Hi,

As it seems that the well-known risk for spark battery to fall while  flying happened to me. Go buy a cheap battery holder before it happens to you !

I lost the connection while Spark was 500m  height with a lot of battery and no difficult flying conditions. I went  to the 'find my drone' GPS point the map and surprisingly  found the battery at the exact same place! But not the Spark...

I  quickly made the link with the well-known battery pin conception issue,  not well attached to the drone I walked almost 10kms in the open area  with 3 friends for 3 days but didn't find any Spark (flat area, short  grass, private, no wind and no other people)

First, I would like to get a  ticket to get a fees free new Spark on your store. The warranty ended a few month ago but the problem was well known and you didn't manage to handle it. A refund seems to be fair in that case.

Secondly, if you know  with which angle falls a Spark without battery, it would help me to  find it!


Best regards, Valentin

We are deeply sorry for what happened and for your loss. Kindly PM us the serial number of the aircraft so we can further check on this. I will be waiting for your response. Thank you so much!

What was the wind direction at time of the fall? Go from the battery location in tbe direction, the wind has blown the 200 gram body

By the way:
How many flights had the battery?
Around 100 or even more?
Little "pregnancy"/belly syndroms?

There was no wind at ground level but it can be different at 500m height... No dedicated message was displayed on the phone.
The battery had about 30 flight with no aging clue, I use 3 of them. Coming from DIY RC drone, I'm used to old batteries but those still seems brand new.

Best thing to tell:
upload the flight record, or tell the location.
So someone can try to find out how  strong the wind was, but more important, which direction it blew
And get you a better idea for which area to search.

You know someone with a drone? ;-)

Do a low height flight and take pictures.
And get them on a 100+ '' TV!
What color is the bird, what color is the ground?
Green and green?

Sorry to know that mate

Remember to factor in the speed you were flying at. Especially if in sport mode. If it was moving at 30kph at 500m, when the battery fell, inertia will cause the spark to still travel a bit in that direction, before it reaches the ground.
Also don't just look down. Are there any trees? Perhaps it got hung up on a branch?
Any roofs?
What about other people in the area, if kids were playing in the area it fell, perhaps someone picked it up?

Man... that is horrible

I'll try to answer to everybody.

1.The admin answered and as expected, they don't care about a problem for which they should have done a recall for all their defective batteries.
A car manufacturer mandatorily has to do it, especially while they know it can lead to injuries even after warranty. But Dji seems to do not care. Do anyone know if legal proceedings over this subject is launched ? I would like to join it or launch mine.
I was planning to buy the last Mavic 2 soon, but the more I know Dji and the less I want to carry on with them.

"Hi Vatlin, On behalf of DJI I extend my sincere apologies for the issues that you have experienced. However, we can only process warranty service if the unit will fall within the warranty period based on the serial number of the controller it was activated last 11-5-17 and the warranty is beyond 4 months. Once you are out of the warranty period, we can no longer provide warranty service as the lifespan of your unit will depend on the totality of how it was used and all. We hope you understand and again we are sorry for the inconvenience caused."

2. S-e-ven : I didn't find how to upload the flight without the drone, so here is a google maps link to the location : https://goo.gl/maps/uTTVtRnzr422
Private land surrounded by a train line, a river and a forest with no obstacle before 100 meters. In the short grass, I've been able to find a small dark Spark battery but not the White body!

3. GetHigh: I searched in the close forest, looked up in trees, asked neighbors. The battery felt while the drone was braking (it probably felt due to the inclination on its back). The battery felt perfectly straight, 500m bellow on the "find my drone point" which means for me there was no wind. I arrived to the area 5 minutes after the crash, there was no one as always.

Thank you for your support!

I wouldn't imagine the spark could be far away, though I think it would be more carried by the wind, or lack of wind, than the battery.

Ow. Sorry, mate.

Vatlin Posted at 3-20 11:26
I'll try to answer to everybody.

1.The admin answered and as expected, they don't care about a problem for which they should have done a recall for all their defective batteries.

https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/

Edit:
-"I've been able to find a small dark Spark battery but not the White body!"-
(How far away, which direction was that, from the last position mid air?)

That body is just white on top, don't forget that!
I am not good in finding a windstation with details for the area, but there might be a chance, you had  about 40-50km/h, last sunday.
Just I have no idea, which direction !

Upload your flight record, perhaps some of the record-reader can work magic and tell from the angle of the bird.
Also you wrote on 20, you did search for 3 days, that does not get us a day for your flight, just "weekendish" ;-)

Only searching it gets you a chance to find a bird to repare (middle frame?)

I find many people on here are trying to assist you, in recovering your spark.
Best thing you can do is give them all the exact information they request, so they can use their knowledge to facilitate a resolution.
If there was a wind, the battery will be far less affected by it than the Spark.
The spark is significantly lighter without it's battery.
Mass, aerodynamics, inertia etc, all factor into the effects of the wind.
All those trees, where you looked up but did not see it. Easy to miss a little spark in tree branches. Try taking high resolution photos, looking up and across those trees. Perhaps then blowing up the images on a computer and examining them, you might see something.

Here it is, the flight record!
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/JD02G68NEOUREWTE0LH6/

The battery was at the exact point where I lost the connection, except I obviously found it 500 meters below.

I remember wind history was available on https://www.windy.com but I'm not able to make it work anymore

The crash happened on 2019-03-05 at 5:30PM. I searched for 3 days and stopped, hoping asking Dji a refund to be more energy efficient.

Sorry to read that buddy

Maybe you did not put in the battery enough.

sparkdrone Posted at 4-2 17:42
Maybe you did not put in the battery enough.

It's nonsense! Try to put it in place without clicking it! This is impossible!
If you do not click on it, it cannot be turned on. Everyone who says this is not aware of its operation.
The problem is a design error. The retaining pin is inclined at an angle of inclination, which can gradually loosen from the vibration and then fall off.

Auto-rotation is a well-known phenomenon in helicopters.
The wind will start rotating the falling Spark rotors backwards.

In August 2018, my Spark stopped at a height of 90m due to battery loosening. I saw it fall down, but not completely fast. The rotors and propeller defenders slowed down the fall.
If there is wind then you can go anywhere you fall.
From a height of 500m when falling, in a circle with a diameter of 3-400m, it can be anywhere.

Well obviously you knew about the battery issue.... and had no problems flying your drone when you wanted to not only that you're also knowing this put people in jeopardy.....because  you crashed at more than 1,600 feet high it's their problem?  and demanding stuff won't get you anywhere. I think you should just put your head down and walk away slowly from this one.

Jimmy hoffa Posted at 6-14 03:54
Well obviously you knew about the battery issue.... and had no problems flying your drone when you wanted to not only that you're also knowing this put people in jeopardy.....because  you crashed at more than 1,600 feet high it's their problem?  and demanding stuff won't get you anywhere. I think you should just put your head down and walk away slowly from this one.

The DJI is putting people at risk because it has designed such a weak locking. When the problem came out, he did not recall his product and did not disclose how to fix it.
The solution was taken by a third party manufacturer and released a battery mount.