Critical Battery Alert

Terry · Aug 29, 2017

Had a really scary critical battery landing last night. Once alerted, decent started at current location in wooded area. Fortunately video on and I was able to guide to the ground clear of trees. Found XSP on its side with 2 props running, fortunately no damage.
My issue is a few seconds before this happened, remaining flight time showed 5 minutes and battery around 30% then it immediately went to 0 when alert sounded. Perhaps aging battery is issue so I set Low Battery RTH from 25% to 30%. So the take away is don't push the limit on remaining battery.

Bigbit · Aug 29, 2017

Blow your motors out with clean compressed air and check all 4 for proper operation before flying again. The 2 motors that weren’t turning should especially be checked. My opinion only...

intrepidusa · Aug 29, 2017

how old is the battery and how many charge cycles were on it? 30 to 0 is not normal even for a weakened battery...fast drain ok but not 30 to oh s#|t like that.

Terry · Aug 30, 2017

Bigbit said:
Blow your motors out with clean compressed air and check all 4 for proper operation before flying again. The 2 motors that weren’t turning should especially be checked. My opinion only...

I was concerned about the stalled motors. They were not hot and no dirt inside. Checked out and had a flight and there are no problems.

Terry · Aug 30, 2017

intrepidusa said:
how old is the battery and how many charge cycles were on it? 30 to 0 is not normal even for a weakened battery...fast drain ok but not 30 to oh s#|t like that.

Battery has 40 charges and is 6 months old. 2 cells are about .10 volt low. My other battery is same age and usage and is perfectly balanced. Plan to check with Autel on possible replacement. In the meantime, I will shorten flight time on this battery.

Hayes · Sep 2, 2017

I had almost the exact same experience on August 16th, except, unfortunately, I was flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight recorder revealed the battery going from an estimated 6 minutes of flight time at 30% capacity, to 1 minute and 8%. I am sad to say the aircraft now swims with the fishes. Fortunately, Autel lived up to their customer service reputation and is shipping me a new (refurbished) unit. I should be back in the air by Wednesday. My battery had about 20 charges on it at the time.

Terry · Sep 2, 2017

Hayes said:
I had almost the exact same experience on August 16th, except, unfortunately, I was flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight recorder revealed the battery going from an estimated 6 minutes of flight time at 30% capacity, to 1 minute and 8%. I am sad to say the aircraft now swims with the fishes. Fortunately, Autel lived up to their customer service reputation and is shipping me a new (refurbished) unit. I should be back in the air by Wednesday. My battery had about 20 charges on it at the time.

Interesting to hear of your experience and great to hear of the replacement from Autel, that is awesome! I am getting a replacement battery from them that is fine with me. I know from experience with LiPos with my other models that the voltage takes a nose dive once you get to about 3.4 volts. With weak cells, it is probably difficult for the system to accurately monitor remaining flight time/battery life. So what I have learned is keep an eye on the cell voltages and don't push the limit if battery is weakening.
Have fun flying over the Atlantic.

Jagerbomb52 · Sep 2, 2017

A lot of us have had the critical battery drop scenario. I have had two batteries replaced already by Autel because of this. Both had under 20 charges. This is a very common problem with these smart batteries and the new firmware was suppose to take care of it but I still think the problem is not solved yet.

Squirrel! · Sep 2, 2017

Knock on wood, I've been down to one battery light and not encountered any problems. Haven't tried my other 2 batteries though.

I gotta say, I am more impressed each and every time I fly the XSP. Flys way differently than the P3S. I'm a definite convert!

Terry · Sep 2, 2017

Agustine said:
A lot of us have had the critical battery drop scenario. I have had two batteries replaced already by Autel because of this. Both had under 20 charges. This is a very common problem with these smart batteries and the new firmware was suppose to take care of it but I still think the problem is not solved yet.

My Critical Battery alert happen a couple of days before I upgraded firmware so wanted to advise that. So far the firmware looks good. The braking is quite abrupt so need to be easy on the sticks.

Terry · Sep 2, 2017

Squirrel! said:
Knock on wood, I've been down to one battery light and not encountered any problems. Haven't tried my other 2 batteries though.

I gotta say, I am more impressed each and every time I fly the XSP. Flys way differently than the P3S. I'm a definite convert!

My LiPo battery experience tells me to keep tabs on the cell balance which is displayed so nicely. A weak cell, or in my case 2 cells, could be a problem. I had 20 minutes of flying when mine went critical which speaks well of the capacity until near the end.