murraymacdonald said:
Some overly certain people have suggested that taking off after 5 minutes when it was slow green blinking was pilot error, and that fast green blinking was required, but let's look at the documentation:
You should have looked at the documentation before shoving that left stick forward, it would have saved you lots of heartache.
On page 2 of the User Manual:
Before Flight
The following tutorials and manuals have been produced to ensure you to make full use of your Phantom 2 Vision+. (1) Disclaimer
(2) Phantom 2 Vision+ Quick Start Guide
(3) Phantom 2 Vision+ User Manual
(4) Phantom Pilot Training Guide
Watching all the tutorial videos and reading the Disclaimer before flight is recommended. Afterwards, prepare your first flight using the Phantom 2 Vision+ Quick Start Guide. Improve your flying skills in subsequent flights using the Phantom Pilot Training Guide. Refer to this manual for more comprehensive information. Experienced users, particularly those with DJI Phantom 2 Vision experience should skip to the Phantom 2 Vision+ Quick Start Guide to begin preparing for flight.
1) The DJI Quick Start Guide part #8 titled "Taking Off" says:
- * Power on the remote controller, the range extender, and the flight battery mounted in the Phantom 2 Vision +. Make sure the DJI Vision App is working properly.
* Start Motors by pulling both control sticks to the bottom corners.
* Wait until the Rear LED Flight Indicators go from a slow blinking yellow to a slow green, indicating GPS locked." NOT TRUE
* Slowly push the left (throttle) stick up to take off.
IMPORTANT:
- 1) Beginning flyers are recommended to only fly when the slow green flashes.
2) Rear LED Flight Indicators will go from slow yellow flashing to slow green flashing if more than 6 GPS satellites have been found.
3) Never Stop the Motors during flight.
It doesn't even mention fast green blinking...
That's just the quick start guide you say? RTFM you say? Okay:
3.1 Take off/Landing Procedures:
- 1. Place the Phantom 2 Vision + on open flat ground with battery indicators facing towards you.
2. Power on the Remote Controller and Range Extender, then the Smart Flight Battery.
3. Launch the DJI VISION App and start bind it to your smartphone then enter the camera preview page.
4. Wait until the Rear LED Flight Indicator blinks green. This means it has initialized and is Ready to Fly. NOT TRUE. If it flashes yellow, it is Ready to Fly (non-GPS) mode and will require more careful flight. Execute the CSC command to start motors.
5. Push the throttle up slowly to take off. Refer to Remote Controller Operation (Page 25) for more details.
6. Shoot photos and videos using the DJI VISION App. Refer to DVI VISION App usage (Page 48) for more details.
7. To land, hover over a level surface and gently pull down on the throttle gently to decend.
8. After landing, execute the CSC command or hold the throttle at its lowest position for 3 seconds or more until the motors stop.
9. Turn off the smart battery, Range Extender and Remote Controller.
Again, it mentions nothing about fast green blinking or needing to wait for it... Now for the juicy stuff:
4 Failsafe Function
The phantom will enter Failsafe mode when its connection to the Remote Controller is list. The Flight Control System will automatically control the aircraft to return to home and land to prevent injury or damage.
Home Points:
When the Phantom enters 'Ready to Fly' from the 'Ready to Fly status (non-GPS)', the GPS coordinates will be recorded and set as the home point. NOT TRUE.
- 1. The Remote Controller is powered off.
2. The Phantom has flown out of effective communication range.
3. The Signal between the Remote Controller and the Phantom has been blocked.
4. There is interference causing a signal problem with the Remote Controller.
The "Rear LED Flight Indicator Status" Appendix doesn't even mention fast green blinking. It says slow green blinking means "Ready To Fly".
The User Manual pages where Rear LED Flight Indicator are described (16, 41-45, and the Appendix 71) do not mention fast green blinking at all. No where in the Quick Start Guide or the User Manual 1.1 that were supplied with the Phantom 2 Vision Plus does it even mention fast green blinking AT ALL. Same goes for the "Earning Your Stripes v1.1" booklet which covers Return Home and Land Mode. It specifically says:
Be sure you are in a large open area. Before you take off make sure you have good GPS Lock by ensuring your LED indicators are flashing green. Fly the Phantom at least 50 ft away from your take off point. Turn off the Remote Controller. The Phantom will enter it's failsafe Return-To-Home Mode. NOT TRUE Let the Phantom finish it's routine and land itself within 2 meters of the takeoff point.
All those grammar errors (it's vs. its, etc) are verbatim.
All these manuals are very poorly written, AND THEY DON'T MENTION FAST GREEN BLINKING ANYWHERE.
Except where it describes
how to tell when home lock has been established
Page 27 and 28 of the user manual. I will not quote it, look it up and read it yourself. Also
had you followed the manual you would have watched the videos and tutorials which also cover properly setting home point
DJI has made a number of design mistakes in this product and documentation which I followed to the letter. The bottom line is the Phantom 2 Vision + failed to Register the Home Point as it says it will on page 41 of the User Manual v1.1. "When the Phantom enters 'Ready to Fly' from the 'Ready to Fly (non-GPS)'. the GPS coordinates will be recorded and set as the home point." I took off when it was slowly flashing green as the manual instructs, and it failed to operate as described and flew away to a target 300 miles away because it failed to register the home point as described. This product clearly does not work as documented and it cost me a $1500 drone. Until these errors are corrected I recommend people buy something else that operates correctly. These fly-away horror stories are true. Don't trust the product or the documentation. I followed their instructions exactly and now I have nothing because it started flying away to a target 300 miles away. This thing is buggy. If it can't get a GPS lock, it shouldn't blink green, it should stay in the red-blinking warm-up state. Furthermore, even if it blinks yellow (less that 6 satellites) the manual says on page 41 that it will return home and land with some wind drift.
The bottom line is the Phantom 2 indicated that it was "Ready to Fly" by slowly blinking green, it had 7 satellites, and yet it failed to register the home takeoff point as the manual says it does, and it flew off towards a target 300 miles away never to be seen again. This thing is buggy and unreliable. Wait for the Phantom 3 or buy something else.
The manual isn't the best I've seen, in regards to being easy to understand, but it certainly is far from the worst and it is accurate. Your claim of
"design mistakes" is simply not true and what you experienced was 100% operator error. The bottom line is that you failed to properly set/verify home position. Why it didn't automatically record its home position, I don't know and can only speculate. The fact that the home position was showing 300 miles away tells us all that you did not verify it prior to launch which is an error on your part. When you got into trouble and initiated RTH, the craft did exactly what it was designed to do, and attempted to return to its last recorded home position. Shifting the blame for this incident claiming that the P2V+ is buggy and unreliable is just being dishonest to yourself and everyone you tell the story to.
Again, I'm sorry for your loss, but all points to operator error. This one's on you pal.