Hi , I used to own a brand new phantom 2 vision plus. Tonight after perfect calibration full battery, etc, I noticed back green lights started blinking red and it fell out of the sky. I haven't found it , will go to look for it in the morning.... I ve been crying like a child.... Can someone tell me what happened?

How long were you flying, usually red blinking lights it's low batt

We can only guess! give us more info. what mode were you in-phantom, naza, atti? how many sats? did you follow correct startup procedure IE setting home point- waiting for slow blinking green lights- calibrating compass before lift off? If you did all these and had >6 sats why did it not auto return to home point before batts expired?   something missed out somewhere. Auto return to home is a failsafe action but everything must be set up to make it happen. So tell us your startup procedure and maybe we can work out what happened for you.

Sorry you lost it - hopefully you will find it tomorrow.
Yes, we need the answers above to even partially troubleshoot! Here are some other questions:

1. How many successful flights did you have with this quadcopter previous to this?
2. Are you very familiar with the various modes (atti, IOC, etc.)?
3. Do you have experience manually flying other quadcopters?
4. How many minutes after takeoff did this occur?
5. Have you hooked it to a computer and carefully checked all the low battery and other NAZA settings?
6. Is this the new Phantom "V2"? The only with a dial on the transmitter for the camera control?

The batteries, even when fully charged and in warm weather (cold means shorter flight times) do not last 20-25 minutes - 10-14 minutes under load is more common. If the Phantom is in full-auto GPS mode, it's going to react strangely if it is high and far away from you and the batteries start getting low - because it's brain knows it may not have enough electric stored to get home.

I've been flying my Phantom over a year - but, honestly, it's rarely far enough away from me that I would lose it if it came down quickly - I usually fly to get pictures or video and that does not require flying very far away from where I am standing.

Regardless of his calibration, dji boast a low battery auto land so in theory your drone should never fall out of the sky. If you don't have RTH on low battery it would just land when it was when it hit low battery. Open you dji app, click on settings. Scroll down to "find my phantom". If you kept video signal during the drop it should show you almost exactly where your drone currently is. You don't need your controller on and you don't need to connect to the extended to get this info.

Sucky to hear it's a goner.

The only time I saw LEDs go instantly from happy green to emergency red was when a mate was testing a battery that had been puffing a bit. He brought it down right away. It had gone from 80% to 11% in a second. But perhaps in your case you flew it longer?

By the way, did you say you were flying it at night?

rod@voxvideopro Posted at 2014-12-21 06:48
We can only guess! give us more info. what mode were you in-phantom, naza, atti? how many sats? did  ...

Hi , look I did all procedures by the book. I flew once on that afternoon, battery was about 60-70% , then switched off. And at night I decided to waste the battery little more before I recharge it. All firmware was latest versions, phantom mode, calibrated well, wifi extender 60%, iPhone 70%, RC 100%. Waited a bit longer than normal for the sats to become 8 , lights green blinked fast then steady. Started engines and took off. 17 meters altitude, 20 meters radius from my front yard, lights start blinking rapid red and raises altitude, only to start descending rapidly behind one house , after 4-5 seconds i hear the crash... it all happened so fast, the flight didn't last more than 10-12 seconds. AND TODAY IS DAY 5 , STILL NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!!!  THE FIND MY PHANTOM VISION FUNCTION IN SETTINGS SHOWS LAST KNOWN POSITION, BUT IT'S NOT THERE.....

teedo757@yahoo. Posted at 2014-12-21 07:46
Regardless of his calibration, dji boast a low battery auto land so in theory your drone should neve ...

forget it, i m telling you,  it malfunctioned badly....  and nowhere to be found, day 5. I even rented a new one to fly over the area, still no sign

FromAdronesEye Posted at 2014-12-21 06:38
How long were you flying, usually red blinking lights it's low batt

just 10 seconds

droneflyers.com Posted at 2014-12-21 07:11
Sorry you lost it - hopefully you will find it tomorrow.
Yes, we need the answers above to even part ...

Thanks for the follow up.Still not found , day 5.
1. I had about 12 successful flights with this one. I have only owned it for 1 month.
2. Yes I am , I studied the manual thoroughly and did all my research. It was in phantom mode when it happened.
3. Yes I have flown and mastered much more difficult model, parrot ar-drone, but not quadrocopters of dji category
4.Only 5-10 seconds
5.Of course, I followed all procedures stated in the manual EXACTLY. Is the manual missing something we should look into more depth elsewhere?
6. Yes the new phantom vision plus with dial on the transmitter. Brand new purchased from official dji online store

Ok , I understand, but still it is very weird, I was only flying it to get the battery little more drained before charging. And it was 17m altitude from me and 20 meters to the front. And it did not fall far. BUT I CAN;T FIND IT!!! I even rented another phantom to get some footage of the area. The temperature on that night was 12 degrees celsius and the time was 22:30

insitb@singnet. Posted at 2014-12-21 07:54
Sucky to hear it's a goner.

The only time I saw LEDs go instantly from happy green to emergency red ...

Yes at night to discharge the battery little more before recharge.

I only flew like 5-10 seconds before this...

It's just possible that it landed at the spot you previously took off from, if it was within a mile or two. I'd check the last two or three locations you calibrated the compass, just to be safe.

birdfolk@dishma Posted at 2014-12-26 10:54
It's just possible that it landed at the spot you previously took off from, if it was within a mile  ...

No, it did not land, it spiraled out of control and hit the ground, I heard the crash. Still nowhere to be found day 6

kostinho@me.com Posted at 2014-12-26 19:14
No, it did not land, it spiraled out of control and hit the ground, I heard the crash. Still nowhe ...

Sounds like you got the death wobbles.

This is the second report in a few days of flying to drain the batteries and then a problem.

The batteries are best drained leaving it on the ground and idling - or, switching to IOC mode and using ATTI within a few meters of where you are standing.

Phantom mode, unfortunately, seems to cause a lot of problems since it is only GPS based and there are often problems with GPS (weak reception, solar storms, malfunctions, etc.).

I hope you find it.

droneflyers.com Posted at 2014-12-26 22:32
This is the second report in a few days of flying to drain the batteries and then a problem.

The ba ...

Well ok, thanks for the advice, of course I would never do it again, but how am I supposed to know.... It should be included in the manual...

Anyway, is there any chance I will get some sort of compensation from DJI you think? Or no chance?

Isn't it possible that it took back off after the crash? Check the trees, check last two home-points...

birdfolk@dishma Posted at 2014-12-27 05:27
Isn't it possible that it took back off after the crash? Check the trees, check last two home-points ...

No it was a hard crash, and I checked everywhere, it s gone...

kostinho@me.com Posted at 2014-12-27 04:13
Well ok, thanks for the advice, of course I would never do it again, but how am I supposed to know ...

There is a LOT you need to know to not lose a Phantom - not just that. If you look around the net, you'll see numerous guides on getting started and going through the learning curve. DJI themselves have started pilot schools, but there are not enough of them...

There are no warranties against crashes and flying away - however, if you really want to continue in this hobby and get another DJI may offer a decent discount for you on a new one if you contact them. My advice - even if you get a new one - is to spend a lot of time learning before you fly and grab a couple toy quadcopters to play with to get piloting and other skills. I crashed, lost, modified and flew about 6 toy grade quadcopters - for a year - before I bought my first Phantom.

kostinho@me.com Posted at 2014-12-27 05:39
No it was a hard crash, and I checked everywhere, it s gone...

Took me 9 days to find mine after the return home function did not work. I did not hear mine but I found it a little more then 2 miles away. If your still going to look I would suggest printing out a google map of the area and highlighting the places you have already looked. If you heard it fall I would think it would be within 1000 feet of where you were. I have seen video's where the lander gear gets tangles in branches and it get stuck up in a tree so look up as well.

I also used a free app called trace my route on iphone. That way I knew if I was going over the same area twice. After 9 days with a few days of rain I was not sure about the condition. I opened it up and aired it out for 24 hours. Turned it on and everything works perfect. I know yours may have damage from the fall but you may get lucky. Good luck and I feel for you. I have since ordered a tracker in case mine fly's away again.

Cheers mate... Yes I m still looking for it... Lets see... Meanwhile I m expecting the verdict from DJI ....

Tough break and i feel your pain, honestly i do I think the lesson here is always fly on full batteries. Often, you will stick a LiPo battery in something and get 60/70% on the meter UNTIL you start actually pushing it. Then you find out you actually only had 10%. Think of it like a bottle of Coke - You can shake it up and make it completely flat. Put the lid back on and shake it again and you will get more fizz from some last bubbles even though it appeared flat after the first shake. These batteries are the same!

mh@blackcatinve Posted at 2014-12-28 05:52
Tough break and i feel your pain, honestly i do I think the lesson here is always fly on full batter ...

Thanks for the comment. You are absolutely right. This is the lesson here.... Or if I want to drain the battery I just leave it on the ground in idle.

Today I paid 2 people to keep looking for it but no luck again...

My only question is , why didn't it land where it was at least??? It was only 17 meters height and 20 meters away...

teedo757@yahoo. Posted at 2014-12-21 07:46
Regardless of his calibration, dji boast a low battery auto land so in theory your drone should neve ...

no, when the contacts to the smart batterie are loose it will fall down and many phantom owners had the problem of faulty smart batteries, something must be wrong with the software of those batteries. I have the problem that my smart batterie sometimes indicated 0,0V. I have to insert the batterie again to solve the problem. If this happens in the air the Phantom will probably fall from the sky like a stone

"Started engines and took off. 17 meters altitude, 20 meters radius from my front yard, lights start blinking rapid red and raises altitude, only to start descending rapidly behind one house , after 4-5 seconds i hear the crash... "

Is it possible someone else picked it up... not pleased that "some creep" was trying to spy in their windows at night...
Not suggesting you were... but perhaps that was what it seemed to them from their point of view.

kostinho@me.com Posted at 2014-12-28 21:32
Thanks for the comment. You are absolutely right. This is the lesson here.... Or if I want to drai ...

I would agree with the previous poster - i am guessing someone picked it up and took it.

andy@seasonalsa Posted at 2014-12-28 22:32
"Started engines and took off. 17 meters altitude, 20 meters radius from my front yard, lights start ...

Yes this is my thoughts too... They took it, cause they hate the idea someone flying over their homes with that thing...