Special notice from DJI. Matrice inflight power loss.

[Steve Carr]

The news release from DJI says a small number of cases, but it is obviously significant enough to be a problem.

DJI Reviewing Reports Of Power Issues With M200 Series Drones

 

[AH-1G]

OH, but didn't we, and still have people bashing Yuneec here on our forum saying "how great and reliable Dji is'?

 

[record.play.rewind]

Hummmmm... What’s a Matrice? Because I scratched that word out of my vocabulary and GOOD! That this is finally brought out in the open.. Piece of junk!!

 

[record.play.rewind]

OH, but didn't we, and still have people bashing Yuneec here on our forum saying "how great and reliable Dji is'?

At the present time, Yuneec is not great either, the product can be bashed in so many different ways, but Yuneec will get to a level where it needs to be. In my area, other operators are now questioning DJI because Yuneec has one capability in my line of work that DJI drones has a hard time accomplishing, and that is the ability to fly a straight line when gridding a pipe, rebar layout inspection and beam, structural survey/inspection .

Yesterday, YN introduced a new FW and I am really exited to put to take it to work today, because from my initial test last night, I was amazed and I almost thought, I was dreaming.

 

[PatR]

I keep sayin’ that if Yuneec was to incorporate all the flight features of the H into the Plus they would do well. If they were to incorporate pre flight mission planning they would increase sales and customer satisfaction by an order of magnitude. That might even be doubled if they were to add the ability to transmit video to other devices.

You don’t need apps when the FC has the capability to provide everything needed to perform a flight. How people deal with collected data after the flight is where apps play.

 

[Dougcjohn]

The news release from DJI says a small number of cases, but it is obviously significant enough to be a problem.

DJI Reviewing Reports Of Power Issues With M200 Series Drones

Yep, that was around a June 2018 bulletin. Was resolved with a FW update.
Actually more on the battery FW issue and updating all the battery pairs correctly to sync FW.
If you previously updated the FW on M200 series, and later had additional battery sets or intermixed batteries with New & Old FW, the older M200 series FW would indicate the incorrect FW but didn't require for flight. The newer FW now requires FW to be in sync across newly introduced batteries if you previously elected to perform FW upgrade on one set.

 

[Steve Carr]

The date on that news page is Oct 26th, 2018. It sounds like a new issue.


DJI Reviewing Reports Of Power Issues With M200 Series Drones
NEWS2018-10-26

 

[Dougcjohn]

The date on that news page is Oct 26th, 2018. It sounds like a new issue.


DJI Reviewing Reports Of Power Issues With M200 Series Drones
NEWS2018-10-26

I noticed that too... but if you follow the links within your post it leads to this link...
Dropbox - M200 Series Update Instructions.pdf

Within the above bulletin, it shows the desired June2018 FW 01.01.0911 as the desired "current FW" as the correcting FW version. At the bottom of the bulletin it shows the Oct2018 FW 01.01.0913 too. The problem was actually the " - " symbol after any FW, indicating a component is not in FW sync which normally is a battery plugged in. The newer FW just added a small bit of code that placed a block to fly if batteries were out of FW Sync. BTW, this isn't a major ordeal... if batteries are out of sync the RC display pops up dialog box to update FW, which normally takes 10-30 seconds.

Not sure why they are showing it now... as a M210 Owner, I received a small notice back in June/July to insure all FW was current to avoid a possible battery failure in flight. I had heard of one M210 failing in the air during SAR mission, but that was Winter 2018 time frame long before I purchased mine. I spoke with the SAR Pilot and he explained the fault was inconsistent battery FW, and that DJI covered the loss.

The established procedure of any DJI Platform that includes batteries with on-board firmware is to perform FW update to aircraft, RC, and installed Batteries (within a single update procedure) and the RC stores the battery FW for additional batteries... next you should begin cycling battery inventory to update each battery's FW. Basically same procedure of any hardware that has FW dependencies across various components. The problem was a few Owners would omit the battery inventory updates or postpone the quick battery update notice. Normally this wouldn't cause a problem, but a previous FW update apparently was directed toward the tandem batteries and their behavior to the electronics if a battery was dropped (physically / logically) during flight.

With the newer FW, this was resolved by the popup that requires battery FW Sync before flight to catch any batteries that were omitted during the update process.

 

[Steve Carr]

Thank you for the clarification Dougcjohn.

 

[Dougcjohn]

Thank you for the clarification Dougcjohn.

I realize that's all ho-hum for Yuneec Owners... but just in case there are a few more traitors within the ranks flying both platforms, the info helps explain.

 

[Steve Carr]

The warning has been posted in the UK on the CAA website. Dated Oct 26th.

http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33...YxbEV46d047Dy6DFm7eBlsGFruJPDu6UZXmIdgOVFsmtU

 

[Dougcjohn]

That's good to read... gets the word out! The UK took a strong action by limiting where the Bird was approved to fly until further notice. I can image the politics & legal involved in that one!

Still a little confused by the sudden notices on an older issue previously addressed quietly & direct to Owners. Within the UK notice, Section 2.1.a stipulates the "-" (Dash) as indicated previously to insure FW sync'ed.

One part I'm not certain is correct, but it's a positive either way... the UK notice indicates the battery FW must be updated via the DJIAsst2 PC connected program vs the USA notice indicates via the mobile DJI RC app. The RC app is quick & non-interruptive, the PC program would require battery inventory updated prior to field work. Not sure if UK program / FW version any different in interface, but the RC App update method works in the USA.

Makes ya wonder what transpired, haven't heard any major news blips on the M210's dropping and I'm sure the news media would love this one!

Good Find! Good to see they're getting the message out!
Keeps a possible event going negative!

 

[record.play.rewind]

I have a personal relationship with DJI I knew them, before they are who they are to date.

I do not work for DJI nor test their products, I don’t want to be bought, thus, I am merely a consumer.

I had the M2, which I sold and invested my hard earned on an M6. I flew the M6 for 9 months, one of the local DJI reps in L.A help me set it up. For the first couple of missions flight things looked good, on the 3rd flight, I had power cut off on a hover. I to L.A which is 467 miles from where I live and fixed the problem. We notified DJI.

A few months had past and the problem came back, but I was in Hawaii when it happened (on a hover) and I had to ship to L.A to have it looked at.

When it came back to me, it flew for another few months and then at 200ft it fell like a brick, while mapping.

Notified DJI, with the help of their local reps, but DJI CS who handles their commercial drones, replied back with a distasteful conclusion. I did not reveal my connection with DJI and took it as “no love loss”

I only mentioned this to once to one of owners (The person who actually designed the M series) He was willing to give me a new M6, but my mind was already set. No thank you.

And now this? Thank God.

 

[Dougcjohn]

On the scale of events... non-sync battery FW is a minor and "should be" easily resolved and "should have" been prevented by performing an update to each battery as required. From what I've heard / read, these incidents are more Pilot error for not performing the updates as technically outlined in the FW upgrades.

Overall, if one negative report incident detours attention to that brand, there isn't a brand to purchase. Yuneec has experienced problems, recently on the enterprise side the H520 has experienced IMU failures and falling dead.

Hopefully for all devices, brands and the Engineers designing, these incidents evolve into improvements... the outcome should be positive and beneficial to all or the company likely fails.

I'm not quite understanding the severity of this particular "noticed" failure when previous FW & apps have addressed a method to prevent non-sync'ed batteries. Plus this is a pricey Enterprise craft, not a prosumer craft, indicating it should be primarily owned by competent Owners. But at the same time, I commend any company: Yuneec, DJI, Chevy, Ford, etc to step up and make the announcement and correct.

The M600 incident is new to me... a few quick searches pulls up zip on any issues you've described. With the number sold without the inside contacts you're privy, I'd assume I'd hear of large Matrice 600 platforms crashing.

I too own both M210 & M600Pro... great crafts! I maintain FW, Sync FW, monitor battery conditions and routinely inspect beyond the checklist. Unless there is a unforeseen electronics failure, I'm confident I'll catch the normal mechanical failures in the AC.

I'm also in the planning for a H520 in future despite the various posts of it's dramatic drop failures. Very sorry for the Owners, glad several have received replacements and I'm confident the problems will be resolved.

Glad to see this Notice being broadcasted, obviously the correct procedures have been ignored and it's become a concern for DJI; Or avoidance to upgrade older FW despite upgrade highlights touching on the upgrades.

 

[PatR]

One question, has either DJI or Yuneec ever issued a special notice to ground their fleet until corrective actions have been performed? The only makers I know to have done that, and both issued product recalls, was FreeFly and GoPro.

All the rest seem to make it a point to obscure issues or blame them on the users. Bear in mind I’m not referring to firmware “upgrades” to install no fly zones that did not exist until a manufacturer wanted them to.

 

[Dougcjohn]

One question, has either DJI or Yuneec ever issued a special notice to ground their fleet until corrective actions have been performed? The only makers I know to have done that, and both issued product recalls, was FreeFly and GoPro.

All the rest seem to make it a point to obscure issues or blame them on the users. Bear in mind I’m not referring to firmware “upgrades” to install no fly zones that did not exist until a manufacturer wanted them to.

Agree with ya on that point! Other than GoPro, I don't recall any other in RC aerial, Good Point.

Although, Beyond insurance and liability suit protection, I doubt you'd see a ground request adhered too by many.
Not stating that's correct behavior, but the reality. The GoPro notice probably did more to aid in destruction of their product & future sales (that wasn't primary cause) than actually grounded prev-purchased birds out of the sky. You'd hope this would enhance their sales, but in todays world I'm not sure it would.

Indirectly, these notices have brought about a guessing game with Owners too. Not knowing which to classify as important or safety related vs a cloaked change in the crafts performance. So some Owners perform, some don't. The above is a prime example... FW was to simply add a block to prevent flight if inserted battery pair wasn't in sync with aircraft FW, I'm sure most interpreted it as an update to remove / limit a feature.

 

[Graham]

In The Times today; Safety alert over drones that drop out of sky after power failures

 

[Dougcjohn]

In The Times today; Safety alert over drones that drop out of sky after power failures

Great find... unable to read whole article unless signed up to paper.

Found an alternate site... and a quick search now locates several hits, so it's becoming a talking point.
Some Matrice 200 Drones Hit by Power Failure Mid-flight, DJI Confirms | Digital Trends

Police drones grounded over power bug

The response continues to indicate Battery FW, but after reading several articles... it's starting to "smell" of something else possibly.

Sounds like it was the Police CT unit that experienced the failures... in my opinion, that would be something else other than battery FW sync... I can't imagine their Unit not being diligent to update FW.

 

[Dougcjohn]

The UK Police CT units experienced the M200 failures. One article indicated they were moving to M210 units but as a precaution, grounded the M210's as well... that's a good move since they share the same core electronics.

As stated in previous post, I would assume the Police Technical shop would insure all FW is accurate so that waggles the Battery FW Sync as possibly sole problem. Unless, by chance they hadn't performed any updates keeping all Fleet inventory in a FW version they knew flew pending a test & evaluate period of 1-2 units. I know several stateside are often very slow to update the Fleet's notebooks & radios.

This has developed into one to definitely watch and hear the outcome. Good one to track!

 

[Graham]

One question, has either DJI or Yuneec ever issued a special notice to ground their fleet until corrective actions have been performed? The only makers I know to have done that, and both issued product recalls, was FreeFly and GoPro.

All the rest seem to make it a point to obscure issues or blame them on the users. Bear in mind I’m not referring to firmware “upgrades” to install no fly zones that did not exist until a manufacturer wanted them to.

Not at all good when police drones have issues and it would be most difficult to blame the operator in these cases.