imu needs towarm up very long

[miob]

Hello guys,

I recently bought a second hand phantom, already upgraded with the new firmware.

It flies great and I like it a lot, however, one thing bugs me:
Every time I take it out for the first time, warm or cold, I get the triple yellow lights of the imu warming up. This takes a few minutes after which it is ready to fly. This always happens.

I redid the firmware upgrade and did the advanced imu calibration. Neither helped.

Any tips?

 

[PhantomFan]

It is asking for you to do the compass calibration. Download a copy of the manual if it wasn't provided to you, and read up on it before you take it out again. Once the compass is recalibrated to YOUR local magnetic condition(s), it will stop nagging you and will go thru its warm up much faster.

Meanwhile, the discrepancy between the compass and GPS might result in sufficient confusion to result in a fly-away...So, calibrate your compass!!!

PF

 

[miob]

It is asking for you to do the compass calibration. Download a copy of the manual if it wasn't provided to you, and read up on it before you take it out again. Once the compass is recalibrated to YOUR local magnetic condition(s), it will stop nagging you and will go thru its warm up much faster.

Meanwhile, the discrepancy between the compass and GPS might result in sufficient confusion to result in a fly-away...So, calibrate your compass!!!

PF

Sorry, forgot to mention: I calibrated the compass multiple times. And besides, isn't the compass calibration warning an alternating red-yellow light?

 

[Fdnyfish]

My phantom takes about 2:30 to warm up

 

[gDallasK]

Hello guys,

Every time I take it out for the first time, warm or cold, I get the triple yellow lights of the imu warming up. This takes a few minutes after which it is ready to fly. This always happens.

I have three Naza 1 & 2 based drones including a Phantom. One of them, a Nza V1-based F550 does the same thing. And it has defied all my attempts to fix it - multiple compass calibrations, wiring checks, etc. The issue has persisted through several firmware updates too. It takes several minutes before it is ready to fly for the first time - irrespective of location. Oddly though, the problem doesn't always re-occur after the first flight and a battery change. Switching in or out of GPS mode, course or home lock has no effect either.

Other than this rather annoying issue, the F550 is super stable and probably the most predictable of any of my drones. But I wish I could fix the long start up times. And I have nagging concerns that there is something wrong which will one day result in an expensive crash!

 

[Fdnyfish]

Here is a video of my phantom warming up when I first got it

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xgzx8xF1_c[/youtube]

 

[PhantomFan]

Never actually timed mine, but it sure as heck isn't 2 1/2 minutes. More like 45 seconds, max. I suppose I could check, but I'm busy flying and building more interesting and sporty things. My Phantom has been sitting lonely and unused in its case for a couple of weeks now. I wonder if a several week layoff or sparse use would affect the time it takes to warm up and "relocate" satellites??

PF

 

[JKith-Flight]

Interesting,..I've seen videos of IMUs needing to be warmed up, but mine never have. I live in Hawaii where it's about 80 all year round and I've never needed to wait for the IMUs to warm up.

 

[PhantomFan]

I think you are being a bit too literal. It's not really a heat thing, per se and not temperature dependent. I believe the time before the LED signals the Phantom is ready to fly is spent performing an initializing routine and a loading of all the stored variables and user-set parameters (from the Assistant) as well as error checking routines and algorithms, and then doing some needed pre-flight computations of time, magnetic field recording and comparisons, as well as temperature and air pressure measurements for in-flight use.

That's a lot of **** to accomplish, so 45 seconds or more is not at all abnormal IMHO...but 2 1/2 minutes...that would worry me if everyone else's unit is knocking it all off in a fraction of the time.

PF

 

[JKith-Flight]

I don't know from personal experience, but users report the IMU's taking longer to warm up in cold weather and shorter to warm up in warmer weather so I presume it actually has to do with temperature.

I believe all the "downloading" happens when the IMU's initialize (which is the period of time right after plugging in the battery which you're not supposed to touch the phantom.)

I've never even had a single yellow light for IMU warmup before. It goes instantly to GPS lights right after initialization. If I want to fly in attitude mode and not go to GPS mode it's literally 5 seconds of wait time then off I go,.....

 

[PhantomFan]

Here is a video of my phantom warming up when I first got it

Wow, man that is ridiculous! My Phantom doesn't do ANYTHING like that. A handful of LED blips, and we're off to the races. That would drive me crazy!!!

PF

 

[gDallasK]

Here is a video of my phantom warming up when I first got it

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xgzx8xF1_c[/youtube]

That is EXACTLY what I get from my F550!

 

[dkr77573]

Obviously, the 'information' that the warmup/boot generates is stored somewhere (onboard memory). It makes you question the supply chain for the NAZA components. Slower chips...etc. come to mind when dealing with inconsistencies like this.
(An engineers perspective)

 

[PhantomFan]

Good point. I wonder if there was a change in any chip set between versions??? Mine is V.1.1.1. OP...what version is your Phantom???

PF

 

[miob]

It actually takes longer then 2,5 (I estiate 4 to 5) for mine to warm up....

And today this happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OryVD91 ... e=youtu.be

Warm up took log again, but this time I also needed to recalibrate the compass. The moment the video above starts I had been flying trouble free for 5 minutes or so. I suddenly started turning, I tried to correct it and than it took a nose dive. I was extremely lucky, I only broke one prop-guard.......

 

[miob]

Good point. I wonder if there was a change in any chip set between versions??? Mine is V.1.1.1. OP...what version is your Phantom???

PF

Where can I find that?

 

[JKith-Flight]

I was thinking the same thing with processing power. I've got a V.1.1

Man! What a crash,...almost went through the window of the house!! I'm sorry that happened to you. :shock:

To me it looked like you got some interference that took control of your phantom. Bummer.

 

[PhantomFan]

Where can I find that?

Unless you removed it, there is a sticker on the underside of the craft that should tell you the version number.

PF

 

[miob]

Where can I find that?

Unless you removed it, there is a sticker on the underside of the craft that should tell you the version number.

PF

It just says "p330" and the serial number.

 

[miob]

I was thinking the same thing with processing power. I've got a V.1.1

Man! What a crash,...almost went through the window of the house!! I'm sorry that happened to you. :shock:

To me it looked like you got some interference that took control of your phantom. Bummer.

Yeah, the crash scared the hell out of me. I was lucky the streets were empty and no one was hit.


The phantom went outside normal operating limits: It was on a 90 degree angle to the vertical (almost) at full power for a few seconds before it hit the tree.

I would really like to know what happened. Right now I can not trust it anywhere near people, buildings, vehicles or water (in that order). That makes flying in the second most densely populated country below sea level a bit hard.....