Descending while in hover (approximately 20 feet)

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Hey guys, I just took my phantom 2 out for a flight and 2 times during the flight it randomly descended about 20 feet on it's on. It then slowly found it's way back up to it's original position. It did this while it was hovering and the battery was between 75%-100%. What could be causing it to suddenly lose altitude?
 
Sounds like it lost connection to some of the satellites and self corrected.,
during the decent did you try to correct and did it not respond?
 
This same thing happened to me 3 times during 3 separate flights (one time per battery) If i was hover lower above the water I wouldve been screwed
 
ITSAPHANTOM said:
Hey guys, I just took my phantom 2 out for a flight and 2 times during the flight it randomly descended about 20 feet on it's on. It then slowly found it's way back up to it's original position. It did this while it was hovering and the battery was between 75%-100%. What could be causing it to suddenly lose altitude?

That usually happens when humidity is up. NAZA uses barometric pressure to hold hover and since everything is internal on a Phantom, sometimes it's slow to react. I find that to be the case when flying early mornings. As it warms up it corrects itself.
 
EMCSQUAR said:
That usually happens when humidity is up. NAZA uses barometric pressure to hold hover and since everything is internal on a Phantom, sometimes it's slow to react. I find that to be the case when flying early mornings. As it warms up it corrects itself.

That and actual pressure gradients, changes in wind speed, temperature, etc. I would have thought the Phantom uses the IMU to smooth barometric anomalies but who is to know for sure.
 
EMCSQUAR said:
ITSAPHANTOM said:
Hey guys, I just took my phantom 2 out for a flight and 2 times during the flight it randomly descended about 20 feet on it's on. It then slowly found it's way back up to it's original position. It did this while it was hovering and the battery was between 75%-100%. What could be causing it to suddenly lose altitude?

That usually happens when humidity is up. NAZA uses barometric pressure to hold hover and since everything is internal on a Phantom, sometimes it's slow to react. I find that to be the case when flying early mornings. As it warms up it corrects itself.

I'm confused. Are you suggesting that external pressure changes are not immediately detected by the barometric pressure sensor inside the craft?
 
sar104 said:
EMCSQUAR said:
ITSAPHANTOM said:
Hey guys, I just took my phantom 2 out for a flight and 2 times during the flight it randomly descended about 20 feet on it's on. It then slowly found it's way back up to it's original position. It did this while it was hovering and the battery was between 75%-100%. What could be causing it to suddenly lose altitude?

That usually happens when humidity is up. NAZA uses barometric pressure to hold hover and since everything is internal on a Phantom, sometimes it's slow to react. I find that to be the case when flying early mornings. As it warms up it corrects itself.

I'm confused. Are you suggesting that external pressure changes are not immediately detected by the barometric pressure sensor inside the craft?

In some instances - YES. The NAZA IMU attempts to make changes for weather conditions, but in high humidity and/or wet winter conditions it seems to not be able to hold a hover as it does in warm dry conditions. Winter also adds it's own variables but it does amplify the effect. It's really evident when you start loading up your Phantom with gimbals, IOSD, etc...
 
Just curious, did you happen to notice if the altitude was reading correctly on the app when it was doing this?

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
 
Or of course you could try raising the vertical gain by 10% or so!

If your Phantom has been loaded up with baggage you may need to tweak the vertical gain a little just so it can maintain hover.
 
Just curious, did you happen to notice if the altitude was reading correctly on the app when it was doing this?

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
My P3 has the same problem. I just got it back from the shop after a crash. The last few times out I noticed it loses altitude while hovering but the altimeter doesn't change. If I bring the copter back up, The altimeter goes up. so now it reads 50 ft when I'm actually at 30 ft. Could be a problem If I hit return home.
 
My P3 has the same problem. I just got it back from the shop after a crash. The last few times out I noticed it loses altitude while hovering but the altimeter doesn't change. If I bring the copter back up, The altimeter goes up. so now it reads 50 ft when I'm actually at 30 ft. Could be a problem If I hit return home.
A cold IMU calibration on a perfectly level surface took care of the problem for me.
 

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