Hey at least you got it back! Tell us how the repairs went when done please. Also as long as the camera/gimbal is intact is should work as the mechanism is not that complex it is probably just dirty at the contacts. Also can you please tell us if it fell IMMEDIATELY after the screen went static or if it took a while because in all of my cases it stopped responding for a good 30 seconds to 2 minutes before descending/plummeting which would discard the power supply as the main culprit.
Dropping from the Sky thoughts
- Thread starter Drbgaijin
- Start date
I followed the Parrot video and started to disassemble it. After a bit I realized that instead of repairing it, I decided just to replace it and use it for spare parts. All the motors work fine as does the main camera but the rear legs no longer lock and the downward facing camera is non-functional. I figured that it was in such a state that even if I fixed it, it may not be reliable because of the damage. See below for a photo of the inside.
As for when it crashed, I shot four or five photos in fairly rapid succession. As usual, the Anafi would pause the screen while processing the photo but then it became unresponsive and the screen went to static. When the screen went to static, I probably looked at it for a couple seconds then I looked over to see the drone dropping motors off. Interesting in that of the last ~5 photos, two or three of them are file name only and don't contain any data. It looks like it saved a photo, then skipped two, wrote two and then skipped the last one (or something like that).
Oh my goodness the carnage....I thought it fell in cleanish water but it got allot of sand in it! Too bad these messages take so long to get to each other because if it was freshly recovered I would have suggested actually washing it off with a hose as did another anafi owner on youtube because I would be more worried about the sand causing a short circuit...but if you are willing to take it apart and clean all parts with electrical cleaner "or just get 99% alcohol and a spray bottle outside and just spray it until everything is clean and I shouldn't have to say this but better safe than sorry DO ALL THIS WITH THE BATTERY OUT AND FAR AWAY. because last thing we need is an anafi owner on fire haha I'm probably going to end up taking mine apart also to clean it because I'm too broke to afford a new one haha
And also from what you posted it's difficult to say if it was the drone or the battery as it was not in the air long enough to "prove" it was software because many users appear to have an issue where the memory card "wiggles" loose enough to where it gets stuck trying and failing to write info to the memory card and the system on the anafi crashes causing the drone to freefall
ROBANAFI
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Do you have proof of this?
I really doubt a memory card working loose would cause the Anafi to fall out of the sky. You'd probably just get an SD card error message on FF6.
It is discussed in other posts but basically it comes down to using the anafi approved micro sd cards which you can find on their website which some have stated are ever so slightly thicker and this helps it stay in place and what i am trying to say is that while it is in the air if the contact is disrupted mid flight even for a second it basically has to unmount the card then remount mid flight and it is not designed to remove memory card while turned on unlike many of its competitors so many problems may arise.
If that is what happens I would have to fault Parrot for the issue. The drone firmware should not crash if it cannot write to the SD card. And it did write the my card. All except for some of the last photos. Of the last eight photos:
8 - ok
7 - file name only
6 - ok
5 - ok
4 - file name only
3 - ok
2 - file name only
last photo - ok
A system shouldn't crash if it cannot write a file to storage. It should alert the user.
Is there actually any evidence behind the claim that write issues to the SD card will cause the drone to crash?
It is very easy for this to be tested...... I can remove the SD card while it is flying/hovering.
It is very easy for this to be tested...... I can remove the SD card while it is flying/hovering.
I did some testing of my own yesterday -
removed sd card completely and flew fine
then inserted sd card without locking the hold down clip
tried to create a loose connection, but it flew fine with no sd errors after several take offs, landings, and erratic maneuvers
removed sd card completely and flew fine
then inserted sd card without locking the hold down clip
tried to create a loose connection, but it flew fine with no sd errors after several take offs, landings, and erratic maneuvers
I just don't think we have enough information to come to a definitive conclusion on what is the cause or causes of these mishaps. My opinion is that if Parrot really did thorough investigations they could probably come up with an answer.
I am regaining my confidence in my 2 Anafis and today flew the longest mapping mission ever. I used my Anafi Work and she flew 11 flights over 2:48 hours and obtained 2307 images of an old airfield. The first hour was in 16-20 mph winds with gusts over 20. The winds slowed as the mission went on. She performed almost perfectly.
I would RTH around 20 to 25% battery remaining each time. I used Pix4D Capture.
The only problem was when she had 30% battery left on an older battery with 37 flights and 36 charges. I was getting ready to initiate RTH when the screen stated Manual Control enabled (Even though I had not moved and sticks or hit any button). She then started to land on her own probably 100 yards from the Home Point. I ran over there as she landed, she had her mind set to land there. The only controls that would work were yaw, forward/reverse and bank. I could not ascend or descend. I saw she was going to land on asphalt so I let her go. A car that was doing driving lessons saw her coming down and stopped thankfully.
This must be the battery management, and as far as I am concerned sucks! If this happened at other parts of the flight I might not have had such a nice landing place. This happened 3 times before in March when I was mapping coastal erosion. I have now logged that battery as suspect as this same battery did the same thing back in March.
I am slowly regaining my confidence, but hearing about how this is still randomly happening and my own problems will perhaps have me never again feel truly confident flying an Anafi other than within a couple hundred feet.
I am regaining my confidence in my 2 Anafis and today flew the longest mapping mission ever. I used my Anafi Work and she flew 11 flights over 2:48 hours and obtained 2307 images of an old airfield. The first hour was in 16-20 mph winds with gusts over 20. The winds slowed as the mission went on. She performed almost perfectly.
I would RTH around 20 to 25% battery remaining each time. I used Pix4D Capture.
The only problem was when she had 30% battery left on an older battery with 37 flights and 36 charges. I was getting ready to initiate RTH when the screen stated Manual Control enabled (Even though I had not moved and sticks or hit any button). She then started to land on her own probably 100 yards from the Home Point. I ran over there as she landed, she had her mind set to land there. The only controls that would work were yaw, forward/reverse and bank. I could not ascend or descend. I saw she was going to land on asphalt so I let her go. A car that was doing driving lessons saw her coming down and stopped thankfully.
This must be the battery management, and as far as I am concerned sucks! If this happened at other parts of the flight I might not have had such a nice landing place. This happened 3 times before in March when I was mapping coastal erosion. I have now logged that battery as suspect as this same battery did the same thing back in March.
I am slowly regaining my confidence, but hearing about how this is still randomly happening and my own problems will perhaps have me never again feel truly confident flying an Anafi other than within a couple hundred feet.
Yeah everything I just wrote above? Scratch that.
I just did my 10 flight hours Inspection on the Anafi. Part of it is to then do a test flight/hover and then use my thermal imager to see if I can detect anomalies in heat in the motors. I was also testing the battery that gave me trouble today (the one that made the drone force land at 30%).
Well at 20% battery the Anafi cut all power and fell 8 feet onto my hardwood floor, landing like a cat on its feet. There does not seem to be any major damage, but I will not play with it again until tomorrow as I am droned out right now. This battery will be taken out of service.
Any faith I regained today was just totally lost. I do fly with insurance on jobs I get, but I cannot trust that this drone is not going to fall and hurt someone or damage something. I guess I will just regulate it to a training drone and it can never fly more than 100 feet away while not over or able to be blown near anyone or thing. All this after the little bugger battled strong winds, birds and almost 3 hours of straight mapping.
To add insult to injury the flight log doesn't even have it as a crash!?
I just did my 10 flight hours Inspection on the Anafi. Part of it is to then do a test flight/hover and then use my thermal imager to see if I can detect anomalies in heat in the motors. I was also testing the battery that gave me trouble today (the one that made the drone force land at 30%).
Well at 20% battery the Anafi cut all power and fell 8 feet onto my hardwood floor, landing like a cat on its feet. There does not seem to be any major damage, but I will not play with it again until tomorrow as I am droned out right now. This battery will be taken out of service.
Any faith I regained today was just totally lost. I do fly with insurance on jobs I get, but I cannot trust that this drone is not going to fall and hurt someone or damage something. I guess I will just regulate it to a training drone and it can never fly more than 100 feet away while not over or able to be blown near anyone or thing. All this after the little bugger battled strong winds, birds and almost 3 hours of straight mapping.
To add insult to injury the flight log doesn't even have it as a crash!?
Try doing a very short and low flight tomorrow on the bird that dropped. Does the previous flight show up as a crash after that?
Wow that's a really clever setup and I am mostly convinced that the memory problem can be discarded BUT if you could do one last test where you initiate a video and take out card and the immediately ascend to around 200ft just because at least in my cases it almost exclusively happens at "higher" altitudes "even though there is a video on youtube of a guy taking ANAFI up over 3000 feet!!!! So what the heck??? This wasn't even a year ago
And as for the batteries like I stated before you should probably get a usb volt tester to see how much they are REALLY charging because they are rated at 2700mah and when one of my batteries was at 37% I charged it for a couple hours and it took OVER 2800mah to charge so the battery management system is trash
And yes it's going to be difficult to find a definitive answer but like I said before if all this information helps save even ONE anafi then I'm more than happy as not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to buy a replacement...
That being said back to the batteries so apart from the mah discrepancies these batteries have a thermal switch that activates when it reaches a certain heat and I was going to conduct some testing out in the desert today with a non contact thermometer to see if the batteries fail at higher temps.
And thanks everyone who is helping! I'll keep everyone posted
Krusty Geeza
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25th of August 2020 was my first experience with my Anafi developing a case of Dropsy! I had just acquired the update to the first image shared below, the second image is the last image my girl took after gathering a raft of others and some video footage with nothing eventful or memorable about the flight apart from my dismissing a warning prior to taking flight about the battery needing a firmware update. The other two had been done a while ago and I did momentarily think about using one of them instead, which I had been doing previous to this. I still don't understand my reluctance to update the firmware on this particular battery, but do know that on this particular day my time was tight, so I used it. She then fell from the sky as I was coming in to land, with the battery showing a charge of 17%, then dropping to 1% at which moment the motors went silent at about a n altitude of twenty metres or so. She landed hard on a thick bed of grass, just next to the driveway that I had taken off from fortunately! The only damage was a broken left rear leg, which I have just bought a replacement for and I will have a good go at repairing myself.
I feel that my experience is a result of not performing the firmware update on the battery, which has since been done!
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The image I was getting an updated version of, for the builders to check roof damage after recent storms.
The final image captured by my girl, Ms Anafi the 2nd (until I repair her).
I feel that my experience is a result of not performing the firmware update on the battery, which has since been done!
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The image I was getting an updated version of, for the builders to check roof damage after recent storms.
The final image captured by my girl, Ms Anafi the 2nd (until I repair her).
No. I did a really quick 40 second flight and landed. It shows up as a normal, every day flight. The only damage was the body split open, but snapped back together and the gimbal was stuck in a downward/nadir position. It would not move on its own, but when I assisted it, it freed itself and seems to work. I now have to do another full inspection and test flight.
My pure opinion is that in my two cases of dropsey, the batteries were to blame. Bad luck?
Battery 1 had 17 flights and 14 charges while the other had 38 flights and 36 charges.
Neither had extensive use.
I never store them in a hot car, or use them without letting them cool down after charging.
I let them self discharge when not in use.
They have never gotten wet or been dropped.
As soon as they are done charging (Within an hour at most) I unplug them.
I ensure that they are snapped in place correctly. (When I first got the drone I did have the battery installed incorrectly once).
Sucks that with two different Anafis and two different batteries, I have now had two different falls.
Somehow "A Drone You Can Trust" is not ringing true for me. Both times it happened, it was almost like I was fully expecting it and not surprised it happened.
I will run some tests on the battery with a multi meter.
Fox Fader
Active member
I called Parrot today and all the guy could say was, if the unit falls from flight, then it's most likely pilot error. I stated, how could it be user error when someone is piloting and the unit falls from flight, how can that be user error? He stated that severe interference could cause the unit to cut off and fall. He also stated, Parrot has not been able to find fault of the drone in these cases, but if one does fall, send it in and they will replace it if its found faulty if it can be retrieved. If not, send in flight data and they will investigate and replace the unit if proved fault of the drone. Make sure battery is fully charged before take off and make certain the battery is not fully charged then stored for a long time. He left with, feel free to fly without fear. 
Severe interference will cause it to FALL?!? WHAT THE HECK they are basically admitting the ANAFI has trash software because if anything it should auto land not FALL and after much research it's the Anafi not the sky remote not the app it's just the anafi...just look at the skydio 2 remote, looks familiar right? That's because it is the exact same remote! But guess what the skydio does that the anafi doesn't....and yes I know the list is long but I mean it doesn't just drop from the sky spontaneously...and get blamed by customer support that it was your fault...I would consider myself a technology nerd and saw the reviews and said to myself it won't happen to me and I was wrong so far it has dropped 3 times I caught it mid air twice once cutting open my index finger and this weekend I took it to do some testing out in the middle of nowhere "little interference" and I'm probably going to post the video and flight data because it was flying crazier than a chicken dropped from a helicopter, it was a little windy but it just didn't want to maintain orientation even after a reset and calibration...oh and the kicker, I've had 3 falls one where it actually slammed into the pavement from 300ft and guess how many crashes are registered? ZeroI called Parrot today and all the guy could say was, if the unit falls from flight, then it's most likely pilot error. I stated, how could it be user error when someone is piloting and the unit falls from flight, how can that be user error? He stated that severe interference could cause the unit to cut off and fall. He also stated, Parrot has not been able to find fault of the drone in these cases, but if one does fall, send it in and they will replace it if its found faulty if it can be retrieved. If not, send in flight data and they will investigate and replace the unit if proved fault of the drone. Make sure battery is fully charged before take off and make certain the battery is not fully charged then stored for a long time. He left with, feel free to fly without fear.
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