Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control loss?

[Buk]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I'm sitting here reading the manual and I can't find any mention of the two sets of green lights. It is very unclear and frankly a lot to remember what all the different lights mean.

That's often the root of the problem. Which manual, which software/firmware version and more importantly which Phantom? For each model of Phantom there are quick start manuals, advanced manuals, Naza manuals, the blink pattern charts and the flowcharts.

One flowchart such as, "PHANTOM Flying Flowchart V1.0 (Simplified Version)" describes "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the forward direction" and "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the Home Point" for the two sets of blinking LEDs for course lock and home lock.

Oh and the other problem; translation from Chinese to some other language.

 

[Rustysocket]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I'm sitting here reading the manual and I can't find any mention of the two sets of green lights. It is very unclear and frankly a lot to remember what all the different lights mean.

That's often the root of the problem. Which manual, which software/firmware version and more importantly which Phantom? For each model of Phantom there are quick start manuals, advanced manuals, Naza manuals, the blink pattern charts and the flowcharts.

One flowchart such as, "PHANTOM Flying Flowchart V1.0 (Simplified Version)" describes "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the forward direction" and "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the Home Point" for the two sets of blinking LEDs for course lock and home lock.

Oh and the other problem; translation from Chinese to some other language.

Your post at least makes me feel a little more confident in what I am seeing with my particular bird. I have a Phantom FC40 which I believe is a version 1 Phantom. Somewhere in all my reading on the forums, I recall a statement from somebody, never to fly unless you see a rapid green light followed by a second set of greens. That is what I have always done since I got it and RTH functions properly. Then I came across a thread that says rapid green lights means IMU needs calibrated.... so I hooked it up to NAZA and calibrate IMU. (which it reported it did not need).

I just tested something to see what would happen, I have a little over an acre of property and lots of clear space around me. I fly CP helis, and planes also so I am pretty good at the spatial orientation and understand stick reversal (I don't panic and don't get disoriented often). I followed my normal startup procedure which is to :

Turn on transmitter
Install Phantom Battery and let music stop. Then close battery door and wait for the flashing green/red to stop until I get the two series of rapid greens. I took off, went up to about 100 feet and activated RTH. As expected it came home and initiated the landing process. I took over by switching to atti. and landed manually.

Then without turning anything off, I walked through my house and went out in front, about 200 yards from where I powered up.

I then rapidly flipped the GPS/ATTI switch to initiate a calibration. Rotated the quad through the horizontal and vertical rotations and set it down. This time I did not get the two sets of rapid greens as I thought I would. I went ahead and lifted off, went up to about 100 feet and initiated RTH. The phantom headed to the back yard to land in the original location (as I expected)

I'm beginning to understand a few things, but it doesn't always seem to be consistent.

I'm not sure when to initiate the calibration dance, and why I would do it.
I don't know how to reestablish a home location once the bird is powered up, so I always install my battery at the "home" location.

When flying in course lock, (which is a great feature for following a moving object) sometimes my spatial instincts take over and I am trying to override it with ATTI type inputs. ( Cant help it, it just is because I have been flying for so long my brain thinks that way.) So I will likely develop my normal style to be flying in ATTI rather than GPS and use GPS when I need to stabilize the craft and regain orientation.

I like the RTH function but not always confident I have properly set a home location.

 

[hedonist222]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I'm sitting here reading the manual and I can't find any mention of the two sets of green lights. It is very unclear and frankly a lot to remember what all the different lights mean.

That's often the root of the problem. Which manual, which software/firmware version and more importantly which Phantom? For each model of Phantom there are quick start manuals, advanced manuals, Naza manuals, the blink pattern charts and the flowcharts.

One flowchart such as, "PHANTOM Flying Flowchart V1.0 (Simplified Version)" describes "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the forward direction" and "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the Home Point" for the two sets of blinking LEDs for course lock and home lock.

Oh and the other problem; translation from Chinese to some other language.

I'm not sure when to initiate the calibration dance, and why I would do it.
I don't know how to reestablish a home location once the bird is powered up, so I always install my battery at the "home" location.

To set a new home point at any time, flip the ioc switch up/down three times.

You'll get the rapid green flashing indicating it recorded the required home point location for this session.

 

[Rustysocket]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Wedeliver]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I'm sitting here reading the manual and I can't find any mention of the two sets of green lights. It is very unclear and frankly a lot to remember what all the different lights mean.

That's often the root of the problem. Which manual, which software/firmware version and more importantly which Phantom? For each model of Phantom there are quick start manuals, advanced manuals, Naza manuals, the blink pattern charts and the flowcharts.

One flowchart such as, "PHANTOM Flying Flowchart V1.0 (Simplified Version)" describes "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the forward direction" and "LED:Blink Green Quickly Record the Home Point" for the two sets of blinking LEDs for course lock and home lock.

Oh and the other problem; translation from Chinese to some other language.

Your post at least makes me feel a little more confident in what I am seeing with my particular bird. I have a Phantom FC40 which I believe is a version 1 Phantom. Somewhere in all my reading on the forums, I recall a statement from somebody, never to fly unless you see a rapid green light followed by a second set of greens. That is what I have always done since I got it and RTH functions properly. Then I came across a thread that says rapid green lights means IMU needs calibrated.... so I hooked it up to NAZA and calibrate IMU. (which it reported it did not need).

I just tested something to see what would happen, I have a little over an acre of property and lots of clear space around me. I fly CP helis, and planes also so I am pretty good at the spatial orientation and understand stick reversal (I don't panic and don't get disoriented often). I followed my normal startup procedure which is to :

Turn on transmitter
Install Phantom Battery and let music stop. Then close battery door and wait for the flashing green/red to stop until I get the two series of rapid greens. I took off, went up to about 100 feet and activated RTH. As expected it came home and initiated the landing process. I took over by switching to atti. and landed manually.

Then without turning anything off, I walked through my house and went out in front, about 200 yards from where I powered up.

I then rapidly flipped the GPS/ATTI switch to initiate a calibration. Rotated the quad through the horizontal and vertical rotations and set it down. This time I did not get the two sets of rapid greens as I thought I would. I went ahead and lifted off, went up to about 100 feet and initiated RTH. The phantom headed to the back yard to land in the original location (as I expected)

I'm beginning to understand a few things, but it doesn't always seem to be consistent.

I'm not sure when to initiate the calibration dance, and why I would do it.
I don't know how to reestablish a home location once the bird is powered up, so I always install my battery at the "home" location.

When flying in course lock, (which is a great feature for following a moving object) sometimes my spatial instincts take over and I am trying to override it with ATTI type inputs. ( Cant help it, it just is because I have been flying for so long my brain thinks that way.) So I will likely develop my normal style to be flying in ATTI rather than GPS and use GPS when I need to stabilize the craft and regain orientation.

I like the RTH function but not always confident I have properly set a home location.

I suppose your testing has some real purpose but if you keep activating RTH especially the way you have described you could be in for trouble. Actually I am not sure what you are doing, maybe switching to home lock, or perhaps just turning off your controller or perhaps setting a switch for FS, either way I have heard of many problems from testing your quad like that. Good luck.

 

[Rustysocket]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I activated RTH by using the switch, not by turning the transmitter off. The purpose being that I want to understand how it works and confidence that it will work if I truly need it. I have IOC and failsafe enabled in NAZA and use the switches.

I guess I am trying to understand when/how the Phantom determines where home is and how it indicates it has been set.

While I would hate to lose the Phantom to a flyaway, I'd rather it happened because of a failure of a system than me doing something incorrectly.

 

[hedonist222]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I activated RTH by using the switch, not by turning the transmitter off. The purpose being that I want to understand how it works and confidence that it will work if I truly need it. I have IOC and failsafe enabled in NAZA and use the switches.

I guess I am trying to understand when/how the Phantom determines where home is and how it indicates it has been set.

While I would hate to lose the Phantom to a flyaway, I'd rather it happened because of a failure of a system than me doing something incorrectly.

In a video where micbergma visits dji.

The dji guy said let the phantom sit for about 30 seconds before turning on props.

I'm fairly certain he's referring to the part where the phantom has locked to the necessary gps satellites, then records home point.

 

[hedonist222]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I'll do a video demonstrating the two sets of flashing greens.

I will then do another test.

I'll physically move at least 50 feet away from first take off spot.

I'll then fly the drone before the second set of green flashing lights takes place.

My theory is that on the second trial, it won't do anything when I trigger fail safe mode (rth).

 

[Rustysocket]

Re: Has anybody NOT had a flyaway or some sort of control lo

I appreciate the help.