I had this happen to my drone to. And it destroyed the drone. I was flying the battery to 25% and have it go home but in my case it went from 25% to 6% and landed into a tree chopped around and flew out smacking the street which snapped the camera off and shattered everything else. Nothing was really repairable. Spoke with Autel and they said send it in but I told them I had to change the shell due to stress cracks and they said that voids the warranty. Well I got a new one but am scared this will happen again. I think what's happening is these batteries don't like to be drained to low. So I set my home warning to 32% and then I'll just land it and keep it that way till its ready to fly. One thing I did try was a deep cycle. And after deep cycling the batteries it seemed to have increased my battery life in the display but I feel it was a false reading. Well I'm going to try not to run the batters under 25% and see how that goes.
Sudden battery power-drop in-flight
- Thread starter HiloHawaiian
- Start date
Well, it happened as I knew it would. Today, when I got the battery return home alert, I cancelled it to save time & battery by NOT climbing to return altitude to come back. It wasn't necessary, and I was over treacherous rapids and waterfalls -- I wanted it to come directly home. Just as it started to fly back to me, the battery went from 26% to 8% in an instant, with a "Landing Now" warning. I desperately tried to get it to the nearest flat ground, but only had 30 sec max. I failed. It went down on some rocks in the middle of inaccessible waterfall rapids. While I think it's still there, it's suicide to try and get it. So, I contacted Autel, and sent them my story and flight log. This was their response:
Thank you for contacting Autel Robotics support. Battery drops of this nature are caused by the need to deep cycle the battery. We recommend every 20 cycles perform this procedure. Perform by draining your battery to 7% (achieved by flying very low in front of you, canceling the low battery return to home function). Then, simply re-charge the battery to retrain the max capacity. Total capacity will improve and the drop from 25% to 8% should be fixed.
We are discussing replacement right now, but this battery drop happened so incredibly fast, it was impossible to land it safely. 26% to 8% to 3% to 1% under 60 secs...
I hiked to the closest place I could get, and the GPS map said I was very close, but I was on a cliff looking 30’ down at big rocks surrounded by rampaging waters from a very close 50’ waterfall. I couldn’t see it, but the final video showed waters rushing by, as if it was down, but not in the water. Two folks drown Tuesday not far from here, stupidly trying to cross the river in a much safer place than this...
Thank you for contacting Autel Robotics support. Battery drops of this nature are caused by the need to deep cycle the battery. We recommend every 20 cycles perform this procedure. Perform by draining your battery to 7% (achieved by flying very low in front of you, canceling the low battery return to home function). Then, simply re-charge the battery to retrain the max capacity. Total capacity will improve and the drop from 25% to 8% should be fixed.
We are discussing replacement right now, but this battery drop happened so incredibly fast, it was impossible to land it safely. 26% to 8% to 3% to 1% under 60 secs...
I hiked to the closest place I could get, and the GPS map said I was very close, but I was on a cliff looking 30’ down at big rocks surrounded by rampaging waters from a very close 50’ waterfall. I couldn’t see it, but the final video showed waters rushing by, as if it was down, but not in the water. Two folks drown Tuesday not far from here, stupidly trying to cross the river in a much safer place than this...
Jagerbomb52
Well-Known Member
Yes it sure does
Edit: I went to look in the manual and could not find it but I know I had seen it someplace. It seems I read it in the very small manual that comes with a new battery under Battery charging and it says once every three months or 20 cycles.
Last edited:
Jagerbomb52
Well-Known Member
I edited my post above this about it being in the manual
Can you do it too often? Good question. I do it every 10 cycles just to be on the safe side. So far the last battery Autel sent me is staying around 4550 mAh and the cells are all matched.
Agustine, am I blind? I believe you, but what page # in the manual does it mention battery deep cycling? If it is in there, it seems kinda buried. If it's something that can cause you to loose your aircraft, I'd put it boldly in a warning box in the battery area. I didn't read the entire thing, just the areas where battery issues were discussed. Did I miss it??
Agustine, am I blind? I believe you, but what page # in the manual does it mention battery deep cycling? If it is in there, it seems kinda buried. If it's something that can cause you to loose your aircraft, I'd put it boldly in a warning box in the battery area. I didn't read the entire thing, just the areas where battery issues were discussed. Did I miss it??
LOL! I was just hit the button on a note that said this:I edited my post above this about it being in the manual
Can you do it too often? Good question. I do it every 10 cycles just to be on the safe side. So far the last battery Autel sent me is staying around 4550 mAh and the cells are all matched.
Agustine, am I blind? I believe you, but what page # in the manual does it mention battery deep cycling? If it is in there, it seems kinda buried. If it's something that can cause you to loose your aircraft, I'd put it boldly in a warning box in the battery area. I didn't read the entire thing, just the areas where battery issues were discussed. Did I miss it??
Jagerbomb52
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xspwhite
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Yuke, send them a letter explaining it's not your fault, and you exspect a replacment. Don't go down without a fight.
Jagerbomb52
Well-Known Member
I have gone through pretty much what you are going through. You get that sinking feeling in your gut and just want to pack it all in. I lost a Typhoon Q500 in the river gorge up the road from me last Dec
. No way to retrieve it in the winter and summer you can be taking your life in your hands. Not worth it.
That is when I bought my X-Star. It does not matter what you fly they all have their problems.
Hope Autel does the right thing for you.
Good luck
. No way to retrieve it in the winter and summer you can be taking your life in your hands. Not worth it.That is when I bought my X-Star. It does not matter what you fly they all have their problems.
Hope Autel does the right thing for you.
Good luck
ORANGE CRUSH
Well-Known Member
Well to share my same experience, as some of you know, i fly up in the mountains a lot. I went up last week, installed a newer battery (that was replaced by Autel months earlier due to the issues we are talking about) I had 5 charges on the battery at 5200 mah & balanced cells, i flew up 1200' along a cliff line on the side of a mountain & 600' out. I was shooting video & at 40% i decided to bring it home, at 35% i got a "landing now" What the hell? I looked at my screen & had 8% battery left! I can't see my ship & hoping it will be in sight. I was able to get it back with 1% battery & hand catch it with my heart beat racing like a quarter horse! I am also paranoid to fly with less than 40% anymore, which limits my flight times. There has to be a fix for this problem, this is the 4th time this has happened to me. 3 times were bad batteries, this time with a good battery after the up update. Is the update the problem? I'm all ears gentlemen. We need help with this issue, flying is very nerve racking at this point!!
I feel your pain. I think it's firmware update related. Never experienced this until I updated to .12.
Now it's hard for me to productively fly and shoot video or pics. I'm too busy watching the battery percentage and looking on the horizon for my drone. Really sucks. Hoping for some kind of resolution. Don't expect any from Autel.....
Now it's hard for me to productively fly and shoot video or pics. I'm too busy watching the battery percentage and looking on the horizon for my drone. Really sucks. Hoping for some kind of resolution. Don't expect any from Autel.....
Wow, Autel is replacing my lost XSP with a refurb. While the XSP lost was less than 6 months old, and a refurb, the battery was older, maybe a year with 22-23 cycles. This is very good of them -- the flight record clearly showed the battery dying very quickly in mid-flight.
IMHO, If you can loose a drone via battery malfunctions from lack of timely deep cycling, shouldn't there be a warning in BIG BOLD LETTERS in the manual, say in the battery section?????
IMHO, If you can loose a drone via battery malfunctions from lack of timely deep cycling, shouldn't there be a warning in BIG BOLD LETTERS in the manual, say in the battery section?????
Tufargon
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Oh my god. This has never happened to me and it happened on BOTH of my batteries last night!! One not too too bad but from 12% to 8 instantly then the next battery from 32 to 8 instantly. What a scare on that one!!
Yea...it’s happened to me twice, once as I described above, having at most 15 sec to land on the riverbank (which was out of my line-of-site), and the 2nd time I was flying-up the side of a tall ocean cliff. Luckily, I was near the top, and had 30 sec to get over a tree and down near me. Sweating bullets the entire time... I now take battery health and welfare very seriously...
Tufargon
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I thought I was taking care of them so i'm not sure what's going on. I've sent the logs and screenshots to Autel and they're looking it over.
The drop from 32 to 8 I was not too too far but I was flying in a gully that I probably would not have been able to retrieve. By the time I landed the flight time left hit 0 as I touched down.
We'll see what Autel thinks.
Are you guys "fresh" charging your batteries just before flight? Reason I ask is I've heard it said that eliminates this problem..... My last few flights I've done this with no problems. Not pimping it as a solution. Just asking??
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