Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly away

[Pull_Up]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

I think whichever camp you fall into, point 4 above is the key one for everyone to keep an eye out for - drifting around in flight or not flying true. If you see it, land immediately and then recalibrate in a suitable place.

Whenever you choose to calibrate I really can't recommend enough the "One Minute Hover and Control Check" - do it at head height not too far away and it should be evident if you have drifting or the beginning of "toilet bowl effect" issues, as well as a sense check that all your controls are working as expected.

Sitting here with yet more gales blowing outside so no flying again in this part of the world... :-(

 

[AHill]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

bendronepilot, I agree, respect and totally understand your logic however I am going to stick with the manuals info on "when" to calibrate the compass:

" Regular calibration of the compass enables the compass to perform at its optimal level." P30

"10.3 When Recalibration is Required" P30.
(1) When Compass Data is abnormal, the LED flight indicator will blink alternating between red and yellow.
(2) Last compass calibration was performed at a completely different flying field/location.
(3) The mechanical structure of the aircraft has changed, i.e. changed mounting position of the compass.
(4) Evident drifting occurs in flight, i.e. the aircraft doesn’t fly in straight lines.

All the above points are important but the common sense one for me is that if I fly from a new locationI I will calibrate the compass, if I go back their daily I won't bother with calibration. After every launch I let the PV2 settle for 30 Secs in hover, any anomalies, I land and work out why.

Actually the only time the manual tells you to calibrate the compass is BEFORE your first flight. And also suggests "frequently" calibrating the compass though it never recommends or states to calibrate it "every" time you fly. And if you watch the video link I have in my post. DJI's representative and CIO himself, Colin Quinn says it only needs to be done before your initial flight so the Phantom knows where in the world you are and the appropriate declination. He never states that it needs to be done if you should decide to fly at a different location a few miles away.

Don't quite understand why bendronepilot states that the manual only states to calibrate before your first flight as I have provided the reference to where it states different.

Point 2 and 4 are important. I had been flying from my yard and calibrating the compass each day (maybe not necessary each day but I didn't want to take chances). I went about 6.5 miles south and calibrated in the middle of a large field. Next time flying from home I assumed the cal done at the field would be better and was close enough to home, not being done near metal roof, fence and boat trailer in my small yard. When I went to fly without redoing the cal and did the short low hover to test controls it drifted fast to the left; repositioned it several times with same results. Redid the compass cal and it flew perfectly, as it had done on every previous flight. It makes sense to cal for the first flight in a new location and always hover close and low to test controls before every flight.

Happy New Year to all.

 

[garygid]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

If you calibrate for the distorted magnetic field in the backyard,
the P2V might fly well down in the backyard, but then not fly well
when up high or a few houses away.

 

[garygid]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

When there is a conflict between the compass heading (probably used to
determine the direction that the copter is facing), the estimated wind (from
the corrections needed last time the P2V was stationary as determined by
the GPS), and the GPS course achieved by the current control corrections...

the firmware needs to do a better job of noticing the problem, and
not letting it get out of control. But, perhaps a tough job to do.

Basically, if the track that you want is not being achieved, then
something needs to be changed to better achieve the desired track.

 

[AHill]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

If you calibrate for the distorted magnetic field in the backyard,
the P2V might fly well down in the backyard, but then not fly well
when up high or a few houses away.

I flew it 400 feet up and 272 feet out and it flew without any problem. I agree that the metal could have affected the compass cal but after recalibrating it in the yard and when I tested it further up above the house and away from metal it held position perfectly. It's possible the cal from the field was good and the nearby metal was confusing the compass but I didn't want to take any chance after observing the left drift when doing the initial test flight so I recalibrated it.

On my first flight after getting the Vision I was leery of the nearby metal affecting the cal but after baby steps hovering a couple of feet off the ground and gradually getting braver I found everything was working exactly as it should and did about 8 flights from the yard with no problems.

 

[gunslinger]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

I think whichever camp you fall into, point 4 above is the key one for everyone to keep an eye out for - drifting around in flight or not flying true. If you see it, land immediately and then recalibrate in a suitable place.

Whenever you choose to calibrate I really can't recommend enough the "One Minute Hover and Control Check" - do it at head height not too far away and it should be evident if you have drifting or the beginning of "toilet bowl effect" issues, as well as a sense check that all your controls are working as expected.

Sitting here with yet more gales blowing outside so no flying again in this part of the world... :-(

Excellent advice. I took off today and while hovering at about six feet I noticed my PV drifting about just a bit. There were even altitude fluctuations that weren't all that sizable, but evident. I did the compass dance and things got even worse. I then realized that I had my Nexus 7 attached to the TX for the first time and it was hanging around my neck while I danced.

I also took a look around, as this is the first time I'd ever flown from this side of my home field, and there were a couple of storm drains about six feet away.

I took the PV out into the middle of the field, without the Nexus, did the dance and all was immediately well. It just proves that you really need to be very aware of your immediate surroundings when resetting the compass. It's not possible to over stress the necessity of keeping it low and close to you while you run it through a few paces to be sure all is well, before you take it out for a run...

 

[rmklaw]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

Had the same experience with both the Vision and the new P2. See my post in non-Vision forum

 

[ahtiram2725]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

i would like to fly in the naza mode but i need some advice as what to do with my s1 switch in case it fly aways.

should the s1 be programmed to GPS (top), Atii (middle), manual or RTH (lowest)?

in case of no video, should i just move the stick to RTH?

in case of no control over your vision, should you just switch off the tx or move the stick to atti modee??

just trying to understand what the stick movement will be for different scenarios...

 

[Ton4]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

Unless you have confidence flying a quad manually, set it to RTH or keep it at ATT.

You could set it to RTH if you like and use if you "feel lost", but there is also another switch that may help.

It says, Off, CL and HL and can be used if you fly in GPS mode.

HL = Home Lock, and it will guide the Phantom to the take off position regardless its heading, when you pull the right stick towards you. Search youtube a bit for samples.

Don't confuse flyaways with lost orientation. Usually people use the word flyaway for a situation where regardless of what you do with the transmitter the Phantom does its own thing.

 

[BenDronePilot]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

i would like to fly in the naza mode but i need some advice as what to do with my s1 switch in case it fly aways.

should the s1 be programmed to GPS (top), Atii (middle), manual or RTH (lowest)?

in case of no video, should i just move the stick to RTH?

in case of no control over your vision, should you just switch off the tx or move the stick to atti modee??

just trying to understand what the stick movement will be for different scenarios...

If you're switching to Naza mode, leave your S1 switch as either GPS / ATTI / ATTI. or (more risky) GPS, ATTI / Fail Safe. I say "more risky) for fail safe as 3rd position because if you or someone else accidentally switched to Fail Safe while something is above your Phantom, you will crash and possibly do untold damage. Also Do NOT set S1 down position to Manual, unless you're a very experienced manual flyer you run a very big risk of crashing and burning.

If you loose Video link of your Phantom 2 Vision the first thing you should do is take your hands off the sticks and wait for a moment. Sometimes the video link can stutter in and out. If nothing happens if your nose was pointing directly at or away from you when it happens, "turn" your phantoms nose left or right a little, even though you can't see it rotating, it is. The Phantom has greater FPV range with it's side facing you and your video feed may return. if nothing happens immedately then fly a little forward or backward, you may just be flying over a small patch of radio interference that one you passover the video may return. If still no success there and you don't have a VLOS (Visual Line of Sight) moves the S2 switch all the way down (if you have IOC enabled and GPS lock) followed by pulling back on your right control stick, do this for several seconds at least so the Phantom can fly back a little ways towards your Home position. If video doesn't return but you see telemetry information back out of the camera then go back into it. If still no video, exit out of the DJI app all together then relaunch it. If you still are getting no video. With the Phantom still in "Home Lock" mode continue pulling back on your right control stick till video returns which it should. Entering Fail Safe RTH would work as well but using Home lock servers the same basic purpose of flying your Phantom back in the direction of your marked Home location without flying it ALL the way back.

Loosing "Control" of your Phantom means you're out of signal range of your 5.8ghz transmitter. And you would see a message on your FPV screen saying such, followed by "Returning to Home". If you want your Phantom to stop returning to home at any point just temporarily move your S1 switch into the Center position, then back to GPS (up position).

If your Phantom begins flying erratically and you have Naza mode enabled first let go of your control sticks and see if the Phantom Stabilizes itself. If not move the S1 switch to Center (Attitude) mode then immediately fly back and land.

 

[theSelf]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

Nice job BenDronePilot. Couple adds: Current firmware (v1.05) measures relative altitude & initiates an ascent to approx 60' to clear objects whenever an RTH is called. If already above 60' it holds that higher altitude and begins the flight back home. It's also a good idea to pre-cache the maps in Find My Phantom before flying. Open Find My Phantom while connected to cellular or WiFi and pinch & zoom your intended flight area in both normal & satellite view. Then when you connect to your phone to your repeater and start flying, you won't need to be connected to the internet.

iDrone

hi idrone- I'm also in LA- we should meet up for formation flight vids!

question- I am using my ipad mini (wifi only) as my monitor - I want to pre-cache my anticipated flight area maps for the Find my Phantom 2 Vision service- however when connetd to my home internet wifi (safari loads web pages fine)- when in the Find my Phantom 2 Vision option no maps are loading..any idea why this is and how I can finally load my maps before I disconnect from my home wifi to connect to the phantom's wifi? Thank in advance

 

[BenDronePilot]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

Nice job BenDronePilot. Couple adds: Current firmware (v1.05) measures relative altitude & initiates an ascent to approx 60' to clear objects whenever an RTH is called. If already above 60' it holds that higher altitude and begins the flight back home. It's also a good idea to pre-cache the maps in Find My Phantom before flying. Open Find My Phantom while connected to cellular or WiFi and pinch & zoom your intended flight area in both normal & satellite view. Then when you connect to your phone to your repeater and start flying, you won't need to be connected to the internet.

iDrone

hi idrone- I'm also in LA- we should meet up for formation flight vids!

question- I am using my ipad mini (wifi only) as my monitor - I want to pre-cache my anticipated flight area maps for the Find my Phantom 2 Vision service- however when connetd to my home internet wifi (safari loads web pages fine)- when in the Find my Phantom 2 Vision option no maps are loading..any idea why this is and how I can finally load my maps before I disconnect from my home wifi to connect to the phantom's wifi? Thank in advance

You need to pre cache the maps on your iPad. While you have internet access load either the find my phantom mode in the dji app or Google maps and let it load the map up for the area you will be flying. The maps you load will still remain available!e even when not connected to the internet. You will need to do this whenever you change flying location.

 

[iDrone]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

^|^ What he said... up there ^|^ (thanks BenDronePilot!)

To pre-cache: your phone/pad must -not- be connected to the Vision's Range Extender, but to your home or hot spot WiFi or phone's radio.

Launch the Vision app, confirm you're connected to your home router or WWAN (3G/4G), go to Settings / Find My Phantom Vision. The map should open and you should be able to move around & pinch & zoom. Click the Satellite button if you wanna swap the plain map for satellite view.

When done, go to WiFi settings and connect to Vision's WiFi. You should now see maps/satellite views of whatever you pre-cached.

iDrone

 

[theSelf]

Re: Preventing & Recovering a lost Phantom from a fly away

Nice job BenDronePilot. Couple adds: Current firmware (v1.05) measures relative altitude & initiates an ascent to approx 60' to clear objects whenever an RTH is called. If already above 60' it holds that higher altitude and begins the flight back home. It's also a good idea to pre-cache the maps in Find My Phantom before flying. Open Find My Phantom while connected to cellular or WiFi and pinch & zoom your intended flight area in both normal & satellite view. Then when you connect to your phone to your repeater and start flying, you won't need to be connected to the internet.

iDrone

hi idrone- I'm also in LA- we should meet up for formation flight vids!

question- I am using my ipad mini (wifi only) as my monitor - I want to pre-cache my anticipated flight area maps for the Find my Phantom 2 Vision service- however when connetd to my home internet wifi (safari loads web pages fine)- when in the Find my Phantom 2 Vision option no maps are loading..any idea why this is and how I can finally load my maps before I disconnect from my home wifi to connect to the phantom's wifi? Thank in advance

You need to pre cache the maps on your iPad. While you have internet access load either the find my phantom mode in the dji app or Google maps and let it load the map up for the area you will be flying. The maps you load will still remain available!e even when not connected to the internet. You will need to do this whenever you change flying location.

thanks for your responses guys - unfortunately that's what I've already been doing and the maps aren't loading still on the ipad mini when connected to my home internet/wifi router (and not connected to the p2v's wifi signal)..I don't know why they aren't loading..if I exit the dji vision app whilst connected to the internet I can open safari & browse the web, load maps in google and apple maps etc ok- they just don't seem to be loading (map or satellite view) within the DJI vison app itself- I've tried restarting my ipad too but still no joy..could it be any setting within my ipad?..very frustrating as I really want to start using my ipad instead of my smart phone for a larger viewing experience..is it because DJI only made the app for android smart phones and iphones/ipods but not 'officially' ipads..? (as I said before by following the same steps with my android samsung galaxy note 2 smartphone the maps do load in the dji vison app (find my phantom 2 vision)- just not my ipad currently.. any people out there knowledgeable with ipad settings (running iOS 7) knowledgeable with any settings that may need changing that may be 'blocking' the DJI app from loading maps?.. the 'news' section in the dji vision app does load ok when connected to the internet , if that's a clue..?

 

[iDrone]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

I'm intentionally running IOS 6 on my mini, and IOS 7 on my 4S without issues, so I'm not sure about a mini on IOS 7. Just for grins I turned off DJI & Google Maps Location Services under Privacy Settings on my iPhone, but I can still load maps in the Vision app beyond what I cached. Not sure why you're not seeing them.

iDrone

 

[theSelf]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

I'm intentionally running IOS 6 on my mini, and IOS 7 on my 4S without issues, so I'm not sure about a mini on IOS 7. Just for grins I turned off DJI & Google Maps Location Services under Privacy Settings on my iPhone, but I can still load maps in the Vision app beyond what I cached. Not sure why you're not seeing them.

iDrone

thanks- I tried the location services thing too and still ..no maps... anyone else out there managing to successfully pre cache maps in teh find my phanton 2 vision option with specifically iOS 7?

I have emailed DJI support but don't know how long they take to respond, if at all..

 

[BenDronePilot]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

I'm intentionally running IOS 6 on my mini, and IOS 7 on my 4S without issues, so I'm not sure about a mini on IOS 7. Just for grins I turned off DJI & Google Maps Location Services under Privacy Settings on my iPhone, but I can still load maps in the Vision app beyond what I cached. Not sure why you're not seeing them.

iDrone

thanks- I tried the location services thing too and still ..no maps... anyone else out there managing to successfully pre cache maps in teh find my phanton 2 vision option with specifically iOS 7?

I have emailed DJI support but don't know how long they take to respond, if at all..

Maps work fine on my iPhone 5 iOS 7.0.4 device. IPhone or iPad it makes no difference in terms of comparability. You may need to delete the app exit out of all other apps reboot and reinstall. If still having problems after that you could try resetting network settings. If you're near capacity on your device delete some stuff to make some room. If it still doesn't work if may also be caused by another program installed causing comparability problems, that's not so uncommon unfortunately. Anyway good luck

 

[theSelf]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

I'm intentionally running IOS 6 on my mini, and IOS 7 on my 4S without issues, so I'm not sure about a mini on IOS 7. Just for grins I turned off DJI & Google Maps Location Services under Privacy Settings on my iPhone, but I can still load maps in the Vision app beyond what I cached. Not sure why you're not seeing them.

iDrone

thanks- I tried the location services thing too and still ..no maps... anyone else out there managing to successfully pre cache maps in teh find my phanton 2 vision option with specifically iOS 7?

I have emailed DJI support but don't know how long they take to respond, if at all..

Maps work fine on my iPhone 5 iOS 7.0.4 device. IPhone or iPad it makes no difference in terms of comparability. You may need to delete the app exit out of all other apps reboot and reinstall. If still having problems after that you could try resetting network settings. If you're near capacity on your device delete some stuff to make some room. If it still doesn't work if may also be caused by another program installed causing comparability problems, that's not so uncommon unfortunately. Anyway good luck

Thanks BenDronePilot for your input- I deleted the app, exited out of all other apps, rebooted and reinstalled and still the same thing..I also just tested with my ipod touch 5th generation (also iOS 7) and its doing the same thing as my ipad mini even though my samsung galaxy note 2 (android) smartphone does load the maps....

does the find my phanton 2 vision use google maps, google earth or apple maps in the ipad/iphone/ipod touch dji vision app specifically? I have all 3 installed on my ipad mini..

do you know how to find out what if any of my other apps are causing incompatibility..? If all apps are exited out of though, would they still be conflicting?

Could you please explain what you mean by reset the network settings specifically?

as a work around, could I connect both the ipad and the note 2 to the vision app at the same time and use the ipad to fly with but use the note 2 as a backup for the 'find my vision' option should I need it?

Gratefully,

Justin

 

[iDrone]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

Justin I'd be curious to try the mini on another WiFi network to eliminate something with your home network vrs IOS networking. Test your mini on a friend's WiFi or a free hotspot and see if it still refuses to load maps.

I'd also be curious if it still refuses to load after installing the Google Maps app.

Can anyone else on the board with an iPad mini on IOS7 confirm the DJI app & Find My Phantom 2 Vision mapping is working ok?

iDrone

 

[theSelf]

Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

Justin I'd be curious to try the mini on another WiFi network to eliminate something with your home network vrs IOS networking. Test your mini on a friend's WiFi or a free hotspot and see if it still refuses to load maps.

I'd also be curious if it still refuses to load after installing the Google Maps app.

Can anyone else on the board with an iPad mini on IOS7 confirm the DJI app & Find My Phantom 2 Vision mapping is working ok?

iDrone

thanks iDrone- won't be able to try another network till at least tomorrow- but will try- FYI- Google Maps is already installed on the ipad mini and ipod touch (if i didn't mention it already, I tried with my 5th gen ipod touch, also with iOS 7 and it's having the same response as my ipad mini (even though the android note 2 loads maps fine)- internet browsing fine, opening google maps etc load fine- yet no maps loading in Find My Phantom 2 Vision on the ipod touch even though again (like my ipad mini) everything else in the DJI Vision app works fine including see the live video feed..this would lead me to believe that this may be iOS7 related perhaps...which leads me to ask if anyone with iOS 7 specifically is having similar issues or not..