Welcome, Autel Pilots!
Join our free Autel drone community today!
Join Us

Evo II Pro falling from the skies?!!!??

DocFlyboy89

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
Messages
58
Reaction score
12
Age
60
I am on two separate Autel drones. My recently lost drone was a Autel 2 Evo pro version one with a battery that was no more than four months old with 30 properly cycled charges on it.
I left it off after confirming fully charged battery and the version one remote controller connected to my iPhone 13 showed 31 1/2 minutes of charge/full charge when I left it off. I took off and sent it to approximate 200 feet AGL and Was flying over a small in the lake coming off of Lake Michigan to get some great pictures of both traffic and beautiful lake Michigan vistas. Unfortunately with less than 3 1/2 minutes of flight time gone by, I got a initial warning of “return home“ due to sudden decline in battery charge(???), followed literally one second later with the “forced landing cycle “while I was approximately at that 150 feet AGL but actually “ALL’ (above LAKE Level!) and desperately trying to get the drone over land. Unfortunately with zero battery showing I had no control of the aircraft and the aircraft “landed“ into 40 feet of water and has lost forever. This was last week August 27, 2022. I am mediately notified Autel with a customer service ticket and the first response was “retrieve your drone and if you can find it and get it back to us we’ll see what we can do“. I told them there’s no way I’m going to risk my life trying to find a drone in at least 40 feet of water on a navigable lake. I then got a response from a second person who apologize for the first hotel employees “disrespectful“ response, she asked me for my sign in a password so that they could look at my flight logs. I complied. Then a few days later I got a response from “Tom W.“ Who said that there’s nothing they can do, the drone was “out of warranty“. They may offer me a “small discount“ and well that’s quite helpful, the drone with my six batteries certainly was well over $3500 new not counting the enterprise hotel you go to pro 640T that I own with another six batteries and that’s I’m obviously A customer who has done business with this company!
I would understand if this was pilot ever. But it wasn’t. There’s something not right with batteries suddenly showing no charge when I confirmed all cells equally charged before this flight and a force landing cycle within three minutes of me taking off over a lake. I’m just glad it didn’t land on anyone or anything! This is a problem that other people are having and frankly they are choosing to ignore it or hoping I’ll go away!? But I do enjoy the hobby and need a drone and I dare not use my 640T especially given these possible firmware or software issues! I also am hesitant to buy Alltel because of these issues. I asked him if they could at least tell me what happened and there’s nothing but crickets. Finally I do often use drones on a lot of indoor office space work and there are at least two places in a NFZ where I can’t even fly my DJI equipment on an inside location of a warehouse for warehouse control inventory and insurance reasons. That’s a went with Autel because of the Geofencing if she would like me.
Does anyone have any advice as to why properly charged and essentially new batteries with less than 30 charges on them which suddenly go into force landing and suddenly lose all of their charge barely after taking off? The batteries as far as the cells in them are all balanced when I look at them under the explorer app or with my smart controller which is a version two controller for my 640T drone. I’m afraid to fly the damn thing because I can’t trust it especially this $8000 drone that I have left!
I told him that I frankly think that at the least 50% off of a new drone would be reasonable given that this was a no pilot error situation and a problem that is obviously firmware or software!? I don’t really think that they give a poop, but maybe that’s because there’s not that many people on this forum? I don’t know? I know that I visit this form often find it very helpful! Thank you all!
 
I am on two separate Autel drones. My recently lost drone was a Autel 2 Evo pro version one with a battery that was no more than four months old with 30 properly cycled charges on it.
I left it off after confirming fully charged battery and the version one remote controller connected to my iPhone 13 showed 31 1/2 minutes of charge/full charge when I left it off. I took off and sent it to approximate 200 feet AGL and Was flying over a small in the lake coming off of Lake Michigan to get some great pictures of both traffic and beautiful lake Michigan vistas. Unfortunately with less than 3 1/2 minutes of flight time gone by, I got a initial warning of “return home“ due to sudden decline in battery charge(???), followed literally one second later with the “forced landing cycle “while I was approximately at that 150 feet AGL but actually “ALL’ (above LAKE Level!) and desperately trying to get the drone over land. Unfortunately with zero battery showing I had no control of the aircraft and the aircraft “landed“ into 40 feet of water and has lost forever. This was last week August 27, 2022. I am mediately notified Autel with a customer service ticket and the first response was “retrieve your drone and if you can find it and get it back to us we’ll see what we can do“. I told them there’s no way I’m going to risk my life trying to find a drone in at least 40 feet of water on a navigable lake. I then got a response from a second person who apologize for the first hotel employees “disrespectful“ response, she asked me for my sign in a password so that they could look at my flight logs. I complied. Then a few days later I got a response from “Tom W.“ Who said that there’s nothing they can do, the drone was “out of warranty“. They may offer me a “small discount“ and well that’s quite helpful, the drone with my six batteries certainly was well over $3500 new not counting the enterprise hotel you go to pro 640T that I own with another six batteries and that’s I’m obviously A customer who has done business with this company!
I would understand if this was pilot ever. But it wasn’t. There’s something not right with batteries suddenly showing no charge when I confirmed all cells equally charged before this flight and a force landing cycle within three minutes of me taking off over a lake. I’m just glad it didn’t land on anyone or anything! This is a problem that other people are having and frankly they are choosing to ignore it or hoping I’ll go away!? But I do enjoy the hobby and need a drone and I dare not use my 640T especially given these possible firmware or software issues! I also am hesitant to buy Alltel because of these issues. I asked him if they could at least tell me what happened and there’s nothing but crickets. Finally I do often use drones on a lot of indoor office space work and there are at least two places in a NFZ where I can’t even fly my DJI equipment on an inside location of a warehouse for warehouse control inventory and insurance reasons. That’s a went with Autel because of the Geofencing if she would like me.
Does anyone have any advice as to why properly charged and essentially new batteries with less than 30 charges on them which suddenly go into force landing and suddenly lose all of their charge barely after taking off? The batteries as far as the cells in them are all balanced when I look at them under the explorer app or with my smart controller which is a version two controller for my 640T drone. I’m afraid to fly the damn thing because I can’t trust it especially this $8000 drone that I have left!
I told him that I frankly think that at the least 50% off of a new drone would be reasonable given that this was a no pilot error situation and a problem that is obviously firmware or software!? I don’t really think that they give a poop, but maybe that’s because there’s not that many people on this forum? I don’t know? I know that I visit this form often find it very helpful! Thank you all!

I don't think anyone will ever be able to tell you specifically what happened. Drones are very complex pieces of equipment ran 100% on electrical components; electronics fail all the time. Unfortunately, when that happens with a drone it is typically unrecoverable. It could have been a shorted ESC, a bad balancing board in the battery, incorrect charge readings etc. etc.

Consumer/Prosumer drones also have many single points of failure; motors, ESCs, GPS, compass, camera, IMU, etc, etc. IMO no drone is truly enterprise class unless it has redundancy for everything AND some kind of enterprise class customer support structure in place. But to achieve that is cost prohibitive for most people ($20K+), so instead Autel and to a lesser extent DJI label some of their drones as "enterprise" class drones but the only thing most of them have extra is an extra price tag and different camera.
 
I don’t disagree with the premise of most of your points. However it appears that while you nor I can unequivocally demonstrate that my incident was not “pilot error”, the flight logs and it is readily apparent that in these cases, especially the issues that have been posted of late, in specifics there is a very potentially serious SAFETY problem in addition to the expensive nature of the persistently / increasing amount of reports and incidents of Autel drone systems causing batteries and their drones to suddenly drop in voltage and current within seconds and not allowing the PIC to react and responsibly maintain control of his/her aircraft. This is what happened to me and to others it appears. I don’t know if this is an Autel only problem, but having been a UAS certified pilot for almost 1 1/2 years but a hobbyist for 7 years before that, I can say of the many improvements in sUAS tech, this current battery issue continues. In fact I JUST came in with my only remaining Autel drone (given my E2P is at a bottom of the lake) , my 640T still shows the issues of “quick battery discharge syndrome”(LOL) and luckily I am no longer ever going to fly my $9000 (drone and accessories) FLIR drone across waterway, but I can no longer trust Autel. I want to! Bottom line, we all understand there is no perfect drone, but we are using them as advertised! Meaning I am using the drone as the manufacturer states. There are no systems that could have enough “redundancy” that would prevent anything other than pilot error, but let’s be frank, Autel is suffering from problems in this “Come:pepsi” challenge (DJI:Autel) and they both are putting out products that are not trustworthy. This is classic corporate pressures (Especially Chinese based businesses, but all nationalities are not immune to this). However, we the public keep buying them despite these problems, why would they address the problems?!?! So long as they keep market share?! If Autel even looks at this post, I only ask three things. Please help me replace my drone (meet me in the middle. This wasn’t pilot error and you have my flight logs and you know that you said. No matter it’s over 12 months old. It’s a safety problem! 2) Fix the problem. I wouldn’t get in a plane that wasn’t deemed safe. You wouldn’t either. 3) Commincwte with your consumers! Customer service and support is needed to survive this. I want Autel to thrive. Autel won’t. Unless they are merely looking for an equity buy out or corporate acquisition?!?! It feels to me thst this may be what is happening. No corporation would do this negative turnabout to mistreatment of its fan base unless it was ready to be bought out in a corporate acquisition. Why risk for their assets if an acquisition want around the corner. Let’s see if I am right or not. Either way, I am a loyal customer, please do the right thing Autel!!
 
Sorry to hear you lost your Evo2. Sounds like a shorted battery, perhaps? It's not simply the number of discharge cycles that determines battery health, unfortunately. Age and storage conditions are a factor. It's also encumbent upon the PIC to check for voltage drops between battery cells under load. Autel provisions for this with telemetry that measures cell voltage with 1/100V accuracy. Did you do this with the battery in question, before sending it out from shore? How long that particular battery was in service is a factor (you do have them numbered, right?) Was any swelling evident? High ambient air temp, RH, and altitude can also affect flight envelope, also. None of this is detailed in your report.

Personally, I wouldn't send an Evo2 out over a large body of H20 with any battery that showed any swelling, or voltage under load variance between cells of >.05V, or one older than 18 mos
 
Last edited:
i know DJI has onboard data that can be recovered after a crash to analize what happened. this is how i discovered the motors on the mini 2 where failing inflight and caused my lost bird


risky flight manuevers , probably should entail you purchasing drone insurance for your craft next time. insurance company will require you to make a log book of all flights, and maintnance protocols. maintnance is something no one does or knows how to do on a drone


i'm willing to bet if you did maintnance you would have nip this failed flight in the bud, on the bench instead of having a loss in flight
 
Last edited:
Sorry to hear you lost your Evo2. Sounds like a shorted battery, perhaps? It's not simply the number of discharge cycles that determines battery health, unfortunately. Age and storage conditions are a factor. It's also encumbent upon the PIC to check for voltage drops between battery cells under load. Autel provisions for this with telemetry that measures cell voltage with 1/100V accuracy. Did you do this with the battery in question, before sending it out from shore? How long that particular battery was in service is a factor (you do have them numbered, right?) Was any swelling evident? High ambient air temp, RH, and altitude can also affect flight envelope, also. None of this is detailed in your report.

Personally, I wouldn't send an Evo2 out over a large body of H20 with any battery that showed any swelling, or voltage under load variance between cells of >.05V, or one older than 18 mos
Thanks for responding and it’s great that you brought this up! Because there was a similar string on this subject not too long ago that has since gone stale, but, yes…., I do and did comfirm all cells in that battery and indeed in every battery as being essentially identical (within 0.01v or less difference), before that flight (to be precise , 20 hours prior to that fateful flight. Indeed I had confirmed updated firmware, software, and perform the necessary policies and procedures as every PIC must perform for preflight, inflight, and post flight/routine and scheduled documentation and maintenance. This battery I can/did confirm before the flight had only 29 cycles on it, less than 4 months old (I own 16 of these batteries) and most certainly want swollen or showing any signs of impending problems. Although a sub speciality physician as my “day job”, I enjoy this as both hobby and also professionally from time to time. Needless to say because it wasn’t appropriate to this thread, I happened to be a volunteer,demonstrating and obtaining videos of the beautiful lakeshore area, to the local tourism board for that township and of Michigan. This wasn’t a hired job, nor am interview. Some of those onlookers were very Davy to sUAS abilities some not. Though I was not “hired“ at that time, I have previously done work of this type since I have been 107 certified and now it doesn’t even begin to pay for the amount of equipment I purchased from the two bigger drone manufacturers we often speak about, I still enjoy this hobby and as a board-certified sub specialist position, I am quite used to and my compulsion to perform all appropriate documentation, preflight/in-flight/post flight maintenance just like I do every day in my own primary profession. As far as “buying insurance” comment, I have previously inquired with my various homeowner and other property insurance underwriters about coverage for my drones, but because I am 107 certified, and since this falls under FAA jurisdiction, the insurance needed to cover the drone is not covered under anyone’s homeowners policies if one either occasionally, rarely or regularly performs 107 professional drone services. If you think that your “state farm insurance“ is going to cover your drone loss or crash either for replacement, repair or liability and if you do perform 107 professional work, you’re in for a surprise should they look into it any further. You do need separate professional liability coverage that is not written by any homeowners insurance. I see it written all the time on these boards but if push came to shove, and if there was significant liability, injury, property destruction etc. then I can assure you anything other than possibly the few“incident to”insurances (Verifly, etc.), Traditional homeowners insurance does not cover drone replacement or drown coverage if you are 107 certified, irrespective if that particular flight was for commercial use or not. It doesn’t matter. Well I’m sure there are many people on this forum who have had their lost, crash, fly away drone repaired or replaced through their homeowners policy, I know for certainty that the question of “does/is this S US craft going to be use for professional commercial purposes“ on the underwriting policy and though many people have had their State Farm or other homeowners policies pay for replacement or repair, I shutter to think what would happen if there was a true liability and they were performing professional services or have performed professional services. This necessary to purchase liability insurance through traditional FAA approved on the underwriting policy and though many people have had their State Farm or other homeowners policies pay for replacement or repair, I shutter to think what would happen if there was a true liability and they were performing professional services or have performed professional services. This is why it is necessary to purchase liability insurance through traditional FAA approved insurance underwriters or for each flight online , But these types of insurance policies do not cover non-professional/hobby based flyaways. Unless you have a DJI refresh care policy or the soon to be released Autel policies (by the way the E2 P will not be covered for flyaways or submerged or lost drones).

I do not want to have this thread hijacked on insurance discussion. My main concern is that there is a problem with either firmware/software/battery manufacturing standards/who knows, in regards to this type of situation. Many people are riding in about batteries suddenly losing voltage/current despite confirming appropriate battery charging procedures employed.

Finally, the other onlookers whom many I knew for years some of which I had just met, only saw one thing, they saw a respected professional physician who also is well known in the area with his hobby/professional flight 107 status who lost his drone Literally 3.2 minutes after launch with no ability to prevent his craft from going under water, because of sudden critical power failure. Whether or not I choose to fly over water, buildings for inspections, construction sites for inventory, the list goes on including power lines for regional power distribution networks, etc., I have professional insurance for that for liability. But this particular situation was not done for money nor barter. This was done for demonstration purposes only no possibility of payment nor any received or considered. All these people saw was my Autel plunging into the lake spite me trying to do my best to explain the fact that this particular company has very significant advantages over other drone manufacturers.(usually) But then I finished my little “demonstration“ by bringing out my DJI Mavic pro 2 , which worked without a hitch.(I didn’t want to finish the day without demonstrating the advantages of sUAS videography). Needless to say I think even the non-SUAS experienced saw what they would go with should they hire me or anyone else in the future.

If nothing, I want to know what I could have/should have done differently prior to that flight which indeed didn’t need to take his flight over water, given that the entire area is an inland lake with its outlet to Lake Michigan. There’s lots of water in Lake Michigan and in the state of Michigan. Everyone who flies over it whether with sUAS or traditional aircraft knows the obvious. Nonetheless it needs to be done sometimes and it was professionals we take all the necessary steps to prevent any type of complication. I just want to know from Autel what went wrong (frankly in this case it was not pilot hour). And if this is a problem with manufactures defect, “short-circuiting“, firmware problems, software problems, whatever, I think it’s appropriate for Autel to either opine their diagnosis and recommend their solution, or state that they don’t know and at least recognize the problem.
 
I know there is way more data AUtel could share with thier consumers, via the batteries onboard brain. would be nice if they offered a package for pack analysis. via the sky app. or a battery and interface package.
there are a ton of parameters a commercial user needs for data monitoring for basic maintnance protocols of the pack. this seems important liability issue to meet for insurance provider of the equipment, and to fullfill a logbook report
 
Thanks for responding and it’s great that you brought this up! Because there was a similar string on this subject not too long ago that has since gone stale, but, yes…., I do and did comfirm all cells in that battery and indeed in every battery as being essentially identical (within 0.01v or less difference), before that flight (to be precise , 20 hours prior to that fateful flight. Indeed I had confirmed updated firmware, software, and perform the necessary policies and procedures as every PIC must perform for preflight, inflight, and post flight/routine and scheduled documentation and maintenance. This battery I can/did confirm before the flight had only 29 cycles on it, less than 4 months old (I own 16 of these batteries) and most certainly want swollen or showing any signs of impending problems. Although a sub speciality physician as my “day job”, I enjoy this as both hobby and also professionally from time to time. Needless to say because it wasn’t appropriate to this thread, I happened to be a volunteer,demonstrating and obtaining videos of the beautiful lakeshore area, to the local tourism board for that township and of Michigan. This wasn’t a hired job, nor am interview. Some of those onlookers were very Davy to sUAS abilities some not. Though I was not “hired“ at that time, I have previously done work of this type since I have been 107 certified and now it doesn’t even begin to pay for the amount of equipment I purchased from the two bigger drone manufacturers we often speak about, I still enjoy this hobby and as a board-certified sub specialist position, I am quite used to and my compulsion to perform all appropriate documentation, preflight/in-flight/post flight maintenance just like I do every day in my own primary profession. As far as “buying insurance” comment, I have previously inquired with my various homeowner and other property insurance underwriters about coverage for my drones, but because I am 107 certified, and since this falls under FAA jurisdiction, the insurance needed to cover the drone is not covered under anyone’s homeowners policies if one either occasionally, rarely or regularly performs 107 professional drone services. If you think that your “state farm insurance“ is going to cover your drone loss or crash either for replacement, repair or liability and if you do perform 107 professional work, you’re in for a surprise should they look into it any further. You do need separate professional liability coverage that is not written by any homeowners insurance. I see it written all the time on these boards but if push came to shove, and if there was significant liability, injury, property destruction etc. then I can assure you anything other than possibly the few“incident to”insurances (Verifly, etc.), Traditional homeowners insurance does not cover drone replacement or drown coverage if you are 107 certified, irrespective if that particular flight was for commercial use or not. It doesn’t matter. Well I’m sure there are many people on this forum who have had their lost, crash, fly away drone repaired or replaced through their homeowners policy, I know for certainty that the question of “does/is this S US craft going to be use for professional commercial purposes“ on the underwriting policy and though many people have had their State Farm or other homeowners policies pay for replacement or repair, I shutter to think what would happen if there was a true liability and they were performing professional services or have performed professional services. This necessary to purchase liability insurance through traditional FAA approved on the underwriting policy and though many people have had their State Farm or other homeowners policies pay for replacement or repair, I shutter to think what would happen if there was a true liability and they were performing professional services or have performed professional services. This is why it is necessary to purchase liability insurance through traditional FAA approved insurance underwriters or for each flight online , But these types of insurance policies do not cover non-professional/hobby based flyaways. Unless you have a DJI refresh care policy or the soon to be released Autel policies (by the way the E2 P will not be covered for flyaways or submerged or lost drones).

I do not want to have this thread hijacked on insurance discussion. My main concern is that there is a problem with either firmware/software/battery manufacturing standards/who knows, in regards to this type of situation. Many people are riding in about batteries suddenly losing voltage/current despite confirming appropriate battery charging procedures employed.

Finally, the other onlookers whom many I knew for years some of which I had just met, only saw one thing, they saw a respected professional physician who also is well known in the area with his hobby/professional flight 107 status who lost his drone Literally 3.2 minutes after launch with no ability to prevent his craft from going under water, because of sudden critical power failure. Whether or not I choose to fly over water, buildings for inspections, construction sites for inventory, the list goes on including power lines for regional power distribution networks, etc., I have professional insurance for that for liability. But this particular situation was not done for money nor barter. This was done for demonstration purposes only no possibility of payment nor any received or considered. All these people saw was my Autel plunging into the lake spite me trying to do my best to explain the fact that this particular company has very significant advantages over other drone manufacturers.(usually) But then I finished my little “demonstration“ by bringing out my DJI Mavic pro 2 , which worked without a hitch.(I didn’t want to finish the day without demonstrating the advantages of sUAS videography). Needless to say I think even the non-SUAS experienced saw what they would go with should they hire me or anyone else in the future.

If nothing, I want to know what I could have/should have done differently prior to that flight which indeed didn’t need to take his flight over water, given that the entire area is an inland lake with its outlet to Lake Michigan. There’s lots of water in Lake Michigan and in the state of Michigan. Everyone who flies over it whether with sUAS or traditional aircraft knows the obvious. Nonetheless it needs to be done sometimes and it was professionals we take all the necessary steps to prevent any type of complication. I just want to know from Autel what went wrong (frankly in this case it was not pilot hour). And if this is a problem with manufactures defect, “short-circuiting“, firmware problems, software problems, whatever, I think it’s appropriate for Autel to either opine their diagnosis and recommend their solution, or state that they don’t know and at least recognize the problem.
Keith,
I'm glad you brought this up again in a new thread, since the thread I started seemed to poop out. This is awful! As I explained in my thread a few week ago, we have had nearly identical experiences where the battery suddenly drained and the E2P dropped into water.
The difference is that when I contacted Autel, they looked at the flight data showing that the battery drained prematurely and agreed that it was a malfunction. I had purchased that drone second hand on Ebay about two months prior to my crash. I have no idea of its provenance or whether it was still under warranty. Autel never mentioned anything about the warranty when I contacted them....they just told me that they would replace it. I have since decided to shelf any older batteries and use only newer ones. Did you try contacting Ken Booth at Autel?
 
Keith,
I'm glad you brought this up again in a new thread, since the thread I started seemed to poop out. This is awful! As I explained in my thread a few week ago, we have had nearly identical experiences where the battery suddenly drained and the E2P dropped into water.
The difference is that when I contacted Autel, they looked at the flight data showing that the battery drained prematurely and agreed that it was a malfunction. I had purchased that drone second hand on Ebay about two months prior to my crash. I have no idea of its provenance or whether it was still under warranty. Autel never mentioned anything about the warranty when I contacted them....they just told me that they would replace it. I have since decided to shelf any older batteries and use only newer ones. Did you try contacting Ken Booth at Autel?
I have not tried to contact Ken Booth yet. Well I do have a Facebook account that is active, I don’t utilize it very often. But I just did request him as a friend yesterday, but I’m sure he’s actually living life and might consider messaging me back.

When I read your post the other week which occurred before my own incident, I remember thinking that I was having the same issues although no severe accidents were known prior to that and that’s when I double down and re-checked everything again just to make triple sure. Indeed everything looked fine and like always I double checked everything before I went out and I literally lost control of the aircraft due to the battery just completely sapping from full charge to nothing in just three minutes.

I gave them full access to my explorer app account. I’m not certain what they were able to find from it, I asked them and their response was “it’s out of warranty (remember I bought it new from an authorized dealer not even a year and a half ago) and the battery itself one hour more than a dozen that I own was no more than four months old with less than 30 charge cycles on it done following when you facture recommended procedure.

In full sincerity, I really do feel that they should replace my E2 P and one battery. As far as throwing away a dozen batteries of which at least nine of them are no more than six months old, is a huge loss of expenditure! ($219 each). But I’m hoping that Ken Booth will read this and he is more than welcome to contact me directly via Facebook message or for that matter any other means since he has my email address, my cell phone both of which are registered through Autel. But to be frank I was very upset on how dismissive they were/are so far.

But whether they help me or not, this issue is not going to go away for them. I’m hearing more and more of these problems and they’re not offering any suggestions or solutions. But I do hope they will at the very least renumerative and/or replace my drone. Congrats on you getting your drone replaced!

Thanks
Keith
 
I have not tried to contact Ken Booth yet. Well I do have a Facebook account that is active, I don’t utilize it very often. But I just did request him as a friend yesterday, but I’m sure he’s actually living life and might consider messaging me back.

When I read your post the other week which occurred before my own incident, I remember thinking that I was having the same issues although no severe accidents were known prior to that and that’s when I double down and re-checked everything again just to make triple sure. Indeed everything looked fine and like always I double checked everything before I went out and I literally lost control of the aircraft due to the battery just completely sapping from full charge to nothing in just three minutes.

I gave them full access to my explorer app account. I’m not certain what they were able to find from it, I asked them and their response was “it’s out of warranty (remember I bought it new from an authorized dealer not even a year and a half ago) and the battery itself one hour more than a dozen that I own was no more than four months old with less than 30 charge cycles on it done following when you facture recommended procedure.

In full sincerity, I really do feel that they should replace my E2 P and one battery. As far as throwing away a dozen batteries of which at least nine of them are no more than six months old, is a huge loss of expenditure! ($219 each). But I’m hoping that Ken Booth will read this and he is more than welcome to contact me directly via Facebook message or for that matter any other means since he has my email address, my cell phone both of which are registered through Autel. But to be frank I was very upset on how dismissive they were/are so far.

But whether they help me or not, this issue is not going to go away for them. I’m hearing more and more of these problems and they’re not offering any suggestions or solutions. But I do hope they will at the very least renumerative and/or replace my drone. Congrats on you getting your drone replaced!

Thanks
Keith
I totally agree that they should replace your drone. I don't see why they replaced mine and not yours, unless mine was still under warranty. I'm going to copy the URL of this thread and send it to Ken. Hopefully he'll read it!
David
 
Last edited:
What is the ticket number which they review the log? Do you have a direct link to airdata? If not can you please upload the flight log and share the link to the airdata log?
 
before you toss all batteries, anychance you can cut one open and take some pictures of the design and the cells solder joints..

it sounds to me there might be issues with craftsmanship in the assembly of the pack, and that maybe the battery didn't loose all it's juice, you might have had a cell connection failure in a solder joint or even the quick release contact points going to the drone itself.


I renctly purchase a NANo+ and the battery was bad out of the box.... i think AUtel is hiding something
 
What is the ticket number which they review the log? Do you have a direct link to airdata? If not can you please upload the flight log and share the link to the airdata log?
My number is ticket #253147. I related my information and login information to “Tim D”, then he transferred it to “Karen D”, who then transferred it to “Tom D”(who offered me the “20% off a replacement drone). I feel that in this case, that batteries that I used which were all less than 3-5 months old (bought through Authorized dealers) and since this issue has been noted in these forums , and I even commented on them shortly before this happened to me (as these odd issues were also starting to be noted my me). So I confirmed my batteries were “healthy”(as noted above in this string) and following procedure , I too, list my E2P 6k and battery (and my 256gb card) in the lake that day. I also forwarded Autel customer service the only screenshot I could save that was on my attached iPhone before all connections were lost due to zero battery power. It shows the craft to be over the lake, with houses on the shoreline. Had I just another 1 minute of control, I would have safely landed my drone on the shoreline. But down it went into the water. Very deep (per my boat which has sonar, depth Fl gauges etc , that particular location is 39 feet deep of dark and muddy water. (Pentwater Lake Michigan).
Again, the drone itself was registered on April 24, 2021 with the FAA (the same day it was bound with Autel since I bought it new from the dealer). Granted it was 16 months old, but I am first and only owner, and while I understand company policies, if this was 100% pilot error, then I understand proportional assignment of responsibility. But if I were to do this again, I wouldn’t know what to do differently.

I appreciate anything you may be able to do to help me get a new E2P 6k this week. I am scheduled to “bid” for a State and local tourism board this week, but I don’t feel it would be appropriate of me to do so without equipment ready to go. I also will purchase the Autel Care (once/if it is ready as it appears to still not be available for E2P 6k?).

If you read this email string, I am a proponent of Autel for quite some time now, and yes, I was out on the spot in front of people when this happened , and I would like to be able to convince these people and others that I am capable and that this equipment was capable. But regardless of all of that, I would appreciate anything you can do on my behalf and also let me and others know if there’s something that we can do to further minimize these issues from occurring.

Thanks again!
Keith
 
What voltages where they at take off?

Please provide the information I requested or I can not help.
 
The voltages I recorded prior to flight were 12.937 (4.313, 4.311, 4.312)

I don’t have or don’t know a way to upload any information from or to flight log. This is when customer service asked for my login user and password, which I supplied. It was after this they said the drone was out of warranty (by 4 months apparently?).
But I also documented 31:42 in estimated flight time via the Explorer app connected to my iPhone and those were the voltages I recorded just minutes before I launched. Unfortunately I have no other data other than the screenshot moments before the drone went down in lake. I also know that I “synchronized” all files when customer service asked me to as the flight data for my V1 controller to iPhone didn’t show much information except that very last screenshot which was on my iPhone, which showed no connection, no battery, no “nothing”. I apologize if this doesn’t answer all your questions. Here is the last snapshot I had, after I lost contact with the drone (after it went down, and battery went to zero). By then I disconnected my iPhone from the rc but this was the last image showing on my iPhone that was attached. Unfortunately despite synchronization, I am not sure what else Autel found on my flight logs. But those were the battery voltages and charge estimates just prior to take off. The one on the left was the only screenshot I could save from explorer , the one on the right was an actual picture from my iPhone of where the drone went down in the water. FB5FBD28-5940-4B95-9EA9-5540EB27B1F5.jpeg3BDC7C82-CEE9-44F0-A53A-4229F6DB1789.jpeg
 
Please fallow this guid and get the logs uploaded. Thank you!

I was just able to create my new account in air data UAV, and synchronized that flight. What’s interesting is that the drone landed in the lake a little bit closer to shore than I initially visualized! However it’s still likely under several feet or more of water.
If you can tell me how to send this flight data do you specifically as an official Autel representative I will do so! Sorry for these novice type questions.
 
Please fallow this guid and get the logs uploaded. Thank you!

@Blade Strike (Ken?)
I have the logs and all information from the flight in question. I must say that is fascinating amount of detail! So much so I signed up for a hobby level subscription! I would like to send this to you “privately”. Can you provide me with an email or other appropriate method to get the data to you?
Also, as I stated, the drone appears to of landed about 10 to 15 feet offshore (I’m thinking about driving up there however it takes about two hours to get there) to see if I can possibly find it in all that muck.
Either way let me know what’s the best way to get this file to you and either way I thank you for your prompt responses and any potential help!

Thanks again
Keith
 

Latest threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
11,227
Messages
102,645
Members
9,818
Latest member
redwingaerials