September 2018. Flying over ocean in Oregon, battery at 42% suddenly 0% battery in a millisecond, force landing alert and MA lands in two feet of saltwater and sand. Used my DJI refresh and had a brand new MA sent with replacement battery. Even though this was NOT pilot error, as I needed the aircraft to log my vacation and keep the wife happy that I shelled out a grand for this thing. (Did get some very nice vids and stills, so I'm still married) Fast forward to last weekend. Flying in Lake Tahoe, 47% battery, suddenly 0% battery, same scenario. Force landing, etc. Luckily soft landing into some pine boughs about 200" away from home, 5' off the ground. Talked to DJI and was told to send unit with all 3 batteries and controller. Of course, I synced all flight logs, etc. Just received an invoice to replace a flight board due to impact on MA. WHAT?????? This was NOT pilot error! I have been flying for over two years and know my way around flying, not to mention real aircraft! I am appalled that DJI has the nerve to present me with a repair bill. The logs CLEARLY show this being an aircraft error. I'm quickly losing faith in DJI and their products. Good luck to you all if this should happen to you.

Hi, I do apologize for what happened and for the whole situation.  We will forward it to the designated department for further investigations. Please bear with us while we handle your case accordingly. Thank you.

DJIFlightRecord_2019-05-04_[13-15-47].txt
[url]DJIFlightRecord_2019-05-04_[14-15-57].txt

Thanks for your response. I have submitted these flight records to the Mavic Pilots forum and many of the experts agree that ,this is, undoubtedly, product failure. I really enjoy my Mavic Air and eventually would like to move up to one of the high end models. Having said that, I am somewhat  hesitant, as I have had less than enjoyable experiences with customer service. Trust me, I am not one of the two percenters. I have no malice against any companies I've had issues with. I just believe in getting a fair shake.  Thanks for your help.

Brewski452001 Posted at 5-20 08:46
DJIFlightRecord_2019-05-04_[13-15-47].txt
DJIFlightRecord_2019-05-04_[14-15-57].txt

The higher-level team is following up your case and will contact you soon. Please wait patiently, thank you.

DJI Diana Posted at 5-21 02:49
The higher-level team is following up your case and will contact you soon. Please wait patiently, thank you.

I received correspondence from DJI, including a phone call from China. I have dictated my issue verbally as well as written too many times to count. I have submitted flight records and all pertinent info. I wrote to Ejay this morning to check on progress and I got an email back like this was a brand new case, requesting flight records, etc. is this some kind of Joke?

Brewski452001 Posted at 5-23 07:44
I received correspondence from DJI, including a phone call from China. I have dictated my issue verbally as well as written too many times to count. I have submitted flight records and all pertinent info. I wrote to Ejay this morning to check on progress and I got an email back like this was a brand new case, requesting flight records, etc. is this some kind of Joke?

Hi, sorry to read the frustrations. I was able to pull up the case using your Forum account. I learned they were asking for video footage (link). Please let us know if you've successfully uploaded it or provide us also the link to cross verify it with the designated team. We thank you for your patience.

Can you believe this!!!!!!! I got the refurbished bird back from DJI. Have flown it twice since receiving it. Short of the cooling fan sounding a little janky, flies great. So..... wait fo it! I'm out at the coast this morning, took it out, thankfully , over land, to get pictures of a house a friend is building. Started with 100% battery, yes, the batteries thaT DJI ASSURED ME WERE CHECKED AND OK'D!! well, 4 minutes and 54 seconds in, with 65% battery, BOOM! Critical low voltage warning!, Battery drops to 0%Punched RTH, nothing! As it's dropping, I drifted it back towards home. Landed in the bushes. Retrieved! OK, now I've marked THAT battery defective. Be careful with these batteries. I was mere moments from heading out over the ocean. I'm glad I didn't land this in the drink, like the first time this happened. I have attached flight log of this flight.
Attachments            /Users/administrator/Desktop/DJIFlightRecord_2019-07-03_[10-12-22].txt

DJI Diana Posted at 5-19 13:49
Hi, I do apologize for what happened and for the whole situation.  We will forward it to the designated department for further investigations. Please bear with us while we handle your case accordingly. Thank you.

Hey Diana, It happened again. This time the drone is lost for good. The battery did the same thing twice. This time the drone is gone for good. I've gotten access to the roof at the Oakland Coliseum where the GPS coordinates say it landed. It's not there. I have been assured by security that NOOONE has access to that area. Is there anyway to see the actual final video on my iPad to see if, in fact that's where it landed. I am beside myself, as I was flying with 89% battery and it went to 0% in a millisecond. Just like last time. I feel as though Refresh should cover this. I have one replacement on my account.

Please don’t get mad but do you fly with batteries that have self discharged? Self discharged batteries will show that they have a decent charge but I’ve seen them go from 65% to emergency low voltage in a matter of seconds..

Brewski452001 Posted at 7-15 13:32
Hey Diana, It happened again. This time the drone is lost for good. The battery did the same thing twice. This time the drone is gone for good. I've gotten access to the roof at the Oakland Coliseum where the GPS coordinates say it landed. It's not there. I have been assured by security that NOOONE has access to that area. Is there anyway to see the actual final video on my iPad to see if, in fact that's where it landed. I am beside myself, as I was flying with 89% battery and it went to 0% in a millisecond. Just like last time. I feel as though Refresh should cover this. I have one replacement on my account.

Hi, sorry to know what happened with your drone. We will coordinate this incident and create a case. Thank you for your patience.

I hope DJI gets this corrected for you.  You are really having some bad luck with that MA

I'm not surprised. I was on chat with DJI support, going over the problem where my Mavic Air no longer flies due to "main controller data error" and I was going back and forth with him and then he asked me" when was it that the damage occurred"? So I asked him: what damage? Same thing, they first want to say it is pilot error...

try check manufacture date devices, 2018 oct nov dec are my dates
btw, did you charge every bat at most (i.e., not to exceed 24hrs) the nite before flying?

if you charge using the furnished single bat charger from line power, the bat lites should not green at all, repeat, not green at all, which tells you it is really full

but if after a minimum of 30sec it starts to green lite, then it means that bat still can be topped off with some more charging to get it completely full

simple

btw, a perfect bat hardly loses charge at all, so after full and a couple days unused, try and charge it to see how much charge leaked away (annihilated to ground)

I think it could be from perhaps excessive battery usage and wear-and-tear DJI doesn't warranty the batteries after 6 months so if you had batteries beyond that point and the problems were battery related then this could be the reason? I have my Spark batteries I've been using since January 2018 and I get nervous about them now that they've lost approx. 3 minutes flight time average on each as I could fly to 0% and my flight time only gets up to 12:40+ which is rounded to 13 minutes on the App but DJI I'd imagine wouldn't really help me regarding this?

Batteries. Always a problem. Any battery I have that has been charged but not used on my return from a flight, I discharge it by say charging my phone with it, I do this until I have pulled about 50% of the charge out of. That way I have to recharge them the day before I intend to fly, which sometimes, the UK weather being as predictable as the lottery, means I then have to discharge the lot the next day. Sure it adds to the cycle count, but keeps the batteries in better condition.

Brewski452001 Posted at 7-15 13:32
Hey Diana, It happened again. This time the drone is lost for good. The battery did the same thing twice. This time the drone is gone for good. I've gotten access to the roof at the Oakland Coliseum where the GPS coordinates say it landed. It's not there. I have been assured by security that NOOONE has access to that area. Is there anyway to see the actual final video on my iPad to see if, in fact that's where it landed. I am beside myself, as I was flying with 89% battery and it went to 0% in a millisecond. Just like last time. I feel as though Refresh should cover this. I have one replacement on my account.

How recently were the batteries charged before your flight?  It does really sound like a usage problem.  Or setup problem.  There isn't a rash of drones falling from the sky with your problem.  The fact that it keeps happening maybe its the charging process that is the common link...

Here is a thread on Mavicpilots where someone was only getting 5 minute flights.  Turned out he was charging the batteries 2 weeks before flying and then grabbing them off the charger...

https://mavicpilots.com/threads/getting-5-minutes-flying-time-out-of-batteries.69151/page-3

Yeah, I'm seeing the same "failure" mode in 3 different situations and a second AC.
I am suspecting that the OP has a tendency to fly with "partially charged batteries"
Never stated that the battery "showed 100 percent charge" before take off. Always a partial state of charge is stated...

David Martin Graff Posted at 7-15 21:33
I think it could be from perhaps excessive battery usage and wear-and-tear DJI doesn't warranty the batteries after 6 months so if you had batteries beyond that point and the problems were battery related then this could be the reason? I have my Spark batteries I've been using since January 2018 and I get nervous about them now that they've lost approx. 3 minutes flight time average on each as I could fly to 0% and my flight time only gets up to 12:40+ which is rounded to 13 minutes on the App but DJI I'd imagine wouldn't really help me regarding this?

Not only device battery depreciates, the extent of depreciate commensurate with usage demand, but also everything else of device(s). six months can overwhelm any device flying each day say four batteries. it's solidstate yes, unlike drone rotating machinery that eventually wears, but batteries erode themselves hence limited recharge cycling 200hot & 300cold

cutis Posted at 7-17 12:14
Not only device battery depreciates, the extent of depreciate commensurate with usage demand, but also everything else of device(s). six months can overwhelm any device flying each day say four batteries. it's solidstate yes, unlike drone rotating machinery that eventually wears, but batteries erode themselves hence limited recharge cycling 200hot & 300cold

You know your products. I wish DJI would give us an option to recycle our batteries and return around to purchase replacements at a discounted price, say the Spark and Mavic batteries are $49 and $89, respectively. I'd think returning in your old batteries and repurchasing a new battery DJI should give us a 50% discount, or $24.50 and $45.50 for the Spark and Mavic batteries, respectively.

DJI is able to use the batteries and regrind them back to raw materials to reproduce new batteries that they can go around and sell them back to us. The cost reproduce should be lower for DJI than use new raw materials to produce new batteries.

Think about the cost to produce the battery. You have to buy the raw materials in the open market, which can cost more than sourcing the raw materials yourself, with a buyback and resell of new batteries that can be reproduced at a cheaper cost because DJI can save money sourcing the raw materials from its customers' old batteries?

My Spark is a new drone that I used my DJI Care Refresh+ several months ago, my batteries are the original from my first Spark. My Mavic batteries are brand new as is the drone that I also used my last DJI Care Refresh+, both purchases of the extended Care Refresh+ came in handy given my last two incidents. My Spark had been packed in my suitcase that I checked in and when I arrived the right rear leg was fractured, hence the reason for the new Spark. My Mavic had 7,000,000 feet flown so I needed to get a new one..

David Martin Graff Posted at 7-17 20:07
You know your products. I wish DJI would give us an option to recycle our batteries and return around to purchase replacements at a discounted price, say the Spark and Mavic batteries are $49 and $89, respectively. I'd think returning in your old batteries and repurchasing a new battery DJI should give us a 50% discount, or $24.50 and $45.50 for the Spark and Mavic batteries, respectively.

DJI is able to use the batteries and regrind them back to raw materials to reproduce new batteries that they can go around and sell them back to us. The cost reproduce should be lower for DJI than use new raw materials to produce new batteries.

Not sure how it would be done, idea is sound but dji don’t make batteries for their drones .

David Martin Graff Posted at 7-17 20:07
You know your products. I wish DJI would give us an option to recycle our batteries and return around to purchase replacements at a discounted price, say the Spark and Mavic batteries are $49 and $89, respectively. I'd think returning in your old batteries and repurchasing a new battery DJI should give us a 50% discount, or $24.50 and $45.50 for the Spark and Mavic batteries, respectively.

DJI is able to use the batteries and regrind them back to raw materials to reproduce new batteries that they can go around and sell them back to us. The cost reproduce should be lower for DJI than use new raw materials to produce new batteries.

This can be done.  DJI is definitely at the point to have more than enough leverage with it's partner resource companies to initiate a program like this.  Recycling materials is always a plus in the long run, plus it will help establish customer retention, while looking like a 'green' company.

hallmark007 Posted at 7-18 00:11
Not sure how it would be done, idea is sound but dji don’t make batteries for their drones .

If they source the battery to another company like say Tattu for Mavic batteries, then DJI would spend more and the profits obviously would be less.

They could earn more of a profit if they re-cell the packs in each of the used drone batteries they buy back, essentially by just poviding production capabilities in hiring for that skill. The product capability from that part in the production process would only entail filling up essentially each pack they rebuy with the appropriate Lipo +/- charge, then repackaging them with their outer shell and new boxing. Most of that labor is cheap to reproduce batteries, the reboxing and cost to manufacture the battery's compartment costs more...

like car batteries, industry core recycles these. but understand, still there exists buyers who'd outright shell out big bucks and for their very own peace of mind, quality.
take laserprinter chemically photostatic drum cartridge whereby recycling is performed owing to failed oxidized (ozone) drum wiperblade. design flaw is oxidized wiperblade inability withstanding corrosive ozone proximity concentration. recycler swaps out the wiperblade restoring good sealing. however, there exists other discrete components, gears, spindles, bearings, bearing seals, and etc. it costs money to intricately examine all critical components.

this may be cost prohibitive & could potentially invite serious tragic consequences, e.g., drive train consequences damaging the propulsion of laserprinter internal paper motion thru.

to bad we're not military drone designed where the batteries are milspec?

Brewski452001 Posted at 5-20 08:46
DJIFlightRecord_2019-05-04_[13-15-47].txt
DJIFlightRecord_2019-05-04_[14-15-57].txt

Hi, we sent you an email about this issue. Please check later so we can proceed with investigations. Thank you in advance.