Litchi Maximums

[Raptorman0909]

I've owned Litchi for nearly a year but have never actually used it and am looking into begging to use it. I've heard that there's a maximum distance between waypoints but have not heard just what the maximum is -- anyone know? In addition to the maximum distance between waypoints is there a maximum distance from the Home point or RC and if so what is it?

I played around with the Litchi Hub and built a test waypoint mission and had as much as 1.6 miles between waypoints and it didn't give me any warnings so if there is a maximum and it's less than the 1.6 miles in my test mission then when would you be informed of the limitation?

So, in summary, is there a max distance between waypoints and if so what is it. And, is there a max distance from the home point or RC and if so what is it?


Brian

 

[Neon Euc]

For me it's when I start the flights I get warnings. But I just add way points in between the ones I created. Also their is an option to draw the path you want with your finger and the way points will automatically fill in. Just make sure you set the height on each one

Neon Euc

 

[Raptorman0909]

For me it's when I start the flights I get warnings. But I just add way points in between the ones I created. Also their is an option to draw the path you want with your finger and the way points will automatically fill in. Just make sure you set the height on each one

Neon Euc

I see that there's way to build a route in Google Earth that you can define a height above the ground and then import that into Litchi. This looks like a very useful feature but I'd still like to know that the actual maximums are. Max between waypoints and max from home/RC.


Brian

 

[Pharm]

Waypoints must be greater than 1m apart and no more than 2000m apart. If you lose contact, the mission will continue as planned. Preprogrammed gimbal pitch angles only work if in contact with the RC. If contact is lost, the pitch angle will remain at the last angle set before losing contact. The same is true if you have different speeds set between waypoints. If you lose contact, the AC will continue the mission at the last speed it was traveling when it lost contact.

You will be informed of any errors when you try to upload/start the mission. Your 1.6 miles between waypoints won't work because the distance is too great. You'll need to add a few waypoints between those. Be aware that if you're set to a curved path and you add waypoints AFTER that, the added waypoints will be treated like straight line waypoints unless you manually add a curve to them in the mission settings (meaning the AC will come to a brief stop at the "no curve" waypoints).

The only maximum distance limits are those related to your battery. If Smart RTH is turned on and the AC calculates that you don't have enough battery to complete the mission, the mission will cancel and return home. To avoid this, turn off Smart RTH (but ONLY if you're SURE you have enough battery to complete the mission).

Finally, be aware that the estimated flight time of the mission is valid only if you choose "curved paths". If you choose "straight line", the AC will stop briefly at each waypoint before continuing to the next one. The additional time added by the stopping and starting is NOT calculated into estimated flight time.

Personally, for your first flights, I wouldn't recommend such an ambitious mission. Start slow and keep it close until you're familiar with it. Enjoy!

Edited: changed "Wayponoints" to "Waypoints" in the opening sentence.

 

[Raptorman0909]

Wayponints must be greater than 1m apart and no more than 2000m apart. If you lose contact, the mission will continue as planned. Preprogrammed gimbal pitch angles only work if in contact with the RC. If contact is lost, the pitch angle will remain at the last angle set before losing contact. The same is true if you have different speeds set between waypoints. If you lose contact, the AC will continue the mission at the last speed it was traveling when it lost contact.

You will be informed of any errors when you try to upload/start the mission. Your 1.6 miles between waypoints won't work because the distance is too great. You'll need to add a few waypoints between those. Be aware that if you're set to a curved path and you add waypoints AFTER that, the added waypoints will be treated like straight line waypoints unless you manually add a curve to them in the mission settings (meaning the AC will come to a brief stop at the "no curve" waypoints).

The only maximum distance limits are those related to your battery. If Smart RTH is turned on and the AC calculates that you don't have enough battery to complete the mission, the mission will cancel and return home. To avoid this, turn off Smart RTH (but ONLY if you're SURE you have enough battery to complete the mission).

Finally, be aware that the estimated flight time of the mission is valid only if you choose "curved paths". If you choose "straight line", the AC will stop briefly at each waypoint before continuing to the next one. The additional time added by the stopping and starting is NOT calculated into estimated flight time.

Personally, for your first flights, I wouldn't recommend such an ambitious mission. Start slow and keep it close until you're familiar with it. Enjoy!

Thanks, exactly the info I was looking for. No, not intending to do a mission like that but wanted to know what the limits are. So, no more than 2000m between waypoints so that would in fact be just under 1.25 miles unless the imperial limit was, say, 2000 feet. I also expected that the calculated flight times might be less than true if you use straight lines versus curved lines.

One thing I'm not sure I understand is why you should be locked into either all straight or all curved -- I would think being able to chose for each waypoint would be the way to go.


Brian

 

[Richard R]

Thanks, exactly the info I was looking for. No, not intending to do a mission like that but wanted to know what the limits are. So, no more than 2000m between waypoints so that would in fact be just under 1.25 miles unless the imperial limit was, say, 2000 feet. I also expected that the calculated flight times might be less than true if you use straight lines versus curved lines.

One thing I'm not sure I understand is why you should be locked into either all straight or all curved -- I would think being able to chose for each waypoint would be the way to go.


Brian

I agree, it would be nice to be able to switch between straight and curved mid mission, be it is set up in the general settings and it's one or the other for the whole miss option. Maybe if enough of us ping litchi, they would change it in some future update.

 

[Raptorman0909]

I agree, it would be nice to be able to switch between straight and curved mid mission, be it is set up in the general settings and it's one or the other for the whole miss option. Maybe if enough of us ping litchi, they would change it in some future update.

Yeah, I think they could make the selection part of the waypoint dialog so that in addition to specifying the height and speed you could tell it to use straight or curved. This way you could have any combination of curved and straight waypoints.

Another thing that would be nice is separate 'action points' that you could scrub between two waypoints and apply actions at that point even if you used all curved waypoints.


Brian

 

[Pharm]

You CAN alternate between straight and curved. Set it to curved, then when you want a straight line segment (e.g., to stop and take a photo) just reduce the curve size at that waypoint to "0" ft.

I figured this out by accident. I planned a curved mission. Before I flew, I added a waypoint between two existing ones. While watching the video afterwards I couldn't figure out why, in the middle of a smooth flight, my Phantom stopped briefly at one point, then continued. Upon reviewing my settings, I noticed the curve percentage on the added waypoint was zero and all the others had a value greater than that (e.g., 35 ft, 187 ft, etc.).

I have since tried it on other flights and deliberately changed the curve size to zero on random waypoints. On the ones with a value greater than zero feet, the bird flies smoothly. At the waypoints with zero ft, the bird stopped briefly, took a pic, then moved on.

 

[Raptorman0909]

You CAN alternate between straight and curved. Set it to curved, then when you want a straight line segment (e.g., to stop and take a photo) just reduce the curve size at that waypoint to "0" %.

It was my understanding that in curve mode, no matter what you set the curve percentage/size to, actions were not permitted -- are you saying with certainty that is wrong? It would be great to be able to use curved mode and set the curve size to zero for a waypoint so you could execute actions.


Brian

 

[Pharm]

It was my understanding that in curve mode, no matter what you set the curve percentage/size to, actions were not permitted -- are you saying with certainty that is wrong? It would be great to be able to use curved mode and set the curve size to zero for a waypoint so you could execute actions.


Brian

I edited my post above (added more info). It's worked every time I've tried it.

 

[Pharm]

The reason actions don't work in curved paths is because the bird never actually reaches the waypoint (it flies NEAR the waypoint) so no action is triggered.

By making the curve size zero, it reaches the waypoint so the action is triggered.

I haven't tried it in a month or two so unless something has changed in an update it should still work. In other words, I can say with certainty that it's worked for me. I'll try it again tomorrow and see if it still works.

Just remember that if you're shooting video and want to take a picture, then continue video, you'll need three actions:
-Stop recording
-Take photo
-Start recording

 

[Pharm]

Oh no. Brian's offline. He's gone outside to try it, I'll bet. Hope he doesn't make a fool out of me (as easy as that is to do).

 

[Raptorman0909]

Oh no. Brian's offline. He's gone outside to try it, I'll bet. Hope he doesn't make a fool out of me (as easy as that is to do).

Hey, there's a wise @ss in every crowd!

I am aware of the need to stop recording etc, in fact, my action schedule would be:

1. Wait 2 seconds
2. Stop recording
3. Take photo
4. Start recording

The two second wait should help to make sure the bird is as close to stationary as possible.


Brian

 

[Pharm]

...The two second wait should help to make sure the bird is as close to stationary as possible.


Brian

Good idea! Let me/us know how it works out.