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Anafi Thermal suddenly dropped from the sky, major failure

Klagio

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Sep 29, 2020
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Hi, I just bought a new Anafi Thermal which arrived yesterday.

Updated the remote firmware, it asked to update the battery firmware (?), strrangely when I changed the other 2 batteries it did not ask to update the software (perhaps is drone related and not battery trelated??)

Anyway, first flight, everything, ok, second flight I accidentaly hit a tree, around 2 meters high, the drone fell, my fault. The drone seemed nevertheless fine, the battery little displaced, I removed it, checked the 3 plastic positioners, all seemed fine. So I reinserted the battery, and everything seemed normal.

Third flight, everything seemed ok, the drone is high in the sky doing some thermal imaging video, all of a sudden, no wind, no interfernces, still in the air, remote perhaps 4 meters away, the drone fell on the ground like a dead bird !!!!!!!!! .. thank it landed on soft earth so not a rigid ground.

Again the drone is magically intact, everything works .. again .. but of course now I am terribly scared to put it in the air. WHich I did for few minutes, and all is fine.

I wrote a ticket to Parrot support, but no answer yet.

On a forum a friend suggested I should see if there is some loose cable after first hit, since it seemed a power failure, so maybe some cable are little loose? But I have no idea where to start.

Can someone help in where/how should I look for loosen cables that maybe the cause of the failure?

All logs are available.

Thanks
 
I opened a ticket yesterday, but no answer from them. I need to call?
Yes it is better to call. Mention your ticket number when you talk to them. They are very slow to respond to emails if they even respond.
Good luck dealing with them.
 
Yes it is better to call. Mention your ticket number when you talk to them. They are very slow to respond to emails if they even respond.
Good luck dealing with them.
Do you have a phone number?
No phone number on website.

I start to regret not having bought the DJI dual
 
AN update: It fell again, and was not a power failure.

Trying to see if the drone was ok, I made it fly at 30-50cm above ground and make him fly up (a little) down, left right forward backwards. After few minutes BUM, it fell on the floor ... but was not a power failure, I mean, the drone was still on. It fell from 20-30cm so nothing happened. I tried again after 10 minutes of really low flight BUM, again it fell on the floor. I guess is a defective item. And support does not answer.

Call technical support???? I don't do this on electronics since the 90s, always used emails. And I can't find a phone number anywhere.
So far a very very bad experience. I feel having throw away 2000 Euro, let's see what happens next .. but well, yeah next drone I do not thing will be a Parrot
 
You can try one of these numbers. If you bought it from some other supplier other Parrot you have to go them for supposrt.

 
AN update: It fell again, and was not a power failure.

Trying to see if the drone was ok, I made it fly at 30-50cm above ground and make him fly up (a little) down, left right forward backwards. After few minutes BUM, it fell on the floor ... but was not a power failure, I mean, the drone was still on. It fell from 20-30cm so nothing happened. I tried again after 10 minutes of really low flight BUM, again it fell on the floor. I guess is a defective item. And support does not answer.

Call technical support???? I don't do this on electronics since the 90s, always used emails. And I can't find a phone number anywhere.
So far a very very bad experience. I feel having throw away 2000 Euro, let's see what happens next .. but well, yeah next drone I do not thing will be a Parrot

I am interested in the production date, could you provide the first 5 characters of your serial number?
 
Ok, the reseller agreed to send it back. Will see what happens.

Talking at the phone with him, I told that I have a high current electrical line next to my house, he said should not be a problem (3G towers instead are very dangerous to drones), but to try make tests on the other side of my house (more far away from those lines).

In any case I do have a Mavic Mini which behaved perfectly fine even closer to those lines, so I do not know if that's the case
 
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Ok, the reseller agreed to send it back. Will see what happens.

Talking at the phone with him, I told that I have a high current electrical line next to my house, he said should not be a problem (3G towers instead are very dangerous to drones), but to try make tests on the other side of my house (more far away from those lines).

In any case I do have a Mavic Mini which behaved perfectly fine even closer to those lines, so I do not know if that's the case
I can confirm mobile towers are not an issue with the Thermal. I have done inspection without any issues. Your case may be a loose cable or intermittent power . Check with another battery. Do not update any Battery firmware.
 
I can confirm mobile towers are not an issue with the Thermal. I have done inspection without any issues. Your case may be a loose cable or intermittent power . Check with another battery. Do not update any Battery firmware.
In regards to battery firmware: I updated the first battery as asked by the Fireflight software. The software displayed a warning to also update the other batteries: but when I changed the battery (I received 3 in total) the software did NNOT ask to update the firmware of the second battery.
Now I am not sure if I used the first battery with updated firmware or the second battery with not updated firmware in the catastrofic flights: in any case I can't be a (free of charge) Beta tester for PArrot , I have my job to do. I will send it back.

BTW finally Parrot answered per email with a questionnaire, now I will compile it
 
Hi, did you solve problems with your drone?

Hi, yes I returned the drone to the dealer, got an exchange with a new one. Opened a ticket with Parrot, a couple of email exchange, but they never answered about causes.

This was the serial number

PS728120AC9K004192
 
I can confirm mobile towers are not an issue with the Thermal. I have done inspection without any issues. Your case may be a loose cable or intermittent power . Check with another battery. Do not update any Battery firmware.
I got my new Anafi thermal, and I updated all 3 battery firmware. Did I do it wrong?
 
I got my new Anafi thermal, and I updated all 3 battery firmware. Did I do it wrong?
there is nothing wrong in updating batteries but experience from forums tell us to leave it unchanged. I haven't updated mine until now . Everything seems ok
 
Ok, the reseller agreed to send it back. Will see what happens.

Talking at the phone with him, I told that I have a high current electrical line next to my house, he said should not be a problem (3G towers instead are very dangerous to drones), but to try make tests on the other side of my house (more far away from those lines).

In any case I do have a Mavic Mini which behaved perfectly fine even closer to those lines, so I do not know if that's the case
They are so dangerous :)
 

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