Falls from the sky

[John Mirro]

I have owned my Q500 4k since November of 2015. It has unexpectedly fallen to the ground about six times between then and now. The first five times it was low and no damage was caused. However, last week it fell from about the height of my house and the gimbal mount broke along with one landing strut and the camera lens protector came off.
Yuneec Tech Support said they have not heard of this problem and they thought I might have a bad battery. This problem has occurred with both of my batteries. I returned my drone to Yuneec for repair. Two months out of warranty. They say repair will be at my expense.

Has anyone else had this problem? When the drone falls it is totally unresponsive to the ST10+ controls.

Final note: I live at 8,700 feet and the high altitude props from Aeronaut were installed.

Here's a link to a video clip of one of the descents.

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[Steve Carr]

Did it just shut down as in no power? Was it stationary or descending? Were the lights still on after it hit the ground?

 

[John Mirro]

Good questions!
It did not completely shut down, but it lost enough power so it couldn't remain aloft.
At the time of each descent the drone was stationary.
Yes, the lights were on after it hit the ground.

I have a video of one of the descents but the file format is not recognized when I try to upload it. I've tried .mp4 and .mov. I am new to this forum so maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[John Mirro]

I just added a link to a YouTube video of an uncontrolled descent. Here it is again.

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[Steve Carr]

I just added a link to a YouTube video of an uncontrolled descent. Here it is again.

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Very nice that you have video, John. I have always advocated taking video from launch to land of every flight. It costs nothing so why not record it.
As far as the video you cannot read, if you put the card back in the camera and power it on for a couple of minutes the camera might be able to properly close that file so it is readable.
I have to agree with Yuneec. It appears as though the voltage is dropping during flight which causes it to lose altitude. When it touches down the battery voltage will rebound for a short time and then it will descend again. If you have an sd card in the ST10 under the battery, it will show the battery voltage in the telemetry file which would confirm or eliminate the battery as the problem. Post a comment back here if you have the sd card in the ST10.

 

[John Mirro]

Unfortunately, no SD card in the ST 10+. When the final descent occurred I was attempting to control the drone so didn't look at the voltage reading. Rats! Drone should arrive at Yuneec Monday. Anxious to hear what they diagnose the problem as.

 

[Steve Carr]

When you get it back be sure to put an sd card in the controller. An 8GB formatted in FAT32 will work fine. It's great insurance for just a few bucks.