Hi!


This is my first post and I am a relatively new drone pilot. I have experienced these problems a few times now and after todays experience I have decided to reach out to you guys for help in diagnosing the issue. I have done all my preflight checks, all good. Good signal, 22 sattelites locked, I took off. Hovering perfectly fine, not much wind but there was some. Maybe around 8mph. Here is a list of some of the issues I face:

• Putting the drone in sport mode and ascending fast, gives off a strange sound from the propellers, as if they are touching something and I often then get a warning on the app to say 'Motor error...' and I loose control of the drone and it starts ascending without being able to control it. I often get back control if I switch to another mode (Normal or Cine) and try and bring it back down. Because of this, I stay away from sport mode. In normal mode or cine mode I have yet to encounter this issue.
• On todays flight, I have completely lost control of the drone and it started to ascend further than the safety limit. I dind't think this was possible and it worried me. I couldn't bring it back down either as it went into negative altitude and would refuse to land. I put it into sport mode so I could bring it down quicker and that's the only way I was able to force it to land after a couple of tries, although I wouldn't call it much of a landing as at around 10m above ground it descended faster and just sort of dropped in the grass. At one point it was reading -800ft altitude. I kept trying to bring it down but at around 40ft high, it would start ascending again. One thing I noticed was that one propeller was not spinning as much and seemed to be stuck together. but when it slowed down it seemed fine. Maybe they tangled in-flight? If so, that's worrying. Possibly related to point no 1?
  

I saw others post logs, I'll see if I can do that as well. Please let me know if you need more information to help. I really appreciate your time to read and comment.

HI,

Post your log or logs with issues on here, use this > http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 3-6 12:27
HI,

Post your log or logs with issues on here, use this > http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. Please find my flight here. https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/265U6AZ84SLC50KZQP8Q/#

You can see plently of different errors. Like I said, when I managed to land it, it was still going and I could see that one propeller was not spinning as much and both propellers were pointing the same direction. Not sure what caused this. (Probably sport mode...)

bluiska Posted at 3-6 13:10
Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. Please find my flight here. https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/265U6AZ84SLC50KZQP8Q/#

You can see plently of different errors. Like I said, when I managed to land it, it was still going and I could see that one propeller was not spinning as much and both propellers were pointing the same direction. Not sure what caused this. (Probably sport mode...)

Hi,

Uh, where do i start.....

Many errors in the log   many unrealistic values in the log as well, this is 'normally' seen with a IMU in error!

Started with an motor error, followed by ATTI mode.
Vertical speed down down to 35 m/s!  Baro height indicating minus values!

Too much to list it all.

My advice is to get DJI for assistance, if it is a new drone....

cheers
JJB

bluiska Posted at 3-6 13:10
Hi. Thanks for the suggestion. Please find my flight here. https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/265U6AZ84SLC50KZQP8Q/#

You can see plently of different errors. Like I said, when I managed to land it, it was still going and I could see that one propeller was not spinning as much and both propellers were pointing the same direction. Not sure what caused this. (Probably sport mode...)

Yes ... there are failures of the IMU sensors showing false data for altitude and pitch and possibly others.
This has caused the problems.
You should start a case with DJI to get this looked at.

Labroides Posted at 3-6 14:13
Yes ... there are failures of the IMU sensors showing false data for altitude and pitch and possibly others.
This has caused the problems.
You should start a case with DJI to get this looked at.

Hi.

Thanks both. This is about a year old drone which I bought used. Will DJI still offer support?

I will start with an IMU calibration which I haven't done in a while. Not sure what would cause the sport mode strange sounds? All my issues seem to stem from using sport mode. Using any other mode, I have yet to face issues for many many hours of flight now.

What other steps could I take to try and rule out issues?

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-6 14:42
Hi.

Thanks both. This is about a year old drone which I bought used. Will DJI still offer support?

If it’s more than a year old then the warranty is expired but likely won’t work at all because you bought it used

Is it normal for the battery to drop down in voltage like it shows in the logs? It goes into yellow territory for a little bit. That may have been while I was on full throttle so I think that might be okay?

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 00:53
Is it normal for the battery to drop down in voltage like it shows in the logs? It goes into yellow territory for a little bit. That may have been while I was on full throttle so I think that might be okay?

Cold temperatures can do that.. what was the outside air temperature when you flew?

No Original Thought Posted at 3-7 00:55
Cold temperatures can do that.. what was the outside air temperature when you flew?

Cold. Around 6C.

JJB* Posted at 3-6 13:35
Hi,

Uh, where do i start.....

Is it normal to get issues when flying fast with the Mini 2? I also often find that when I try to ascend in sports mode at full throttle, sometimes I get the motor error and the drone starts rising uncontrollably for a few seconds.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 01:13
Cold. Around 6C.

Hmmm, I assume °C, so not below freezing.

That's within specs (0 to 40°C) according to the manual.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 01:40
Is it normal to get issues when flying fast with the Mini 2? I also often find that when I try to ascend in sports mode at full throttle, sometimes I get the motor error and the drone starts rising uncontrollably for a few seconds.

Hi,

When asking max power (e.g. full fwd and full up in sport mode) i sometimes get a motor message in the app, for my mini2.

"Aircraft max power load reached. Decrease altitude and fly with caution. If this issue persists; land immediately"
or
"Max power load reached. Fly with caution"
If only once, than do not ask this full power demand, nothing to worried about. With low temperature this msg is more seen than on a summer day.

Rising uncontrollably while ascending ?  do not understand what you mean by this.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 3-7 02:23
Hi,

When asking max power (e.g. full fwd and full up in sport mode) i sometimes get a motor message in the app, for my mini2.

Sometimes when I get Motor Error or something (always when in sport mode), it starts ascending upwards and I cannot make it come down even if I pull the stick downward. It just sort of gets stuck going up for a little bit. I think I had this when it was a bit windy. Maybe the wind tangled up the propellers or something or just caused a big gust to take the drone upwards?

Here is an example video when I was actually recording when it happened. I unfortunately don't have the logs for this flight. I wish I saved it.

https://youtu.be/MusJmngEzZQ

At 00:11 it just starts taking off.... I did not tell it to do that and I think the controller showed a Propeller or Motor error. Maybe this was the wind? You can see the drone be pushed around a bit. I've had this happen once or twice.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 02:33
Sometimes when I get Motor Error or something (always when in sport mode), it starts ascending upwards and I cannot make it come down even if I pull the stick downward. It just sort of gets stuck going up for a little bit. I think I had this when it was a bit windy. Maybe the wind tangled up the propellers or something or just caused a big gust to take the drone upwards?

Here is an example video when I was actually recording when it happened. I unfortunately don't have the logs for this flight. I wish I saved it.

Hi,

Logs are always saved on your mobile device, so guess they are still there if you have not manually delete this flightlog.
Without a log it is not possible to understand what happend.
cheers
JJB

This is not normal, the drone shouldn't just go up by itself randomly. A little is okay (about 1 meter height) but not as much as shown in the video

JJB* Posted at 3-7 02:38
Hi,

Logs are always saved on your mobile device, so guess they are still there if you have not manually delete this flightlog.

Can we speculate? Unfortunately, I have uninstalled and reinstalled the DJI Fly app which removed my flight logs and I wasn't syncing them before.
EDIT: Actually, I may have enabled sync before I deleted the app. I'm just checking now!

Hi, thank you for reaching out. We're sorry for the unpleasant experience. In this kind of situation, I'm afraid that you may consider sending the unit in for a proper diagnosis. You can contact our support team to start up a ticket at https://www.dji.com/support. Also, the warranty can be applied depending on the outcome of the damage assessment including the warranty period of your unit. To check the warranty period for each part, you may click this link: https://www.dji.com/service/policy. Thank you for your kind and understanding.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 02:56
Can we speculate? Unfortunately, I have uninstalled and reinstalled the DJI Fly app which removed my flight logs and I wasn't syncing them before.
EDIT: Actually, I may have enabled sync before I deleted the app. I'm just checking now!

great,

if you can video play the file in the app, than the flightlog.txt file is downloaded from the server back on your device again!

Plus sometimes deleting the app does not delete all the maps....

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 3-7 03:07
great,

if you can video play the file in the app, than the flightlog.txt file is downloaded from the server back on your device again!

This is the flight where I have recorded the video. The error in question happend at 04:59, as it was executing the quickshot.

https://app.airdata.com/share/XFFDqx
EDIT: It also happened soon after takeoff actually. Same thing. The drone usually sounds a bit funny when its doing it. Like as if the propellers are touching something but then it resolves itself usually. Ignore the SD card errors, I used the wrong SD card that day by accident.

DJI Paladin Posted at 3-7 02:59
Hi, thank you for reaching out. We're sorry for the unpleasant experience. In this kind of situation, I'm afraid that you may consider sending the unit in for a proper diagnosis. You can contact our support team to start up a ticket at https://www.dji.com/support. Also, the warranty can be applied depending on the outcome of the damage assessment including the warranty period of your unit. To check the warranty period for each part, you may click this link: https://www.dji.com/service/policy. Thank you for your kind and understanding.

Thank you for the suggestion however it is out of warranty and I have purchased it used. I would like to diagnose and rectify the issue myself if possible.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 03:30
This is the flight where I have recorded the video. The error in question happend at 04:59, as it was executing the quickshot.

https://app.airdata.com/share/XFFDqx

HI,

See my chart of your data.

Baro height line in top chart > red = uncontrolled down, yellow = uncontrolled up.
Motor errors in the log, at that point high power draw (amps).
So not only end of the quickshot, but many more uncontrolled up and downs.

Best is to get advice from DJI.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 3-7 03:53
HI,

See my chart of your data.

Thanks for the detailed response, the graphs are a bit overwhelming! It was quite windy that day and I received multiple strong wind warnings. Could the uncontrolled ups and downs be due to that at all?

What would the high power draw be suggestive of? Since it's ascending, could it be a high power draw due to it fighing the strong wind and also ascending at max power?

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 04:01
Thanks for the detailed response, the graphs are a bit overwhelming! It was quite windy that day and I received multiple strong wind warnings. Could the uncontrolled ups and downs be due to that at all?

What would the high power draw be suggestive of? Since it's ascending, could it be a high power draw due to it fighing the strong wind and also ascending at max power?

It was quite windy that day and I received multiple strong wind warnings. Could the uncontrolled ups and downs be due to that at all?
DJI drones should still maintain altitude regardless of strong winds.
Yours had serious issues with altitude sensors and more.
The failure to hold altitude was due to the malfunction.

You could try to recalibrate the IMU and gently test fly the drone, but it could be the the issue is more serious than what a recalibration could fix.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 04:01
Thanks for the detailed response, the graphs are a bit overwhelming! It was quite windy that day and I received multiple strong wind warnings. Could the uncontrolled ups and downs be due to that at all?

What would the high power draw be suggestive of? Since it's ascending, could it be a high power draw due to it fighing the strong wind and also ascending at max power?

Hi

Nah, DJI drone may vary just little in height in high fluctuating wind conditions, but not as much in your log.
High power draw seen at this warning  "Motor error. Check propellers and fly with caution"

If drone has to deliver it max power bc the flight conditions asked for than a max power load message.

As sugested by Labroides ; calibrate IMU and fly again.

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 3-7 04:33
Hi

Nah, DJI drone may vary just little in high fluctuating wind conditions, but not as much in your log.

Yes. That's definitely going to be my first try. Maybe I have a motor error on one arm... I also think I know which one but maybe the calibration will be enough. Thank you everybody for the good discussion and help! I think I mentioned before that the flight where I couldn't land it, I was able to eventually land it and I could see that on one motot the propellers were stuck together and pointing in the same direction as if they tangled and it was beeping. Maybe that motor has some issues. (This was in the first log I shared, at the end).

JJB* Posted at 3-7 04:33
Hi

Nah, DJI drone may vary just little in height in high fluctuating wind conditions, but not as much in your log.

Hi,

I've recalibrated everything now. I mean, for now I haven't seen any issues other than my motor error one. I've taken a video to show you the sound and also uploaded the logs to see if you can see anything from them.

https://app.airdata.com/share/lLdwKO
https://app.airdata.com/share/MFAHvZ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HwH5yxeWMk

You can hear that in sport mode, when I ascend very fast, the drone gives out a strange sound. I also get this sound, sometimes when taking sharper turns. Most of the time in Sport mode, but sometimes in other modes. The first link is for the first test flight after calibrating everything, the second link is for the flight which I caputred on video. (Motor unable to rotate was because I tried to take off from the grass and didn't see that it was actually touching it )
EDIT: Maybe I need new proplellers but these are relatively fresh from the Fly more combo (the extra set). Maybe around 1h - 1.5h flight time with these props.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 07:29
Hi,

I've recalibrated everything now. I mean, for now I haven't seen any issues other than my motor error one. I've taken a video to show you the sound and also uploaded the logs to see if you can see anything from them.

check your video  at 55s    see the front right motor changes rpm  + sound
in the log at that point : msg : Motor error. Check propellers and fly with caution

so front right motor is not oke....!

cheers
JJB

JJB* Posted at 3-7 07:34
check your video  at 55s    see the front right motor changes rpm  + sound
in the log at that point : msg : Motor error. Check propellers and fly with caution

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response. But what about the first time it does it in the video? In that case it doesn't seem to be the front-right motor... hmm

Cheers

Has the previous owner maybe had it in water at some point?  Could account for a lot including the need to sell it on.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 3-7 03:44
Thank you for the suggestion however it is out of warranty and I have purchased it used. I would like to diagnose and rectify the issue myself if possible.

We totally understand your side. If ever you come up with a decision to send the unit in, you may contact our support using the information on my first response. Thank you for your valued support and take care always!

So just to update others, it really was a genuine motor error. I have ordered a third-party replacement (ReplaceBase in the UK) and have replaced the arm myself. Flies perfectly now, super happy.

fansa6846a56 Posted at 5-25 02:24
So just to update others, it really was a genuine motor error. I have ordered a third-party replacement (ReplaceBase in the UK) and have replaced the arm myself. Flies perfectly now, super happy.

Good self repairing work!

many happy landings
cheers
JJB

Edit: Responded after the video, befor noticing you already fixed it. Never mind.


Old Post:

Something seems to rattle in that motor, maybe a bearing damage. Replacing it might be a quick and cheap fix. Softwareissues or hardwareissues seem unlikely to me based on the noise it makes. You can swap motors around to see if that changes anything. If the issue persists on the same position its not (only) the motor. If it moves to the new motor position its (likely) only the motor. If both new and old position have trouble there are multiple things that are broken.

as dji deceives and scams users, it is incomprehensible that things like this happen, at 1.7 meters and the technical service says 10 cm and the insurance does not cover it, they are liars