Lost my P2V+ after two days.

[BlackTracer]

As was said by others, try not to lose LOS with the control signal. If you go out of control signal range, that is another matter, but if you are flying within the distance range of the controller, don't go behind obstacles that can block your signal. Especially if you are unfamiliar with resetting a home point higher than the highest obstacle between the home point and the craft. If you lose sats you are in a whole new world of crap that only experience will get you out of.

This raises a question to which I have yet to see an unimpeachable answer, and regarding which the manual is vague:

If am flying at an altitude of, say, 70-100 meters, and if I lose control signal but retain a good GPS signal, will RTH be at the existing altitude, or will it automatically descend to 20 meters to make the trip home?

I understand that I can reset home point altitude. However, if I am maintaining a flight altitude well above any obstacles that might be encountered during RTH, do I need to do that?

First question: If you are at an altitude above 20m of the home point altitude, it will return at the higher altitude.

Second question: No you do not need to do that. You will be fine because of answer above.

 

[BlackTracer]

What I didn't realised is that it can lose GPS reception during flight.
So I was flying it above some trees and lost it out of my sight then few seconds later it got out of range.
I wasn't really bothered by that as I was sure it will return to me within seconds but coming home message didn't appear on the screen of my phone then I started to worry.
I could hear it buzzing few more seconds and then it went silent.
At that point it was obvious that I've lost it.

.... If you go out of control signal range, that is another matter, but if you are flying within the distance range of the controller, don't go behind obstacles that can block your signal. Especially if you are unfamiliar with resetting a home point higher than the highest obstacle between the home point and the craft.....

I don't understand this and I've seen others repeat. Why the need to reset a home point higher than the highest obstacle? You do know that if the P2V+ is ABOVE 20m/60ft it will return at the higher altitude? It seems common sense, and good flight safety, to always fly higher than the highest obstacle in your area. In my main flight area the highest tree is 100ft. I always fly 150ft+. During fail safe/RTH the P2V+ stays at 150ft+ and there are no obstacles to hit during the RTH. And yes I've tested this - rock solid.

I can think of at least one scenario where you might want to do this. Let's say you were going to fly over some wires that are right at 20m and then once past them continue flying at a lower altitude. Well to be safe, you should ascend (probably near you) to an altitude greater than the wires, then set your home point at that altitude. So if it RTHs from the other side of the wires, you will be sure it will ascend to a point 20m greater than the wires and clear them on its way back. I am sure there are many other scenarios that this applies to.

 

[Werz]

This raises a question to which I have yet to see an unimpeachable answer, and regarding which the manual is vague:

If am flying at an altitude of, say, 70-100 meters, and if I lose control signal but retain a good GPS signal, will RTH be at the existing altitude, or will it automatically descend to 20 meters to make the trip home?

I understand that I can reset home point altitude. However, if I am maintaining a flight altitude well above any obstacles that might be encountered during RTH, do I need to do that?

On RTH, IF it is less than 20 meters above the home point, it will ascend to 20 meters and fly home at that altitude.
IF it is already above 20 meters, it will fly home at whatever it's current altitude is. It will not descend until it reaches home.
IF you have lost orientation and you need to use RHT, you should give it additional altitude before triggering failsafe.

First question: If you are at an altitude above 20m of the home point altitude, it will return at the higher altitude.

Second question: No you do not need to do that. You will be fine because of answer above.

That was what I originally believed. But some of the posts here caused me to question that. Then I read the manual and saw this:

 

[Birdman]

Looking for your lost quad, did you check out the top of the trees that you flew over? It could be that the quad wasn't as high as you thought and is caught in a tree in the area.

 

[z10m]

Looking for your lost quad, did you check out the top of the trees that you flew over? It could be that the quad wasn't as high as you thought and is caught in a tree in the area.

Yes I was. I was even climbing highest trees to look around from there before I got another one.
The problem is that some trees in that area are so dense that even light doesn't get through them.

 

[Jezabel]

My P2V+ flew away after a connection loss the other day. I just ordered a Walkera TALI H500 to replace it. I'm done with DJI's ******** mondset about addressing the firmware/GPS issue.

Where did you order it from? How much was it? Have you seen reviews on the TALI H500 and the iLife Camera?

 

[DCGOO]

My P2V+ flew away after a connection loss the other day. I just ordered a Walkera TALI H500 to replace it. I'm done with DJI's ******** mondset about addressing the firmware/GPS issue.

Be sure to let us know how that works out for you. I am definitely interested in Tali H500, but kinda nervous about a brand new product. Think about how much the Vision has changed/improved over the past year (in spite of any support problems).

 

[Werz]

My P2V+ flew away after a connection loss the other day. I just ordered a Walkera TALI H500 to replace it. I'm done with DJI's ******** mondset about addressing the firmware/GPS issue.

Be sure to let us know how that works out for you. I am definitely interested in Tali H500, but kinda nervous about a brand new product. Think about how much the Vision has changed/improved over the past year (in spite of any support problems).

Interesting device. I notice that their advertisement implies that their aircraft will do something desirable which the Phantom will not do with its current software: circling a waypoint (or home point) with the nose (and thus the camera) always pointing toward that point, thus providing an arc/orbit shot. At least that's what their diagram shows. I don't know if that's an accurate representation of what it actually can do.

 

[Clydesdale]

You people are scaring me...(Still waiting for it to arrive)

 

[JWarren]

For anyone interested, here is an example of RTH at work. I give the exact time when signal is lost and when RTH kicks in 3 seconds later. You can almost "see" the Phantom thinking. lol

https://vimeo.com/100071983

 

[Hovtech]

My P2V+ flew away after a connection loss the other day. I just ordered a Walkera TALI H500 to replace it. I'm done with DJI's ******** mondset about addressing the firmware/GPS issue.

Thanks for this. What a quad! I gotta get one of these Tali's

 

[440rt]

During testing the a new update mine lost signal. Same thing as you are talking about So I did what it says in the manual to turn off the controller and the **** thing fell out of the sky. Luckily i was quick thinking and able to use the find my phantom on the app. It got me close (say 25ft or so) I did find it hanging about 5 ft off the ground in netting of tree brush. No harm to it at all. Im afraid to fly it now. Try to remember the FIND MY PHANTOM on your app. It might just get you close enough.

 

[plasmo]

(Deleted)

 

[Dirty Bird]

I don't understand this and I've seen others repeat. Why the need to reset a home point higher than the highest obstacle? You do know that if the P2V+ is ABOVE 20m/60ft it will return at the higher altitude? It seems common sense, and good flight safety, to always fly higher than the highest obstacle in your area. In my main flight area the highest tree is 100ft. I always fly 150ft+. During fail safe/RTH the P2V+ stays at 150ft+ and there are no obstacles to hit during the RTH. And yes I've tested this - rock solid.

There are times when you may need to drop down to get a shot. Perhaps into a valley, or lower than a line of trees, a building, etc.. Maybe you want to fly around the back side of a building or a tall stack. If you relied on the default 20m failsafe altitude, you could be in trouble in such a situation, as you may not clear the obstacle(s). By setting your home point at or above the required altitude, you can now confidently drop down into a valley, or fly around the backside of a building or other structure, knowing you have set the failsafe altitude high enough that you can clear any obstructions along the way.

 

[BlackTracer]

During testing the a new update mine lost signal. Same thing as you are talking about So I did what it says in the manual to turn off the controller and the **** thing fell out of the sky. Luckily i was quick thinking and able to use the find my phantom on the app. It got me close (say 25ft or so) I did find it hanging about 5 ft off the ground in netting of tree brush. No harm to it at all. Im afraid to fly it now. Try to remember the FIND MY PHANTOM on your app. It might just get you close enough.

Is it possible your RTH mode defaulted to Landing instead of Go Home And Landing? After an update I think it is a good practice to go through all settings in the assistant for the phantom and the controller. Even deselecting and reselecting the desired states and modes, and recalibrating everything. Even if it says it doesn't need it and the selected states and modes appear correct.

 

[z10m]

Today after 3 months and 6 days someone called me saying thet they can see my drone on a roof.
By the time i got there the person who called me managed to get it down.
To my surprise I was still able to turn on the battery and then fully charge it.
I have to clean it and dry it as it is full of water and mud inside and hopefully it will fly again one day.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyCMk8k0pOg[/youtube]

 

[cruz_ctrl]

Today after 3 months and 6 days someone called me saying thet they can see my drone on a roof.

wow! what a nice surprise! glad to hear a good news story...

 

[Great Pumpkin]

Hey z10m, tell us the rest of the story now that you've recovered the SD card and have seen it. How much of the flight before the crash were you in control? Did you purposely fly away from the tree area out over the buildings, or did the Phantom go there on its own? How did the finder know to call you? Was there any visible damage to the Phantom?
I think all of us will be extremely interested to know if, after it is cleaned up and dried out, it flies again. But even more interesting might be to know why it crashed in the first place. Any more ideas?

 

[z10m]

Hey z10m, tell us the rest of the story now that you've recovered the SIMMs card and seen it. How much of the flight before the crash were you in control? Did you purposely fly away from the tree area out over the buildings, or did the Phantom go there on its own? How did the finder know to call you? Was there any visible damage to the Phantom?
I think all of us will be extremely interested to know if, after it is cleaned up and dried out, it flies again. But even more interesting might be to know why it crashed in the first place. Any more ideas?

I've lost control over it at about 1:10 of that video and from there it was flying on its own.
I didnt see it as it was behind the trees and obviously connection with my phone was also lost.
The finder knew my number from article in local newspaper. (people from newspaper found one of the posters that I have left in that area and contacted me if they can use it).
There was no visible damage except one cracked propeller.

Anyway just tested it now and everything works except LEDs on one arm.
Phantom flies fine and camera and gimbal are working fine as well.

 

[phantomguy]

That's great. How did mud get into it on a roof? And must be a very small town for this to make the news