Greetings fellow pilots! I'm posting this update here so that more of you will see it. Hopefully, more of you will not suffer this same fate as myself and a couple of others in this forum have, but if you do perhaps this information will help you. Around the 10th of March my Anafi suddenly drooped from the sky as i was coming in to land. The drone was about 50 ft in distance and about 175 ft altitude. I had just updated the frimware on both the drone and the control as required out in the field. I flew for around 12 minutes on a full battery. I had about 55% battery remaining on the drone and about 85% on the control. It appeared as though the drone completely lost power and fell straight down to earth. Upon retrieving the drone i found the right rear boom shattered. For more details, see my previous post. After supplying all the required information to Anafi via email, support found that the crash was due to a defect. They sent me a return label with instructions for return. According to their email I should receive a replacement within 7 to 10 days after they have received my return. I sent the drone off on March 27. I will keep the forum updated on the out come.
Another Anafi Drops from the Sky......Update
- Thread starter SkySpy
- Start date
I'm not sure about the version since the drone and control are shipped out. I did not upgrade the battery in the field. It did allow me to choose to do that upgrade later.
Hi -
I just had a similar incident with my Anafi about an hour ago. Was hovering over my home at about 250ft recording a time-lapse of the setting sun and started to get a "wi-fi interference" warning (not uncommon where I live and always correctable by either an increase or decrease in height), as I attempted to adjust the altitude nothing happened - well for about 3 or 4 seconds anyway - then a loud thud about 10ft away, which was the sound of the Anafi ending its uncontrolled descent (i.e., it just fell out of the #@*%! sky) into my lawn, which cushioned the impact (thankfully I haven't gotten around to the first mowing of the year). However, it had come down with enough force that the battery was dislodged. I was quite surprised that other than some dirt and a few blades of grass wrapped in the props there was no visible damage. I cleaned it off and put the battery back on and when it fired back up I got a "vertical camera failure" area. I see from other posts here that this doesn't seem like an uncommon issue and my first step was going to be just doing a hard reset to see if that clears it (the gimbal appears to be fully functional). Will I lose any info needed when contacting Parrot support if I do this first? The flight data captured on the app doesn't indicate that there was a crash. It's on software version 1.6.7 and did have the battery firmware upgrade a few days ago (but has been flown without issue after). This is the first time I've had anything like this happen and (setting aside that the drone not flyable now) this is a pretty serious concern. These things shouldn't be dropping out of the sky; the consequences could've been far worse had it come down a few feet from where it did.
I just had a similar incident with my Anafi about an hour ago. Was hovering over my home at about 250ft recording a time-lapse of the setting sun and started to get a "wi-fi interference" warning (not uncommon where I live and always correctable by either an increase or decrease in height), as I attempted to adjust the altitude nothing happened - well for about 3 or 4 seconds anyway - then a loud thud about 10ft away, which was the sound of the Anafi ending its uncontrolled descent (i.e., it just fell out of the #@*%! sky) into my lawn, which cushioned the impact (thankfully I haven't gotten around to the first mowing of the year). However, it had come down with enough force that the battery was dislodged. I was quite surprised that other than some dirt and a few blades of grass wrapped in the props there was no visible damage. I cleaned it off and put the battery back on and when it fired back up I got a "vertical camera failure" area. I see from other posts here that this doesn't seem like an uncommon issue and my first step was going to be just doing a hard reset to see if that clears it (the gimbal appears to be fully functional). Will I lose any info needed when contacting Parrot support if I do this first? The flight data captured on the app doesn't indicate that there was a crash. It's on software version 1.6.7 and did have the battery firmware upgrade a few days ago (but has been flown without issue after). This is the first time I've had anything like this happen and (setting aside that the drone not flyable now) this is a pretty serious concern. These things shouldn't be dropping out of the sky; the consequences could've been far worse had it come down a few feet from where it did.
Well Marpoll, yours is the first report of an Anafi dropping out on firmware 1.6.7 unfortunately. I guess I'll have to keep mine on a short leash until we see whether the problem is truly fixed.
I log a problem on the 23rd of March after my one fell from the sky.
"Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting Parrot
We confirm receipt of your request 1406740 - Repair estimate - product out of warranty.
Our Customer experience team is processing your request and will contact you very soon.
Kind Regards
Parrot Customer Experience Team"
I have not heard anything since
"Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting Parrot
We confirm receipt of your request 1406740 - Repair estimate - product out of warranty.
Our Customer experience team is processing your request and will contact you very soon.
Kind Regards
Parrot Customer Experience Team"
I have not heard anything since
Gipsz Jakab
Well-known member
This is not a 1.6.7 error, but the cause of the previous battery update. This was also omitted from 1.6.7 because it is suspected that it caused the error.
So whoever upgrades from 1.6.4 to 1.6.7 will not have a battery upgrade!
Jagerbomb52
Well-known member
@MarPoll
Can you upload your Log file (.Json) for that fight so we can look it over in ShowAnafiLog program? I would be interested to see if you actually lost telemetry or just video. If you still had control and it was coming down before it crashed it could explain why it was not damaged from falling 250 feet up. Even long grass as a cushion thats a long way for it to fall without damage. It might have been coming down but got caught up in a vortex ring state which would cause it to fall to the ground but at a much lower Alt.
Can you upload your Log file (.Json) for that fight so we can look it over in ShowAnafiLog program? I would be interested to see if you actually lost telemetry or just video. If you still had control and it was coming down before it crashed it could explain why it was not damaged from falling 250 feet up. Even long grass as a cushion thats a long way for it to fall without damage. It might have been coming down but got caught up in a vortex ring state which would cause it to fall to the ground but at a much lower Alt.
Hi - JSON and screenshot of flight data from the app attached here. I took a look in ShowAnafiLog and, to my untrained eye, it looks like there was indication of anything unusual and everything just suddenly stopped logging at the point where it decided to fall out of the sky. Another thing that seems weird is that there's no video saved from this flight on the SD, just a still that I snapped, and the camera settings in the app is set to auto record video.
Can someone explain to me what the suspicion is about the battery update which may have caused this? Also, one other thing that I've been thinking about; I have two batteries but can only recall being asked to update the battery once. The one that I was flying with when this happened hadn't been used in a little bit so I would suspect that it was not the battery that got the update?
Can someone explain to me what the suspicion is about the battery update which may have caused this? Also, one other thing that I've been thinking about; I have two batteries but can only recall being asked to update the battery once. The one that I was flying with when this happened hadn't been used in a little bit so I would suspect that it was not the battery that got the update?
Attachments
hello everyone, today I had to update everything because I was forced because I could not do anything else, now my ANAFI no longer switches to FCC mode, so once everything has been updated to the latest firmware and App 6.6.8. the first battery was consumed in hovering at 40cm from the ground, after all that I have heard so far I was afraid to put myself at altitude, with the second battery I brought myself to a max height of 2m and on soft surfaces (grass and foliage ) ... everything went well ... with the third I decided to fly normally ... in any case it is pushing in Sport mode in every way, trying different settings, recording videos and panoramic photos (always with bated breath) ... I arrived at 15% battery and I approached the take-off point without landing waiting to discharge the battery up to 3% ... then I landed! in the end all is well. Honestly I have not found ANY DIFFERENCE from the old firmware except that of not being able to use the FCC mode anymore! at this point I ask myself: what was the purpose of carrying out this firmware and App updates from 1.6.3 to 1.6.7 for ANAFI, 1.6.3 FOR TX, from 6.6.4 to 6.6.8 for the APP ????? and the lost time to update 5 batteries ??? I honestly don't understand ... for me the software developers only wasted time ?? maaahhh!
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Jagerbomb52
Well-known member
Yes very strange. Looks like a total power cut off. Funny the video di not even leave a thumb nail for the video. Most times it will be there but it will be corrupt because it never had the chance to close out. If it was there but corrupted all you would have to do is record a short video and close it down properly and the corrupted one would also close so you could view it.
Like you I did not see anything that might have been to blame.
Looked like it was coming down but then went back up. Was that maybe you trying to retake control?
The ascent just before it cut out was likely due to me trying get out of WiFi interference. I tried a factory reset on it to see if that would correct the Vertical camera issue, but no luck. I opened a case with Parrot to see what they have to say. Unfortunately, I'm about six weeks out of warranty so fingers crossed that they will be understanding.
Sorry to hear MarPoll. These crashes are very unsettling. I hope Parrot will address these occurrences on their website or something. As much as i like some of the Anafi features, it would be difficult for me to justify buying another one without having some reassurances from Parrot that these issues have been resolved. If Parrot could get this drone to operate with the precision and dependability of the DJI products they would really have something.
Parrot Support hasn't responded within the time frame they promised so I'm just going to fly my patched up drone the way it is. It looks beat up but it's flying well. I'm still a little chapped about paying $59 for one leg. I guess the "hollow sphere" construction is expensive.
Thanks. I couldn't agree more. As much as I've enjoyed my Anafi to this point, even if Parrot responds and says they'll fix or replace it unless they can provide a root cause and a resolution to whatever caused this to happen I'm not going to be comfortable.
Gipsz Jakab
Well-known member
Flight data interruption and missing (faulty) video are clear signs of a sudden power outage. It is impossible for the drone firmware to have a command to stop the battery. The battery can only be switched on and off by the user. The battery's own firmware handles power on and off. Switch off only to avoid excessive discharge.
Since you flew well before, only something could have caused the battery to turn off. This change was an update to the battery firmware. This update was released to improve power management, but it could be buggy ... Many reported that at 50% charge, a low charge warning appeared and landed immediately.
Thanks for the additional info. The battery still had most of the charge left on it. I wouldn't be upset if it had given some indication like a low charge warning and just landed immediately. Although, I guess it could be argued that it did land immediately, just carrying a lot more speed.
lemieszek
Well-known member
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Glad to hear!
May I ask - did they actually ship you a return label or was it a printable one through e-mail? I ask because they said they would send me a return label and I just want to know if I should keep an eye out on my spam folder or my mail room. Thanks!
Broke my right rear leg I can only get it for 35 Euro on ebay out of germany plus another 35 euro courier costs. With the current exchange rate to ZA rand that R1500.00 = $83. Other option is whole casis for R3000.00 = $166
