Battery Troubles

Cbrown4390 · Apr 26, 2017

I searched and couldn't find anything on the exact issue I'm having. So here it goes, I bought my solo yesterday and have been loving it. Now today I go to fly it. Take off and maneuver around a bit. Down to about 70% battery. I let it hover for a minute, then all of a sudden the battery level drops to low battery and it flies home. It lands I turn everything off take it in and put the battery back on the charger. It shows that the battery is at about 70%. Not sure why. Anyone else have this problem before?

Chuck · Apr 27, 2017

Welcome, Cbrown4390. I had a battery some time ago that depleted very quickly. It would charge ok, but would drain very fast. I contacted 3DR, who wanted a video of the problem...

. I asked them how was I supposed to video the event while flying home with a battery at 7%. After some going back and forth with them, they had me send the battery back and they sent me a new one. I would be very careful using that battery. You need to keep Solo close to you while testing it again. If the problem happens again, contact 3DR by chat and see about getting a replacement. They are usually good to deal with. You will probably have to send in your logs, so don't be surprised if they ask you to do so. Good luck to you, and fly safe.

vmaniqui · Apr 27, 2017

Chuck said:
Welcome, Cbrown4390. I had a battery some time ago that depleted very quickly. It would charge ok, but would drain very fast. I contacted 3DR, who wanted a video of the problem.... I asked them how was I supposed to video the event while flying home with a battery at 7%. After some going back and forth with them, they had me send the battery back and they sent me a new one. I would be very careful using that battery. You need to keep Solo close to you while testing it again. If the problem happens again, contact 3DR by chat and see about getting a replacement. They are usually good to deal with. You will probably have to send in your logs, so don't be surprised if they ask you to do so. Good luck to you, and fly safe.

thanks Chuck for all your advises. you've been a great help to the community with all your inputs. we do appreciate all your positive comments.

Cbrown4390 · Apr 27, 2017

Chuck said:
Welcome, Cbrown4390. I had a battery some time ago that depleted very quickly. It would charge ok, but would drain very fast. I contacted 3DR, who wanted a video of the problem.... I asked them how was I supposed to video the event while flying home with a battery at 7%. After some going back and forth with them, they had me send the battery back and they sent me a new one. I would be very careful using that battery. You need to keep Solo close to you while testing it again. If the problem happens again, contact 3DR by chat and see about getting a replacement. They are usually good to deal with. You will probably have to send in your logs, so don't be surprised if they ask you to do so. Good luck to you, and fly safe.

Yes thanks so much Chuck! I sent a ticket with the logs. I'm going to try and record it on video. As soon as I take off you can watch the percentage drop at a rate of 1% per second.

cryhavoc38 · Apr 27, 2017

were you allowing the battery to fully charge to the point that the led's on the back of the battery go out?

Cbrown4390 · Apr 27, 2017

cryhavoc38 said:
were you allowing the battery to fully charge to the point that the led's on the back of the battery go out?

Yes. Fully charged until lights on better turn off and the light on the charger turned green.

reelcrazyfish · Apr 28, 2017

I have a similar problem. I start with a fully charged battery and within minutes, my controller warns that I'm at 10%. When I bring the drone back, I can see from the status lights on the drone battery that this is incorrect. This happens on all 4 of my batteries - not just 1. I chatted with 3DR and they suggested this could be caused by using more than one app to control Solo. I've used both Tower and Solex in the past. I sent video logs in today as requested by tech support - I'll let you know what I hear.

Cbrown4390 · Apr 28, 2017

reelcrazyfish said:
I have a similar problem. I start with a fully charged battery and within minutes, my controller warns that I'm at 10%. When I bring the drone back, I can see from the status lights on the drone battery that this is incorrect. This happens on all 4 of my batteries - not just 1. I chatted with 3DR and they suggested this could be caused by using more than one app to control Solo. I've used both Tower and Solex in the past. I sent video logs in today as requested by tech support - I'll let you know what I hear.

Thanks. Ya keep me updated. I've only ever used the solo app. Nothing else. Yesterday I could not get more than one minute flight time.

reelcrazyfish · Apr 28, 2017

Weird, when I have my issue, I can still fly the drone, it's doesn't automatically return home. Of course, the controller says the battery is at 0% so I don't have a real indication of battery level which is very concerning. I tested the drone out this morning and the false battery report is duplicated in Solex too.

Flyinglawnmower · Apr 29, 2017

reelcrazyfish said:
Weird, when I have my issue, I can still fly the drone, it's doesn't automatically return home. Of course, the controller says the battery is at 0% so I don't have a real indication of battery level which is very concerning. I tested the drone out this morning and the false battery report is duplicated in Solex too.

On my first Solo I had a similar problem. In my case I put a fully charged battery in Solo, turn Solo on but get stopped when I get an audible warning that says "Solo battery is too low for flight". It won't start looking for satellites or anything and I got that same message regardless of which fully charged battery I put in Solo. I bought a new bundle through Best Buy and all my batteries work just fine in the new bird. After a long back and forth with 3DR support they told me to send it back for replacement but when they found out I was 7 days past the 1 year warranty they clammed up and basically told me sorry but that I was s*** out of luck. Now I use my new Solo and my original one sits and gathers dust.

RichWest · Apr 29, 2017

I've got a couple of batteries giving false battery levels. Like has been mentioned, fully charged and then suddenly reading 0% or even 100%. I'm also able to continue to fly.

I know it's not the battery data wires in Solo (@Flyinglawnmower maybe your issue). I clean/wipe the battery terminals on Solo on a regular basis. My four other batteries give correct readings, two are a 1-1/2 years old...

I have my suspicions on what is the possible cause. If the weather breaks I'll be able to confirm if I was able to resolve. It relates to the battery's data terminal (top rect. opening of the three at the charging port), the lower set of the two rows of contacts (upper and lower) appears to be recessed to far down in both offending batteries. I brought them up just a bit using a dental pick type tool (hobby set). Didn't go to an extreme, just enough to increase the pressure of their contact for a test.

On the other hand, If you have a battery depleting quickly, like 1% every couple of seconds, it is likely you have a battery with a dead cell. One year warranty will cover that in most cases, just need logs to prove. Dead cells can be the results of running the battery down too far, which is likely your fault.

Edit to add: Did fly one quick battery and it seemed to work on that battery. Windy weather and overcast today, so maybe tomorrow to test the other battery. Not interested in playing the warranty game, so hopefully this will work. I'll post up a fix if I actually confirm 100% that it worked.

RichWest · Apr 30, 2017

Just to follow up, in my case, it does not appear that the battery's data terminals are the issue. I think I have a poor connection on the data wires inside Solo, at least that is what I hope, as all my batteries are jumping around now....will follow up.

pyrate · Apr 30, 2017

I just had a charger die, that was odd
guess its time to just buy the connections so I can use my Quad DIY Charger

RichWest · Apr 30, 2017

I re-solder my data cables to the terminal board in Solo. White wire had broken free while pulling at the white blob. I believe that was the issue, making a partial or intermittent connection. Could be results from a crash I had several months ago, just now showing up. Who knows....it's fixed now.

Recap, I was seeing the battery percentage dropping to 0% or showing 100%. Would also return to correct readings.

RichWest · May 13, 2017

Well it appears I resolved my battery woes. I did one of four things that resolved the issue, as they were all done at the same time while I had the bird gutted. I test flew two batteries down to 20%, solid feedback in both flights. Glad it is resolved, just didn't feel comfortable flying the bird like it was....

1. Re-soldered the green/white data wires on Solo's power plug circuit board. Had tried this previously, but the issue returned.

2. Re-soldered the data wire's two pin plug at the main board. I may solder new wires directly to the main board in the future.

3. Re-installed the hdmi cable, made a spacer for the cable off where it's zipped tied to the main board. Noticed two bite marks from the above plug on the hdmi cable's jacket. Checked continuity best I could and it appears to be no short to the shielding in the cable. fwiw, I had removed and reinstalled the hdmi cable previously about a year ago.

4. I lightly sanded the data terminals that the battery connects to. Used 1000 grit paper. It was my method of cleaning/surfacing the terminals. I don't recommend this method, as it may be destructive or cause future issues....time will tell.

FWIW, There is a software reset for the battery monitoring. I've never had to use it. Others have and did resolve their issue with the battery showing -1%. It's been discussed here on the forum, normally it is in conjunction with using MP.

pyrate · May 13, 2017

That is what mine reported in Solex, but I was running master on the cube. I honestly think my battery is really bad

RichWest · May 14, 2017

pyrate said:
That is what mine reported in Solex, but I was running master on the cube. I honestly think my battery is really bad

I'd agree based on your video. Just didn't make sense for it to just turn off, maybe the battery or something else shorted. Using my dis-charger (150W), the only way to turn off the battery is to remove it from the load. If you short or surge the battery while under load, it will shut off. I presume this is a safety feature to protect the battery from catching fire.