Automatic (Scheduled) Rteurn to Home?

[Deleted member 99081]

I own a DJI Phantom 4 Advanced and have been using it for commercial work, alongside my stills photography camera.

It occurred to me that it would be very useful to have a scheduled return to home function in the DJI Go 4 app. This would enable me to launch the drone and leave it airborne while I take stills shots.

Having it "scheduled" to return to home after, say, the battery capacity drops to 25%, would avoid any issues of me forgetting about it as the battery drains, and it would return to home automatically.

I can't believe that I'm the first person to consider this. Does anyone know if its a) in the app already and I didn't spot it, or b) if DJI have any plans to include it in an update...or, c) why it may not be a good idea?

Thanks,

Stephen

 

[Eagle54]

Low Battery RTH function brings automatically the drone back to the Home Point when battery is depleted to a critical point.

 

[Deleted member 99081]

Low Battery RTH function brings automatically the drone back to the Home Point when battery is depleted to a critical point.

Thanks. Do I need to set this in the app? AFAIK, it's not happening for me at the moment. I just get a low battery warning.

 

[BigAl07]

I own a DJI Phantom 4 Advanced and have been using it for commercial work, alongside my stills photography camera.

It occurred to me that it would be very useful to have a scheduled return to home function in the DJI Go 4 app. This would enable me to launch the drone and leave it airborne while I take stills shots.

Having it "scheduled" to return to home after, say, the battery capacity drops to 25%, would avoid any issues of me forgetting about it as the battery drains, and it would return to home automatically.

I can't believe that I'm the first person to consider this. Does anyone know if its a) in the app already and I didn't spot it, or b) if DJI have any plans to include it in an update...or, c) why it may not be a good idea?

Thanks,

Stephen

Go into Battery Settings in the DJI Go Ap and you can set the threshold for ALERT (and it's hard to not notice the annoying beep) as well as Critical Battery level etc. It's all in there.

 

[BigAl07]

Thanks. Do I need to set this in the app? AFAIK, it's not happening for me at the moment. I just get a low battery warning.

Wouldn't the Low Battery Warning get your attention so you can manually fly the AC back and land?

RTH isn't the ideal solution and best left to those "Last Resort" situations.

 

[msinger]

The Phantom will only attempt to auto return home if the following setting is enabled in DJI GO:

Keep in mind that the Phantom is not able to account for current wind conditions, so you should manually head back to the home point before this feature kicks in if it's windy (even more so if flying into a headwind on the way back to the home point).

The low battery and critical battery warnings (shown in the above screenshot) can also be set to have DJI GO alert you when the battery reaches the set levels.

 

[Deleted member 99081]

@BigAl07 I already have both low battery alerts set (30% and 15%). My question was about an automatic return to home, in case I was distracted by other work, but I take your point.

@msinger I can't find the smart return to home option on my Go 4 app? I have the P4A, does that matter?

@Eagle54 are you sure it does it automatically?

 

[Eagle54]

Generally it works, but there is not exact value when drone start RTH and when just start Landing where it is.

 

[JarrodF]

Umm. Are you talking about launching the drone and at some point leaving it in the air while you walk away from the controls to take still shots with you DSLR? If so, that sounds completely nuts to me. Stuff happens that effect the flight all the time and you've got to be there to compensate and bring it down safely. I'm not sure what the regulations are in Ireland but I know if you were in the US (with a Part 107 certificate) you would be breaking those rules and could have your certificate pulled. Apologies if I'm not reading your question correctly.

 

[Deleted member 99081]

Umm. Are you talking about launching the drone and at some point leaving it in the air while you walk away from the controls to take still shots with you DSLR? If so, that sounds completely nuts to me.

Please don't insult me based on an assumption of what you THINK I said. No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about launching the drone, keeping the controller around my neck, taking some photos and hopefully having the drone return to home on it's own if I get too distracted to do it myself, which is highly unlikely.

I've spent over 35 years in a job that has the highest level of respect for others and responsibility attached to it. I may be nuts, but I'm safe.

 

[Deleted member 99081]

@msinger Updated the Go 4 app and can now see the Smart Return-to-home button, thank you.

 

[Neon Euc]

It's quite safe to let the drone hover as you take pics. Be cautious tho, a sudden compass error could appear causing it to fly in all directions and lose its holding position [emoji6]

 

[JarrodF]

I surely wasn't trying to insult you. Please don't take my warnings the wrong way. I just can't imagine walking away from the drone (even with the controller around your neck) to concentrate on something else. In these forums you read daily about things happening that make the drone react unexpectedly. Gust of wind, compass error, bird attack, GPS signal loss that switches it to ATTI mode just to name a few. I certainly wish you the best of luck.

 

[DOC 1500]

You can set the battery return to home at higher settings. That would bring it back to you sooner than the critical battery return.
IMHO, I would take all my drone shots first bring it down then take your ground level shots with your handheld camera. You can always put the bird back up in the air if you think of another shot you would like. As a professional you should always keep your work ethics as
Safety First, for your aircraft, you , and the people around.
I'm not criticizing I'm just suggesting.

 

[msinger]

You can set the battery return to home at higher settings. That would bring it back to you sooner than the critical battery return.

It's not possible to adjust when the Smart Return-to-Home and auto landing at critical low battery events occur. The low and critical low battery warning settings only allow you to adjust when those alerts appear in the DJI GO app.

 

[DOC 1500]

It's not possible to adjust when the Smart Return-to-Home and auto landing at critical low battery events occur. The low and critical low battery warning settings only allow you to adjust when those alerts appear in the DJI GO app.

Before you fly set the return to home to a higher battery percentage then it will return sooner.

 

[msinger]

Before you fly set the return to home to a higher battery percentage then it will return sooner.

Ever try that? All it does it display the battery alert sooner. The auto RTH is automatically triggered based on the distance and altitude of the Phantom.

 

[Deleted member 99081]

Thanks for all the replies, which were enlightening.

I began the thread as I had one particular job in mind; a regional cycle race, that went right past my house. I had hoped to photograph it from above and from the ground at the same time.

As it turned out, the weather was foul - windy and raining hard - and I had no chance of launching the drone. I stood in the rain and freezing cold wind, with my Canon 5D III covered with a heavy duty rain-hood, and on a monopod, for over an hour and got some good shots that were published in the Irish press.

Here is a camera shot of the race and also the shot I wanted to get from the drone. It's a test shot, taken the day before in perfect weather - go figure!

 

[shockwave199]

Please don't insult me based on an assumption of what you THINK I said. No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about launching the drone, keeping the controller around my neck, taking some photos and hopefully having the drone return to home on it's own if I get too distracted to do it myself, which is highly unlikely.

I've spent over 35 years in a job that has the highest level of respect for others and responsibility attached to it. I may be nuts, but I'm safe.

You're parsing words here. You're looking for a way to enter into an automated flight routine because you expect that you might be so distracted you'll lose focus during what are the most critical moments in flight, the rth sequence. Any time you as the pilot take your focus off piloting you're being unsafe. A single distraction is unsafe. Having the controller dangling on your neck does not mean you're in control. The only way you should even be considering this is if you have a VO with you, period. Even then it's not a good idea. I've worked with other professional photographers and they thought nothing of doing this same thing because they're not proficient pilots and assume the drone can fly itself without attention at all times. That's a photographer mentality, not a drone pilot mentality. If your insulted, I don't care. Doing two things at once while you're responsible for flying a drone is not safe and it's unprofessional on both the photographer and drone pilot level. I don't care if that notion insults you. My advice would be to smarten up.

 

[Deleted member 99081]

My advice would be to smarten up.

• 5 Mental health qualifications.
• Honors Degree in Health Sciences
• Masters Degree in Education
• 20 Years Teaching at University
• 4 Books Published in my own name
• 20+ books contributed to by other authors
• Associate Editor of a UK magazine
• Multi Award Winning Photographer

Is that smart enough? See my post above, too.