Hey guys, I purchased the Phantom 2 in the beginning of November. I added a H3-3D gimble and my Hero 3 to it. I have had countless flawless flights and captured some great aerial footage. I have always kept the software updates current and had the return home battery level set to 25%. Mid December I went to The British Virgin Islands  for a week long sailboat trip. At sunset I took the drone up for a aerial shot of the boat. I took off from a gravel lot near absolutly nothing. NO WAY there was any interference. Compass calibrated and GPS locked. I flew around for approximately 2-3 minutes with no issues. We gathered on the front of the the boat for group shot with the drone about 25-30 feet up and about 40 feet away from us. All of a sudden the red navigation lights went off and all 4 rotors instantly quit. Needless to say it slapped the water in a belly flop and instantly sunk. I have no idea what could have caused this type of failure since the battery was new, charged, home return set and only a few minutes in the air. I hired 3 divers the next morning to try and retrieve the Phantom but because of murky water they were unable to locate it. I have since finally recieved an email back from DJI reminding me of the possibly interference and basically a tough luck. They said I could purchase a new phantom 2 and H3-3D for 30% off, I guess Im just SOL on my GoPro. I have heard of other mid flight failures. Anyone have any input on how to go about handling this? Oh, and Amazons Square Trade only covers the product if you have the physical item. Is DJI screwing some of us with defective products? Im out about $1400 that I had no control over. Maybe we are all getting stooped into believing DJI is the best drone manufacture.??

I am sorry to hear about you Phantom. I would also be upset. Your situation is a tough one. I have had my Vision+ for sometime and have had no issues at all. I know there are many people like you that have been the unfortunate ones to get the worst possible ending to a happy beginning. I do feel your angry.

+1  sorry for your loss  .I have read about loads of issues but just dropping out the sky with a fully battery is not a common one .The only thing i can think off is your battery was not 100% incerted but i am sure you would  have pushed it in all the way .

Sorry you lost your bird.
How many is "countless" flawless flights? If over 50, have you ever taken the aircraft apart and inspected the innards?

Flying over water - anytime and anywhere - is only for those who are willing to take the risk of a 100% loss on their Phantoms. That's the reality of the situation at this point. We are on the "pioneer" end of RTF quadcopters and the reliability just is not there yet.....this is true of any brand and at any price level.

If you do intend to fly over water, using floats or something like Water Buoy will at least let you recover your craft:
http://www.water-buoy.com/

I've lost quads over water myself....but they were $100 models, so I didn't cry as hard.

From the sound of it, your situation may have been a bad battery connection - but we'll never know. It's unusual for all lights and props, etc. to just quit - unless all power is 100% lost.

To answer your question regarding DJI and other manufacturers compared, I suspect that DJI models have about the best reliability out there - based on actual percentages. You can look up other models like the Blade 350QX, new Yuneec typhoon, Parrot BeBop, etc. and they are reguarly flying away, falling out the sky or failing to operate at all.

Without having the Phantom back for inspection DJI will only offer a discount on a future purchase.
It would be the same with any other manufacture, or the unscrupulous members of the public would just say their product flew away and expect another one free of charge even if they crashed it themselves or just fancied a new one.

I would just buy another unit just whats needed since you have the controller off ebay and get a float for flying over water.

"PS: The Phantom 2 Vision is "Ready To Fly," "Ready to Capture" and "Ready to Share" but it is still an
aircraft. Keeping contact needles and pads clean is very important. Any dirt and dust may cause a
communication failure."

From the Phantom 2 release notes.....

Just posting this because it seems like a possible cause and that those who have had a number or flights on their birds and/or traveled and exposed it to dust, dirt, etc. should be aware of this.

Battery failed, possibly not inserted properly.http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... amp;page=1#pid24564

I, as the others am sorry to hear about you loss but as you where flying over water you introduced a much greater chance of total loss that flying over land.  All electrical components are subject to failure, either a result of a component going bad, failing or mechanical malfunction.  These can be a result of parts (a part failing) or person (something done incorrectly or not well maintained).  Once a fault occurs it becomes a matter of location as to your chances of recovering the device and in the case of an over water failure, unless you added floats (which I have seen some people do) your recovery might need a dive suit.

On a side note: water is inherently a bad environment.  As the Phantom is not sealed from the elements moisture from the water, especially salt can be very bad and the more you fly over salt water the more chance of failures unless you are diligent in cleaning and inspecting the inside.

I am in no way suggesting that you are at fault, nor am I suggesting that DJI and the Phantom itself was at fault, neither can be determined without examination of the craft but, assuming you get another Phantom, you may want to consider floats (in case of failure) and an inspection regiment to check connections for signs of coming lose, corrosion, etc.  The Phantom is a good craft but it isn't something you can fly over and over again without some care and I think many people think the Phantom can just fly forever without even inspecting the effects the environment is having on it and making corrections as needed.  I somewhat fault DJI in this area as they don't have suggestions on what to do in this matter but with anything that it element exposed and that encounters stresses of operation I (personally) would inspect it every so often.  I do this with my RC planes and helicopters and I also do it with my drones.

xzgraham@btinte Posted at 2015-1-11 03:40
+1  sorry for your loss  .I have read about loads of issues but just dropping out the sky with a ful ...

well, i heard that alot in forums, it is very common according to most forums. I heard countless storys about Phantom went down at 60% for example. I dont believe the battery level has to do with it, could also be a contact problem. My phantom2 from december 2013 has contact problems for example, the two pins are the problem. Sometimes i cant start the motors because of those two pins. Im not sure what would happen if that happens during flight. I clean those things now before every flight with petroleum ether but you can never be sure. I just hope DJI build in a clever algorithm that "checks" the smart batterie only once, when starting the motors and not during the whole flight. This could prevent some crashes

Daninho Posted at 2015-1-11 05:42
well, i heard that alot in forums, it is very common according to most forums. I heard countless st ...

I am somewhat confused when reading statements like this "fly aways...very common according to most forums".  IIRC; DJI reports nearly sales of nearly 600k drones, I've seem maybe 20-30 fly away reports on forum?  Lets go way out and say there are 1000 fly aways; that's still such a small percentage that it is irrelevant (IMO)

I'm strongly of the opinion that a high percentage of failures are pilot error (e.g., flying before GPS lock, flying near structures that might cause signal interference, etc.).  The smaller percentage may be electronics failures, after all these are electronic devices and any electronic device, especially ones exposed to the elements of the outside will fail (notice, I didn't say "can fail).

Don't confuse my above statement to suggest fault one way or another, as I said before, lacking the Phantom to diagnose makes it anyone's guess but I do somewhat take offence to the continuing suggestion that the Phantom is an all around bad unit.

I just don't buy into statements that DJI Phantom's are as bad as reported and if a person thinks they are total garbage then I think that person would do their health some good and buy a different unit.

kenargo Posted at 2015-1-11 12:13
I am somewhat confused when reading statements like this "fly aways...very common according to mos ...

"Lets go way out and say there are 1000 fly aways; that's still such a small percentage that it is irrelevant (IMO)"

Hi Kenargo, you might not think that if it was your $2000 disappearing into the unknown. But I understand the context of your statement. Everyone 's got an opinion and everyone is entitled to theirs.

I fly according to the manual and have never had an event- I hope I never do but with this sort of technology, it has to be said, is in an embryo state and I think there are issues- there are a lot more than 20 reports of lost or unpredictable flights, and some of these are from people who are experienced and  have reportedly followed the correct procedures. There has been a lot of unpaid research carried out by members here, particularly on the ESC unit. This is invaluable to us all and even DJI have thanked a member for his work on this. (would be nice if they paid him!!)

I think that feedback on an event, together with as much data as possible here, will help identify weaknesses- in turn helping the understanding of the technology that we are messing with!
Cheers!
Rod

kenargo Posted at 2015-1-11 12:13
I am somewhat confused when reading statements like this "fly aways...very common according to mos ...

i never said something about fly aways, i was refering to smart battery problems which are indeed not rare. Or how you can explain so many failed smart batteries, contact problems and no intelligent flight battery messages? To your fly away statement, i also believe there are hardware based fly aways when you look at the video at youtube. I never had a fly away but i have smart battery problems

I think DJI has fixed a lot of the battery messages....according to the same release documents that mention the battery contacts needing checked and cleaned.

In this case, though, I'm not sure if the user would have gotten the message (the phone displays a messages to fly it home immediately).....although maybe the quad knew it was failing before the pilot did?

Here are the release notes which pertain mostly to battery software improvements:
http://download.dji-innovations. ... elease_notes_en.pdf

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-1-11 21:10
I think DJI has fixed a lot of the battery messages....according to the same release documents that  ...

i was talking about the wild update policy, there were updates and the next day DJI canceled the updates. The same counts for the battery, there were updates and now they seem to be gone. Also there were mistakes in allowing older smart batteries to be updated.

Also there are many stories about phantoms go into descent mode with batteries at 60% for example. There must be something wrong with the contacts with older batteries because the contacts are changed now in newer batteries.

the release notes you linked tell nothing about cleaning contacts



whats interesting for SB 2.0 users

Fixed issues in communication between the smart flight battery(V2.0)and the compass.

interesting that even the compass is involved in the smart battery

Daninho Posted at 2015-1-11 21:28
i was talking about the wild update policy, there were updates and the next day DJI canceled the up ...

Knock on wood I haven't had any of those problem. I did return my for an exchange because the camera motor was having problems and I kept having to bind it daily. They checked it out and it was acting up for them too. So they just decided to replace it. When I fly mine on startup I go out about 100 yards and kick in the CL, RTH, ect..ect. to make sure that is operating right. Yeah I know I am wasting a few minutes but I would rather waste a few minutes then lose the quad. It's not to say something else might go wrong but I feel better on each flight doing this. BTW, I have had one tree wreck. It was totally my fault, to close to a tree limb. Lucky for me it was only about 15 feet up. But anyway it broke two blades and upon hitting the ground the battery popped out. I never understood that because upon each flight I try each time to see if I can pull the battery out.

Daninho Posted at 2015-1-11 18:13
i never said something about fly aways, i was refering to smart battery problems which are indeed n ...

Same opinion, "so many smart battery failures".  I've seen a relatively small number of them reported.  Yes, there was some issue reported on older batteries that has since been fixed but given the number of reports vs the number of flying systems it is still a very low percentage.  It isn't that it grounded any large number of Phantoms when it occurred.

Daninho Posted at 2015-1-11 21:28
i was talking about the wild update policy, there were updates and the next day DJI canceled the up ...

Here is the notice on the battery contacts:
http://www.dji.com/info/releases ... or-phantom-2-vision

http://www.dji.com/info/releases ... or-phantom-2-vision
http://download.dji-innovations. ... elease_Notes_en.pdf

It may be in others also...
"The Phantom 2 Vision is "Ready To Fly," "Ready to Capture" and "Ready to Share" but it is still an aircraft. Keeping contact needles and pads clean is very important. Any dirt and dust may cause a communication failure."

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-1-12 07:30
Here is the notice on the battery contacts:
http://www.dji.com/info/releases/dji-released-a-new-fi ...

droneflyer, i dont have the P2 vision, i have the P2 (H3-3D), so i was never informed about this but in the end it does not matter because i cleaned the contacts several times with with petrolum ether and q-tips. Now i experienced you have to clean them every week even when they appear clean

Remember the release notes you posted are from 2013, the FW changed a lot since then. Phantom2's had similar smart battery problems in the beginning i remember and thats why they kind of deactivated those two pins.

I had the same thing happen to me yesterday with my Phantom 2 when flying over the ocean here in Hawaii.  I was about 100 meters away and watching the Phantom.  The Phantom had a total power failure - all the lights went off and it fell into the ocean 12 meters down.  I'm not sure what happened.  It didn't get sprayed by the water and just fell from the air.  This is my 4th Phantom and I have many hours of experience but this is the first time I've experienced a power failure such as this.  I had thought about the battery, but it was fully inserted.  The only thing I can think of is that perhaps moisture from the air did something to do the circuits.  Bummer...

I've had my P2V+ about a week and I've done maybe 7 flights, everything was working perfectly until today. I posted a new topic earlier and it's gone so I'm not sure if the pics are under review or what.
After a flight I landed at around 35% battery left, turned off the props then turned them back on to do another short flight. Right after they turned on the unit flew fast straight up into a tree. There was a warning message on the app stating the unit was going to "new home position". Compass had been calibrated prior to flight, 10+ GPS satellites were found, S1 and S2 were in top position and never toggled. It fell hard on one of the motor/prop arms and the plastic was damaged. The battery and the other props seemed to still be functioning fine. The camera is working but appears to be tilted to one side.
I don't know what I did wrong, if anything. It seems like some sort of malfunction. It was just out of the blue, I don't get it. I was having so much fun with this thing. I'm really hoping it will be repaired/replaced under warranty.

Man these stories have always made me very nervous when flying over water, and recently I have had my own battery(?) issues that have me thinking I'm really pushing my luck flying over the Gulf of Mexico so often.
This last Friday afternoon, I was filming surfers at Pensacola beach pier when I had the closest call yet. I was facing offshore, appr 15m elevation and probably about 30m off the beach with over 80% battery remaining and all going well. All of a sudden my low voltage warning is going off and my power level is at 20%, and I'm losing altitude. I immediately attempted throttling up without success, but was able to fly it backwards (didn't want to waste time/energy yawning) back onshore and catch land it. it was losing height this whole time and died in my hands before I could manually switch the power off.
Needless to say, if I had been a little further offshore, or a little lower, this could have been a very very bad day. This is the first time I have had a problem with the battery of any sort. When I first got my p2 (4/2014) I had minor compass issues but otherwise perfect performance.
I have 4 batteries, this one in particular has 27 flights, with the 27th being the failure. I did follow the dji instructions re discharging, now wondering whether I will with my 2 younger batteries, which are right at 20 flights each.
The only other variable afaik is that I upgraded to a GoPro 4 recently (the battery in question has flown it successfully twice before failing).
I have the original H3-3D version 1 with the rear port and did have to mod over to the ribbon cable ala version 2 to make it work for fpv.

All that said, I feel like filming over water is what the Phantom does best, and I love doing it. If I couldnt, I'd sell it.
I did have three more fully charged batteries, so I (probably stupidly, and shaking the whole time in fear) went back out, and got some great shots!
Here's a link to the edited video
On Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/117665363
And on YouTube: http://youtu.be/J1FoiVHwm30
As you can see the water was dark and a little rough on this day,  so recovery would have been highly unlikely in the event of a crash.
I am investigating floats right now!
When I get back to my desktop I will post a clip of the failure

Sorry to hear about your phantom Flyryan02. . I was flying in Iceland today and the exact same thing happened to me.... I had never had any previous issues and have easily done over 40+ flights with no problems at all. Then all of a sudden 2 minutes into my flight the drone just shut down as if it lost power and dropped straight to the ground. I had a full battery and it died when I was at 85% from memory. It wasn't a fly away, the thing just dropped mid air. Just wondering what you've done since? Did you manage to get any compensation at all or hAve you just gone out and bought a new one.

Thanks

https://www.facebook.com/photo.p ... ;type=1&theater

This is what I saw with mine after landing.. Yes I did have the battery inserted all way and seated properly. Read my FB post about it.

I just had the same thing happen, and I caught all of the details on a screen recorder.  I am fixing to post it (as soon as it's finished compiling) for DJI to look at.  Full battery and nothing every varied in my battery strength or signal levels, it just dropped straight to the ground.

I just had the exact same thing happen yesterday. You have described it pretty much to a tee.
I had this happen twice last summer,,but after the troubling flight it just seemed to snap out of it,,back to normal operation,,,until now.. Mine was on the third battery of the morning..Full charged batt,,no/little breeze,,no wifi around, no power lines around,no buildings around, and yet about 3mins into flight, while coming down from about 200ft, it started doing the hippy hippy shake. This is quite unnerving to see. All of a sudden I heard the motors shutdown and it face planted from about 60-70ft.
When it started shaking I tried to regain control,,by switching to ATTI,,full throttle straight up,,,fowward/backward,,nothing. I had NO control at all on the phantom at that point,,.
Last summer the same thing happened but I was able to get it back to land(over water) and with it about 2ft off ground it did the very fast face plant..I though it may have been a low or bad batt,,,,but I flew all summer long using the same batt with no issues.
Yesterday up to the point of shutting down the phantom was rock solid,,. Got some awesome shots... I don't believe it was piolet error but rather a defect in the unit somewhere..That however does not make me feel any better about losing 1500.00,,PLUS the kicker is I just got 3 new batts for it,,one of them was doing its first cycle..NO it was not the one that crashed. The batt that was in it proved itself quite a few times..
The really sad part is I'm on a limited income (disability). The phantom was a BIG investment for me and now it's gone,,done.

I just had the exact same thing happen yesterday. You have described it pretty much to a tee.
I had this happen twice last summer,,but after the troubling flight it just seemed to snap out of it,,back to normal operation,,,until now.. Mine was on the third battery of the morning..Full charged batt,,no/little breeze,,no wifi around, no power lines around,no buildings around, and yet about 3mins into flight, while coming down from about 200ft, it started doing the hippy hippy shake. This is quite unnerving to see. All of a sudden I heard the motors shutdown and it face planted from about 60-70ft.
When it started shaking I tried to regain control,,by switching to ATTI,,full throttle straight up,,,fowward/backward,,nothing. I had NO control at all on the phantom at that point,,.
Last summer the same thing happened but I was able to get it back to land(over water) and with it about 2ft off ground it did the very fast face plant..I though it may have been a low or bad batt,,,,but I flew all summer long using the same batt with no issues.
Yesterday up to the point of shutting down the phantom was rock solid,,. Got some awesome shots... I don't believe it was piolet error but rather a defect in the unit somewhere..That however does not make me feel any better about losing 1500.00,,PLUS the kicker is I just got 3 new batts for it,,one of them was doing its first cycle..NO it was not the one that crashed. The batt that was in it proved itself quite a few times..
The really sad part is I'm on a limited income (disability). The phantom was a BIG investment for me and now it's gone,,done.

I just had the exact same thing happen yesterday. You have described it pretty much to a tee.
I had this happen twice last summer,,but after the troubling flight it just seemed to snap out of it,,back to normal operation,,,until now.. Mine was on the third battery of the morning..Full charged batt,,no/little breeze,,no wifi around, no power lines around,no buildings around, and yet about 3mins into flight, while coming down from about 200ft, it started doing the hippy hippy shake. This is quite unnerving to see. All of a sudden I heard the motors shutdown and it face planted from about 60-70ft.
When it started shaking I tried to regain control,,by switching to ATTI,,full throttle straight up,,,fowward/backward,,nothing. I had NO control at all on the phantom at that point,,.
Last summer the same thing happened but I was able to get it back to land(over water) and with it about 2ft off ground it did the very fast face plant..I though it may have been a low or bad batt,,,,but I flew all summer long using the same batt with no issues.
Yesterday up to the point of shutting down the phantom was rock solid,,. Got some awesome shots... I don't believe it was piolet error but rather a defect in the unit somewhere..That however does not make me feel any better about losing 1500.00,,PLUS the kicker is I just got 3 new batts for it,,one of them was doing its first cycle..NO it was not the one that crashed. The batt that was in it proved itself quite a few times..
The really sad part is I'm on a limited income (disability). The phantom was a BIG investment for me and now it's gone,,done.

I know this is of no good fealing but with this sport it is a complete gamble. As with any electronics and being very complicated there can be issues. Some have better luck than others as I have been lucky. I have two vision plus Phantoms with over two years flying and hundreds of hours on batteries. I am.not without crashes or failures but have been able to recover. Biggest issue has been with batteries when they decide to start failing. I have had them drop in a second from 80 percent down to 8 and the quad auto lands right where it's at. Makes no difference to it what's under it. Water , woods or even roadways. We all have to understand that this is a limited hobby. It's and expensive but very enjoyable hobby with no guarantees. What goes up must come down somewhere. It's no if your going to have a failure but when.... Some have better luck and longevity then others. It's fantastic if your one that gets to fly and play for a long time. I'm over due so I guess my crying time will be comming. ENJOY while you can....

"If you do intend to fly over water, using floats or something like Water Buoy will at least let you recover your craft"

This is not the savior for a Drone

seems to be a good idea, maybe use one on each leg