DJI go 4 MC settings problem

[lebowski86]

Hey.
I recently bought my first drone, a phantom 4. But I am afraid to fly it because I cant change one of the settings in the dji go 4 app. In mc settings, advanced settings, there is the setting for RC signal loss. It is currently set to hover and whenever I try to change it to return home it just jumps back to hover.. is there any particular reason for this?

 

[Brockrock]

Welcome to the hobby! Are you attempting this setting change with the copter on and linked to the GO4 app through the remote? By doing so, your selection is then saved internally on the copter. If so, and it is still not saving your selection, I would suggest deleting and reinstalling GO4 to see if this resolves the issue. If it does not, I would then reload the latest firmware on the copter using DJI Assistant.

You are correct in being cautious with this setting. Hover could be a real issue in some cases.

 

[lebowski86]

Thanks. Yes, the copter is on and connected to the remote and app. I can see the video feed. Its also just this one option I can not change, everything else works just fine (max altitude, max distance, RTH altitude etc.)
I did update the firmware of the craft & remote before the first flight using dji assistant 2. By "reloading" do you mean reinstall the firmware? Is there an option to do a factory reset?

 

[Brockrock]

You can re-flash the firmware using DJI Assistant on PC/Mac. When connected to your PC/Mac with Assistant running, it should tell you what version you have loaded on the copter, and I'm pretty sure it gives you an option of reloading that same version right there. I typically downgrade to one of the prior versions listed first, and then I upgrade to the latest version. This takes a bit longer, but I have been able to correct little glitches by doing this. If you have not already, delete and reinstall GO4 first to see if this clears it up.

 

[lebowski86]

Just tried reinstalling the go 4 app, sadly the problem still persists. Also return to home altitude is back to 0 and can not be changed either now. Does the craft or the remote need an active satellite connection to change these settings?
Will try to connect it with the assistant next and reinstall the firmware. For some reason I can only do this with the copter but not the remote though. When I first bought it I had to update the remote control via the go 4 app because I could not get it to connect with my pc..

 

[Brockrock]

What type of device are you running GO4 on?

 

[lebowski86]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. Probably going to buy a ipad mini 4 tomorrow because go4 doesn't appear to run properly on the tab 3, it lags like 5 seconds every time I open settings etc..

 

[Brockrock]

Yeah, the Android OS is not fully predictable with GO4 as I have read here. I think there are several reasons for this. You will not be let down with an iPad. Just make sure to get one that is supported.

Best Tablets/Phones for DJI GO | Phantom Help

 

[lebowski86]

I don't mean any offence, but are you sure that list is up to date? That's the same list which led me to buy the Samsung tab 3, and it even shows the tab 2 as compatible.

Anyway, i ended up buying a Galaxy Tab S2 today (ipad mini 4 was sold out..). Everything works fine now

 

[ukracer]

I moved from a galaxy tab to ipad air 2 but due to high winds in the UK haven't been able to try it out yet :-(

 

[Brockrock]

I don't mean any offence, but are you sure that list is up to date? That's the same list which led me to buy the Samsung tab 3, and it even shows the tab 2 as compatible.

Anyway, i ended up buying a Galaxy Tab S2 today (ipad mini 4 was sold out..). Everything works fine now

Glad you got everything working, and no offense taken.

From what I have read, the real issue with Android devices and GO4 is mainly due to the fact that the Android Operating System itself is pretty much considered 'Open Source', and as such, it is very customizable. The Apple iOS on the other hand is considered 'Proprietary'. This means that an Android based, device manufacturer can tailor the software to their device(s), and this tailoring may cause an issue that GO4 had not been coded to properly work with. So, in that regard, I suppose it is possible that a device may prove itself to be compatible at one point, and then, after an update or updates to its software, issues may develop.

In no way do I mean this to be a jab at the Android OS (or Android device), as it is a very powerful platform. In fact, DJI placed the Android OS on their P4P+ tablets included with its remote, and as far as I know, it works flawlessly, proving that if coded to be compatible - which the DJI software engineers were obviously sure to do - it's a great way to go. But, for the rest of us, it does seem that compatible iOS devices tend to be a bit more stable for the most part. I use a dedicated iPad Air 2, and it has never given me a single issue really, other than warning me that it was too cold one time, followed by it simply shutting down...

 

[lebowski86]

Poor choice of words.. I didn't mean software compatibility but hardware. Like: will it be powerful enough to run the most recent version of go4 properly without lagging? Some of the tabs on this list.. i am very doubtful. You know, the ones with 1gb ram & 1,5 ghz cpu.

 

[Brockrock]

At the top of the list there is a short statement about the color key regarding the Green and Yellow dots next to some of the devices listed. Green dots are recommendations per the PhantomHelp website, Yellow dots are officially supported by DJI, and the dot-less entries are devices that folks have recommended on this forum based on good results. I did the most conservative thing and went with a device (iPad Air 2) that had both a Green and Yellow dot.. I'm not sure what the actual hardware requirements are to run GO4, but you should be fine with the Galaxy Tab S2 by the looks of its specs.

By the way, I tried to use my iPhone 5s in a pair of VR goggles using Litchi's VR mode, and it was very laggy and almost unusable really. Now I have the 6S, and I would bet it will be fine.

 

[lebowski86]

Probably should have read the overview part more carefully before buying the tab 3. Not much of a problem since I got it really cheap off ebay.

I do have a couple more questions now though about what my drone is exactly capable of and what not, I don't intend to find out the hard way I live in Switzerland and as you are probably aware, there are a lot of mountains. That's where I plan to fly my drone the most.

Theres obviously the height restriction of 500 meters, so if I launch my drone at the foot of a mountain I couldn't fly to the top if the height difference is over 500m?
If I am standing at the peak with the remote and my friend turned on the drone down in the valley, would I be able to fly to the top?
If I launch the drone myself while standing at the peak, I should be able to fly down and up again?

If the above statements are correct, what good is this height restriction without it factoring in the topography of the surrounding landscape? Since I could just launch it from a 3500 meter peak and fly like 5 or 10 km away from the mountain at a max height of 4000 meters?

 

[Brockrock]

The 500M height restriction is based off of the takeoff point of the copter which would be 0' altitude regardless of what its height is above or below sea level.

If you were standing at the peak with the remote and your friend turned on the copter down in the valley, you would be able to fly it to the max height of 500M above where it took off from.

If you launch the copter yourself while standing at the peak, you will be able to fly down and up again. The altitude in GO4 will read as a negative value as the copter descends below the takeoff point.

I do not know DJI's reasoning when it comes to this height restriction. I will say a couple things though, since you will be doing most of your flying in a mountainous environment. Keep an eye on your satellite count as you fly - especially within valleys or otherwise below and amongst peaks. If the copter loses GPS positioning, it will toggle to ATTI mode, and this can be quite a surprise. Keep this in mind in the mountains, and always be prepared to either back away from where you are or climb if you lose GPS. Also, when it comes to altitude, keep your descent time factored into your return to home regarding battery life. It can take some time to descend from 500M, even with the copter directly overhead.

 

[lebowski86]

Okay thanks for clearing this up.
But cant I update the home point to current location of the remote? Or wouldn't this change anything, so if I engaged the return home command it would just fly 500m up the mountain and then crash into it?

Definitely need more training flights to test the different modes and the drones behaviour before I go near the mountains

 

[Brockrock]

You can reset the Home Point through Go4 while flying, but since the P4 does not know what the new location height is, it will continue to use the initial Home Point as its altitude reference.

As part of your training - in a wide open area above all obstacles - practice a bit in Atti mode. Do this on a very light wind day since the copter will move with the wind and not attempt to maintain position. If you feel out of control switch to s or p mode.