Failure of All Collision Avoidance Sensors?????

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Hi All,

I had my Phantom 4 Pro up at altitude of 300' early evening attempting to photograph the sunset. I looked at the app and the collision avoidance sensor icon was red with R or I in the red dot. I brought the aircraft down and gently approached my home to see if there were working. They were not. I landed in the aircraft, turned it off, installed a new battery and took off again. Still the sensor icon was red. I then went into the app to make certain that collision avoidance sensors were indeed enabled. They were.

I returned the aircraft into the house and let it cool down. Turned it back on and now the collision avoidance sensor icon what white and the "bars" on the display returned.

Any thoughts as to what might be going on?

Donald Barar
 
Temporary sensor blindness due to the direct sun?
Might have taking a couple of restarts to reset the software out of the "stuck" mode ...


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Have you done the sensor calibration? If the basic calibration doesn't work you may need to do the advanced calibration using the PC app. Looking directly into the sun can do funky things to the sensors sometimes.
 
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I do not believe I was looking into the sun. Just a fairly bright sunset.

I have not performed any sensor calibrations. i will look into this AM.

Thank you both Norval and Ryantrax for your input.

Donald Barar
 
Low lighting can cause an issue with the sensors. Probably just not the best conditions for OA.
 
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The OA sensors are just tiny little cheap cameras. They don't do very well in low light.
 
What I reported was not failure of the obstacle avoidance sensors. During daylight hours, I was able to toggle the Obstacle Avoidance Sensor Status icon from white to red by disabling the sensors in the application. Disabling the sensors in the software also put a capital R in the red circle.

I then flew the aircraft at night. Even though the Obstacle Avoidance Sensors were enabled in the software, the status icon was red with an I in the red circle.

I did not see this information in the manual and hope that it is of help to others.

Donald Barar
 
What I reported was not failure of the obstacle avoidance sensors. During daylight hours, I was able to toggle the Obstacle Avoidance Sensor Status icon from white to red by disabling the sensors in the application. Disabling the sensors in the software also put a capital R in the red circle.

I then flew the aircraft at night. Even though the Obstacle Avoidance Sensors were enabled in the software, the status icon was red with an I in the red circle.

I did not see this information in the manual and hope that it is of help to others.

Donald Barar
The obstacle avoidance icon in the top area just lets you know if it's functioning properly. That's why it turns red if you turn it off, or if there isn't enough light for it to operate. The bars that overlay on the top and bottom of the video feed are what you use to tell if there is an actual obstacle.
 
The red means that OA is off or not able to work. It was sunset, so low light, so totally normal.
 
The obstacle avoidance icon in the top area just lets you know if it's functioning properly. That's why it turns red if you turn it off, or if there isn't enough light for it to operate. The bars that overlay on the top and bottom of the video feed are what you use to tell if there is an actual obstacle.
What if the symbol is still red but all the sensors are enabled in the settings still? I tried creeping up to a wall and it DID stop on its own to avoid it. Why is it red??
 
Hi SD,

Your experience was different from mine. When my sensors went red (at night, enabled) I also tried creeping up to an obstruction nose in and then nose out. In both instances it was clear the sensors were not functioning.

Donald Barar
 
Hi SD,

Your experience was different from mine. When my sensors went red (at night, enabled) I also tried creeping up to an obstruction nose in and then nose out. In both instances it was clear the sensors were not functioning.

Donald Barar
I've experienced that as well. It's a low light thing.
Do u know y mine would show the symbol red (as if it's disabled) in the day time but still work? Have u found what the letters in the middle of the red indication light means?
 
Hi SD,

All I can do is speculate why this might have occurred during the day. it has been reported that the sensors can be blinded by pointing into the sun. It may be that the sensors were blinded by the sun but then recovered and the application had not yet caught up and displayed them as functioning.

Donald Barar
 
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