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P2 with lightbridge malfunction AGAIN only this time it crashed.
1519 14 2015-7-3
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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Capturing a fireworks display, I was on my 4th battery that evening when it lost all rotor speed.  Battery strength never dropped, signal was never lost, I was in GPS mode with 10 satellites the entire time.  There is no way for me to cut motor power while in GPS mode.  Rotors stopped and it started falling and got all the way up to 47mph when it attempted to recover and slowed, but then dropped again hitting the ground at 30mph.  All lights were functioning as normal, solid red and flashing green as it fell to the ground.  The gimbal is bent pretty bad and all but 1 rotor blade is broke.  Since I had this similar thing happen last week and I almost lost it in the lake I started using a screen recorder, and thank goodness I was!  But I am at a loss as to what happened, all I can think is this should be covered under warranty as it can be nothing other than some internal malfunction, I'm just not sure what.  I had inspected everything and had almost 10 test flights just hovering in my yard with no issues after the first incident.  DJI??????

Before you start saying things about flying over crowds and such, I was behind the crowd but over a tree line and some vehicles.  As it fell, it did move horizontally and landed near some cars where a guy was standing only about 20ft away.  Yes luckily he wasn't any closer.  


2015-7-3
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nico_mav
Second Officer
Flight distance : 1858852 ft
Greece
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i have no much to say, your video it's very clear...very sad news!
how old  was your battery ?
did you switch off after calibration for same reason and then swich on and take off ?
if you press your batterys button for 5sec how meny lights stays on ?
2015-7-4
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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battery is about 7 months old but has always worked great.  All 3 of batteries are the same age.  This was the third flight back to back, land, power off, swap batteries, power on, wait for it to lock on satellites,  quick test hover, all looked correct, then up and into position.  I didn't do a 5 second press to test, I will do that in the morning and see what I get.
2015-7-4
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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just checked it.  all 4 lights are lit with the 4th one blinking.
2015-7-5
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HermosaDrones
Second Officer
Flight distance : 3160344 ft
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United States
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looks like it did what mine did; one motor or ESC caused the failure since it dipped to one side.  if all foru had stopped at once it should just fall straight down
2015-7-5
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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Possibly, but listening to the audio I think they all failed at once.  Also the gimble dropped limp, however the unit never lost power.  It seems to be more of a full power loss to the motors, just not sure how that could happen.  I had this happen a week ago, but it recovered within a split second or two and it ran fine after for several flights until this.
2015-7-5
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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Contacted DJI support and will be sending the unit to them to evaluate.  All seemed decent on the phone but I really won't know much until they take a look at it.  It's going to stink going 6 or 7 weeks without it but as long as they fix the issue i'll be happy.  The thing I found odd is that I have the Lightbridge installed, but they wanted me to take it off before shipping it in.  That thing has to be wired in and everything configured for it, taking it off would defeat the purpose of them trying to actually see what caused the problem.  After I explained it, he said to leave it on.   I might have to order a P3 while I wait.  lol  
2015-7-6
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johnk456
lvl.1

United States
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not to be the FAA police but are we allowed to fly at night?  I have heard of similiar crashes , with the same symtoms, happening at night....is there anything built in software that would make this happen?  You would think if so that it would just not take off like around airports. I would love to fly at night but would hate to risk my FAA exception.  Yes sorry to hear about crash...Dji fixed my fully under warranty so hope you experience the same. Good luck...sucks. ...really cool shots.
2015-7-6
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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If they built in something like that it would cause many lawsuits as dropping UAV's out of the sky would be pretty serious.  I had the same glitch happen a week prior during the day though so that's definitely not it.   I don't have an FAA exception and I'm flying recreationally only.  I have a pretty good feeling they will repair it under warranty, especially since I have video proof that it was not due to pilot error, however, I hope they don't just repair the damage, but repair the source of the problem that caused it in the first place.
2015-7-6
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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Well, 2 weeks after my tracking says that DJI received it, I finally got a e-mail that they checked it in, so now starts the 6 week clock....  The 6 week repair time will likely take all of 8 weeks,,, or more...  
2015-7-24
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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FINALLY got a response a week ago that my P2 had been repaired, tested, and I would be getting an e-mail with tracking information within 1-2 business days.  I responded asking what they found and what was replaced, but have yet to get any response, AND I still haven't received a tracking number.  Another week has past.  It has now been 11 weeks since I mailed it to them (almost 9 since the date they "officially" checked it in).  I also have apps for UPS and FedEx and no labels have been created either.   Sure wish I could get some sort of credit for depreciation over the nearly 3 months without it.  I realize it takes time to repair, and I realize they have a backlog and that they were moving during part of that time, but non of that is a fault of mine.   11 weeks is crazy..........   I'm not the complaining type,,, but geeeez!
2015-9-23
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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Interesting........  Every time I make a statement about this repair on this forum, then there is activity on my repair ticket.   The funny thing is, now my ticket is closed and I received an e-mail asking if I am satisfied with my customer service experience.   YET,,,, they did not actually answer my question that I had posted TWICE, nor did they include a tracking number.   So,,,, at this point they have had my P2 for 11 weeks,,,, have not answered my questions,,,,, and I still don't have it in my hands or even an expected delivery date,,,, and they are asking me how my customer service experience was?????  Do they REALLY want me to answer that?  How about I wait until it's actually in my hands and then i'll tell you how I feel.
2015-9-23
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simbonis
lvl.1

Greece
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nico_mav@hotmai Posted at 2015-7-4 22:29
i have no much to say, your video it's very clear...very sad news!
how old  was your battery ?
did y ...

http://youtu.be/_ge3GuhEDRM
2015-10-13
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nico_mav
Second Officer
Flight distance : 1858852 ft
Greece
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simbonis@gmail. Posted at 2015-10-14 08:42
http://youtu.be/_ge3GuhEDRM

I have see this video again, but I'm not sure if this is the reason. I believe that battery is involved for fry away or esc motors.
2015-10-13
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kleake1
lvl.4
Flight distance : 1361040 ft
United States
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Yea, this wasn't a "fly-away", this was a power loss causing a drop to the ground from where I was flying.   I have finally received it back and it's in the air again FINALLY.   Detailed post about the repair is here: http://forum.dji.com/thread-33066-1-1.html
2015-11-20
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