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EVO 2 series Battery overheat, overheating, power failure

quinn karter

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Location
Naples, FL
TWICE, my 1st Evo 2 pro then my second Evo 2 pro overheated and the power failed. The Drones simply shut off and fell to the ground. The flight logs show a sudden loss of data or information as the power shut off. The descent or crash wasn't recorded on both drones. I live in Florida. Temps and humidity are high. One drone had actually fused 4 pins between the battery and the aircraft before it finally shut down, mid flight. After the first crash, I started watching battery temps. After long flights, the batteries could not cool down. I got temp warnings, that simply stated , "battery overheat, performance will be limited." It didn't really tell me how serious these overheat issues can be. Be warned, Flying the EVO 2 SERIES in high heat and Humid environments in High performance or Ludicrous modes is highly dangerous. You may be warned of Lower performance, but the temperature of the battery will still rise, until, the aircraft shuts down and falls like a brick. Unfortunately, Autel did not help replace the these crashed drones or offer any significantly reduced pricing. Living in a hot humid environment is not the place to fly EVO 2 Drones. Eventually the batteries succumb to the heat and humidity and become unstable. The aircraft seems to respond by completely shutting down. If flying in high heat greater than 85 F and Humidity greater than 70% , I recommend NOT TO FLY IN "LUDICROUS" MODE. Fly slow and steady. The batteries seemed to degrade quickly (one month with 2 hours per day of flight). Then, The batteries started behaving somewhat erratically . They seemed to overheat the most as they neared 15 to 18 % power. At these moments, I watched the battery temps. They just increased and increased into the red. Then, a sudden shutdown. I hope this isn't some software battery protection problem. Maybe the fans reduce speed to save power, I don't know. Any one else experiencing strange overheat behavior in high temp, high humidity environments ?? Autel needs to emphasize this potential issue in it's documentation. IF YOU SEE YOUR BATTERY TEMPS HITTING RED, TRY TO FINDING A PLACE TO LAND ASAP. Autel won't help you replace the drone. Well, they didn't help me.
 
I've been around a long time and you are the only one that I've seen with this issue. Autel is also probably the best in CS within all drone companies. Can't see why they are not helping you. They usually bend over backwards for their customers.
Mind sharing some more information like direct copies of emails, logs etc...?
 
I've been around a long time and you are the only one that I've seen with this issue. Autel is also probably the best in CS within all drone companies. Can't see why they are not helping you. They usually bend over backwards for their customers.
Mind sharing some more information like direct copies of emails, logs etc...?
I will post what I have as soon as I can.
 
Cole Cortright via freshdesk.com
Sep 15, 2020, 11:56 AM (3 days ago)
to me

















Hello Quinn,

Thank you for the information, I was able to go over your logs with my supervisor and this is what we could find.

It appears the aircraft was in the return to home process about 2 miles away and was making it's way back to the home point. As it was making its way back it eventually hit the critically low warning and once it hit that point the flight log ends. I'm not sure what exactly occurred at this point as the mobile logs only provide so much data.

Unfortunately, this occurred as we were trying to get the aircraft in for review. The aircraft had a known issue but it was still taken up to fly. In these scenarios we cannot cover anything under warranty. I do apologize for the inconvenience and frustrations.

At this time I can offer a discount off of an Open Box 6K drone at a total of $1,595. That is what I spoke with my supervisor about and is what I can offer at this time. If there are any questions or concerns please let me know and I would be happy to assist!

Best,
Cole
Product Specialist
 
Cole Cortright via freshdesk.com
Sep 15, 2020, 11:56 AM (3 days ago)
to me

















Hello Quinn,

Thank you for the information, I was able to go over your logs with my supervisor and this is what we could find.

It appears the aircraft was in the return to home process about 2 miles away and was making it's way back to the home point. As it was making its way back it eventually hit the critically low warning and once it hit that point the flight log ends. I'm not sure what exactly occurred at this point as the mobile logs only provide so much data.

Unfortunately, this occurred as we were trying to get the aircraft in for review. The aircraft had a known issue but it was still taken up to fly. In these scenarios we cannot cover anything under warranty. I do apologize for the inconvenience and frustrations.

At this time I can offer a discount off of an Open Box 6K drone at a total of $1,595. That is what I spoke with my supervisor about and is what I can offer at this time. If there are any questions or concerns please let me know and I would be happy to assist!

Best,
Cole
Product Specialist
That's not really a discount. 4 thousand dollars waisted. They kept the 1st drone. I may have been able to sell it for parts.
 
Well if I am understanding this correctly from the email support sent the craft had already been reported as faulty and they were waiting for it to be sent back for review. Is this correct? ( Unfortunately, this occurred as we were trying to get the aircraft in for review. The aircraft had a known issue but it was still taken up to fly. )

If that was the case then I would say this is a case of pilot error just by continuing to fly it with a known problem. Maybe I missed something here so correct me if I am wrong.
 
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This is why I don't use ludacris mode nor sports mode on my drones for very long. I live in FL as well. You have to keep in mind running your drones at the faster speeds are putting more wear and tear on the motors so you are shortening the life of your drone. I considering those faster modes as something to use if a high wind comes up coming home. Or, if I have a specific shot that I want lots of movement, which I've done at the golf course about 3' off the ground for a couple of 100 yards. You don't drive your car 100mph all the time. If you did it would breakdown quick too.
 
Well if I am understanding this correctly from the email support sent the craft had already been reported as faulty and they were waiting for it to be sent back for review. Is this correct? ( Unfortunately, this occurred as we were trying to get the aircraft in for review. The aircraft had a known issue but it was still taken up to fly. )

If that was the case then I would say this is a case of pilot error just by continuing to fly it with a known problem. Maybe I missed something here so correct me if I am wrong.
You didn't miss anything. I'm simply concerned. I had 2 of these EVO 2 Pro's overheat with sudden Battery failure in High temp environments with high humidity. I posted this, to see if any other consumers have had issues such as this. I wish Autel was a little more lenient, but I understand the decision. I just hope we can leave this post up in order to see if anyone else has this overheat issue. If no responses to this thread occur, I will assume, I have just been unlucky. Anyway, I am going to be looking into the VTOL market and open source PixHawk sytems. I suspect it to overtake the Quad Copter market soon.
 
You didn't miss anything. I'm simply concerned. I had 2 of these EVO 2 Pro's overheat with sudden Battery failure in High temp environments with high humidity. I posted this, to see if any other consumers have had issues such as this. I wish Autel was a little more lenient, but I understand the decision. I just hope we can leave this post up in order to see if anyone else has this overheat issue. If no responses to this thread occur, I will assume, I have just been unlucky. Anyway, I am going to be looking into the VTOL market and open source PixHawk sytems. I suspect it to overtake the Quad Copter market soon.
This is why I don't use ludacris mode nor sports mode on my drones for very long. I live in FL as well. You have to keep in mind running your drones at the faster speeds are putting more wear and tear on the motors so you are shortening the life of your drone. I considering those faster modes as something to use if a high wind comes up coming home. Or, if I have a specific shot that I want lots of movement, which I've done at the golf course about 3' off the ground for a couple of 100 yards. You don't drive your car 100mph all the time. If you did it would breakdown quick too.
Thanks for your input. Your right. I should be more gentle with these drones. I suppose there is a reason that these high performance modes are not regular standard modes. This may not be totally related, but I have a 12,000 lumen flashlight. It only runs at 12,000 lumens for 30 minutes and shuts down as described in the manual. I suppose these high speed, high power drone modes are relatively similar to these high output flashlight modes.
 
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I am curious about this as well. I fly a bit more south where it's hotter and more humid and I have never experienced this. I love zipping around in Ludicrous mode and it has never gotten hotter than 55 C. Don't own the Evo II though. I speak of the Evo and Phantom.
 
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I am curious about this as well. I fly a bit more south where it's hotter and more humid and I have never experienced this. I love zipping around in Ludicrous mode and it has never gotten hotter than 55 C. Don't own the Evo II though. I speak of the Evo and Phantom.
I never heard of the EVO 1 or Phantom having overheat issues either. However, I don't think two different EVO 2 Pros should fall out of the sky like bricks though. The Evo 2 series is new. Who knows. Lets just wait and see if anyone has had overheat issues. The EVO 2 series is new and not many people own them yet. It may take time to see if others have had this issue. Just know, If you purchase an EVO 2 , use Ludicrous mode as little as possible.
 
It's like anything. Run it at max and it will breakdown sooner. Think NASCAR. If they ran just a little slower they wouldn't blowup motors so often :).

It's fine to go fast once in awhile. Sometimes you'll do it for a shot and sometimes just for fun. Just don't do it full time. Even if it doesn't overheat, you are still putting more rotations on the drone and wearing the motor down sooner. Those motors have a certain amount of revolutions in their lifetime before they will for sure not work. Food for thought. The beauty of having multiple drones is that you distribute that load across 2 drones.
 
That really sucks... I spent a lot of years in southeast Georgia so I know exactly what you are talking about with the heat and humidity. I've been in the PNW the last 9 years... we had a mild summer this year... barely hit 80 a handful of days. I don't miss the 2 seasons you get down south... summer and almost summer.

My Evo 2 Pro arrives today... upgraded from the Evo and am looking forward to getting some fall colors shots in the next couple months.

Sorry for your bad luck OP.
 
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HEAT IS THE KILLER OF ALL ELECTRONICS. As I said when I joined that I have Yuneec Typhoon H's for inspection work and there biggest problem was heat on the GPS and compass modules, so I invented a relocated gps and compass module tower and then put a fan in it to shift 7 cu ft of air a minute and never had a problem since. We still use it here in Brisbane Queensland Australia. I am looking at my Evo 2 8k to upgrade the fan or mod it. Have you noticed the vents in the sides of the battery between the cells, they can be seen on the side view. Also read in the MANUAL AND GUARANTEE Temps for the battery should not go past 45 or 50 degrees Celsius. All the manufactures know about the heat and it is in every manual and not taken a lot of notice off. When you fly your battery down to 18% it should be let cool down to room or normal temp the recharge it , if you don't you will shorten your battery life. There is heaps of info on the Battery university.com webb site about lipo's and there care whether they are standard ones or so called smart ones like ours and DJI. Look on the DJI forum theyou are having heaps of swelling problems with there batteries also.
Ours are not the only ones with problems, 30 minutes plus flight times SPELL DANGER FOR LIPO BATTERIES WITH HEAT BUILD UP. Safe flying and keep an eye on the heat as I will be working towards making mine cooler.
Regards John Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass.
 
HEAT IS THE KILLER OF ALL ELECTRONICS. As I said when I joined that I have Yuneec Typhoon H's for inspection work and there biggest problem was heat on the GPS and compass modules, so I invented a relocated gps and compass module tower and then put a fan in it to shift 7 cu ft of air a minute and never had a problem since. We still use it here in Brisbane Queensland Australia. I am looking at my Evo 2 8k to upgrade the fan or mod it. Have you noticed the vents in the sides of the battery between the cells, they can be seen on the side view. Also read in the MANUAL AND GUARANTEE Temps for the battery should not go past 45 or 50 degrees Celsius. All the manufactures know about the heat and it is in every manual and not taken a lot of notice off. When you fly your battery down to 18% it should be let cool down to room or normal temp the recharge it , if you don't you will shorten your battery life. There is heaps of info on the Battery university.com webb site about lipo's and there care whether they are standard ones or so called smart ones like ours and DJI. Look on the DJI forum theyou are having heaps of swelling problems with there batteries also.
Ours are not the only ones with problems, 30 minutes plus flight times SPELL DANGER FOR LIPO BATTERIES WITH HEAT BUILD UP. Safe flying and keep an eye on the heat as I will be working towards making mine cooler.
Regards John Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass.
GREAT POST ! Thanks for your input / information. I noticed bulging on one of my EVO batteries. I only realized how important battery cooling is after reading more about this in the manual and other web sites. I was pushing my drones too fast, far and maxed out the flight times. I have 4 DJIs (Mavic 2s and Air2s). They stay cooler, but I learned not to try charging them immediately after a flight. I noticed the charging lights weren't blinking incorrectly. I didn't know why at the time, but now I do. I push the DJIs to the limits as well, but never had a battery short circuit near the end of my flight time. AUTEL should put a warning directly on their batteries and also put a battery temp monitor on the main app screen. The only warning they give now says something like "battery overheating, performance will be reduced'. I figured the lower performance would at least hault the batteries temp from going higher, but it doesn't, if the outside temp is too high. Maybe someone should invent small rechargeable fans that can be attached to the EVO Body's battery vents.
 
GREAT POST ! Thanks for your input / information. I noticed bulging on one of my EVO batteries. I only realized how important battery cooling is after reading more about this in the manual and other web sites. I was pushing my drones too fast, far and maxed out the flight times. I have 4 DJIs (Mavic 2s and Air2s). They stay cooler, but I learned not to try charging them immediately after a flight. I noticed the charging lights weren't blinking incorrectly. I didn't know why at the time, but now I do. I push the DJIs to the limits as well, but never had a battery short circuit near the end of my flight time. AUTEL should put a warning directly on their batteries and also put a battery temp monitor on the main app screen. The only warning they give now says something like "battery overheating, performance will be reduced'. I figured the lower performance would at least hault the batteries temp from going higher, but it doesn't, if the outside temp is too high. Maybe someone should invent small rechargeable fans that can be attached to the EVO Body's battery vents.
OH, by the way. VTOLs are going to be my next "drones" of choice. I'm sure they will overtake the copter drone market. Well at least for those of us who need high speeds, and longer flight times. The batteries will also cool down quicker when in fixed wing mode.
 
GREAT POST ! Thanks for your input / information. I noticed bulging on one of my EVO batteries. I only realized how important battery cooling is after reading more about this in the manual and other web sites. I was pushing my drones too fast, far and maxed out the flight times. I have 4 DJIs (Mavic 2s and Air2s). They stay cooler, but I learned not to try charging them immediately after a flight. I noticed the charging lights weren't blinking incorrectly. I didn't know why at the time, but now I do. I push the DJIs to the limits as well, but never had a battery short circuit near the end of my flight time. AUTEL should put a warning directly on their batteries and also put a battery temp monitor on the main app screen. The only warning they give now says something like "battery overheating, performance will be reduced'. I figured the lower performance would at least hault the batteries temp from going higher, but it doesn't, if the outside temp is too high. Maybe someone should invent small rechargeable fans that can be attached to the EVO Body's battery vents.
Quinn Karter,
That is what I am doing now while we are using our two ( 1x8k and 1x6K) for our roof and building work, that is how I came up with the GPS and Compass Module Tower mod for the Yuneec Typhoon H. Not the flat pancake on ebay but on uneekideaz.com with the fan and own power.
Johnno Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass.
 
HEAT IS THE KILLER OF ALL ELECTRONICS. As I said when I joined that I have Yuneec Typhoon H's for inspection work and there biggest problem was heat on the GPS and compass modules, so I invented a relocated gps and compass module tower and then put a fan in it to shift 7 cu ft of air a minute and never had a problem since. We still use it here in Brisbane Queensland Australia. I am looking at my Evo 2 8k to upgrade the fan or mod it. Have you noticed the vents in the sides of the battery between the cells, they can be seen on the side view. Also read in the MANUAL AND GUARANTEE Temps for the battery should not go past 45 or 50 degrees Celsius. All the manufactures know about the heat and it is in every manual and not taken a lot of notice off. When you fly your battery down to 18% it should be let cool down to room or normal temp the recharge it , if you don't you will shorten your battery life. There is heaps of info on the Battery university.com webb site about lipo's and there care whether they are standard ones or so called smart ones like ours and DJI. Look on the DJI forum theyou are having heaps of swelling problems with there batteries also.
Ours are not the only ones with problems, 30 minutes plus flight times SPELL DANGER FOR LIPO BATTERIES WITH HEAT BUILD UP. Safe flying and keep an eye on the heat as I will be working towards making mine cooler.
Regards John Hennessy.
Keep flying on the green side of the grass.
Just bought my THIRD evo 2, but changed to the less expensive 8k. I check battery temps every 5 minutes. I wish they would put a battery temp monitor on the main UI screen, so I can adjust my flight behavior and flight time accordingly. I like your idea of creating a fan system around the battery bay side vents. Tonight I flew in south Florida 15,000 ft horizontal with 3 nautical mile collision lights. The battery hit 107 degrees F at the 15,000 mark, then I pressed return home. I watched in fear as the battery temp slowly increased on the way back. Note: there was little to no wind in either direction. The Max temp reached, just before landing, was 117 F or 47.2 C. It had 25% power left over. I thought about stopping and hovering a little, to cool the temp down, but was afraid I would not make it back. I flew in standard mode at no more than 22.6 MPH both ways. The outside temp during my 2am flight was 75 F. Autel's EVO 2 specs show that the batteries maximum discharging environment temp is 60 C or 140 F. My power failures or complete loss of all aircraft functions occurred above 140 F. If you even see the battery nearing this temp, you better hope you are in a good place to land or close to home. You shouldn't risk hitting the 140 F mark. I might have to try flying at 15 MPH. Maybe that will help. Or, attempt a cooling mod. Perhaps, if cup type attachments were placed just under the battery vents to force some of the prop wash air into the battery bay slots. I might try that first. If it fails, I wonder what type of fan and battery would be light enough, but still have a cooling effect.
 
Just bought my THIRD evo 2, but changed to the less expensive 8k. I check battery temps every 5 minutes. I wish they would put a battery temp monitor on the main UI screen, so I can adjust my flight behavior and flight time accordingly. I like your idea of creating a fan system around the battery bay side vents. Tonight I flew in south Florida 15,000 ft horizontal with 3 nautical mile collision lights. The battery hit 107 degrees F at the 15,000 mark, then I pressed return home. I watched in fear as the battery temp slowly increased on the way back. Note: there was little to no wind in either direction. The Max temp reached, just before landing, was 117 F or 47.2 C. It had 25% power left over. I thought about stopping and hovering a little, to cool the temp down, but was afraid I would not make it back. I flew in standard mode at no more than 22.6 MPH both ways. The outside temp during my 2am flight was 75 F. Autel's EVO 2 specs show that the batteries maximum discharging environment temp is 60 C or 140 F. My power failures or complete loss of all aircraft functions occurred above 140 F. If you even see the battery nearing this temp, you better hope you are in a good place to land or close to home. You shouldn't risk hitting the 140 F mark. I might have to try flying at 15 MPH. Maybe that will help. Or, attempt a cooling mod. Perhaps, if cup type attachments were placed just under the battery vents to force some of the prop wash air into the battery bay slots. I might try that first. If it fails, I wonder what type of fan and battery would be light enough, but still have a cooling effect.
Quinn,
I have just about got the fan rates and volumes and looking for higher capacity ,or should say volume of air flow in the same size. To achieve that I think that we will need to go to a more expensive one than what is supplied. But I am still working on it . Today I had great success with my first alternative battery adapter, it did everything that was expected, just waiting for some different parts and should have a cheaper alternative . $ 62 AUD is the cost of the 8000 mah 50 c battery. Johnno Hennessy. I will keep you informed as I make progress, some time it takes time getting the correct parts etc and delivery in AUSTRALIA.. Keep Flying on the Green side of the Grass.
 
Cole Cortright via freshdesk.com
Sep 15, 2020, 11:56 AM (3 days ago)
to me

















Hello Quinn,

Thank you for the information, I was able to go over your logs with my supervisor and this is what we could find.

It appears the aircraft was in the return to home process about 2 miles away and was making it's way back to the home point. As it was making its way back it eventually hit the critically low warning and once it hit that point the flight log ends. I'm not sure what exactly occurred at this point as the mobile logs only provide so much data.

Unfortunately, this occurred as we were trying to get the aircraft in for review. The aircraft had a known issue but it was still taken up to fly. In these scenarios we cannot cover anything under warranty. I do apologize for the inconvenience and frustrations.

At this time I can offer a discount off of an Open Box 6K drone at a total of $1,595. That is what I spoke with my supervisor about and is what I can offer at this time. If there are any questions or concerns please let me know and I would be happy to assist!

Best,
Cole
Product Specialist
 

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