Lost Dji spark. My fault?

[Dronason]

You should send them the log file if not already done and push again. It is your best chance to get more than 30%.
Of coarse you put it on a risky situation but from the log, it didn't land on battery low. You didn't mention if you where using a Remote Control. With it, at that distance and location there would be no reason to loose the connection. With only a phone, climbing to 100ft could have increased the distance up to a disconnect.

 

[DesertWindAero]

I'm going to push it more to see if there's more that they can do. I would admit fault if it was 100% my fault but I believe it was the drones fault too since it was partially out of my control.

Let us know how it all works out for you.

 

[msinger]

You didn't mention if you where using a Remote Control

 

[Dronason]

View attachment 1309

Good point, didn't see that

 

[Kilrah]

I believe it was the drones fault too since it was partially out of my control.

It was out of your control because of your settings/actions. Your RTH height setting are what made it go out of your phone's range when it climbed to the RTH alt.

That would not have been a problem in itself since it would have normally come back down at your place, BUT you also had critically low battery which did not allow it to do so.

 

[Wombatclay]

Pilot error. You were trying to push your flight time and it bit you in the butt. I always come in for a landing at 30%... lowest I've landed at was 20%. Buy more batteries if you get another Spark and don't run them past 15-20% left in them. Your RTH kicked in. Everything was working fine till not enough power and it landed right where it was at that critical alarm point. And when the power gets less so does the signal strength.

Sent from my SM-G955F using SparkPilots Spark Forum mobile app

 

[rcflyingaddict]

I saw it mentioned a few times but still am not clear on the battery % at start of flight. I was also curious as to why the loss of connection as that's at the root of this (see now that he was not using a RC)

1 - Did OP start flight at less than 100% charged battery?

 

[msinger]

1 - Did OP start flight at less than 100% charged battery?

The flight was started at 51% battery. See this post above.

 

[rcflyingaddict]

The flight was started at 51% battery. See this post above.

Thanks msinger -

To the OP - Take the 30% and RUN!

 

[actionjack]

It's a common problem in today's world no one thinks it's their fault. If you can't afford to lose an expensive drone don't buy one.

 

[OldBlueHeron]

Unfortunately, this is pilot error. I have to agree with previous posters, never start a flight without a fully charged battery. Also take the 30% and run as DJI is being gracious. Maybe buy refresh as well.

 

[PascalG]

I lost my spark after a month of trouble free flights and went thru all the hoops of posting data, uploading files, answering dji's questions, waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

Short summary: i took off with full battery, no interference, full gps and remote suddenly disconnected. Dont know if it flew away or dropped out.

their final Analysis basically was... sorry, the flight log just ended abruptly so we have no idea what happened. But we ll be nice and send you a $150 coupon.

Even though the spark has a such a history of failures that we just grounded all of them unless owners update the deeply flawed firmware

I thought about it but finally ordered the replacement. Ironically DJI web developper skills are not much better the firmware guys as the $150 coupon is only worth $149.70 in the only store. Sloppy work there too...

I havent decided yet whether i ll keep it or sell it before even opening the box. Looking at the forums it doesnt seem that the miracle firmware really solve the problems...

 

[OldBlueHeron]

Disagree. The firmware has been solid. I just took my drones to the Rocky Mountains and the Utah desert and the Spark performed flawlessly under severe conditions within its limitations.

 

[PascalG]

Mine also performed flawlesly for a month, dozens of flights.

Until that last one.

I hope the new FW works out