense. Why would leaving it on the ground for too long spontaneously cause a compass error? And where did the recommendation come from to do a compass calibration if it has been left on the ground for too long? And for that matter, what exactly is "too long"?

If there are reinforced concretes around, it might cause the interference. I had some experiences before, when I started up the drone and check some settings, then I forgot to power it off and just left it on the ground, the app asked me to move the drone or calibrate the compass or something when I came back to it. I don't know if they were coincidences for this case. But if someone got the compass error, a calibration usually gets it resolved.

try to update firmware by PC instead of wifi which is slower.  

Sorry for the late reply. I've been away on familiy bussiness.


DroneFlying wrote:


The file you provided contains three flights, all of which appear to have taken place near Currambine Primary School and none of them appears to match the video or description you posted.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to tell you if you have missing DAT file entries: that would be the first I'd heard of them not being recorded and without the DAT file from the flight there's not much more than I can add beyond what I already wrote. However, based on the behavior in the video and the fact that you took off from a metal plate I think it's pretty likely that this was just a result of a geomagnetically distorted location.

That is weird. I googled Currambine Primary School, and it seems to be in Australia, and I was flying with the Drone in Czhech Republic here: https://goo.gl/maps/YPK8Q9aBFL12. And now I'm back home in Denmark.


I had my very first flight with the drone the 12th September: https://www.facebook.com/jost.l.hansen/videos/10155274041151144/ a few days after I got it, but the first flight log is (except for the on 1st January 2017) is the 3rd October and the crash happened the 30th September.
I retrieved the DAT file I sent to support the 3rd October, and then I updated the firmware (in Denmark). Can the firmware update have erased the logs? The DAT that says I'm near Currambine Primary School was retrieved after the firmware update and so was the screen shot of DJI Assistent 2.
If you look at the picture in post 27 you can see that map shows that I'm in Czech Republic (compare the map with the google map link and you'll see the road Zamecka in both) even though I was sitting home in Denmark. So the GPS hadn't got the new location since I was sitting inside and didn't turn the drone on after the crash before I was home in Denmark.
Before retrieving the Currambine Primary School DAT file I've turned on the drone several times. That might be all the other Flight logs?
I haven't been flying with the drone since the crash yet. I hope for good drone weather on Saturday :-)


So what have happened here, besides the crash probably was caused by the metal plate?
Thanks for the effort DroneFlying.
DJI supporters, where should I send my question?


Irate Retro wrote


I see that nobody has answered this yet.

When the gimbal is pointing straight ahead (0 degrees), the dot will be approximately where your screenshot shows it to be.  If you want the gimbal to go higher (so it looks up and goes into that upper range of lines) you have to enable the gimbal extension setting in the app.


and ACW wrote:

Yep - to set +30 to -90 degrees you need to enable the upward tilt in the gimbal setting configurations.


Yeah, I was watching some videos about settings where I stumbled acrossed the the gimbal extension. And I tried it :-) For some reason I hadn't noticed the dot wasn't going any higher before and I wasn't aware that the camera could go more up than 0 degrees. There is so much stuff about the drone I can't read from the manual.
But thanks for the clarification.

I did not see in any of the postings a statement about the gimbal cover.  You mentioned that the clamp was still on and you removed it.  But what about that gimbal bubble cover?  There have been many postings on this forum saying that (despite what the manual says) that cover should ALWAYS be removed when operating your quad.  Look closely and you'll see that there are air intake vents that get covered up if you leave that plastic bubble on.   That would seem to me to be a real cause for overheating.

Jost Posted at 2017-10-17 14:35
Sorry for the late reply. I've been away on familiy bussiness.

Argh... post #20 was ment for another thread. Can someone delete it?

StanfordWebbie Posted at 2017-10-17 18:47
I did not see in any of the postings a statement about the gimbal cover.  You mentioned that the clamp was still on and you removed it.  But what about that gimbal bubble cover?  There have been many postings on this forum saying that (despite what the manual says) that cover should ALWAYS be removed when operating your quad.  Look closely and you'll see that there are air intake vents that get covered up if you leave that plastic bubble on.   That would seem to me to be a real cause for overheating.

I've bought a fan, so the Mavic doesn't overheat anymore.
I don't think it was related to the gimbal cover.

Jost Posted at 2017-10-18 12:51
I've bought a fan, so the Mavic doesn't overheat anymore.
I don't think it was related to the gimbal cover.

Inside, power on, after updating firmware, my Mavic went into thermal shutdown! Too hot to handle. I thought it might have done some permanent damage. Today a short flight. All seems ok...