H Plus fell from the sky

[cbecker125]

Today, my H Plus fell from the sky. At approx 2k feet distance away and maybe less than 100 foot altitude, after about 10 min fly time, over open ocean, it suddenly fell from the sky. It seemed to have all motors turn off at once - fell straight down and did not even try to hang on one or several motors - DEAD!!

I've attached the text version of the Plus's last flight telemetry. I'm wondering if any of you all can decipher the numbers enough to indicate what happened. I know I did not kill the motors with the red button (sadly, I have admittedly done that before with an earlir H Pro). Anyone want to give it a go? It is 3 months old only. I'm forced to contact Yuneec and was hoping to approach them with a clear understanding of what happened. Thanks gang!

Craig

[MOD EDIT] Based on Title and post content, moved to Plus forum

 

[PatR]

This usually occurs due to an interruption of the power supply. The most common reason for the interruption is failure to fully seat the battery. The least common, but possible, reason is separation of primary power wires from the main board. The telemetry will not establish the source of a power disruption.

Call Yuneec to initiate a work order. They will want all the telemetry from your ST-16. Be friendly and polite. That often works to your benefit.

 

[jannislh]

I agree with PatR. Reading the logs I noticed that they end abruptly which indicates a spontaneous power loss. It is likely that either your battery was not installed properly and lost its connection during flight or the electronics failed in some way.

A connection loss is quiet likely since you were flying forward with about 12.17m/s while performing an accelerated decline. The force vektor on your battery was perfect for pulling it out. Also the current was lower than the average current during flight which makes an electrical failure less probable.

Talking to Yuneec is a good idea. In many cases they agreed on selling you a new drone to a very good price.

 

[Ty Pilot]

Just for clarification - what were you flying exactly? This is in the Typhoon H forum but you say - 'I've attached the text version of the Plus's last flight telemetry '

Is it a Typhoon H, Typhoon H Pro or is it Typhoon H Plus? There is a difference as the telemetry needs to be read with different versions of the software.

 

[oliver]

When placing the battery, make sure that the trigger is locked (it is heard) and that the edges are well adjusted with the outer body as shown in the picture.

 

[Ty Pilot]

That file does not seem to be the right file as the software does not recognize it with the correct extension, are you sure this was from the telemetry folder? The telemetry Files should look something like this before adding the txt at the end:

Telemetry_00375.csv

 

[cbecker125]

This usually occurs due to an interruption of the power supply. The most common reason for the interruption is failure to fully seat the battery. The least common, but possible, reason is separation of primary power wires from the main board. The telemetry will not establish the source of a power disruption.

Call Yuneec to initiate a work order. They will want all the telemetry from your ST-16. Be friendly and polite. That often works to your benefit.

Thank you PatR. I made the phone appt last night for Monday am. I sent in my telemetry file as well. Man, this is a head scratcher. I do know for a fact that I always preflight check the battery for secure lock in the drone. To your point of power disconnect to the main board, I have seen a video of a guy repairing such a bad solder. I guess it can happen. That does make sense. Thank you for your reply.

 

[RPR]

They won’t call you if you do it online, best is to call and then scheduled to be called back.

 

[cbecker125]

That file does not seem to be the right file as the software does not recognize it with the correct extension, are you sure this was from the telemetry folder? The telemetry Files should look something like this before adding the txt at the end:

Telemetry_00375.csv

I did have that file and saw elsewhere in this forum that converting it to text was preferred. I'll attach the .csv now for you.
Well, .csv file won't upload. Arghg! Well, maybe I messed it up when renaming the file. I'll take another run at it later on Ty Pilot

 

[Ty Pilot]

Find the file, it will look like my example but will have a different number the (Add) .txt to the end to upload, it can look like this: Telemetry_00375.csv.txt

Oh, and what are you flying? Typhoon H, Typhoon H Pro, or Typhoon H Plus?

 

[cbecker125]

H Plus.

 

[h-elsner]

The file is just for fun destroyed by Excel. After repair it looks exactly like the other power-loss cases. Telemetry ends abrupt during flight. Battery voltage and remaining capacitiy are OK, no drops or so.
The yaw chart looks strange in some areas, but was long before the problem occur. The last seconds are flown in Sports mode with increasing horizontal speed. It looks like it flew backwards. In this case the battery compartment looks downwards and it's probable that the battery could fell out.

Without the other flight2log files a proper analysis cannot be done. Remote_00057.csv and related Sensor file (the one with the same date/time, number can be different sometimes) would be helpful.

 

[LinsonW]

Today, my H Plus fell from the sky. At approx 2k feet distance away and maybe less than 100 foot altitude, after about 10 min fly time, over open ocean, it suddenly fell from the sky. It seemed to have all motors turn off at once - fell straight down and did not even try to hang on one or several motors - DEAD!!

I've attached the text version of the Plus's last flight telemetry. I'm wondering if any of you all can decipher the numbers enough to indicate what happened. I know I did not kill the motors with the red button (sadly, I have admittedly done that before with an earlir H Pro). Anyone want to give it a go? It is 3 months old only. I'm forced to contact Yuneec and was hoping to approach them with a clear understanding of what happened. Thanks gang!

Craig

[MOD EDIT] Based on Title and post content, moved to Plus forum

hi, Craig
Could you please update how Yuneec CS reply to you and handle it?

 

[cbecker125]

hi, Craig
Could you please update how Yuneec CS reply to you and handle it?

So far, Yuneec has been very cooperative and they decided that the drone indeed had a malfunction and that they would replace it under warranty (BOOM!). I am waiting for them to send the replacement to me. It has not yet shipped. Thank you for asking.

 

[Phaedrus]

Did they say what they think happened?

 

[cbecker125]

Did they say what they think happened?

They could not say with certainty, only that the unit malfunctioned. Head scratcher.
h-elsner here suggested that the Plus was in Sport Mode and in reverse going fast. I could only say that the drone, when it fell, seemed stationary and was not moving to the right or left nor did it appear to be getting closer. Although within the realm of possible, his theory suggesting increasing speed in reverse and battery pointing downward is hard for me to wholly accept. No offense H-elsner. I do, however, appreciate the insights offered.

 

[AH-1G]

I'm with @PatR. Battery not inserted properly.
Are you absolutely sure it was inserted correctly and doubled check? Or do you think it was inserted properly?
Records show you were moving as @h-elsner mentioned. You used the word "seemed" so you're say you aren't sure.
At 2k out it's difficult to determine movement and direction.
Sometimes it's hard to accept we've made a mistake and then try to rationalize it.

 

[cbecker125]

I'm with @PatR. Battery not inserted properly.
Are you absolutely sure it was inserted correctly and doubled check? Or do you think it was inserted properly?
Records show you were moving as @h-elsner mentioned. You used the word "seemed" so you're say you aren't sure.
At 2k out it's difficult to determine movement and direction.
Sometimes it's hard to accept we've made a mistake and then try to rationalize it.

AH-1G,
As stated earlier, I make battery check part of my pre-flight. I don't remember you being there. Were you there?

 

[AH-1G]

AH-1G,
As stated earlier, I make battery check part of my pre-flight. I don't remember you being there. Were you there?

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Did they say what they think happened?

From both my personal experience, as well as postings on this board, I will say that Yuneec does a spectacular job of assessing claims and quickly sending out replacements or covering repairs, when they deem the event qualifies as being warranty covered.

Where they fall short many times, is providing any specific explanations of what actually happened or what failed. And if the unit is replaced (as in this instance), at that point the customer is happy, and is no longer concerned with the details of "whys" and "whats".