Lost mine today, RTH failed.
- Thread starter Androne
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Meta4
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RTH is quite reliable but many users do not understand how it works or how to use it.
How about some details of your incident?
I've lost signal in the past and it always returned. Same thing this time only it didn't come back. I calibrated the compass and had a green "safe to fly GPS mode" prior to takeoff. Rhoffart, It is my understanding that RTH is for when the controller loses communication with the craft.
Not true. If RC and the drone have lost communication with each other for a few seconds, the drone will automatically go into RTH mode.
Androne, where was the set Home Point when you took off? Was the Home Point still the same place when it was lost?
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Not true, if you loose radio communication with the aircraft after a couple of seconds the aircraft will initiate RTH .
From what I've read you need to do a compass calibration before every flight to be safe. You also want to make sure the rth attitude is set to clear any obstacles on the way back. RTH does not bring it in to where you took off from if it's within 30 meters it just lands where it is. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can chime in.
Most likely your home point was not set.
I am grounded up north right now because it is too cold but I had used return to home at least 500 times.
The only other possibilities are
P3 ran into something on RTH OR
You flew p3 into area with high interference such as urban area with lots of obstructions so no GPS.
I only calibrate the compass after firmware updates or if I'm moving location + 10 miles.
Yep. You don't need to calibrate every time you fly. If I go back to the same park to fly a week later, I don't calibrate the compass. I only calibrate mine if I fly in a different location.
Meta4
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This is not true.
Unnecessary recalibration of the compass risks getting a bad calibration which can cause real problems.
Read this to understand what compass calibration is all about and when it is necessary
Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer | DJI Phantom Forum
Meta4
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We would need a lot more information before anyone can get a good idea what happened in your case.
You can start by uploading your flight record from the tablet to HealthyDrones.com (instructions on their site)
Then post a link to the healthydrones analysis here
Would that be relative to where you live? Say less compass cal for open areas whereas urban areas need frequent compass cal?
Say if you always fly in the same park in an urban area, you still don't need to calibrate every time.
Some people say you don't need to recalibrate unless you go a long distance from the original point where you calibrated.
But the deal is it's a MAGNETIC thing. You calibrate so the compass is adjusted for the magnetic properties in your area.
Normally that won't change for quite a distance due to the Earth's magnetic field.
That said, if I lived in Atlanta Georgia 25 miles from Stone Mountain and were to fly near Stone Mountain in Georgia,
I would probably recalibrate.
So you kinda need to consider the surroundings also.
Obviously like you asserted, urban areas will have more magnetic disturbances than rural areas (usually).
I think the important thing is to check the compass deviation in the app after you calibrate.
But the deal is it's a MAGNETIC thing. You calibrate so the compass is adjusted for the magnetic properties in your area.
Normally that won't change for quite a distance due to the Earth's magnetic field.
That said, if I lived in Atlanta Georgia 25 miles from Stone Mountain and were to fly near Stone Mountain in Georgia,
I would probably recalibrate.
So you kinda need to consider the surroundings also.
Obviously like you asserted, urban areas will have more magnetic disturbances than rural areas (usually).
I think the important thing is to check the compass deviation in the app after you calibrate.
RTH for me has been very reliable especially for the phantom 3. That baby turns home right when you initiate RTH.
I had one issue with the p2v when I flew up 1200ft vertical from my position(stupid I know) and lost connection, my bird said it was going to RTH but wasn't moving probably because it was confused but eventually it came down. it was a scary 7 min tho. I thought it was going to run out of battery at 1200ft and come crashing! never doing that again.
I had one issue with the p2v when I flew up 1200ft vertical from my position(stupid I know) and lost connection, my bird said it was going to RTH but wasn't moving probably because it was confused but eventually it came down. it was a scary 7 min tho. I thought it was going to run out of battery at 1200ft and come crashing! never doing that again.
Meta4
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No ... Whether or not you are in a rural or urban area makes no difference.
You can go for months without recalibrating.
Your compass doesn't lose it's calibration.
Read the link I posted above - understand compass calibration and fly safer.
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