SE Controller Battery Charging Problems Continue (August 25, 2023) and now the controller will not take a charge at all.

[CaptainBry]

In late December 2022 I purchased my EVO ll Pro V3 Rugged Bundle. It took 4 days to get a full charge on the SE Controller. That continued to a lesser degree (like 1 to 2 days to charge) until the firmware update in late January. It has still never been dependable and repeated requests for solutions or resolution from Autel Robotics have fallen on deaf ears. In April I was able to purchase a second SE Controller battery from Blue Sky Drones and that has worked out fairly well in my effort to keep the drone flight-ready.
On August 4th the batteries both went dead after short flights and neither battery will now take any charge. I have messages in to both Autel Robotics (not surprised by the crickets there...) and AutelPilot who I bought the unit from in the first place.
Have any of you other pilots experienced this problem? If so did you find a solution?
Any help is greatly appreciated since I live on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and DJI Geofencing has severely limited the use of my DJI products.

 

[surenmunoo]

Have you update the RC FW because the original FW had a remote battery drain issue which was fixed with the update the landed in January.

 

[CaptainBry]

Have you update the RC FW because the original FW had a remote battery drain issue which was fixed with the update the landed in January.

Of course I updated the firmware as soon as it was released. It helped but clearly did not fix the problems. Having the extra battery so that I could let it charge pretty much all the time when I was not flying has become my routine. For the past 48 hours it has just shown the green lights scrolling but never completes a charge with either battery. I cannot state strongly enough -- this is NOT USER ERROR! I have been flying all manner of quads since 2011. I am 107 compliant and fully trained. THIS IS AN AUTEL PROBLEM and I am just searching for a solution. As I've said, I really like the results I get from the camera and I love the flight characteristics. I currently have phone calls and emails in to both Autel and AutelPilot and all I hear is crickets!

 

[surenmunoo]

Of course I updated the firmware as soon as it was released. It helped but clearly did not fix the problems. Having the extra battery so that I could let it charge pretty much all the time when I was not flying has become my routine. For the past 48 hours it has just shown the green lights scrolling but never completes a charge with either battery. I cannot state strongly enough -- this is NOT USER ERROR! I have been flying all manner of quads since 2011. I am 107 compliant and fully trained. THIS IS AN AUTEL PROBLEM and I am just searching for a solution. As I've said, I really like the results I get from the camera and I love the flight characteristics. I currently have phone calls and emails in to both Autel and AutelPilot and all I hear is crickets!

Your only solution is to hold out for the Crickets then and you should send it back.

 

[christr]

I'm having similar issues with my Max controller. Won't charge at all. tried a few different chargers, nothing. Same chargers charge my 640T's controller no sweat (same controller type, V3, big screen). On the Max nothing happens if I plug it in. If I turn on the controller and plug in the charger the green LED's do their blinky thing.. but nothing charges. If I turn off while plugged in green LED's still blink, but seems to actually draw down on power vs charge.

--Chris

 

[ADOC]

In late December 2022 I purchased my EVO ll Pro V3 Rugged Bundle. It took 4 days to get a full charge on the SE Controller. That continued to a lesser degree (like 1 to 2 days to charge) until the firmware update in late January. It has still never been dependable and repeated requests for solutions or resolution from Autel Robotics have fallen on deaf ears. In April I was able to purchase a second SE Controller battery from Blue Sky Drones and that has worked out fairly well in my effort to keep the drone flight-ready.
On August 4th the batteries both went dead after short flights and neither battery will now take any charge. I have messages in to both Autel Robotics (not surprised by the crickets there...) and AutelPilot who I bought the unit from in the first place.
Have any of you other pilots experienced this problem? If so did you find a solution?
Any help is greatly appreciated since I live on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and DJI Geofencing has severely limited the use of my DJI products.

Since its out of Warranty, I'd open the remote up and test the battery on a good battery tester.

 

[christr]

I'm having similar issues with my Max controller. Won't charge at all. tried a few different chargers, nothing. Same chargers charge my 640T's controller no sweat (same controller type, V3, big screen). On the Max nothing happens if I plug it in. If I turn on the controller and plug in the charger the green LED's do their blinky thing.. but nothing charges. If I turn off while plugged in green LED's still blink, but seems to actually draw down on power vs charge.

--Chris

Update to this... Got an RMA number and UPS call tag for the controller from Autel. So we'll see how it goes from there. Hopefully I get a working controller back soon.

--Chris

 

[christr]

Update to this... Got an RMA number and UPS call tag for the controller from Autel. So we'll see how it goes from there. Hopefully I get a working controller back soon.

--Chris

So further update. They had me ship back the controller to their repair center in Washington State, about 10 days later I got my controller back with a fully charged battery. Looks like they replaced the battery, but unfortunately they didn't bother to test to see if it would charge. It still doesn't charge and waiting to hear back what to do next. Emailed them 2 weeks ago about it, they said they'd refer to their technical folks and let me know. Sent another follow up to them earlier this week. Got same response back... sigh.

--Chris

 

[waynesportraits51]

In late December 2022 I purchased my EVO ll Pro V3 Rugged Bundle. It took 4 days to get a full charge on the SE Controller. That continued to a lesser degree (like 1 to 2 days to charge) until the firmware update in late January. It has still never been dependable and repeated requests for solutions or resolution from Autel Robotics have fallen on deaf ears. In April I was able to purchase a second SE Controller battery from Blue Sky Drones and that has worked out fairly well in my effort to keep the drone flight-ready.
On August 4th the batteries both went dead after short flights and neither battery will now take any charge. I have messages in to both Autel Robotics (not surprised by the crickets there...) and AutelPilot who I bought the unit from in the first place.
Have any of you other pilots experienced this problem? If so did you find a solution?
Any help is greatly appreciated since I live on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State and DJI Geofencing has severely limited the use of my DJI products.

Yes I have the same problem I bought a brand new battery from Autel and it wouldn't take a charge. Left it on the charger all night it didn't charge up. So I contacted autel they were no help and then finally later on in the day I tried it again and started to charge but it's been off and on since

 

[rcee]

Yes I have the same problem I bought a brand new battery from Autel and it wouldn't take a charge. Left it on the charger all night it didn't charge up. So I contacted autel they were no help and then finally later on in the day I tried it again and started to charge but it's been off and on since

What charger you using ?

 

[waynesportraits51]

The one that came with it..
It charges both the bird and
the controller.

 

[waynesportraits51]

What charger you using ?

 

[rcee]

The one that came with it..
It charges both the bird and
the controller.

Should be this one:

 

[waynesportraits51]

No it's not. I'll take a picture of it and send later

 

[rcee]

https://autelrobotics-offical-website.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/statics/cdn/EVO+II+V3+Series---User+Guide%2BQuick+Guide+Documents/EVO+II+Pro+V3/EVO+II+Pro+V3+Packing+List-US.pdf

 

[waynesportraits51]

On the bottom of page 1

 

[waynesportraits51]

I have both it works on both of them but the main one I use is this one

 

[LapeerBird]

​

Just FYI, I how do you version two smart controller that I purchased new batteries for from China, and I could not get those or the original batteries for the controllers to charge correctly. Turns out that the USB cable was not a high-quality cable and it did not go into the V2 controller for enough to charge appropriately, I found out with the 66 watt Autel AC adapter, when I ran a high quality USB type C cable, to the identical, USB type C connector on the V2 Smart Controller, it charged both controllers to 100%. Make sure you have a high-quality USB see cable that fits far enough into the V2 controller.

 

[christr]

So further update. They had me ship back the controller to their repair center in Washington State, about 10 days later I got my controller back with a fully charged battery. Looks like they replaced the battery, but unfortunately they didn't bother to test to see if it would charge. It still doesn't charge and waiting to hear back what to do next. Emailed them 2 weeks ago about it, they said they'd refer to their technical folks and let me know. Sent another follow up to them earlier this week. Got same response back... sigh.

--Chris

Another update, what started back in april is done settled. (with basically a controller that was broken on arrival, but took me a bit of time to notice since I wasn't flying much).

Autel sent me a new controller for my Evo Max that wouldn't take a charge. After sending it to them once and them swapping the battery out (and not testing it obviously), then another round of sending it back to them, they replaced the controller under warranty. Got it back today and it charges fine, paired with the aircraft and seemed to work just fine.

All in all, it's good to have stuff working again, just wish it didn't take 3 months.

Lesson learned: buy from a local, higher volume dealer vs eBay/overseas managed stores. If I had bought from one of the couple of bigger shops they likely would've fixed it for me or helped move Autel faster vs me having to do all the legwork on my own.

--Chris

 

[CaptainBry]

Another update, what started back in april is done settled. (with basically a controller that was broken on arrival, but took me a bit of time to notice since I wasn't flying much).

Autel sent me a new controller for my Evo Max that wouldn't take a charge. After sending it to them once and them swapping the battery out (and not testing it obviously), then another round of sending it back to them, they replaced the controller under warranty. Got it back today and it charges fine, paired with the aircraft and seemed to work just fine.

All in all, it's good to have stuff working again, just wish it didn't take 3 months.

Lesson learned: buy from a local, higher volume dealer vs eBay/overseas managed stores. If I had bought from one of the couple of bigger shops they likely would've fixed it for me or helped move Autel faster vs me having to do all the legwork on my own.

--Chris

I bought mine from B & H and still had a similar, but longer and more frustrating experience. Solved my problem (after a year and a half) by purchasing a replacement SE Controller on EBay for $400, paired that one up with my bird and have not had any problems in the past month. I don't think the customer service cares about who you buy the product through...