DISABLE "Smart go home."

[LSZ1318]

Again, maybe I'm just thick but in the latest P3A manual I'm not seeing anything about Smart Go Home. I see a Smart RTH - which on page 12 of the manual specifically says that pressing the RTH button will initiate the Smart RTH. Nowhere in the manual is there a reference I can find about Smart Go Home. The Compass Calibration PDF (which does reference Smart Go Home) isn't even available on the download section of the DJI website.

What is Smart RTH vs Smart Go Home?

 

[ferraript]

What is Smart RTH vs Smart Go Home?

function of Smart RTH is explained in the User manual
function of Smart Go Home is explained in 2nd post above your post

best practice is take Phantom to some big open-space area (without trees and other obstacles) and try for yourself all those situations (low battery, critical low battery, lost of connection, manually initiated RTH, ...)

 

[Air Ontario]

SRH when toggled to the on position will auto initiate RTH @ calculated Safe Return Home battery reserve. "Bingo fuel" in military parlance.

I have flown the p3p to over 12000 ft, reached the auto calculated battery reserve needed to get home(Safe Return to Home point), the bird then turned around, ascended to my set RTH altitude, and began a straight line back to the home point @ a software programed 22 mph.

If Sandra Miller's battery hit critical, it would auto land in place not ascend.
If Sandra Miller's battery hit SRH it would orient towards the home point and ascend to the preset RTH altitude(if below preset) and start home at 22 mph.

Appears her SRH initiated and did exactly what it was preset in the menu to do.

Otherwise it would seem to be a totally random /unexpected anomaly.

 

[LSZ1318]

Appears her SRH initiated and did exactly what it was preset in the menu to do.

This is what I'm wondering about from her initial post where she says to 'disable'. She's talking about disabling the RTH function, correct? If so, I call into question exactly why? Seems like it's an incredibly valuable feature that, as long as the pilot is fully aware of their situation (like a tree overhead!), then the RTH would work safely and surely. If not for that tree would we even be discussing this? That's not sarcasm. I'm just really trying to understand the issue here.

 

[Aquarius4058]

Hi Aquar. From what the op said. He did not envoke RtH. That happened bc of low batt. So have smart rth off would not have helped. Correct?

Wrong. as far as I understand DJI added that option to disable the "smart go home" for the operator to choose from and to accommodate what they think the situation will be. In her case she knows that she is nearing to (or the smart RTH could have already initialized once but she override it and flew close to her) critical low battery and while she's bringing in the craft closer to her to land, the smart rth kicks in again and that time she didn't override it quick enough and the craft ascend to the set height to initiate RTH but unfortunately she hit the tree since she was under the tree at the time. So, if she had that "smart go home" option disabled she could have avoided the crash. I am sure the 10% critical low battery did not kicks it yet cause if it does then it could have just landed itself.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Pilot error for not knowing to how to cancel whatever RTH ascension function was taking place, by briefly pressing the RTH button on the transmitter. Experience overcomes panic. Also, not knowing she was, or could be, over 65 feet from the aircraft's GPS interpretation of its Home Point while under trees.

 

[shorttimer]

In my opinion, knowing all the facets of RTH, and understanding them thoroughly of how they work is some of the best insurance one can get.

 

[msinger]

@Sandra Miller Films, did you have any luck tracking down your log? We would love to check it out.

 

[Paul Schulze]

I would set the battery fly limit at 30% just to give more room for getting home by any mode. You, your bird and your batteries will be happier.

 

[drdoubleb]

If you're still looking, this is under "Advanced Settings" within "MC Settings". This and switching to "Hover" on signal loss should solve many but not all Phantom-trying-to-crash-itself problems.

 

[With The Birds]

If you're still looking, this is under "Advanced Settings" within "MC Settings". This and switching to "Hover" on signal loss should solve many but not all Phantom-trying-to-crash-itself problems.

I would strongly suggest setting an appropriate RTH height to 'hover" on signal loss. If signal isnt restored (interference, dead remote, obstruction in signal path etc). It may well be game over. This is also likely problematic in other scenarios ie new hobbyist with a device or app crash (operator pannics and presses RTH button).

Having the AC happily flying back towards you with the option of taking over when connection is restired is likely preferable.

Another bonus is that on initiation of RTH the first action is to climb to set RTH altitude. Often signal is restored during the climb allowing you to happily continue flying.

Hover in place may, and often has, resulted in AC autolanding at critical battery level.

 

[tytlyf]

Engagement shoot amongst trees. Here's what I think what happened.

-Took off from different location where landing.
-RTH point set at original location
-OP moved to a different location
-OP realized low battery level and tried bringing down at their new location
-RTH kicked in and tried going back to original location

 

[SnoozeDoggyDog]

If EVER get a sniff that something isn't right .... just a hint that maybe the quad isn't moving in the right direction or something doesn't smell right. I flick out of gps mode, no question. I never cancel RTH using the button (Only to test the function occasionally and only when I'm within 60 80 metres out so I can see exactly what the quad is doing). If I need to cancel RTH I'm immediately on the flick switch to the middle position or end position .... I don't care which as long as the gps gets killed immediately. Killing the gps will bring the quad to a halt even if it's mid waypoint mission.

IMO drilling yourself to hit that switch instinctively should be a priority when learning to fly a P3A or P

 

[SimonH78]

I don't know who wrote that pdf, but it contains misleading information.
Especially sentence "when the battery hits 10% a DJI Inspire 1 or Phantom 3 will automatically initiate it’s “Smart Go-Home” feature and head for its home point" is ********.
We all know, that if battery hits 10 %, Phantom will start to land immediately, no matter what.
Smart Go Home means, that during the flight, Phantom calculates, how long would it take to flight to Home point and also, how much flight time can battery give. And if Phantom finds out there is less battery flight time than time needed to get home, Smart Go Home is initialized.

You can actually still keep it in the air with 0% on the app if you keep cancelling out the warnings as they pop up... I've done this while resetting the smart lipo!

 

[matti]

I never cancel RTH using the button [...] If I need to cancel RTH I'm immediately on the flick switch to the middle position or end position .... I don't care which as long as the gps gets killed immediately. Killing the gps will bring the quad to a halt even if it's mid waypoint mission.

IMO drilling yourself to hit that switch instinctively should be a priority when learning to fly a P3A or P

Good advice.

When using Litchi I have my left index finger on the RC's Flight mode switch ready to go from F -> A/P to cancel the mission.

After reading this thread and your post I plan to fly also the DJI GO app in a similar way ready to go from P -> A/F.

I have practiced RTH a few times but hitting the right spot on the mobile screen takes some time and is more error-prone than just flicking a HW switch.

Does pressing the RC's RTH button immediately cancel RTH or is the any 1-2 second lag?

Even after reading this thread keeping the "Smart Go Home" pref ON sounds useful to remind/force the operator to return home from long distances if s/he forgets to glance the battery status before it is too late to bring the AC home?

 

[garuka]

Well the RTH kicked in suddenly as the battery got low and it began to ascent to its pre determined height to fly home. Well unfortunately I was under a tree. I tried valiantly to stop this from happening but it all happened so fast. My P3P hit a branch and came down from about 50 feet free fall. SLAM! Broke the gimbal arm, and some other things.

DJI crashed my drone! I use mine for high end real estate video. Yes, I was under a a canopy of trees, this is quite normal in my situation. I got the battery warning and began to land 65 feet from home just to get it down. I landed safely, the motors were spooling down and I still had my thumb holding the throttle down. I started to walk up on it and it fired up to full throttle on its own, just missed me, and crashed within 1 second into the trees above me. This feature is incredibly dangerous! I guarantee you this was not pilot error!
I expect DJI to fix this problem and replace my Phantom 3 Professional.

 

[msinger]

garuka, please upload your TXT flight log here and post a link back here.

 

[tytlyf]

garuka, please upload your TXT flight log here and post a link back here.

I doubt that's gonna happen at this point. OP went quiet after learning the flight log could be viewed.

 

[Rypper1]

I doubt that's gonna happen at this point. OP went quiet after learning the flight log could be viewed.

Garuka and OP are different people. Or at least different post names. I see Garuka has one post and that one is it.

 

[BVC]

Prime example of KNOWING YOUR EQUIPMENT! Change settings as needed prior to take off given your situation!!!!

..Like seriously. Who wouldn't turn off RTH if they were in a building or dense forest? Set to "hover" only.

Rookie mistake but hey - we all need to learn one way or another. This is why training at home isn't a waste of time