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Spark not taking off and smashing into the ground
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19737 65 2018-6-23
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HungryBackpack
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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Hey Folks,
  
  
I had this occasional error for quite a while. I tried to contact the DJI support about it, but nobody responded. Well, I've reset the firmware with the Assistant2 app and the problem was gone...until today.
  
  
Basically the drone will only start half way, smashing into and bouncing off the ground. It's very funny to watch if it's not your drone :-) I even had a near miss over the ocean 100m from the beach where the drone suddenly lost altitude, did a dip into the water and luckily restored a stable flight thereafter. It really touched the water surface and I thought that’s it, I had no control over it. That was the time when I installed the previous firmware onto the drone, fired it up and re-installed the latest firmware shortly after that. Everything was working again, this was approximately 4 month ago.
  
  
Yesterday I flew over some rice fields with no incident, everything was normal.
  
  
Today the error reappeared…stronger than ever…I tried palm launch, off the ground launch, with OTG cable and on WiFi. On WiFi I was able to get the bird off the ground but it was not a normal flight. The drone was somewhat “vibrating” and definitely not performing as intended.
  
  
I made a video of the problem. The quality is a bit low but it shows the error quite well.
  
  
I logged a new ticket with the DJI support today, but so far no response.
  
  
Keep you posted….


  

2018-6-23
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Marcus_R
First Officer
Flight distance : 282077 ft
Australia
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Do you have DJI props on it?
2018-6-23
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HungryBackpack
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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Yes, all original...latest firmware and latest app running on a Sony Xperia Ultra XA
2018-6-23
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Fltliberty
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1899708 ft
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Having the same issues with my spark. Did as DJI chat suggested, reinstalled firmware, latest iOS app, even tried on android
Still does it. On test flight after reinstalling firmware, I had it about 75 feet up, started to land it, saw it was descending
Too fast, went to full power, it still descended and hit my roof, slid down and broke a light cover off. All this is my first problems
With my spark, I have flown 38 and 1/2 hours on my spark and not any problems until now. I sent it in for repairs
And am waiting for  the issue to be addressed. DJI received it yesterday 6-22-18
Edit, I have 5 batteries 2 of which are less than 1 month old, and it has the same issue on all batteries
2018-6-23
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S-e-ven
Captain
Flight distance : 5910961 ft
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It is a known problem. On few Sparks.
Till now just not adressed as such by DJI.
All my records I did send to them: "all works fine"

I try ro find a trigger, so that the DJI engineers can reproduce it themselve in the lab, when sending my drone in.
And I have the idea, that the battery may be part of it.
2018-6-23
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Gunship9
Captain
United States
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Make sure the motors are clean and not binding with debris in them or bent from previous crashes.
2018-6-23
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stuka75
First Officer
Flight distance : 85682 ft
United States
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Looks like a battery thats lost capacity(power). See if problem is same battery since you've had good flight and some bad.
2018-6-23
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S.J
Captain
Flight distance : 322454 ft
United Kingdom
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this is very normal for a SPARK.  just remove , inspect and reattach the prop blades .  Start the motors using the RC and then lift off from ground..
2018-6-23
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HungryBackpack
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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The propellers are straight and in perfect condition. The motors are also free and turn easily. Yesterday I could fly both batteries with no problem at all. It's very weird and I'm happy that I'm not the only one.

What happens when I loose my drone because of that? DJI didn't reply yet...again
2018-6-23
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DJI Stephen
DJI team
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We do apologize for the inconvenience. This is not the experience we want you to have with your DJI Spark. I understand that you have already created a repair ticket for you DJI Spark. If you have created this ticket online at https://repair.dji.com/repair/index you will be receiving an email 24 to 48 hours after you have completed the online repair request. I also understand that you are using a Sony Xperia Ultra XA as the mobile device for your DJI Spark. I've tried to check the Sony Xperia Ultra XA if it is already a part of the recommended mobile device for the DJI Spark and I found out that the Sony Xperia Ultra XA is not yet a part of the list of the recommended mobile device for the Drone. When using a non recommended device, some of the functions of the DJI Go4 application and the DJI Spark might not work properly. I will be posting the list of recommended mobile devices for the DJI Spark for reference.

2018-6-23
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S-e-ven
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S.J Posted at 2018-6-23 05:09
this is very normal for a SPARK.  just remove , inspect and reattach the prop blades .  Start the motors using the RC and then lift off from ground..

Na, it is not!
It is difficult to confirm/trigger that behavior when you need it.
In service, p.ex.!
Trust me, I have 2 sparks and both using the same batteries and are on about
the same numbers of flights, now.
But only one is having such strange behavior, every now and then.
And even thinking that the battery can have something to do with it:
I "can not get" the "good" spark to do that with the one battery, it started on the other one.

Na, this is not normal (video from a malaysian pilot, offering the workaround 'slow RC starting, not using the app - which worked for some time, on my "bad boy")


2018-6-23
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S-e-ven
Captain
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Oh, I have a video of mine, too!




2018-6-23
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Mirek6
First Officer
Flight distance : 609724 ft
Canada
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HungryBackpack,

Please confirm that you are using Remote Controller and not mobile alone. From your description I believe you are (you mention OTG) but please confirm. Please also confirm that Spark bounces without any input from the sticks (or better yet upload you flight log which is corresponding to the video you posted).

I am asking for this so we could intelligently respond to DJI Stephen. I believe he is on completely wrong track talking about your mobile not being supported and, by this, suggesting that this fact may have anything to do with your Spark behaviour.

As other forum members mentioned above, this erratic behaviour is a known issue and DJI needs to own to it.

But before I respond to DJI Stephen, I need this info from you.
2018-6-23
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HungryBackpack
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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I cannot believe that anyone would call this a normal behaviour except DJI off course. I'm using the remote control and I think I might have tried to gain height while the drone was bouncing. In the end I landed by holding down the stick. Apart from that...no inputs.

Thanks Mirek here is the logfile from my phone.

DJIFlightRecord_2018-06-23_[10-29-17].zip

31.73 KB, Down times: 10

2018-6-23
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stuka75
First Officer
Flight distance : 85682 ft
United States
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The log shows the starting battery percentage as 82%. Should read in the high 90's as in fully charged. IF that was a fully charged battery, then its not going to put out power it needs. This may be an issue, however, it could be related to the VPS. Whether partially blocked or in failure somehow.
Hope you get it worked out.
2018-6-24
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Mirek6
First Officer
Flight distance : 609724 ft
Canada
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stuka75 Posted at 2018-6-24 08:25
The log shows the starting battery percentage as 82%. Should read in the high 90's as in fully charged. IF that was a fully charged battery, then its not going to put out power it needs. This may be an issue, however, it could be related to the VPS. Whether partially blocked or in failure somehow.
Hope you get it worked out.

Stuka,

This is not 82% capacity battery problem. I do often fly with almost 0% battery (doing all kinds of experiments pushing Spark's boundaries). BTW - please do no try it just because I said I did - you may render your battery useless if you discharge it to zero. Polymer-ion batteries hate total discharge. I experiment and push to better understand what may or may not happen.

Yes - I guess that it is possible that intelligent battery, due to h/w malfunction, outputs very uneven current. However, this is a long shot and speculation only DJI can check and answer.

I will check logs this evening and see if there is anything which we can learn.

If not, I will reply to DJI Stephen.
2018-6-24
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Junior SBC
Captain
Flight distance : 476483 ft
Brazil
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Hello,
Watching the video above, I remember what happened to me and two friends of mine and the solution was DJI Assistant 2 for PC, with the radio turned off and Spark connected to the PC with fully charged battery:
1- Plug your PC to Spark over the USB (power Spark)
2- Open DJI Assistant 2 from PC
3- You will ask for your DJI username and password and a verification code
4- Select a square "Spark"
5- In firmware, restore to factory defaults (in blue)
6 - Then upgrade to firmware 0.900 (the last so far)
It will download the firmware, unpack and install it in Spark (time from 5 to 15 minutes, depends on your Internet connection)

I have no news if it was necessary to re-calibrate IMU and compass, for me, it was not necessary and this procedure also solved a problem of the front LEDs being turned off.

Hope this helps.

2018-6-24
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HungryBackpack
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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Battery was at 82% because it was the fifth time in a row I tried to launch it. Everytime the same problem.

I reinstalled the firmware once and I did a lot of IMU calibrations already.

Thing is...if this has anything to do with IMU or battery failure or any other thing I didn't do, it should give me a warning so that I don't try to takeoff and drown the drone in the pool if I do.

Right now it's like...yeah you did something wrong bla bla bla...but we don't know what, so don't do it aigain...
2018-6-24
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Junior SBC
Captain
Flight distance : 476483 ft
Brazil
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It is worth remembering that it is necessary to restore to factory defaults and then upgrade directly to the latest firmware version. If you did this correctly, I'm sorry, I tried to help. Sincerely, I wish you good luck.
2018-6-24
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Mirek6
First Officer
Flight distance : 609724 ft
Canada
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HungryBackpack Posted at 2018-6-24 16:58
Battery was at 82% because it was the fifth time in a row I tried to launch it. Everytime the same problem.

I reinstalled the firmware once and I did a lot of IMU calibrations already.

HugryBackpack,

1.        I believe that you did take off from DJI GO app, not using RC sticks. Logs show that your sticks did not activate until 11 seconds after start.
Your Spark bounces almost immediately from the start. This could indeed mean DJI GO App s/w issue (perhaps incompatibility with your Android device which DJI Stephen seems to suggest). But – I do not believe this to be culprit. Read on.

2.        Two altimeters – barometric and VPS – start getting out of whack at 4.1 s – the first bounce of your Spark. Barometric keeps steady while VPS bounces down. No input from sticks. They are out of whack until you land.

3.        Spark cannot hold its horizontal position – pitch and roll variations are sudden and quite pronounced. Spark’s IMU h/w is responsible for keeping Spark horizontal and it has trouble keeping up. All this happens spontaneously – with no input from RC sticks.

4.        At 11s you react with your sticks and put a bit of throttle up. If the issues were caused by DJI GO incompatibility with your mobile, the problem would have stopped here because your RC took over from the app. However, the Spark bounces violently again.

5.        There are three gaps in logs were VPS does not show any value – not even zero. This happens at the apex of Spark’s altitude just before the AC goes down.

6.        You put the throttle stick all the way down starting forced landing at 13.5 secs. Spark obeys your commands.

I don’t believe this is DJI Go App incompatibility as DJI Stephen suggests.
I don’t believe this is a battery issue, and certainly nothing to do with battery being partially discharged. It is remotely possible that your battery is simply damaged, and its current output is uneven, but I still don’t believe this is the case. It is easy to check by changing battery and see if symptoms persist.
I don’t believe you did anything wrong.

I do suspect either h/w issue with VPS or messed up firmware. However, if you did reinstall firmware and re-calibrated IMU already (as you say you did), this is not firmware.
The logical culprit remaining is faulty VPS h/w, with IMU h/w issue a distant second. We have seen it many times before and, seeing your logs, I believe your symptoms are consistent with the ones we have seen before on this forum.

Now – do not take my words here as a certainty. This is an educated guess based on experience and analysis of your logs.

I would contact DJI Support. If they try to talk nonsense about incompatibility of your mobile with DJI GO again, do the following experiment. Connect Spark to RC and RC to mobile. When your DJI Go allows you to start flying, disconnect your mobile and start your Spark using RC only. And … watch it bounce.
Please keep us informed about progress and results of this case. We are here to help but also to leran. Solving your case can help others in the future.

2018-6-24
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Mirek6
First Officer
Flight distance : 609724 ft
Canada
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Junior SBC Posted at 2018-6-24 17:50
It is worth remembering that it is necessary to restore to factory defaults and then upgrade directly to the latest firmware version. If you did this correctly, I'm sorry, I tried to help. Sincerely, I wish you good luck.

Thank you Junior SBC - this is correct. If firware issue (posisble in this case) HungryBackpack should make sure that he did restore to factory defaults first.

@HungryBackpack,

Check it out to make sure that this was the case before jumping to anything else I suggested above.
2018-6-24
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HungryBackpack
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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OMG Mirek, thanks a lot for taking the time and working through my log-file. You are not DJI are you?

Well, what I did some time ago (my drone almost went for a dive in the ocean) was to factory reset the Spark via Assistant2. I really tried to reset everything, not sure what to do with the remote though. This basically solved the issue for the time being. But I always launched via palm launch since then because I thought it might get around the initial height measurement when starting from ground. I'm still convinced that it's a sensor error which is not picked up by the software.

I will do a reset of the firmware, calibrate the IMU and test the aircraft with mobile and without. I guess it will take some time for the issue to re-appear, but I'll keep you posted in any case.

Once again, thanks so much for taking the time everyone...please call me Martin :-)

PS: I opened a support ticket...I guess that doesn't really do much because nobody ever responses. I'll open a repair ticked as soon as possible and see what DJI has to say
2018-6-24
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HungryBackpack
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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OK I reset the drone to factory default and re-installed the latest firmware. Went out for a test and off course it works like a charm again. Like last time :-)

Tested both batteries where one was at only 35%...no problem at all.

I'll open a new thread when the error re-appears, let's see how long it takes :-)
2018-6-26
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Fltliberty
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1899708 ft
United States
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Follow up from my spark after I sent it to the North America repair....repair bill  was 373.00  said it needed gimbal, main board, and both parts of body, I told them to return it because it was fully functional
When I sent it in, all it needed was to be able to take off at full power, everything else was fully functional WTF? It would act exactly like  HungryBackPak’s on takeoff, I have 5 batteries
And almost 40 hours of flight time on my spark. Not happy it didn’t get repaired
2018-7-2
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Fltliberty
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1899708 ft
United States
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Forgot to mention that there are at least 2 more threads  about the same power / takeoff issues since mid June, DJI Needs to look into this, not dismiss it
2018-7-2
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MartyTravels
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Indonesia
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alright, it just happened again today. So, I had 2 weeks of almost normal operation. I write almost because there were other funny errors.

Today I palm launched the drone and it hovered in front of me. Everything seemed ok...when I pushed the left stick upwards to let the drone gain some height....it just went down into the beach. The motors were still running almost like when you pull it down from 50 meters but it there were no 50 meters below...just 1.5 :-(

This time it's broken. It got sand into the motors which are not turning freely anymore. Now DJI will have to deal with it, but I'll open a new thread about it with the flight logs.
2018-7-10
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djiuser_gMyhRZAAtylQ
New

Vietnam
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Great post.
2018-10-29
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DeuceDriv3r
First Officer
Flight distance : 4698533 ft
United States
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I think its just more issues with the .1000 firmware..


can those folks that have had this confirm the firmware version they were running at the time....

lets see if we can narrow it down to a firmware update

2018-10-29
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Tentoes
Captain
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United States
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S-e-ven Posted at 2018-6-23 05:39
Na, it is not!
It is difficult to confirm/trigger that behavior when you need it.
In service, p.ex.!

I've been reading of this perplexing problem, but have never experienced it. I always start the motors with the sticks, then take off with the stick. I also learned to turn the motors off with the stick so I don't turn it over when I catch it.

Has anybody with the problem tested the two different takeoff methods as described here?

Hmm. I thought replying would copy the video too. Here it is:




Having worked in software for decades, I feel for the guys at DJI trying to figure this out. A problem SOME users have SOME times that you can't repeat is a nightmare.
2018-10-29
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S-e-ven
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DeuceDriv3r Posted at 2018-10-29 07:12
I think its just more issues with the .1000 firmware..

I think, i wrote that before, but I can tell you, I had this problem the first time on the 4. of October, last year.
Either still on .600 or on .701, not 100% sure of this.
But for sure I had it on .701, and it was still there, till/on .900

But just one of my birds had it, both updated to/with the same fw.
In the beginning, it was every 20 Flights, or such, in may, long time on .900 already, it was happen some days almost every battery.
Even WITH stick starting, only.
But I pushed it, since it "just needed to be 2m off the ground",  to stay away from the ground.

Then also it started, that the bird asked always every flight day once or twice for IMU calibration. After calibration it was "better", for some time (a day, two, ...)

Now I have it back from repair (.1000) and till now it is still ok. Havent flown it that much, still knocking on wood.
But the other one is on .1000, and is not showing this , till now.

I think it is hardware related, powermanagment parts failing, perhaps.
Because just in May it started, that not only one battery was always in the bird when it happens.
In may I had it with almost all batteries.
And in every flight log, I checked from such flights, I saw cell deviation, greater 0.1V.
For 1 or 2 seconds, after it was gone.
And: the very same batteries rotated to the other bird without such problems.


2018-10-29
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stijn_servaas
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Uganda
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I've been having the same problem, my first Spark had this every time it took off so I contacted DJI. i sent it in for the warranty repair and they sent back a new aircraft. has the same problem... please keep us updated on any fixes.
2018-12-1
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fans687a79c2
Second Officer
Hong Kong
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I have similar experience when flying with my Hubsan small drone in which I installed with non-Hubsan props. Doing so the drone jumped up and down unpredictablly. The problem usually solved by reinstalling with the original props came with the drone.  I therefore think that there may be difference among the props (shape, hardness, stiffness, angles etc.) that the drone cannot handle, though it is only my best guess.

Touchwood, my Spark still working without this phenomenon by now and it installed with DJI props.
2018-12-2
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wimherman
Second Officer
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Norway
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DeuceDriv3r Posted at 10-29 07:12
I think its just more issues with the .1000 firmware..

I got a new Spark as in a service case. Got it with latest FW already installed. And it works quite perfect actually.
2018-12-2
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MartyTravels
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
Mexico
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Yeah...after re-installing the firmware for the controller and the aircraft a few time it seems that it works again...for now :-) Who knows what that is...I guess we'll never find out.
2018-12-2
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Lex_Luchor
Second Officer
Flight distance : 98179 ft
Spain
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Hi!

One month ago I had two issues with my Spark, when he tried to take off suddenly the drone went to the ground.

These are the logs of the "flights":

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/HX3GERC1C9X5CGWSY6KK

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/2HRV1ZCZBLHXMW0DJP8Z/

Looks like the same problem. What I can do?

Thanks!
2018-12-27
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MartyTravels
First Officer
Flight distance : 394173 ft
United States
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Hey Lex,

unlucky you...until now nobody really know what causes this behavior. There have been a few speculation that it might be related to the propellers used. However, I always used the original provided until today and I had this issue regardless. What helped me in the end was up- and downgrading the firmware of the bird and controller a few times and now it works without problem. I'm using the latest soft and firmware.

I always expect it to happen again, so when I start my Spark I make sure that it can't crash into the sand again or water or down a cliff :-)

Good luck
2018-12-27
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SAADHERO
First Officer
Flight distance : 2269905 ft
Kuwait
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MartyTravels Posted at 12-27 10:28
Hey Lex,

unlucky you...until now nobody really know what causes this behavior. There have been a few speculation that it might be related to the propellers used. However, I always used the original provided until today and I had this issue regardless. What helped me in the end was up- and downgrading the firmware of the bird and controller a few times and now it works without problem. I'm using the latest soft and firmware.

try Csc Take off
2018-12-27
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Strobing_NYC
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Flight distance : 3866470 ft
United States
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S.J Posted at 6-23 05:09
this is very normal for a SPARK.  just remove , inspect and reattach the prop blades .  Start the motors using the RC and then lift off from ground..

this is normal for the spark? WTF are you talking about!! Both of my Sparks have never had the "bounce" syndrome and hopefully never will. To me it looks like an issue with the VPS system, I don't have the issue so can't test to see. However I have seen this exact issue since day 1 on other Sparks
2018-12-27
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S.J
Captain
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Kuwait
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Strobing_NYC Posted at 12-27 15:36
this is normal for the spark? WTF are you talking about!! Both of my Sparks have never had the "bounce" syndrome and hopefully never will. To me it looks like an issue with the VPS system, I don't have the issue so can't test to see. However I have seen this exact issue since day 1 on other Sparks
I have VPS issue and obstacle sensor issue and the DJI service center could not repair them yet the SPARK did its part with high precision to home location.  
2018-12-29
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SAADHERO
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Flight distance : 2269905 ft
Kuwait
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S.J Posted at 12-29 15:53
I have VPS issue and obstacle sensor issue and the DJI service center could not repair them yet the SPARK did its part with high precision to home location.

my spark has issue where camera is facing left ever so slightly
went to them in Kuwait city lol waste of time
and once for battery latch they said they all are small even tho i have ones with large latch they dont help
2018-12-30
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