New Proud Owner of Phantom 3 4K :D

marrerotamara · Jul 28, 2016

Hey guys, my name is Tamara. I recently bought a Phantom 2 Vision+ which turned out to be a nightmare and could never connect with my iPhone. I ended up upgrading to a Phantom 3 4K last night and I got it today! I have read the manual a couple times. I guess what I want to know is if there are any tips you guys would recommend as far as the DJI Go App settings? This is really my first Phantom, or drone for that matter, because I only got to fly my Phantom 2 once for like 45 seconds. Anyways, thanks in advance. Any tips, tricks, advice that you want to throw my way are all welcome!

msinger · Jul 28, 2016

Here's a good overview of the DJI GO app:

Pharm · Jul 28, 2016

Hi Tamara. Welcome.

Start in beginner mode until your confidence and skill level is ready for more fun. When not flying, read the manual, then read it again. Once you're comfy, either get a windsurfer or other antenna mod for greater range. After that, buy the Litchi app and try waypoint missions.

jonahex2099 · Jul 29, 2016

Pharm said:
Hi Tamara. Welcome.

Start in beginner mode until your confidence and skill level is ready for more fun. When not flying, read the manual, then read it again. Once you're comfy, either get a windsurfer or other antenna mod for greater range. After that, buy the Litchi app and try waypoint missions.

^. This.

OP and I started the exact same way. I just modded my controller and bought litchi myself.

marrerotamara · Jul 29, 2016

jonahex2099 said:
^. This.

OP and I started the exact same way. I just modded my controller and bought litchi myself.

Thanks for the tips guys! The Litchi app is obviously a 3rd party all correct? Do people have issues with using the app or anything like that? Besides waypoint missions what else does it offer?

jonahex2099 · Jul 29, 2016

Absolutely!

I'll let people who have been using litchi more than I have answer that question - I'm just getting started with it myself but I hope to have a lot more experience with it after this weekend.

Happy flying!

msinger · Jul 29, 2016

marrerotamara said:
Besides waypoint missions what else does it offer?

Here's a nice overview of the Litchi app:

Pharm · Jul 29, 2016

I've never had a problem with Litchi. Every time I've seen someone have a problem with it, it's because they didn't quite understand it or didn't read the manual. Watch the video that msinger posted and start slow until you understand how it works. Try a short waypoint mission to get your feet wet. Things to know:

If you're flying a waypoint mission and get the dreaded " Warning! Disconnected" voice, just relax. Don't touch anything. It'll complete the mission.

I always have the end action set to "return to first waypoint" ( or whatever it says). Put your first waypoint close to you. When the mission's over and it's hovering near you at waypoint 1, switch your controller to P mode and land it manually (it has to be in F mode for the mission to run).

If you're using VR (Virtual Reality) mode with head tracking and a few other modes and it loses contact it will NOT RTH (Return to Home). It will hover instead.

Sometimes in waypoint mode, if it gets out of range, instead of "Warning! Disconnected", it'll say "Mission Complete". Ignore it. It's a DJI SDK (Software Development Kit) issue but will not affect the flight. If it's IN range and says that, then the mission's finished.

Also, in orbit mode, it'll continue to orbit until you change to P mode and Take control OR it'll orbit until it reaches critical battery, then it'll descend and land wherever it is (if you don't switch to P mode and take control.)

I'll post more as I think of them.

Great_Lakes · Jul 29, 2016

Make sure your fail-safes are set up right. Your RTH mode: "hover, land or return to home point". Your RTH altitude! Lots of nightmare stories where people didn't have these things set up correctly. Also "multiple flight modes" so you can maintain control if GPS is lost.

Pharm · Jul 29, 2016

Here's my typical waypoint sequence: (after pre flight checks)

1. Turn on controller
2. Turn on bird
3. Connect phone or pad to WIFI (Phantom WIFI, not my house or other WIFI)
4. Open Litchi and wait for it to connect (until I see video).
5. Load the mission I've already saved.
6. Do a quick run-through of all my mission settings to make sure I didn't accidentally set a waypoint too low, etc.)
7. Start my motors.
8. Climb to about 100 ft and fly about 30 ft away.
9. Switch to F mode (I have a P3 Standard).
10. Hit the "Play" button.
11. Watch it do it's thing.
12. When it returns to waypoint 1, switch to P mode and land it manually.

Almost forgot. If you're using POIs (Points of Interest), the camera angle will automatically rotate up or down to point at the POI if the AC (Aircraft) is still connected to the RC (Remote Controller) If it's NOT connected, the mission will run as planned but the camera will not rotate up or down to automatically to point at the POI. This is not a Litchi problem but a restriction/constraint of the DJI SDK (Software Development Kit). In other words, Litchi can't fix this until DJI "allows" them to.

Pharm · Jul 29, 2016

An occasional error message when starting a mission is "Unable to load mission. Altitude too high" (or something similar.). This means a waypoint is set higher than your max altitude setting in the DJI Go app. To fix, close Litchi. Open the DJI Go app. In the settings, change the max altitude to higher than your highest waypoint. Close the app and open the Litchi app. Run the mission again. An alternative is to adjust your waypoint altitude(s) to lower than what you've set the max altitude to in the Go app.

marrerotamara · Jul 31, 2016

Thanks for all the tips guys! Definately going to download the app after I get comfortable with the drone. Here's a couple minutes of my first legit fly in Seattle