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P4 Battery stopped in mid air
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4286 56 2016-3-25
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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Hi, this is a brand new battery, purchased and fully charged. Testing at home, please see the battery meter, it suddenly started moving right to left and turned off. P4 started to fell and suddenly battery went on again but too late. I used another battery and fly the P4 for 20 minutes with no problem. Now I feel afraid of flying it. It never happened with my P3. Someone had same problem?


2016-3-25
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Mad_Angler1
First Officer
Flight distance : 2741657 ft
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United Kingdom
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That's a bad one never seen that before, you will need to return that battery hope the craft was ok
2016-3-25
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pgrover516
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United States
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2016-3-25
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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I flew today the P4 with annother battery for 20 minutes without trouble...weird
2016-3-26
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madaerial
lvl.2
Flight distance : 512251 ft
United States
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Commenting mostly to remind myself to check back on this. DAMN. That's a terrifying video. Like nightmare fuel. I will think of it every time I ascend past 100 meters from now until it finally happens to me. You have the newest remote firmware? I remember reading that they changed the stick configuration for killing the motors because it was happening to people mid flight. Now it's a stick and RTH. Used to be both sticks down and out. Maybe you did that with the old remote firmware? I'm really hoping.....because if there is enough play for it to lose connection....... this isn't the worst we will see.
2016-3-26
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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madaerial Posted at 2016-3-27 02:42
Commenting mostly to remind myself to check back on this. DAMN. That's a terrifying video. Like nigh ...

Madaerial, this is with the latest firmware and just to make it clear, I'm an experienced pilot with several Phantoms before and that never happened to me. I was lucky that my son was recording it since I was showing him the P4 object avoidance capabilities. Please watch the video carefully since there are some weird things that happened. First the battery leds started flashing very weird, then all leds went OFF, P4 started falling down and suddenly leds went back ON just before hitting ground. Believe me, when I flew it later with another battery, I was afraid as hell, but it flew very well with no issues. Hope is a battery thing. I  created a ticket @ DJI support and waiting for their response. I sent them the video. Will keep you informed with any update.
2016-3-27
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FAS1
lvl.4

United States
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WOWZA!!! That is crazy!!!
2016-3-27
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Donnie
First Officer
Flight distance : 3636782 ft
United States
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lcajiga Posted at 2016-3-27 11:25
Madaerial, this is with the latest firmware and just to make it clear, I'm an experienced pilot wit ...

I would not fly with that pack for sure.  Can you inspect the contacts inside of the P4 and see if anything seems out of tolerance. That is really scary.  I have heard of acouple  pilots that this has happend to .  The video is very good evidence, and I tell you would be heard to believe if I did not just see it....WOW

Thanks for sharing- donnie
2016-3-27
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Fred0860
lvl.2
Flight distance : 236184 ft
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France
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While I would be surprised if this ends up being the situation given your experience and statements, may I ask if you upgraded the firmware of your new battery?

I am a first-time owner of a DJI product, and admit that I found the firmware upgrade process is not without quirks: having to go through an aircraft firmware upgrade process for each new battery being one of them, if even if there is a logic to it...

I also want to make clear that I do not know if flying with a battery with an out-of-date firmware could cause the problem you have experienced.
2016-3-27
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mattd
lvl.3

Australia
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Mad_Angler1 Posted at 2016-3-26 07:24
That's a bad one never seen that before, you will need to return that battery hope the craft was ok

Really need the logs for DJI so they can see what went wrong.
2016-3-28
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mattd
lvl.3

Australia
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lcajiga Posted at 2016-3-27 08:15
I flew today the P4 with annother battery for 20 minutes without trouble...weird

Hi Icajiga, you really need to get the logs to DJI, this video is great and all, but with out the logs - DJI can't fix the problem.

Also if you want to check for errors in the logs yourself, go to https://healthydrones.com and upload the DJI Go logs there for the particular flight and you can check the errors/warnings.

We need this so we can see what the actual issue was.

Thank you for showing us the video! now hopefully you can get the logs too.
2016-3-28
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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mattd Posted at 2016-3-28 04:57
Hi Icajiga, you really need to get the logs to DJI, this video is great and all, but with out the  ...

Thanks Mattd for the tip. I uploades the log data and inspected all elements but there is no indication that anything went wrong. Out of the two new extra batteries I purchased from DJI, one crashed my P4 and the other one, after one flight, wen completely dead. No leds when pressing the power 0n/off button and do not take any charge...go figure
2016-3-28
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Kneepuck
Second Officer
Flight distance : 275105 ft
United States
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Wow!  Even accidental csc would not do that.  You can clearly see the battery power leds turn off just before it falls.  I don't know how that could be anything but a defective battery.  Even poor contact inside the Phantom would not cause the battery to turn off like that.  Hope it did no other damage to your Phantom,  but if it did that is clearly a warranty issue.
2016-3-28
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Geebax
Captain
Australia
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Kneepuck Posted at 2016-3-29 12:46
Wow!  Even accidental csc would not do that.  You can clearly see the battery power leds turn off ju ...

Yes, I agree, it should be covered by warranty. I don't see any way that action could be normal.
2016-3-28
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Khan
lvl.1

Canada
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Great, I just purchased two batteries from DJI a couple days ago. Was the led's flashing off and on like the video shows before it was put into the p4?
2016-3-28
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Geebax
Captain
Australia
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It just occurred to me that the green LEDs on the batterey blinking like that should not happen unless you press the button. I wonder if that incident was caused by a faulty button on the battery that became stuck on while it was flying?
2016-3-28
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DJI-Tim
DJI team

Hong Kong
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Looks very strange! Where did you purchase the battery? We need this battery here in RD to do the testing and analysis,   could you also provide us your flight logs. Thank you!
2016-3-28
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oj88
lvl.4
Flight distance : 36916 ft
United States
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The LEDs does seem to indicate that the battery responded to the power button being pressed. But since nobody was near the aircraft at the time it happened, it's gotta be a manufacturing defect.


2016-3-29
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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DJI-Tim Posted at 2016-3-29 03:53
Looks very strange! Where did you purchase the battery? We need this battery here in RD to do the te ...

I purchased them from DJI Store
2016-3-29
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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Khan Posted at 2016-3-29 01:10
Great, I just purchased two batteries from DJI a couple days ago. Was the led's flashing off and on  ...

When I inserted the battery all leds were OFF. After I turned ON, it behaved normal, after a couple of seconds, it started behaving as you see in the video
2016-3-29
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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Geebax Posted at 2016-3-29 01:22
It just occurred to me that the green LEDs on the batterey blinking like that should not happen unle ...

That would make a lot of sense if the battery went OFF but before hitting the floor, you can see the battery turned ON again. After the crash, the battery remained ON as normal and I turned it OFF with no issue
2016-3-29
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pgrover516
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2016-3-29
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Geebax
Captain
Australia
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lcajiga Posted at 2016-3-29 23:27
That would make a lot of sense if the battery went OFF but before hitting the floor, you can see t ...

Yes, it could still be explained by a faulty power button on the battery though. I would take the DJI offer and send the battery to them.
2016-3-29
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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pgrover516 Posted at 2016-3-29 08:37
Holy cow! both batteries bad? I would be worried if there was something off with the drone causing ...

DJI requested to send the two batteries, the P4 and controller for inspection. Interesting that they say I need to pay shipping to their facilities and they will pay shipping back. That is the worst customer service I have experienced. They saw in a video what happened, that because a faulty product I crashed my $1,400 aircraft and still they want me to pay!!! That sucks big time. They offered nothing for the agravation. Anyways, I will see how long it take and what they will do to ease my pain. Will keep you informed
2016-3-29
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stalked-buddha
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2016-3-29
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DroneTech
lvl.2

Canada
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That drone should also be replaced by DJI if this in fact was an issue with the battery. That impact could of done some internal damage to the electronics.
2016-3-29
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Nink
lvl.2

Canada
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I had a faulty battery out of box a few months and I took it back to dealer I purchased it from. He took a look, saw it was new, only one flight and it had a faulty cell so he handed me another battery.  That is how customer service should work.  
2016-3-29
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pgrover516
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United States
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2016-3-30
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
United States
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Paid today more than $40.00 to send it Priority Mail. If it finally was a faulty batt, I hope then replace not just the batteries but the Phantom also.
2016-3-30
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Bennyboy1983
lvl.3
Flight distance : 141089 ft
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United Kingdom
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Dji customer service is shocking!, your not the only one!.
2016-3-30
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Donnie
First Officer
Flight distance : 3636782 ft
United States
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lcajiga Posted at 2016-3-30 09:55
Paid today more than $40.00 to send it Priority Mail. If it finally was a faulty batt, I hope then r ...

    Hold on Now, lets see what they do after they get it .  If it indeed is there fault , they should pay the Shipping.  I think it is just good policy to have the customer pay the Shipping until they find out where the fault  lays .  I have seen this work both ways, cutomer swears they did nothing and it turns out they did some "Surgery " or it was crashed Prior  .There current Policy makes the best sense    .  Pilots they are running a Business here.  Let's see how it all plays out first.  I do agree if it is a manufacturing defect DJI should pay the Shipping both ways  .  If  Not, customer pays.

-donnie
2016-3-30
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Morph1
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2016-3-30
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a.peter
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THIS IS LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME! I knew this would happen on another person's P4! I'm not sure if you've seen my multi-page thread about this happening to my drone. Except for me, this happened at 200 ft AGL and fell into a tree. Battery shut off and it fell out of the air. After 12 or so minutes of clear sky, no wind air. I've been called names, harassed and insulted for pilot error. My drone has been with DJI for about 2 weeks and their customer service is awful. They keep telling me that they'll call and update me on what the flight analyst has discovered but never do... I know the drone came down without my doing.
I have never been so aggravated as a customer of a product before. I wish I had the same video of my drone falling out of the sky as yours did.

Lights went off and it rag dolled out of the sky. In my P4 recorded video, the video just cuts out. In my P4 flight log, you can see there is 0 pilot input on the transmitter's controls.
2016-3-30
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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Morph1 Posted at 2016-3-30 23:28
I bet my empty wallet that the operator CSC'd that drone , just send the DAT file to DJI and they  ...

You will loose your money bro. I don't think you saw the video. How can I turn off the battery with the control? Didn't you see the leds went off? You may see the flight log and there was no input from the controller when that happened. Interesting that DJI never asked me to send the log, seems to me there is something wrong that they know. The second battery drained out and don't charge, a battery that was never used on flight. In my opinion there are problems with some batteries and time will tell
2016-3-31
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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a.peter Posted at 2016-3-31 01:00
THIS IS LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME! I knew this would happen on another pers ...

I red the thread now. I think I haven't have a lot of people blaming me since luckily my son was recording what happened. In my case the battery was well inserted, otherwise after crash it would fell out. Also is very clear in the video that battery leds went off in mid air and there is no way with the controller that I may do that. The battery had power. It turned on just before hitting the ground. Afterwards I flew the P4 with that battery a couple of inches from the floor just to let it drain and it had no problem.
2016-3-31
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lcajiga
lvl.2
Flight distance : 145384 ft
Puerto Rico
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In another note. I inserted the battery that caused the crash inside the P4 for shipping along with the other battery that don't want to charge and it was fully charged. At the next day, while I was driving to the postal office, I heard the P4 sound like it was going to turn on. After opening the case and inspecting it, the battery inserted in the P4 didn't want to turn on. When I pressed the on/off button, no led came on. Exactly the same that happened to the other battery included in the package. Since I was at the postal office, I didn't try to connect it to the battery charger so I don't know if it will charge or no. Just to let you know. That means that both extra batteries that I purchased had a weird behaviour. The battery that came with the P4 is OK and holding the charge. BTW that's the one I used for the only time I could flew my P4 over my area and worked flawlessly.

As I mentioned before, I'm an experienced pilot and had a P2 and later a P3 for one year that flew several times, even over sea with NO problems at all. I sold my P3 to get the P4 in hope will get a better aircraft. Guess time will tell if I did a good choice.

If you want to see some of my P3 flights, here are some youtube examples:







There are plenty more in my channel.
2016-3-31
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Morph1
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Canada
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2016-3-31
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lcajiga
lvl.2
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United States
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Morph1 Posted at 2016-3-31 09:42
Relax mate I Can't say I believe you 100%  because I just wasn't there when that happened to you, I ...

Got it. Thanks bro, hope they find the issue for the sake of everyone
2016-3-31
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microcyb
Second Officer
Flight distance : 1095955 ft
United States
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Sadly you got a product that was rushed due to the high demand overwhelmed production so quality assurance steps were skipped or missed by staff who were pushed to get production volumes met.

Always a common mistake for any major product development corporation because they have to rely on third party vendors to supply required components quicker then anticipated.

They should have adjusted for the high demand by providing customers a discount for additional items such as an extra battery 50% off if they would elect to wait due to the high orders they received.  This would keep the quality checks in place and avoid this scenario.

Executive Business 101, but always gets ignored sadly.

You only option is to get a repair service request in.
2016-3-31
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Ulysse
Second Officer
Flight distance : 1389931 ft
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Belgium
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Morph1 Posted at 2016-3-31 05:28
I bet my empty wallet that the operator CSC'd that drone , just send the DAT file to DJI and they  ...

CSC stops the motors. It does not turn off the battery !
2016-3-31
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