Battery ejected moment before landing

[Steve Carr]

If anyone can tell anything from the telemetry file, please let me know.

Sent you a message.

 

[PatR]

WAIT.....don't sell anything yet. You need to see what Yuneec has to say.

I completely, and very strongly, agree with Steve. Yuneec has many times come through after incidents they bore no responsibility for. Not telling you what to say but you might just say it lost power and fell and leave telemetry review up to them. Wait for their assessment before doing anything further. They will want a copy of your purchase receipt.

 

[biltno]

@Eagle: Like a clip in a firewarm is exactly how I would describe the insertion of the battery into the H.

@Eagle and Steve: I agree, I don't think DealParade would be of any help at all. Either Yuneec will support my claim or they won't. I have no idea if they can tell anything from the telemetry, but as the pilot it was completely shocking and inexplicable to me when I saw the battery fall out after ~12 mins of flight on a simple bank to return to the landing place.

If anyone can tell anything from the telemetry file, please let me know. Much appreciated.

Is the H damaged in the area of the battery? If not you may want to examine the area and the suspect battery.
I feel your pain but in time you will get back in the air

 

[KEITH KUHN]

Ok, good advice, Steve.

I love the thing, I am just dumbfounded and frustrated at what happened. I learned from Doctor Drone to really slam the battery in there; that's just what I do.

I will contact Yuneec tomorrow.

Thanks, guys.

-C

I think you're referring to Captain drone yes he does slam it in and so do I .

I want to make sure that baby is in there good slamming it but not over slamming it works for me. good luck I hope everything works out perhaps it was a bad latch mechanism I don't think the battery got puffy on you do you and popped loose

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

<snip> ...perhaps it was a bad latch mechanism I don't think the battery got puffy on you do you and popped loose

Keith, the physics simply do not allow for this... if anything the battery would become jammed in and be unable to be removed, not pushed out. One Plus pilot had a battery puff during a firmware update... it took several steps to extract it successfully.

 

[AH-1G]

@KEITH KUHN There are times we thought we've done it correctly but didn't, old age dementia.

 

[biltno]

Keith, the physics simply do not allow for this... if anything the battery would become jammed in and be unable to be removed, not pushed out. One Plus pilot had a battery puff during a firmware update... it took several steps to extract it successfully.

I remember a post where a swollen battery required disassembly

 

[Photo]

I remember a post where a swollen battery required disassembly

BTW, I never use/ touch the latch to secure the battery, just listen carefully to the double click...

 

[PatR]

Same here. The only reason to manipulate the latch is removal.

 

[nicholas hickman]

late to the party/funeral but.... check the rubber seal inside the tray where the contacts are, sometimes the top part of the rubber seal drop due to poor gluing, this leads to it getting pinched between the battery and the bulkhead which could pop the battery loose. I think if you google there are some photos of said item. Sorry to read of your H's demise.

 

[B Scott]

If the body of the H is intact repairing the arms is not that hard. You can save yourself some cash by salvaging the motor pods and arm roots that are undamaged and replace the broken arms with stock carbon tube of the same diameter that can be bought in 2 meter lengths and cut to the same length as the H's tubing. Most of the other parts are easy to obtain and assemble yourself of with the aid of a youtube tutorial.
Good luck.

 

[robnmi]

I am a local dealer here in Hungary, Europe. We have small yuneec fleet here but unfortunately i met this "battery slid out" issue 3 times in 4 months!

2 of 3 was a pilot error is it sure! But the 3rd... That case is totally misterious. Well experienced pilot with many flight hours. And a battery just slid out at 100m height...

Yuneec EU offered us a new drone at 50% price. We accepted it, it was a 1 years old drone just before the warranty ends.
---
I am thinking about some plus protection for fasten the battery. Some velcro on something..

 

[PatR]

Such a simple means as a length of Velcro to assure battery security is both easy to do and adds retention redundancy with minimal effort. For years Velcro straps were the primary means of securing batteries and separation was very uncommon. Battery separations did not become common until the advent of smart batteries and proprietary battery shells.

It’s not that shell designs are inherently dangerous as they are extremely effective when employed properly. What makes them dangerous is the false sense of security generated by shell design some users experience that causes them to fail double checking battery mounting.