Anafi Fell Out Of The Sky

[IM35461]

With 14% battery left I was just descending near my take off point and the screen went blank and I think at the top middle it said disconnected (about 40m alttiude).

I could not hear it or see it and the controller led was flashing blue.

I tried unplugging the usb cable and pressing the return button but nothing.

I knew it was close by and the app has a last location option which said it was very close but area deep in bushes.

Anyway, after several minutes I could here a beeping noise. Is that the drone I thought?

And yes, now after getting several cuts fighting the blackberry bushes I have it back.

I have emailed support and it still seems to power up but I am afaraid it will do it again.

 

[dmbrody]

Bummer. Sounds like a battery issue. Are you sure it was at 14%? Keep us posted. I’m sure you’ll end up sending logs to Parrot and eventually get an explanation. I’ll be interested to hear what they say.

Meantime, if it fell into the bushes, it may not damaged at all. Maybe try recharging the battery fully and then do some test flights in an open field, staying just a few feet off the ground.

 

[Skydreamer]

Did you turn on airplane mode in phone before flying

 

[IM35461]

Did you turn on airplane mode in phone before flying

No but WiFi was off (same as the settings used for my other flights including the one just before this on my other battery).

 

[IM35461]

Bummer. Sounds like a battery issue. Are you sure it was at 14%? Keep us posted. I’m sure you’ll end up sending logs to Parrot and eventually get an explanation. I’ll be interested to hear what they say.

Meantime, if it fell into the bushes, it may not damaged at all. Maybe try recharging the battery fully and then do some test flights in an open field, staying just a few feet off the ground.

The battery still had enough to power up the drone and take a photo when I got home (then at 5% after beeping and the motors twitching after it fell out of the sky).

No apparent damage to it or the props (except some of my blood on it).

As you suggest, the next flight will be low and in an area where it can easily be retrieved.

lucky I guess, during this flight it was over a river and the English channel and along a railway line (line closed for engineering works).

 

[IM35461]

The video of the flight.

It however does not show anything nasty happening and it just stops recording (the last video file however had no date or time stamp)

 

[Skydreamer]

I would contact support,have them put it in system in case anafi drops down again,see if they want your logs,it might help finding out cause of the disconnect and drop....just to cover yourself....

 

[dmbrody]

The battery still had enough to power up the drone and take a photo when I got home (then at 5% after beeping and the motors twitching after it fell out of the sky).

No apparent damage to it or the props (except some of my blood on it).

As you suggest, the next flight will be low and in an area where it can easily be retrieved.

lucky I guess, during this flight it was over a river and the English channel and along a railway line (line closed for engineering works).

Seems to me that 14% should have been enough to land. For what it’s worth, I’ve found it helpful to switch to Sport mode to decend more quickly when my battery is low.

Not that it will help you now, but my rule of thumb is anything under 20% means land immediately. Ideally I try to land at 30%. Some may say that’s conservative, but it’s what I like to do because the power curve falls off a cliff with LiPos - it’s not linear (you may know that already, but it’s worth mentioning).

Anyway, by “battery issue” what I was driving at was the possibilty that your battery has an internal fault. For example, it’s possible the cells weren’t balanced. That could explain why you experienced a sudden loss of power at 14%, but still had 5% once you found it. The logs will show whether that’s the case.

If parrot confirms that, please report back. Your’s would be the first occurrence of that on an Anafi (that I’ve heard of), but it does happen occasionaly on all drones.

Edit: just watched the video. You did get lucky!

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

IM35461 wrote: I knew it was close by and the app has a last location option which said it was very close but area deep in bushes.

Did you only know it or did you have visual contact? If not: Maybe the drone came into contact with the bushes while descending and crashed then.

 

[IM35461]

IM35461 wrote: I knew it was close by and the app has a last location option which said it was very close but area deep in bushes.

Did you only know it or did you have visual contact? If not: Maybe the drone came into contact with the bushes while descending and crashed then.

I was looking at the controller when the video went blank but at that time it was at over 30m up just to one side of me as I was bringing it back for a landing.

I then looked back up and nothing and also no noise.

Just tried it in the back garden for a 14 minute flight and all seems well.



However, my faith in its reliability has been greatly reduced.

Edit: Also if it had crashed under power the camera would have recorded it plus connection would not have been lost.

 

[Skydreamer]

Do the app reset,hard reset and battery reset,it is recommended to do after crash

 

[MustangPhil]

In your video, after the crash, there seem to be a little gap between the battery and the drone (that may be due to the crash).
On my Anafi, I remarked that depending on how ‘fast’ I did the connection of the battery with the drone, the ‘click’ sound could be ‘firm’ and the battery and the drone were ‘perfectly connected with no gap’ or the ‘click’ could be less evident, and there is little gap between parts.
I was wondering what could happen with the vibrations of the flight, if a little gap could induce a ‘slight disconnection’ of the battery... that would lead to an immediate fall of the drone.
Then I saw your post.
Could you guys report if you have this mixed feeling of ‘yes the battery is firmly clipped’ or ‘it did the click dull sound, the little button lever did pop up in place but not ‘fully’...

 

[Landbo]

I was looking at the controller when the video went blank but at that time it was at over 30m up just to one side of me as I was bringing it back for a landing.

I then looked back up and nothing and also no noise.

Just tried it in the back garden for a 14 minute flight and all seems well.

View attachment 148View attachment 148

However, my faith in its reliability has been greatly reduced.

Edit: Also if it had crashed under power the camera would have recorded it plus connection would not have been lost.

Sorry for your crash. I have used my Anafi to film many sunrises and sunsets from 100 meters above me and have never had any problems with the connection to the quad. There is plenty of signal provided the antenna does not turn directly into the ground.

After the graph it seems that Anafi was closed down at 50 meters altitude.

When the controller is connected to Anafi and flashes blue, it means that there is less than 30% power on the battery.

I think you've made a mistake during your low level hover test. You should let Anafi hover until the autoland by itself and do not interrupt at 30% power back. It's the only way you can find out if crash was coust by uneven charging of the battery cells.

I hope Parrot will find out what happened to your Anafi.

Regards Leif.

 

[IM35461]

Sorry for your crash. I have used my Anafi to film many sunrises and sunsets from 100 meters above me and have never had any problems with the connection to the quad. There is plenty of signal provided the antenna does not turn directly into the ground.

After the graph it seems that Anafi was closed down at 50 meters altitude.

When the controller is connected to Anafi and flashes blue, it means that there is less than 30% power on the battery.

I think you've made a mistake during your low level hover test. You should let Anafi hover until the autoland by itself and do not interrupt at 30% power back. It's the only way you can find out if crash was coust by uneven charging of the battery cells.

I hope Parrot will find out what happened to your Anafi.

Regards Leif.

It is not supposed to fall out of the sky with 14% of battery life and with it so close to takeoff position it had only just said RTH in one minute and it was descending when it malfunctioned.

I suppose the old battery pack may have had an uneven charge after six or seven flights so are you suggesting I buy new batteries? Does it let you check the individual cell voltages?
Does not the percentage represent the smart battery capacity rather than just one cell if one is better than the other?

Why also was it still on several minutes later when I finally tracked it down in the bushes if the battery was exhausted?

The LED was flashing blue BTW after the connection was lost.
Flashing blue is not a low battery warning either.
"flashing light blue: no drone configured or wrong WPA key"

 

[IM35461]

In your video, after the crash, there seem to be a little gap between the battery and the drone (that may be due to the crash).
On my Anafi, I remarked that depending on how ‘fast’ I did the connection of the battery with the drone, the ‘click’ sound could be ‘firm’ and the battery and the drone were ‘perfectly connected with no gap’ or the ‘click’ could be less evident, and there is little gap between parts.
I was wondering what could happen with the vibrations of the flight, if a little gap could induce a ‘slight disconnection’ of the battery... that would lead to an immediate fall of the drone.
Then I saw your post.
Could you guys report if you have this mixed feeling of ‘yes the battery is firmly clipped’ or ‘it did the click dull sound, the little button lever did pop up in place but not ‘fully’...

There was no video after the crash. I did pause recording during the flight to take some still photos of the new industrial units being built. I then started video recording again.

The drone was still sort of on when I retieved it beeping and the motors twitching and it would not turn off except by removing the battery.

 

[MustangPhil]

Thanks, I get the idea, but I meant during the fall and crash, it could have met an off and on fast disconnection due to vibration and a ‘not perfectly’ connected battery due to a gap somewhere (of course no filming, but trying in a too short time to reboot)

I was just trying to guess if there is a link with the fact I found sometimes that is is ‘clipped’ with the battery but ‘not so perfectly’ and if I pull (strongly) on the battery, I can remove it without action on the ‘extract button’. When I hear the ‘perfect’ click, the removal is not possible without a button action.
Sorry it is not simple to describe (but I am terribly French... as the Anafi by the way...)

 

[IM35461]

Thanks, I get the idea, but I meant during the fall and crash, it could have met an off and on fast disconnection due to vibration and a ‘not perfectly’ connected battery due to a gap somewhere (of course no filming, but trying in a too short time to reboot)

I was just trying to guess if there is a link with the fact I found sometimes that is is ‘clipped’ with the battery but ‘not so perfectly’ and if I pull (strongly) on the battery, I can remove it without action on the ‘extract button’. When I hear the ‘perfect’ click, the removal is not possible without a button action.
Sorry it is not simple to describe (but I am terribly French... as the Anafi by the way...)

I must admit looking at the video of it bleeping there does look like a gap between the battery and the drone.

I am pretty sure it was properly on at takeoff and could have happen at impact or while I was trying to get it out of the bush.

 

[MustangPhil]

You must be right, something must have occurred during or after the crash for the ‘gap thing’
I was just wondering if any of you had remarked this thing on their Anafi. I have the feeling (but it is difficult to be sure) that this phenomenon was more present on my first Anafi (exchanged due to a faulty GPS module) than it is on my new actual one.
I’ll take pictures or make a video to explain my point.
Hopefully... you are back in the sky !

 

[IM35461]

You must be right, something must have occurred during or after the crash for the ‘gap thing’
I was just wondering if any of you had remarked this thing on their Anafi. I have the feeling (but it is difficult to be sure) that this phenomenon was more present on my first Anafi (exchanged due to a faulty GPS module) than it is on my new actual one.
I’ll take pictures or make a video to explain my point.
Hopefully... you are back in the sky !

Weather is bad so no flying

The battery clip seems well designed and it would be virtually impossible to not properly fit a battery correctly.

I also note the distress/locate "beep" option in the app makes more of a beep,beep,pause, beep,beep,pause rather than what my one was doing.

 

[Landbo]

It is not supposed to fall out of the sky with 14% of battery life and with it so close to takeoff position it had only just said RTH in one minute and it was descending when it malfunctioned.

I suppose the old battery pack may have had an uneven charge after six or seven flights so are you suggesting I buy new batteries? Does it let you check the individual cell voltages?
Does not the percentage represent the smart battery capacity rather than just one cell if one is better than the other?

Why also was it still on several minutes later when I finally tracked it down in the bushes if the battery was exhausted?

The LED was flashing blue BTW after the connection was lost.
Flashing blue is not a low battery warning either.
"flashing light blue: no drone configured or wrong WPA key"

No your Anafi should NOT fall out of sky with 14% battery power on board.

When Anafi is in RTH mode, any movement of the sticks or a push on the RTH button will interrupt the RTH mode and "park" Anafi at the place and height it was interrupted. Pressing the Start/Land button causes Anafi to land under the place it is "set". The next press on the RTH button also makes the Anadi auto-land when it is close to the location of the takeoff place.

I have a presumption that you have interrupted the RTH by accident when your APP stop working. Perhaps you have even pressed on the Start/Land button ? In any case, your Anafi was landed in the bushes. I do not really think your Anafi fails anything else than a "minor pilot error".

If you make the hover test until there is so little power on the battery that Anafi auto-land at about 5% power and has been in the air >= 20 minutes, I dare to fly well with your battery on my Anafi. ;-)

I realize there is no way you can see Voltage on a singel cell in an Anafi battery. Maybe it is written in the log that are on the SD card ?

When one or more engines are blocked, Anafi says the sound you have on the video until you turn off the battery.

Try and make the hover test until the battery is emptied and the auto-land is kicking in. ;-)

Regards Leif.