My new Phantom 3, nopt even a week. Taken it out about 10 times, never run the batter down below 30%.

Today took my daughter out to a nice spot to fly, everything was good, she took off, got to about 20 feet, Battery Error!!

Before I coudl get her down, Woooff!! Everything cutout and she dropped like a stone Smash!!

The vibration plate, 2 rotors smaseh to pieces, things rattling around in the body.

She powers up OK, the DJI Go softare says she is ready to fly, obviously not!

WTF!!

Now I am terrified of A if she is fixable, and B even if she is flying again, what would happen at 200 ft !!!!

Brand new! I Have DJI Care, but will replace the vibration board forst snd see if everyting is OK.

Is this common, anyone know what causes this?

Was it very cold?

Are you on the latest firmware?

Was the battery fully charged?

These are all things that may have caused the problem.  Cold battery, older firmware & battery not fully charged.

nigelw Posted at 2016-3-13 19:41
Was it very cold?

Are you on the latest firmware?

Brand new, updated the firmware yesterday.

Fully charged battery, just took it from inside the house, into the car. Not particularly cold here, probably 55f outside. It flew fine earlier in the day.

Fw 1.5?  Battery less than full charge when launched ?

mal6514 Posted at 2016-3-13 19:50
Fw 1.5?  Battery less than full charge when launched ?

It was fully charged! I updated the FW yesterday with the latest one listed on DJI.com

Flyin'Bryan Posted at 2016-3-13 19:54
Look at the bright side,
A,). Everything is fixable.
B,). Now you have a reason to get the Phantom ...

If it is a design/unit fault I want it fixed or replaced by DJI. I don't expect a new device to just fall out of the sky for no reason.

This will be a short hobby if that is the expectation, sorry mate your $1000 drone might drop like a stone out of the blue, touch luck  (

yonexsp Posted at 2016-3-13 23:45
Brand new, updated the firmware yesterday.

Fully charged battery, just took it from inside the ho ...

Maybe a faulty battery?  I'd contact DJI support for advice.  You don't want them voiding you DJI Care package because of some clause about not reporting problems.

Pretty much the same thing happened to someone else in another topic here recently.  They didn't even get a notice of the battery fault -- it suddenly just fell out of the sky.  They didn't have DJI Care and DJI initially tried to tell them it must have been user error and refused to help.  Some of the hardcore defenders here claimed they must have accidentally CSC'ed (even though that allegedly never happens).  But the user had all the data and eventually was able to get confirmation it was a battery error, but not without a fight.  They claimed one of the cells was bad and it had caused the drone to lose power.

How can I check, the battery that was in the drone was the extra one I bought with the drone as part of an add-on

yonexsp Posted at 2016-3-13 20:06
How can I check, the battery that was in the drone was the extra one I bought with the drone as part ...

I'm not sure.  With the previous poster it ultimately took DJI to physically inspect the battery.  At first they refused but then he showed the flight data to the community and it was clear there was no user error he got someone fDJI-affiliated from the forum to get involved and eventually they got back to him that it was a battery cell fault.

If the battery were not snapped in fully and correctly, this will happen. I've seen it many times.

Also be careful with non DJI batteries. If suspected they will auto void your warranty and repair nothing unless you pay.  

How do you access/read the logs?

yonexsp Posted at 2016-3-14 09:34
How do you access/read the logs?

see here...post number 2

http://forum.dji.com/thread-43032-1-1.html

Hello , I got my Phantom3pro on 2/26/16 and had takin it out three times. But before I ever took it out I updated the firmware on PH3 and in controller. On 5th or 6th time out it fell out of sky with 19% battery left. I just lost all power and turned into a $1000.00 rock. The flight recorder just ends when I'm 5 ft off ground and bringing her to home point to land. Also, if your wondering the flight recorder shows that I did not make the /\ \/ to shut props off. When I called um , and explained what happened they wanted order # and they were not going to move till they got it. So I found it , and happly sent it to them, After that I received a RMA# also ship ticket to send back. Like I said I got it on the 26th of February, and sent it in on   3/7 to get  repaired. The gimbal arm snapped like a Chicko stick when it hit from five feet in air. So, I will replie and let you know when I get it back. DJI, just give me a P4 for all this B.s.    Good luck dude!!!
Regards
Frustrated and out a G or a Band or a Rack (whatever the bernie suporrters say these days!)  

When you speak to dji its becomes aparent quickly that they know they
have the upper hand in the converation
also it was 65 outside

bradylanderco Posted at 2016-3-13 21:55
Hello , I got my Phantom3pro on 2/26/16 and had takin it out three times. But before I ever took it  ...

I like Chicko sticks.

mal6514 Posted at 2016-3-13 19:50
Fw 1.5?  Battery less than full charge when launched ?

These are things that everyone wants to point fingers at but it really shouldn't have any effect on what happened. Many people fly daily on older firmware without any problems. As for being a fully charged battery, I'll fly for a while...land...and later take off with far less then a fully charged battery. Neither item shouldn't bring the bird down unless maybe it would have be a complete battery failure.

Sorry for the accident, please contact DJI technical support for repair.

Well, I doubt if a parachute would help at 20' but I can't help but wonder when DJI is going to start offering them as an add on feature? That or maybe one of the parachutte manufactures or dealers should work out a group buy deal.

DJI-Amy Posted at 2016-3-13 18:27
Sorry for that, please contact DJI technical support for repair.

Aloha Amy,

     This may be the problem I was reporting in:

http://forum.dji.com/thread-44614-1-1.html

     Could you look into this?  I only saved myself because I am experienced and informed by this forum.

Aloha and Drone On!