New fliers, beware...

PAValentine said:
ToddSmi said:
Nice of you to take the time to post this, especially given that the P2V is being purchased by many as their first rc aerial craft. Add in the firmware updates, and this info could save a lot of folks time and heartache.
Agreed! I bought this after seeing several quads used for photographing earlier this year. I never dreamed the device was this technical until after ordering from B&H, and doing a little online research while waiting delivery.
I am very thankful for all that I have learned lurking around here.

Paul V

Hey PAValentine, got mine from B&H too. Chose them 'cause they had good customer reviews for their service. Hope I made the right choice. :roll:
 
IAP said:
Adam said:
Lol @ "Compass Dance"

I bet my neighbors think I'm crazy....

Sounds like a great idea for a viral video, get 100 Phantom Vision owners in an open field doing the "Compass Dance" to music.

Filmed from above by a Phantom Vision of course :)

Love it.

I submit the song "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats (look up some old mtv video clips) be remade, and some creative license with the lyrics (unless we can convince whoever owns the rights to grant it) and ... oh nevermind.

How do I get drawn into these **** forum thread pipedreams?
 
Pull_Up said:
These days when I do it I find it easier to see the status LEDs by actually rotating myself, whilst hold the aircraft horizontal by the rear landing skid uprights, then when given the ok LED I point it nose down holding it by the bottom of the skids and revolve again. You look even more foolish, but it's an awful lot easier to see when the status lights change - plus for those of us over 35 it means less bending... :lol:

Yup, I'm WELL over 35. Great advice Pull Up. THANKS!!
 
Hiway said:
IAP said:
Adam said:
Lol @ "Compass Dance"

I bet my neighbors think I'm crazy....

Sounds like a great idea for a viral video, get 100 Phantom Vision owners in an open field doing the "Compass Dance" to music.

Filmed from above by a Phantom Vision of course :)

Love it.

I submit the song "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats (look up some old mtv video clips) be remade, and some creative license with the lyrics (unless we can convince whoever owns the rights to grant it) and ... oh nevermind.

How do I get drawn into these **** forum thread pipedreams?

Sadly, I remember seeing that vid on VH1 when their vids were sort of family friendly.... Sheesh, I'm starting to feel old.... :cry:
 
gunslinger said:
The best news about the Phantom 2 Vision is that it's sold as RTF (ready to fly) right out of the box. Since we're talking about a $1,200 investment, you would be wise to totally ignore that claim.

You need to assiduously and meticulously adhere to a preflight routine each and every time you take your Phantom out to fly.

1) Make sure you have everything you need, and anything you might need, before leaving the house. (Having an actual checklist makes this a bit easier.)

2) Make sure ALL of your batteries are charged or when appropriate, you have new spares with you.

3) Be SURE your Phantom has located the minimum number of GPS satellites and has locked in on its current position, to make sure that the fail-safe Return To Home feature has a chance of working...

4) Once all the lights show that your Phantom's ready for flight and your telemetry tells you that you've locked onto at least six satellites, start your engines and take her up to two or three feet. This should be high enough to avoid the turbulence caused by your own prop wash, but low enough to preclude any serious crash damage.

5) Test all of your controls to be sure that everything is working precisely as designed.

6) Pay attention to the way the Phantom hovers. Is it pretty much locked down to one co-ordinate or is it hunting around a bit. If there's a bit of wind, it should only drift a bit in the wind's direction and then correct itself. If it's hunting in more than one direction, you really need to do the compass dance*... Some people do the compass dance before EVERY flight, which is probably a very safe way to operate.

7) If all looks to be in order, get that bird up in the sky and fly your *** off !!!

* Compass Dance = Flick the right switch up and down ten times rather quickly. The lights in the back of the Phantom should turn solid yellow. Holding the Phantom upright, turn it 360 degrees, slowly, while keeping it as parallel to the ground as you can. The lights should then go solid green. Now turn the phantom so that either the camera, or the battery, are facing up and turn it 360 degrees. If the compass is happy, you'll get flashing green lights. If not... they'll flash red/yellow. If they're not flashing green... do it again... and again... and again... until they are. Once your compass is working properly, re-test the hover and controls at low height, all over again, until you're convinced all is well... :) :) :)

-slinger

Hi slinger,
instead of posting a new thread, I searched for one that touched on my issue. I hope you don't mind my butting in-
So I'm a relative newB. have probly 20 hrs of good, controlled flights- but i've recently had a couple crashes- not from height, but hard none the less. replaced some props to be safe (they winged some berry bushes). I calibrate my compass before every flight, in my pasture and get the 'all clear to fly'... but over the past few days, my bird just wanders all over the place- A LOT. I've tried and tried to recalibrate, but it quickly becomes a fight to keep in from going bye-bye. I grab it out of the sky and try again.
is there something else that I should be looking at? is there some other calibration? feeling like I'm unflyable at the moment and am a little stymied.
I'm new to this forum and couldn't find a better place to ask. can you point me in a direction?
Sincere thanks,
Jim
 
gunslinger said:
IAP said:
Adam said:
Lol @ "Compass Dance"

I bet my neighbors think I'm crazy....

Sounds like a great idea for a viral video, get 100 Phantom Vision owners in an open field doing the "Compass Dance" to music.

Filmed from above by a Phantom Vision of course :)

Love it.

And at the end of the dance you'd have all those blinking lights. Half green... Half yellow... :lol:

And at the end of the dance you'd also have all those blurry edges. Half sharp....Half smeared... :(
That's if you did record it with the Vision camera.
Sorry.....couldn't help myself
 
gorilla said:
Hi slinger,
instead of posting a new thread, I searched for one that touched on my issue. I hope you don't mind my butting in-
So I'm a relative newB. have probly 20 hrs of good, controlled flights- but i've recently had a couple crashes- not from height, but hard none the less. replaced some props to be safe (they winged some berry bushes). I calibrate my compass before every flight, in my pasture and get the 'all clear to fly'... but over the past few days, my bird just wanders all over the place- A LOT. I've tried and tried to recalibrate, but it quickly becomes a fight to keep in from going bye-bye. I grab it out of the sky and try again.
is there something else that I should be looking at? is there some other calibration? feeling like I'm unflyable at the moment and am a little stymied.
I'm new to this forum and couldn't find a better place to ask. can you point me in a direction?
Sincere thanks,
Jim

Hi Jim,

If you have calibrated your compass in a good clear area, no ferro-magnetic material around, etc and you are still getting drifting then it's probably time to do an IMU calibration. Even if it's not off enough for the Assistant to say it's required, often doing one will resolve unusual drifting. The Inertial Management Unit will drift from true over time and often drifts from true after a <ahem> firm landing. :) Plug it into the Assistant, have it sat on a nice level surface, press the basic calibrate button... and that's it. Take it out and test-fly by doing a head-height hover. If it still shows drifting then come back in and do an advanced one.

Let us know how it goes.
 
Pull_Up said:
gorilla said:
Hi Jim,

If you have calibrated your compass in a good clear area, no ferro-magnetic material around, etc and you are still getting drifting then it's probably time to do an IMU calibration. Even if it's not off enough for the Assistant to say it's required, often doing one will resolve unusual drifting. The Inertial Management Unit will drift from true over time and often drifts from true after a <ahem> firm landing. :) Plug it into the Assistant, have it sat on a nice level surface, press the basic calibrate button... and that's it. Take it out and test-fly by doing a head-height hover. If it still shows drifting then come back in and do an advanced one.

Let us know how it goes.

Thank you very much for your help! I'm really embarrassed to say that I had never tried hooking up the USB to the phantom. I was so 'stuck' on working with the controller as shown in the manual...
it looks like it was really out of whack. I put it through the paces with the assistant software and went outside and test flew just now- I'd say it is 80% resolved- very flyable. still some circular wandering, but once I manually hold it stationary- it seems to 'stick'.
I really do appreciate your taking the time to help me out.
Again, Thanks.
Jim
 
Pull_Up said:
I assume you did a compass calibration when you took it outside? If not, do so and see if that stops the wandering. If not then circular wandering implies a compass issue. Plug it back in again and check out the figures for your compass and see if they are within the expected range.

Hi,
for some reason, it has a constant tendency to pitch in one direction. I'm wondering if perhaps my props are bad? (is that a symptom perhaps?) I have OEM props arriving on Tuesday at least. I just flew it again and I had to hold the right stick to the right just to hold position.

where do I find the 'expected range' for the compass? Edit: nevermind- found ranges and theyre OK. don't want to send in for service... but... guess I'll see what's what when the new props come in.

It's too bad there isn't a comprehensive 'how to' or FAQ page on the DJI site.

Thanks again.
 

Recent Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,352
Members
104,933
Latest member
mactechnic