Overheating problem....

[Transplant]

Due to packing up a house to get ready to move, I haven't flown in 3weeks or so. It was a nice sunny afternoon, so grabbed the Spark and headed out to a nearby flying spot.

Fired the Spark up, everything looked great, so buzzed around for about 9 minutes and decided to land it and move to another spot. The spark was really warm when I changed batteries and when I fired it up again I received and IMU over heating message. Shut it down and packed it in.

When I returned home, I powered it on and once again the body became hot.... and I didn't hear fans running.

So, should I do email support or just get it over with and do a service ticket.

I'm bummed....

 

[Spark 317]

You might blow a light amount of air into the side vents. The air flows from the front camera through the fan and out the side vents.

Perhaps a piece of lint or something is obstructing the cooling motor.

The fan should power up every time, if it doesn't something is wrong.

Email first and see what they say.

Good luck.

 

[Transplant]

Checked the vents, couldn't see anything... I emailed DJI.

317? Indianapolis? I'm on the west side about 800 meters inside the zone for Eagle Creek, I go over to Lake Sullivan by the skate park to fly....

 

[Spark 317]

Close enough. North of Indy in Hamilton County.

 

[Transplant]

....and back to DJI she goes. Advised to set up a service request, so did that, got my case number, shipping label and will be boxing her up for her journey to DJI.

And the weather is perfect for flying.

 

[AForceone]

How many hours of flight time is on it? Hope they can cover it under warranty for you.

 

[Transplant]

I just picked it up in late February so it's still under warranty. Between the weather, travel and getting ready to move, only have just over 4 hours of flight time.

 

[Gre]

Did you try to take the upper plastic lead out and do an inspection? Would that affect the warranty?

 

[Transplant]

Since it was under warranty, didn't want to take the chance of voiding the warranty and disassemble it.

I was tempted....

 

[goixiz]

did you try blowing air thru the vents and may dislodge the particle or foreign material thats in the path

 

[Flyer70]

Reload the firmware. I had the same issue and I refreshed the firmware and all was fixed. Carmel here, maybe we should all get together sometime and fly.

 

[Transplant]

goixiz, tried that, no joy, still ran hot.

Flyer70, never thought of that... too late, it's at DJI right now.
A get together would be fun, if I get it back in time. I'm moving to Kansas and then heading north to Canada in early June. Probably best I don't have the Spark to distract me as I get ready for both moves!

 

[Transplant]

And.... just got an email from DJI
Dear Customer,
Your product sent back qualifies for repair under warranty. Repair will be finished within three to six business days.
Quote Date: 05-11-18
Remarks: WARRANTY: Dear Customer, This product will be covered under warranty. We'll either repair it or replace it with a product that's new or equivalent to new in both performance and reliability.

Hopefully the packing slip will tell me what was wrong, but not holding my breath on them providing that information.....

 

[Dan Showalter]

Good call on lack of information! I sent a computer back recently and all they said was that they “repaired or replaced” just about every item on the PC.

 

[pmshop]

Meh, they never tell you what is wrong.
I am still waiting on word what happened with my initial purchased Spark on an October 10th service ticket.
Would not set a home point to save its life - under warranty though.

 

[Transplant]

Typical.... I worked for a large electronics manufacturer and got to know people in the tech & QC areas. They said if they put too much info on the repair invoices, people would freak out, so they dumbed it down.

Kind of like oil pressure gauges in cars. They used to be actuate and fluctuate as the car was driven. People would take their cars in for service "because the oil pressure is changing!". Now it's a dumb gauge.

 

[pmshop]

Typical.... I worked for a large electronics manufacturer and got to know people in the tech & QC areas. They said if they put too much info on the repair invoices, people would freak out, so they dumbed it down.

Kind of like oil pressure gauges in cars. They used to be actuate and fluctuate as the car was driven. People would take their cars in for service "because the oil pressure is changing!". Now it's a dumb gauge.

Sorry getting off topic but I had a girlfriend back in the 80's that thought the oil gauge worked like a gas gauge.
She was going to add more when it totally reached "L".
We were in Boy's Town Nuevo Laredo when I discovered this.
Talk about being nervous to make it back to the US

 

[Transplant]

Update... I took a closer look at one of the emails sent to me from DJI repair and they did replace the fan.

 

[NWSpark]

Sure sounds like, for the most part that DJI really looks after their customers.