3.0.6. Update Users Notes

[Damon]

I thought I would start this thread for users to discuss the changes and personal experiences when using the new firmware. Hopefully it does not turn into a bunch of "My Quad" crashed posts, but more of things that new users need to know. Plus old users might need to know if they are recently upgrading to avoid the crashes.

I'm new and have only experienced 3.0.4. which was ok, except that I happen to live in a higher magnetic declination area 15.3+. I started out learning to fly and dealing with J-Hook and TBE from the get go. I started with a prebuilt with most of the goodies already added, so I'm not going to claim I know jack about hooking up gimbal, iosd mini, transmitter, fpv, or soldering things.

#1 Since upgrading to the new firmware I immediately noticed J-Hook and TBE are non existent.

#2 I have noticed that GoHome initiates for the most part at 20% battery 10.8-9 volts (based on iosd)

#3 I have noticed when I flip the S-1 off and back on GPS I can over ride the GoHome and press my luck some. But most of the time I make sure I within about 200-300 feet from home with no trees, water or buildings when doing so.

#4 When I do press my luck and fly some more. I've noticed the iosd displays 10.6-7 auto land begins. On the old version I could fight off the descent with full throttle, allowing me to get near to catch land. (I've only landed on skids once, after seeing all the posts about guys tipping them over on landings.)

#4A When I do press my luck now and it goes into auto descent it comes down and no matter how hard I push up on throttle it still descends. Luckily I was close enough to catch and keeping it from bouncing)EDIT- I have tested numerous times and I was wrong when I wrote this. I can fight off descent and actually climb a little bit.

#5 I have yet to force a GoHome by extending range to maximum making the P2 decide it needs to return {New and improved smart P2}. Normally max range I go is about 600 meters before I get worried and return. On a side note I did initiate a GoHome about 500 Meters out not factoring in the head wind and it seemed like forever to get back. My recommendation on this would be throw it into ATTI mode and bring it home. The tilt is clearly increased by about 5-10 degrees and the P2 flies a hell of a lot faster. Obviously you need FPV if you do not have line of sight. GPS flight is definitely slower than what I experienced in 3.0.4., but not as drastic as people say about it compared to 1.8.

I encourage others to chime in with quirks, changes and remedies you have used to solve them. Like my boss says "Don't come to me with a problem, unless you have an answer to fix it"

 

[dano7602]

I am currently running 3.04 I hadn't visited the forum in a few weeks so I was unaware that 3.06 had been released. After seeing the forum flooded with horror stories on how 3.06 has caused pilot's P2's to crash or auto descend, I am skeptical to upgrade to 3.06. I have become very confident with 3.04 and have learned how to adjust for the high declination here in NY. If I do upgrade to 3.06 is it possible to downgrade back to 3.04? Would you suggest upgrading to 3.06 considering I am living in high declination or should I wait for 3.07 to be released and hope DJI irons out all the bugs. I have to admit the horror stories are scaring me I don't know if they are caused fromm pilot error related to not understanding how the new low battery warning and go home features work or if the firmware has bugs that are causing premature auto descend and other problems. It would be awesome to finally be able to fly my P2 straight but not at the risk of totaling the quad. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[FASTFJR]

Not sure I would call them Horror stories. I've flown mine 9 times since going to 3.06. I have not had any issues at all. A buddy of mine has flown his twice as much and has not had any issues. And yes, if fly's a straight as a freaking arrow

 

[PhantomPhreak]

I only have 3 flights on 3.06 with the P2. First straight pass it hooked, not as bad as 3.04. Subsequent flights have had no hook and no other issues. Tested RTH, worked fine. The descent speed seems much faster than before, will test and see what OSD displays. I have not let the battery get below the warning yet.

 

[Damon]

Flight notes for today:

Tested out Go Pro 3+ Black with Polar Pro Neutral Density Lens cover - In FPV screen it looked great, have not checked actual video on SD card.

Decided to test out what occurs in ATTI mode during low battery warnings.

#1 At %20 and 10.9 Volts - FPV Battery level warning was flashing and LEDS were flashing the red corresponding low battery level. No Go Home was triggered.

#2 Kept flying fairly close by home location (20-30 meters) flying line of site. All off a sudden Auto Descent triggers, I was figuring Go Home would happen. In a panic I give it forward command on right stick in attempt to get P2 closer to me and began close distance on foot. Seeing that descent is faster than my pace, I give it 100% throttle and low and behind it actually climbed a little instead of falling. I glanced at FPV during this and the battery % was at 13% and 10.7 Volts. Now I wonder if I actually gave it full throttle during my last test in GPS?

#3 The new "Smart Phantom" Go Home based on distance and battery level also never kicked in.

Anyhow that is my findings for the day.

Side note I rotate between 3 batteries. I have out of habit made sure I take warm battery out of phantom just to let it air cool. If I go home fairly soon I also place used battery near A/C duct to assist in cooling. I also never charge a battery until it is clearly room temp or cooler since I do not want to create battery bulging if I can prevent it. I'm not sure if this is helping or not, but the batteries look good when viewing them in phantom assistant.

 

[q8f1]

Thx for the info, I also have 3 batteries and flew over the weekend both sat and sun, and triggered a RTH twice, using a FPV I was montoring the battery levels and brought it near to me before the RTH triggered. A; I wanted to see if it was suppose to do what the update said it would and B; wanted the batteries fairly low to recharge them competely again on a 20 times usage recycle. Cheers Mark

 

[Camicus]

I am currently running 3.04 I hadn't visited the forum in a few weeks so I was unaware that 3.06 had been released. After seeing the forum flooded with horror stories on how 3.06 has caused pilot's P2's to crash or auto descend, I am skeptical to upgrade to 3.06. I have become very confident with 3.04 and have learned how to adjust for the high declination here in NY. If I do upgrade to 3.06 is it possible to downgrade back to 3.04? Would you suggest upgrading to 3.06 considering I am living in high declination or should I wait for 3.07 to be released and hope DJI irons out all the bugs. I have to admit the horror stories are scaring me I don't know if they are caused fromm pilot error related to not understanding how the new low battery warning and go home features work or if the firmware has bugs that are causing premature auto descend and other problems. It would be awesome to finally be able to fly my P2 straight but not at the risk of totaling the quad. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry, but all of these horror stories are pilot errors in my opinion. I have had 0 issues over 20-30 flights on 3.06. The last 9 flights being completely over water for the entire duration as I was hand launching from a boat. I think that too many people are buying these things with 0 idea about how quads and these systems work, and they are relying too much on GPS etc. In my opinion, if you can't fly the thing in manual, you should be practicing on a super inexpensive quad like an X4 until you are comfortable enough. GPS is great as an added bonus, but if it is used as a sole means of flight, and the pilot can't even accurately fly it in ATTI mode, then why is someone spending several hundred to several thousand dollars on something that they don't really understand? If you can't manage the phantom given the situation, you will crash it and be upset. It will happen. I have never so much as even scuffed a blade and I land it on the skids every single time unless on a boat or over rough terrain. It is not difficult. It's just like anything else, once you understand it and it's limits it becomes second nature. Food for thought.

 

[N017RW]

I am currently running 3.04 I hadn't visited the forum in a few weeks so I was unaware that 3.06 had been released. After seeing the forum flooded with horror stories on how 3.06 has caused pilot's P2's to crash or auto descend, I am skeptical to upgrade to 3.06. I have become very confident with 3.04 and have learned how to adjust for the high declination here in NY. If I do upgrade to 3.06 is it possible to downgrade back to 3.04? Would you suggest upgrading to 3.06 considering I am living in high declination or should I wait for 3.07 to be released and hope DJI irons out all the bugs. I have to admit the horror stories are scaring me I don't know if they are caused fromm pilot error related to not understanding how the new low battery warning and go home features work or if the firmware has bugs that are causing premature auto descend and other problems. It would be awesome to finally be able to fly my P2 straight but not at the risk of totaling the quad. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry, but all of these horror stories are pilot errors in my opinion. I have had 0 issues over 20-30 flights on 3.06. The last 9 flights being completely over water for the entire duration as I was hand launching from a boat. I think that too many people are buying these things with 0 idea about how quads and these systems work, and they are relying too much on GPS etc. In my opinion, if you can't fly the thing in manual, you should be practicing on a super inexpensive quad like an X4 until you are comfortable enough. GPS is great as an added bonus, but if it is used as a sole means of flight, and the pilot can't even accurately fly it in ATTI mode, then why is someone spending several hundred to several thousand dollars on something that they don't really understand? If you can't manage the phantom given the situation, you will crash it and be upset. It will happen. I have never so much as even scuffed a blade and I land it on the skids every single time unless on a boat or over rough terrain. It is not difficult. It's just like anything else, once you understand it and it's limits it becomes second nature. Food for thought.

+1

 

[dano7602]

Yes I agree if you cannot fly in ATTI mode you should not be flying period. I also do a lot of flying off my boat in which I always fly in ATTI mode over water. People need to read the manuals and forums to fully understand how these sophisticated machines work before flying. I have never had any crashes or issues with my Phantom other then the J hooking due to declination. Based on Camicus comment I will be upgrading to 3.06. I can't wait to try course lock mode and actually have it fly on the correct course.

 

[paxpincer]

Where is this udate?

is this the long awaited firmware update for the phantom2 which fixes the declination issue?
I plugged mine in and it shows no updates?

 

[Damon]

Go to DJI site and download Assistant 3.2. Make sure you keep 3.0 in case you want to roll back for some reason.

 

[Haze]

I am currently running 3.04 I hadn't visited the forum in a few weeks so I was unaware that 3.06 had been released. After seeing the forum flooded with horror stories on how 3.06 has caused pilot's P2's to crash or auto descend, I am skeptical to upgrade to 3.06. I have become very confident with 3.04 and have learned how to adjust for the high declination here in NY. If I do upgrade to 3.06 is it possible to downgrade back to 3.04? Would you suggest upgrading to 3.06 considering I am living in high declination or should I wait for 3.07 to be released and hope DJI irons out all the bugs. I have to admit the horror stories are scaring me I don't know if they are caused fromm pilot error related to not understanding how the new low battery warning and go home features work or if the firmware has bugs that are causing premature auto descend and other problems. It would be awesome to finally be able to fly my P2 straight but not at the risk of totaling the quad. Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry, but all of these horror stories are pilot errors in my opinion. I have had 0 issues over 20-30 flights on 3.06. The last 9 flights being completely over water for the entire duration as I was hand launching from a boat. I think that too many people are buying these things with 0 idea about how quads and these systems work, and they are relying too much on GPS etc. In my opinion, if you can't fly the thing in manual, you should be practicing on a super inexpensive quad like an X4 until you are comfortable enough. GPS is great as an added bonus, but if it is used as a sole means of flight, and the pilot can't even accurately fly it in ATTI mode, then why is someone spending several hundred to several thousand dollars on something that they don't really understand? If you can't manage the phantom given the situation, you will crash it and be upset. It will happen. I have never so much as even scuffed a blade and I land it on the skids every single time unless on a boat or over rough terrain. It is not difficult. It's just like anything else, once you understand it and it's limits it becomes second nature. Food for thought.

you probably are the only person to never have scuffed a blade or crashed it even if little like a tip over on landing on grass or something. but there are a few things people should know about quads before them buy them and assume its as easy as a toy.

Like VRS and Descending properly. is normally most peoples fails starting out.

 

[Kelso Kubat]

you've never experienced anything before 3.04---- its like you're a virgin....

 

[paxpincer]

Right, I see.. have to install 3.02 first.
Stupid it doesnt run on anything but the latest mac op system tho- just quits.

Can anyone tell me, with the p.c version do you still have to muck around with default configuration files etc like you seemed to have to do with the older version, or is it all encompassing now like the mac version

thanks

 

[Damon]

you've never experienced anything before 3.04---- its like you're a virgin....

Yes, but I did not need to be drunk to do it.

 

[Camicus]

you've never experienced anything before 3.04---- its like you're a virgin....

Nothing before that matters. This topic is solely about 3.06.

 

[4wd]

Right, I see.. have to install 3.02 first.
Stupid it doesnt run on anything but the latest mac op system tho- just quits.

Can anyone tell me, with the p.c version do you still have to muck around with default configuration files etc like you seemed to have to do with the older version, or is it all encompassing now like the mac version

thanks

You need to install the assistant 3.2 - then it will find firmware version 3.06 if you want to try it.

 

[KBurn]

Why does it say Vision assistant instead of P2 assistant? On DJI's news release, the heading says 3.02 release is related to Vision Plus.

A few dealers I have asked have told me to hold off till they release a different assistant update for the P2 itself. I guess by now there isn't much to worry about?

 

[Damon]

Thanks to thunder in CO I was able to break away for some flight time.

I went back to the same flight location for more testing. Home position and course lock lights were indicated and launched up to my standard 15-20ft hover height for verification all is well with the P2. Well, this time it definitely was not well. It had some considerable drift except it was in one direction (towards orchard trees), did not panic and corrected with sticks...as I have done about 30 times before due to Magnetic Declination and TBE.

I also noticed some wobble that have never been observed on this phantom. It was clearly having issues.

I brought it back down for hand catch. Placed in on ground and initiated compass calibration. I lifted overhead with the level 360 turn and then dropping nose down for the other portion of the calibration. I placed it back on the ground and launched for the second time.

I went to the pre-flight hover and now it was locked tight in one spot with no wobble. Clearly something messed with my compass at home or in vehicle. Regardless I guess the learning point is always conduct a small observation hover after launch instead of bombing off in to the wild blue yonder.

I also flew it down to 20% and GoHome was initiated. I forgot to note the volts, as I had a curious farmer talking to me during the flight.

Final note : GO SEAHAWKS!

 

[FlyingHigh]

After much thought, today I upgraded my P2 from the original firmware to 3.06. No issues with the upgrade. Took it out to fly and here is what I noticed:

- Did get a sat lock about 5-10 seconds faster
- There reduction in speed due to pitch limit was very noticeable. I almost wanted to cry. I really hope this gets put back in a future update. Will be an issue for those who like to do long distance flights
- There was a definite twitch/wobble. There was about 7-10knots of mind but it was twitchier than it was before. I have not tried adjusting any gains. Has anyone else damped downed the gains a bit?
- I flew two batteries down to about 40% and got about 15 minutes on each. Didn't test the auto return to home.