The Last Flight of my Phantom 3A: Don't ignore "bogus" battery temp warnings! (details in comments)

This comment was posted to reddit on Mar 17, 2017 at 3:43 pm and was deleted within 13 hour(s) and 54 minutes.

Last week I wanted to get some sunset footage over Lake Washington. I drove to Mercer

Island, (which is located in the middle of the lake). Most of the Island is within 5

miles of Boeing Field Airport, but you can fly from a park at the North end of the

Island.

When I tried to take off, I got a message saying something like "battery temperature

too low, warm up to 15C (59F) degrees". This seemed like BS, as it was 50F (10C)

outside and the batteries had been stored and transported at room temperature. Also, I

the mountains without incident.

I had a spare battery in my coat pocket (only 61% remaining, but I was only planning a

5-10 minute flight) so I swapped it out and tried again. I got the same message, at

first, but after I restarted the DJI app (and rubbed the battery against my leg), the

message went away and I was able to take off.

After about 20 seconds of flight time, a warning appeared saying something like

"critical low voltage...landing". The Phantom began to land immediately, and would not

accept any input. Amazingly, the Phantom was able to land safely on someone's deck,

even after brushing a tree on the way down. Unfortunately, the neighborhood where it

landed is full of large gated homes, most of which are only occupied in the summer. Here's the landing spot.

I have already ordered a replacement, but my phone number and FAA info are on the

quad, so I might eventually get it back (after it has been ruined by the weather). If

so, I will update this post with any further flight info/warnings I recover.

My best guess is that the battery was failing and the temperature warning was actually

a side effect of the fault.

TL;DR; Battery temperature warnings in mild weather could indicate a failing battery.