Oops, crashed my Anafi, totally my fault.

[LivinLarge]

Took off with a battery at 30% instead of 100%. Just grabbed the wrong one and did not check the lights when I powered it up. Flew for 6 minutes doing a panorama, shot a few more stills and then started to bring her home. As I was descending, she suddenly dropped very fast and landed hard in the grass. I had pushed the throttle up but could not stop it. Battery dislodged and one arm was broken.
If there was a warning on the screen, I missed it. I had earlier gotten an interference warning which often happens flying in the neighborhood. I ignored it. As it was falling, I saw "Autolanding" on the screen.
I put in a fresh battery and she powered up. Camera works and everything else seems OK. I have epoxied the arm back together and will test fly it tomorrow. If everything works, I will buy a new arm and repair her.
Log file shows I started at 30% and descended at 8%. Lesson learned.

 

[joshlac]

It shouldn’t just drop with still 8% battery?
There are too many crash posts lately

 

[Liger 1956]

Out of interest what version of the Anafi firmware are you using?

 

[LivinLarge]

It shouldn’t just drop with still 8% battery?
There are too many crash posts lately

It did not fall out of the sky or tumble. It was autolanding but did not slow down at the end. I normally would never run a battery this low. I usually land at 20 or 30%. This was my oldest battery. I will check it when it is fully charged to see if it is unbalanced.

 

[LivinLarge]

Out of interest what version of the Anafi firmware are you using?

1.6.7

 

[Deleted member 3201]

It sucks but at least you are honest about it.
According to statistics; 9 in 10 pilots lie about crashing. It's hilarious especially with DJI products as from the log data you can see the stick input, and the "it flew away on it's own!!!" will show the pilot crashing the drone at full speed into a tree or building

 

[LivinLarge]

It sucks but at least you are honest about it.
According to statistics; 9 in 10 pilots lie about crashing. It's hilarious especially with DJI products as from the log data you can see the stick input, and the "it flew away on it's own!!!" will show the pilot crashing the drone at full speed into a tree or building

I have had my share of real flyaways with the early DJI products (all recovered.) They have improved the firmware in later models so that this rarely happens. This is my second crash with the Anafi. The first, I lost sight of it and backed it into a tree. It fell 40 feet and survived without a scratch.
I just took it up for a test flight after the epoxy dried. Everything works fine. My repair job was not perfect. The arm moved a bit as it was setting up so the motor is not aligned as well as it should be. I also discovered one prop was slightly damaged. She flew fine but I could hear that the sound was not the same. I will be ordering a new arm and replacing the prop of course.

 

[Wollie80]

It did not fall out of the sky or tumble. It was autolanding but did not slow down at the end. I normally would never run a battery this low. I usually land at 20 or 30%. This was my oldest battery. I will check it when it is fully charged to see if it is unbalanced.

I also once had a very hard landing. Luckily this happened from 1 meter. I read somewhere that someone reported that they land quieter with firmware 1.6.7 I didn't notice it.
How do you test the individual battery cells?


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

 

[LivinLarge]

I also once had a very hard landing. Luckily this happened from 1 meter. I read somewhere that someone reported that they land quieter with firmware 1.6.7 I didn't notice it.
How do you test the individual battery cells?


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

I had planned to check them with a multimeter, but they are not accessible.

 

[Gipsz Jakab]

Took off with a battery at 30% instead of 100%. Just grabbed the wrong one and did not check the lights when I powered it up. Flew for 6 minutes doing a panorama, shot a few more stills and then started to bring her home. As I was descending, she suddenly dropped very fast and landed hard in the grass. I had pushed the throttle up but could not stop it. Battery dislodged and one arm was broken.
If there was a warning on the screen, I missed it. I had earlier gotten an interference warning which often happens flying in the neighborhood. I ignored it. As it was falling, I saw "Autolanding" on the screen.
I put in a fresh battery and she powered up. Camera works and everything else seems OK. I have epoxied the arm back together and will test fly it tomorrow. If everything works, I will buy a new arm and repair her.
Log file shows I started at 30% and descended at 8%. Lesson learned.

The phenomenon is not unique. Here is the previous post: Autolanding with low battery
Mi opinion:
Since the remaining charge% is a value calculated from the battery voltage, this becomes inaccurate with a battery that has been charged and discharged many times.
For Android phones, the same phenomenon occurs: 10% turns off when battery is signaled. You can do this by deleting the battery.stat file. This gives a new reference voltage value of 100% and 0%. (which logs the charge-discharge cycles) and then doing a full charge then a full discharge. The low and high voltages are then correctly stored.
I think this can be done with the Anafi battery as well. You can reset it by holding down the power button, then fully charge it and fly it at 10% and wait for it to float low while still floating low.
I didn't try, I just think logically. What's the opinion?

 

[LivinLarge]

Happy ending. I received a replacement arm and installed it. All is working normally now. She flies and films perfectly. The installation was tedious for me with my failing vision. Had a few minor mistakes in the process. I lost one screw. Searched everywhere with no luck. Took a break and thought about where it could be then it came to me. Found it stuck to a motor magnet. After I got it all back together, I powered up and discovered the camera/gimbal was not working. Opened her up again and found a ribbon cable connector had become dislodged. Pressed it back in place and the camera worked fine.
As an engineer, I have to say that I am impressed with the design of this bird. Seeing the insides for the first time, I am amazed at the way they were able to make a flying video camera so small and lightweight.