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

[DocFlyboy89]

The logs from the date/issue in question are updated. Thank you. I also sent the link for this flight in question directly to “Tom W” as well as my flight logs have all been updated and on AirdataUAV and forwarded to Autel customer service. If there is anything else I can do to facilitate my situation, please let me know. But also I would like to thank you for guiding me through this process. I do hope a mutually tenable solution can be had, as I do need to get that drone replaced and I would rather it be an Autel E2P6K. (I would also inquire about the insurance thst apparently is pending to be offered for new Evo 2 Pro products. Thanks again for your assistance. I will stand by until I hear from you or Autel Robotics.

 

[Blade Strike]

The logs from the date/issue in question are updated. Thank you. I also sent the link for this flight in question directly to “Tom W” as well as my flight logs have all been updated and on AirdataUAV and forwarded to Autel customer service. If there is anything else I can do to facilitate my situation, please let me know. But also I would like to thank you for guiding me through this process. I do hope a mutually tenable solution can be had, as I do need to get that drone replaced and I would rather it be an Autel E2P6K. (I would also inquire about the insurance thst apparently is pending to be offered for new Evo 2 Pro products. Thanks again for your assistance. I will stand by until I hear from you or Autel Robotics.

Unfortunately the craft is out of warranty. This is why the claim was denied.

I do apologize.

 

[DocFlyboy89]

Thank you for your prompt reply and help. Two final things.
1) is there anything that I could have/should have done to have prevented this crash? In reviewing the data the battery precipitously lost charge and it went from 100% to 0% in six minutes and nine seconds. You may have to guess and that’s OK, but assuming the accuracy/veracity of the battery having less than 30 charges on it, and no swelling or no other issues that I’m aware of is there anything else should I get a new drone from Autel that perhaps might have prevented this?
2) there was an emailed “offer” from “Tom W“ I would like to follow up with him and or whomever to see how I can go about his offer for purchasing a replacement drone? I’d there a phone number, “code” or some other technique to follow through with thst?

 

[Blade Strike]

Thank you for your prompt reply and help. Two final things.
1) is there anything that I could have/should have done to have prevented this crash? In reviewing the data the battery precipitously lost charge and it went from 100% to 0% in six minutes and nine seconds. You may have to guess and that’s OK, but assuming the accuracy/veracity of the battery having less than 30 charges on it, and no swelling or no other issues that I’m aware of is there anything else should I get a new drone from Autel that perhaps might have prevented this?
2) there was an emailed “offer” from “Tom W“ I would like to follow up with him and or whomever to see how I can go about his offer for purchasing a replacement drone? I’d there a phone number, “code” or some other technique to follow through with thst?

I would highly recommend to deep cycle every 15-20 flights or over long periods of batteries sittings. This will help with state of charge issues! Think of it as a recal of the internal charge logic.

I would also recommend to watch voltages for the first few minutes of flight, any rapid drop you would notice and could take immediate action.

Once again I do apologize but an out of warranty craft is a hard stop.

You can reply back to Tom on his offer email and he will get back to you shortly.

 

[DocFlyboy89]

I just emailed Tom W. Hopefully he can get back to me soon, as I do have a “job” this coming weekend, and I would like to place an order asap.

Thanks for helping on this. At the least, you stepped up and tried. I was hopping my it wouldn’t be a hard stop. But it is what it is.

I do hope the Autel Care will be offered soon (as advertised) as I do know that it would have come in handy for this situation.

Thanks again
Keith

 

[davshev]

Thanks! I’ll get on this right away!

I just emailed Tom W. Hopefully he can get back to me soon, as I do have a “job” this coming weekend, and I would like to place an order asap.

Thanks for helping on this. At the least, you stepped up and tried. I was hopping my it wouldn’t be a hard stop. But it is what it is.

I do hope the Autel Care will be offered soon (as advertised) as I do know that it would have come in handy for this situation.

Thanks again
Keith

Keith, that explains why they replaced my craft. I bought it second hand, but I guess it was still under warranty. I guess I dodged a bullet! Sorry that happened to you.

 

[davshev]

I would highly recommend to deep cycle every 15-20 flights or over long periods of batteries sittings. This will help with state of charge issues! Think of it as a recal of the internal charge logic.

I would also recommend to watch voltages for the first few minutes of flight, any rapid drop you would notice and could take immediate action.

Once again I do apologize but an out of warranty craft is a hard stop.

You can reply back to Tom on his offer email and he will get back to you shortly.

Ken, Can you explain what "deep cycle" means?

 

[DocFlyboy89]

Thanks for the kind and appreciated empathy davshev! Also thanks to Blade Strike for directing me to the app that allows a better assessment of my flight logs and such. I want to thank him for doing what he can at his post for Autel. Apparently the issue is the warranty. It is 12 months for new drones, and since mine was first bound late April 2021, it was precisely 16 months and 3 days old, when it went down. Plus I now have a more precise view of where it went down. I doubt I or anyone will ever see it again, but next time I am up there, I may see if I can brave the dark, cold and murky lake waters …..! (LOL- that’s doubtful and doubly dangerous!).

In full transparency, Autel Robotics DID offer me a reasonable discount on new purchase of drone and accessories. Its not 100%, nor is it even close to 50% off, but it is most certainly well worth my while! So thank you Ken (if you had part in that decision-THANKS!!!) and certainly thank you to Autel Robotics who offered me this very reasonable discount for new equipment purchase. So expect my brand new E2P6K AS WELL as some new accessories, battery and such will be headed my way this week!

So Kudos to Autel for offering this discount when they weren’t obliged to legally. But in doing this they have demonstrated that I, as a previous loyal customer and “fanboy”, doubled down and bought a new drone and LOTS of accessories that are needed due to this crash. It further cements what admittedly I was doubting…..that Autel will take care of its customers.

Thank you!!!

Further updates when I get my new equipment.

Finally I do look forward to any additional information on the other member who asked Ken “what exactly is deep cycle“. I am familiar with the term as it applies to traditional marine, automobile type batteries particularly lead acid batteries. But I’m not familiar with it as a relates to Lipo batteries. I just want to not have to go through this again and certainly I will take The advise to keep an eye on those battery both of us, but the flight log showed that my battery went from 100% to 90% in less than 30 to 40 seconds, 90% to 79% within about 1 1/2 minutes and then 79% to 39% in 40 seconds and then 39% to under 13% in just a few seconds. Unfortunately had I had just literally 30 to 40 seconds more warning or at least not seen those precipitous fall off of voltages I would have certainly made it to shore and at the very least I certainly wouldn’t have even gone over water. Other than checking my other batteries which I do weekly and all sells less than one 100 or less and voltage equivalence to rule out any battery cell disparity, and of course no swelling, appropriate charging etc. other than the deep cycle management that lead strike smoker, I really don’t know what else I could/should be doing. But again thank you hotel and thank you everyone on this forum who had useful advice.

 

[davshev]

Keith,
It was I who asked about deep cycle. I did a little reading up. Here's an informative link.

Everything You Need to Know About Lithium Battery Charging Cycles

Lithium batteries, often known as Lithium-ion Polymer (LiPo) batteries, are non-aqueous electrolyte batteries that employ Lithium as the negative electrode. Lithium-ion Polymer batteries have quickly become the primary power supply for a wide range of applications and sectors, thanks to...

au.renogy.com

David

 

[Felix the Cat]

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!

Lipo batteries are unpredictable and the battery management board built into every intelligent flight battery is only as good as the chips soldered onto it. I recently bought my first Autel bird but I also own and fly a four year old DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. I have three DJI IFB's that are 4 years old, are high cycle and every one of them (touch wood) is still reliable enough for me to trust they're good enough for flight. Fair enough: I can't expect 28 mins flight time anymore: but I'm still getting between 21 and 23 mins before low battery RTH warning - depending on flight conditions.

I wonder if cost-cutting during production has resulted in sub-standard components being sourced and fitted? As I mentioned in another post: my 4 year old Mav 2 Zoom is still 100% airworthy and as mechanically reliable as it was straight out of the box. My Autel Nano+: less than 3 months old and has already suffered a motor failure (probably a blown ESC).

Fitting cheapo components on the sly and not reflecting this in the pricing structure would be a serious bit of cheek. These are NOT cheap toys.

ALL the big manufacturers need to accept that by short-changing their customers with half-finished products to begin with and then adding insult to injury by using second-rate components during manufacture is not a sensible long-term business strategy. You're supposed to have confidence that the aircraft you put up in the air is airworthy. Once that confidence is badly knocked: it is really difficult to trust that make or model again. "There's a chip shortage" as an excuse really doesn't cut the mustard.

Unfortunately: all of the Big Hitters in the drone marketplace have gotten away with it for long enough now that their marketing people know the majority of existing clients who have already bought one of their products will be ready to put the same hand in the same pocket to fork out another wince inducing sum of money for the next "big thing" as soon as they "leak" details of it over the Net. Both DJI and Autel also know that the majority of their existing customers will just write off the bad experiences they have already had in the hope that the next model will hit the shops in the 100% finished state the manufacturer promises it will be in. Which it won't.

This will continue until people start voting with their wallets.

 

[davshev]

Lipo batteries are unpredictable and the battery management board built into every intelligent flight battery is only as good as the chips soldered onto it. I recently bought my first Autel bird but I also own and fly a four year old DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. I have three DJI IFB's that are 4 years old, are high cycle and every one of them (touch wood) is still reliable enough for me to trust they're good enough for flight. Fair enough: I can't expect 28 mins flight time anymore: but I'm still getting between 21 and 23 mins before low battery RTH warning - depending on flight conditions.

I wonder if cost-cutting during production has resulted in sub-standard components being sourced and fitted? As I mentioned in another post: my 4 year old Mav 2 Zoom is still 100% airworthy and as mechanically reliable as it was straight out of the box. My Autel Nano+: less than 3 months old and has already suffered a motor failure (probably a blown ESC).

Fitting cheapo components on the sly and not reflecting this in the pricing structure would be a serious bit of cheek. These are NOT cheap toys.

ALL the big manufacturers need to accept that by short-changing their customers with half-finished products to begin with and then adding insult to injury by using second-rate components during manufacture is not a sensible long-term business strategy. You're supposed to have confidence that the aircraft you put up in the air is airworthy. Once that confidence is badly knocked: it is really difficult to trust that make or model again. "There's a chip shortage" as an excuse really doesn't cut the mustard.

Unfortunately: all of the Big Hitters in the drone marketplace have gotten away with it for long enough now that their marketing people know the majority of existing clients who have already bought one of their products will be ready to put the same hand in the same pocket to fork out another wince inducing sum of money for the next "big thing" as soon as they "leak" details of it over the Net. Both DJI and Autel also know that the majority of their existing customers will just write off the bad experiences they have already had in the hope that the next model will hit the shops in the 100% finished state the manufacturer promises it will be in. Which it won't.

This will continue until people start voting with their wallets.

Those are all valid points. Autel can't possibly be in the dark about these drones going down due to battery failure. In the meantime, since I don't know much about batteries, I want to know what I can do to keep mine operating at optimal levels. I've already decided to shelf the older ones and only use the newest with the fewest cycles.

 

[DocFlyboy89]

Those are all valid points. Autel can't possibly be in the dark about these drones going down due to battery failure. In the meantime, since I don't know much about batteries, I want to know what I can do to keep mine operating at optimal levels. I've already decided to shelf the older ones and only use the newest with the fewest cycles.

This is exactly what my common refrain is as well. Agreed!

 

[davshev]

This is exactly what my common refrain is as well. Agreed!

BTW, here's a link to a thread in which another Autel pilot had his drone fall out of the sky and into the water. He went so far as to hire divers to retrieve it!

Defective batteries

Has anyone noticed that Autel seems to have some issues with defective batteries? To date they have replaced 3 batteries for me.

autelpilots.com

 

[DocFlyboy89]

BTW, here's a link to a thread in which another Autel pilot had his drone fall out of the sky and into the water. He went so far as to hire divers to retrieve it!

Defective batteries

Has anyone noticed that Autel seems to have some issues with defective batteries? To date they have replaced 3 batteries for me.

autelpilots.com

This IS a problem!!! Thanks for the post!!!

 

[Ungava]

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 had a very similar experience but was able to land it on the ground. Same messages. The issue was the battery. One cell was lower than the others. After many emails and unanswered phone calls, they replaced the relativity new battery. No charge.
As mentioned before on this site, I am on hold buying any Autel products. Their handling of the Pro 2 V1, V2 and now V3 fiasco is unexceptable
Good luck.

 

[Steverino]

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've had the exact same problem on three different occasions and each time I was flying over water. The first time was with the X-Star Premium and the second two times were with the EVO II. I don't know how many charge cycles were on the X-Star Premium but each of the EVO II had between 80 and 100 charge cycles. In every situation, the batteries were fully charged and I was within the first 3 minutes of flight. I was expecting to get a couple hundred out of the EVO II batteries. I now try to avoid flying the Evo II over water when the battery has more than 50 Cycles on it. I hope the EVO Lite batteries don't have the same problem.
The video below shows one of the times it happened. Of course, I added the text and I also added stock footage to depict the crash because the last 5 Seconds of video were corrupt.

 

[Rubik3x]

I feel your pain. I've had 2 rapid battery discharge failures, one with a Yuneec Typhoon H and the other with E2Pv1. Both were actually weather related.
The TH went down in a lake, never to be seen again. I had left the drone and battery outside in the car overnight in freezing weather. It read fully charged when I took off the next morning but drained to zero and force "landed" in the lake within seconds.
I flew the E2Pv1 with a fully charged warm battery on a cold, foggy morning. After a few minutes into the flight, it came down rapidly into tall grass due to overheated battery. There was ice on the rotors. That overloaded the motors and drained the battery.
My point is, there are other circumstances that can cause the battery to drain rapidly besides faulty components. Can you think of anything that might have overloaded the motors during your flight? Propeller damage? Bird strike? Excessively hot air? Freezing weather (southern hemisphere)? Too many violent maneuvers?

 

[davshev]

When it happened to me everything, as far as I could tell, was fine. I don't think it was due to anything other that battery failure. Fortunately, my E2P was still in warranty and Autel replaced it. I'd love to know more about how to get the most life out of the batteries. Ken Booth said something about periodically doing a "deep cycle," about which I know nothing. Your idea of not flying over water after 50 cycles sounds wise.

 

[andrew124C41]

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!

Like others have said, it sounds like some problem with the battery itself or more likely, the battery management circuitry within the battery itself.
I am NOT an attorney but by chance had to learn how to litigate a civil case and I have helped a number of friends with small claims cases. In one instant it was an out of warranty expensive Sony Laptop.


The gist of it is this. Find the website in your state which registers businesses for tax purposes. A company that does business in every state of the Union will have a Registered Agent. You must get the name of the the Registered Agent, the exact spelling and the exact address because you may wind up using the Sheriff to perform Service of your paperwork. (The claim)

But, the first thing to do is write what is called a Demand Letter. You can find the format online. It is addressed not to Autel but rather the Registered Agent.

In the letter you describe what happened and include everything up to this point in time. You state that the Evo is not a toy but rather a prosumer product that some consider professional. You state that the logs demonstrate that what transpired was not in anyway pilot error, that in good faith you relied upon the information provided by the battery. You state that you believe this was the result of a potential inherit design problem. Getting only one year of service per warranty for a product at this price level is not reasonable.

You tell them that they can satisfy your demand by replacing both the drone and the battery. You expect to get a response with 7 business days as if the date the letter was written, that failure to comply with said demand will result in your filing a cause of action in small claims court against them.

You go to the post office and get a certificatied mail ticket and a return receipt. In the beginning of the letter, you write By Certified Mail: (put the number here without the brackets.)

You send it both certified and return receipt but don't require a signature because they might not be in... Not necessary.

I can't promise you... But not many people know how to do this so when they get it, they will know you mean business and they just might settle with you on the basis of thr demand letter.

If that fails, you can file in small claims court. You just look up the proceedure for your state.

They might settle up on receiving this. If not, they might not even have an attorney show up in court in which case you would get a judgement against them.

At that point, actually collecting on the judgement from a corporation is a bit more complicated because you would have to find out their banking information to get I a lien against the account. It should not come to this if you go the route let us know how you make out.

I don't think companies should be liable for their products forever, but I think what happened to you is wrong. You should not have to replace an expensive drone because of a battery failure of this nature. Good luck. (PM me if you like.)

PS: I don't think deep cycling the battery would have helped here and the subject has been debated on RC Forums for some time.

Again, I think the issue has something to do with the battery monitoring circuitry. Not so long ago I built a 50 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery from 10 amp hour Headway cells and it required the addition of a BMS circuit board.

Whether this was some kind of temporary short... Again which I tend to doubt or an intermittent problem with the BMS circuit would of course be helpful to know but I think irrelevant in terms of how the company should act in response to your claim.

I believe they have a duty to act in good faith because it should be apparent to them that the crash was not your fault. If they want to have a good reputation, they need to do what is right.

I just went through this with my wife's Subaru Outback. It had been purchased new and just after it went out of warranty, an oxygen sensor went bad turning on the check engine light. We did not even need to debate the issue. They did not charge us to fix it.

It sounds like you do this professionally under 107 so you can't get the 60 dollar State Farm insurance I got, but I think there is insurance available to you but just more costly. That might be a good idea.

 

[DocFlyboy89]

While I understand the “practicality“ of avoiding flying over any bodies of water after 50 cycles on a battery. But then we’re talking about batteries that are $219 each MSRP and I would have no problems doing that if said batteries which are rated for at least 200 or more cycles(by the manufacturer themselves) within lower the price by 75% and should they make that recommendation of not flying over water after 50 cycles then I certainly wouldn’t/couldn’t argue with that.
Even sidestepping the “practicality“ approach to this dilemma, the manufacturers responsibility in just about every state of the United States (I have no idea about other countries) does require appropriate diligence on their side just as it requires diligence on the consumer side. (Consumer rights).
So in this thread where some of the initial responses questioned the wisdom (practicality?) Flying over any body of water, frankly since we are responsible for our aircraft as pilots in charge whether it be over a body of water, buildings, or other potentially sensitive infrastructure, people, etc. do we then limit flights over ANYTHING after 50 charges? In order to prevent potential damage to the craft as well as to the persons and/or structures on the ground? This is some thing that’s not hypothetical but it’s quite existential.
So if one applies that logic, with all due respect, then we shouldn’t be flying these craft with anything over 50 cycles. But then what is the remedy should this occur after 35 cycles, or in my case at 30 cycles?!

Again I appreciate what Autel has done to try to help when push came to shove, and offering reduced prices on replacement craft and accessories, I still shelled out any thousands of dollars and of course that was my choice and my choice alone. But I wonder about the myriad of other possibilities and problems despite safe and appropriate drone flying, that even win a conscientious and fully compliant 107 certified pilot performs yet these problems still exist and that does impart significant manufacturer responsibility. There is a mutual responsibility at hand from pilot and control to manufacturer, thus if “50 cycles“ is the recommendation of proceeds I realize it is not per the manufacturer) then this disconnect remains a problem.