Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly away

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

iDrone said:
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
PS- just so I understand it correctly- if you want the find my phantom 2 vision app to work effectively when you do have maps loading on your mobile device correctly, generally speaking, don't you always have to pre cache the maps in the area of flight (ie. whether by wifi or cellular data connection-3G or 4G) every time before connecting to the p2v's wifi network as how else is it going to load the maps once connected to the p2v network otherwise? If continually flying in the same area will the vision app generally retain the same maps for the next flight? How does the vision app know where the p2v actually is on the pre cached map/s once the mobile device is connected to the p2v's network (& not the 'internet' anymore)? thanks for anyone's feedback on this!
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

theSelf said:
PS- just so I understand it correctly- if you want the find my phantom 2 vision app to work effectively when you do have maps loading on your mobile device correctly, generally speaking, don't you always have to pre cache the maps in the area of flight (ie. whether by wifi or cellular data connection-3G or 4G) every time before connecting to the p2v's wifi network as how else is it going to load the maps once connected to the p2v network otherwise?
The Vision app must initially be connected to the internet in order to fetch squares of map & satellite views which it caches in memory. When you reconnect to the range extender, the cached squares are still persistent in memory.

If continually flying in the same area will the vision app generally retain the same maps for the next flight? How does the vision app know where the p2v actually is on the pre cached map/s once the mobile device is connected to the p2v's network (& not the 'internet' anymore)? thanks for anyone's feedback on this!
As the cache is limited in size and you scroll farther away from the cached area, the maps app will try to load additional squares while deleting off-screen squares in exchange. The squares are otherwise persistent in memory and there's usually no need to precache every time. Vision uses HOME lock as the pilot's location, the Vision's GPS coord's for its current position, the phone's/pad's compass to orient the Map & Radar display bearing.

In the event of a disconnected or lost aircraft, Vision's last known GPS coord's will be used to plot a marker on the map.

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

iDrone said:
theSelf said:
PS- just so I understand it correctly- if you want the find my phantom 2 vision app to work effectively when you do have maps loading on your mobile device correctly, generally speaking, don't you always have to pre cache the maps in the area of flight (ie. whether by wifi or cellular data connection-3G or 4G) every time before connecting to the p2v's wifi network as how else is it going to load the maps once connected to the p2v network otherwise?
The Vision app must initially be connected to the internet in order to fetch squares of map & satellite views which it caches in memory. When you reconnect to the range extender, the cached squares are still persistent in memory.

If continually flying in the same area will the vision app generally retain the same maps for the next flight? How does the vision app know where the p2v actually is on the pre cached map/s once the mobile device is connected to the p2v's network (& not the 'internet' anymore)? thanks for anyone's feedback on this!
As the cache is limited in size and you scroll farther away from the cached area, the maps app will try to load additional squares while deleting off-screen squares in exchange. The squares are otherwise persistent in memory and there's usually no need to precache every time. Vision uses HOME lock as the pilot's location, the Vision's GPS coord's for its current position, the phone's/pad's compass to orient the Map & Radar display bearing.

In the event of a disconnected or lost aircraft, Vision's last known GPS coord's will be used to plot a marker on the map.

iDrone
Thanks for your very thorough explanation iDrone-very helpful!
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

iDrone said:
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
hi idrone- tested on another wifi network away from home and still the maps are not loading even though Google maps loads in the Google maps app, I can browse the web etc etc..... :(

still haven't heard back from my email to DJI support either..
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

theSelf said:
iDrone said:
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..

If you're replicating the setup / program installed on both your iPad mini and ipod touch that would be one reason the problem has been replicated on both devices. As a test to determine the nature of the problem, I suggest that you backup one of your iOS devices in iTunes, then go to settings and restore and erase all data. Do this without it connected to computer and setup as a new device. Then download and test the DJI app see if it works. I bet you the find my Phantom feature will work fine. If it still does not then you need to run an operating system restore so it reloads IOS 7.

To restore your data back plug your iOS device back in to your computer. It will ask if you want to restore from a backup of an account on the machine, or setup as new device, let it restore your backup and you will be back as you were before. This is a several step process as it first restores the OS followed by recovering the programs so be patient.
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

BenDronePilot said:
theSelf said:
iDrone said:
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..

If you're replicating the setup / program installed on both your iPad mini and ipod touch that would be one reason the problem has been replicated on both devices. As a test to determine the nature of the problem, I suggest that you backup one of your iOS devices in iTunes, then go to settings and restore and erase all data. Do this without it connected to computer and setup as a new device. Then download and test the DJI app see if it works. I bet you the find my Phantom feature will work fine. If it still does not then you need to run an operating system restore so it reloads IOS 7.

To restore your data back plug your iOS device back in to your computer. It will ask if you want to restore from a backup of an account on the machine, or setup as new device, let it restore your backup and you will be back as you were before. This is a several step process as it first restores the OS followed by recovering the programs so be patient.

I think somehow through icloud eg. when I take pictures on my ipod touch they appear on my ipad mini etc- and probably other stuff works in the same way..is that what you are referring to by 'replicating'? If I only do this to my ipad (not ipod touch) when I restore will it not just restore back the faulty issue with the the DJI Vison app or replicate the issue on the ipod to the ipad again? thanks I will try that when I get a chance, but might wait to see what DJI say (if they ever get back to me)
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

theSelf said:
I think somehow through icloud eg. when I take pictures on my ipod touch they appear on my ipad mini etc- and probably other stuff works in the same way..is that what you are referring to by 'replicating'? If I only do this to my ipad (not ipod touch) when I restore will it not just restore back the faulty issue with the the DJI Vison app or replicate the issue on the ipod to the ipad again? thanks I will try that when I get a chance, but might wait to see what DJI say (if they ever get back to me)

If doing a clean start of your device (erasing all settings) resolves the problem, then yes if you then restored from your saved backup account in iTunes the problem will come back again. It can be a very long and arduous process removing programs piece mail by trial and error to see what may be causing the problem, And that might not always fix it like a restore as new device will. For me I have all my notes, and my contacts saved on my g-mail account so even when I completely erase I can have that data back as before. I also manually backup program saves that I don't or can't afford to loose should iTunes backup / Restore ever fail. I have a how to video on doing that here. You'll see me talking about Injustice Gods among us, but I go over the backup and restore process in this video using a program called iFunbox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zXXPBVxQPo
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

BenDronePilot said:
theSelf said:
I think somehow through icloud eg. when I take pictures on my ipod touch they appear on my ipad mini etc- and probably other stuff works in the same way..is that what you are referring to by 'replicating'? If I only do this to my ipad (not ipod touch) when I restore will it not just restore back the faulty issue with the the DJI Vison app or replicate the issue on the ipod to the ipad again? thanks I will try that when I get a chance, but might wait to see what DJI say (if they ever get back to me)

If doing a clean start of your device (erasing all settings) resolves the problem, then yes if you then restored from your saved backup account in iTunes the problem will come back again. It can be a very long and arduous process removing programs piece mail by trial and error to see what may be causing the problem, And that might not always fix it like a restore as new device will. For me I have all my notes, and my contacts saved on my g-mail account so even when I completely erase I can have that data back as before. I also manually backup program saves that I don't or can't afford to loose should iTunes backup / Restore ever fail. I have a how to video on doing that here. You'll see me talking about Injustice Gods among us, but I go over the backup and restore process in this video using a program called iFunbox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zXXPBVxQPo

Thanks again for your great contributions to our community Ben!
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

On the first post in this thread..
3) Do not calibrate your compass before every flight, this is not necessary and may actually increase your chance of having a problem.

I phoned DJI because I wanted to fly mine and saw the calibration compass video from the owner.. but he did not say whether or not you have to do it each time or not. Well I got through to dji and they said that anytime you go to a place that the copter is not familiar with then yes you should calibrate. If you have already calibrated in a local park you have been at.. then no you don't need to. FYI.
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

Andy idea why i get this result on my map for recovery ?

No worry :cool: my PV2 is here with me but just checked last known GPS location....
It should have stated real last location?
 

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

Well, that looks suspiciously like 0 latitude, 0 longitude...
So I guess it had no data...
 
Re: :Sticky: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly aw

gpauk said:
Well, that looks suspiciously like 0 latitude, 0 longitude...
So I guess it had no data...

OK that can make some sense thx
That is point zero on the equator :)
 
Re: STICKY: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly awa

If the wind is 15 mph on the ground it is much faster higher up! At 400 feet it could be much higher, 60 + mph. the Phantom can not keep up and will be lost to the wind. This is called Operator Error not Phantom Flyaway.
 
Re: STICKY: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly awa

wildcatter said:
If the wind is 15 mph on the ground it is much faster higher up! At 400 feet it could be much higher, 60 + mph. the Phantom can not keep up and will be lost to the wind. This is called Operator Error not Phantom Flyaway.

You're right that air wind speeds increase as you go higher. But where the heck are you coming up with 60mph wind at 400 feet up from a 15mph surface wind. Sorry but that's flat out wrong you don't see that kind of wind increase with that altitude. You wouldn't even see that at 2,000 foot altitude.
 
Re: STICKY: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly awa

BenDronePilot said:
wildcatter said:
If the wind is 15 mph on the ground it is much faster higher up! At 400 feet it could be much higher, 60 + mph. the Phantom can not keep up and will be lost to the wind. This is called Operator Error not Phantom Flyaway.

You're right that air wind speeds increase as you go higher. But where the heck are you coming up with 60mph wind at 400 feet up from a 15mph surface wind. Sorry but that's flat out wrong you don't see that kind of wind increase with that altitude. You wouldn't even see that at 2,000 foot altitude.

You are absolutely correct, 60mph is not a logical speed.

Tom
 
Re: STICKY: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly awa

BenDronePilot said:
Here are some top tips on how to recover your Phantom should you experience a fly away. I also list some tips and precautions you can take to ensure your Phantom 2 is as reliable as can be and to minimize the chance of a fly away.

So you're flying your P2V on a nice or not so nice day. enjoying your flight and suddenly the worst happens. It begins to do things it's not supposed to do and or takes off on its own. Following these helpful tips should set you straight.

1) Take a deep breath

2) Don't panic

3) If it begins to fly away you can panic now. (just kidding) please refer back to steps one and two.

4) If you have Naza mode enabled and your bird begins flying erratically that could be a GPS lock and or a compass problem. Switch to Atti mode to help stabilize your plane and bring it back IMMEDIATELY to land.

5) Even if Atti mode isn't available but you see your bird behaving in any other way that feels out of the "norm" for you then immediately fly your bird back, if you have control. Even if your bird is far away, just land it wherever you can in a safe place and walk to it.

6) Your Phantom 2 Vision will keep a log of it's last known GPS position as long as you have stable wifi. Keep the flat base of the Wifi range extender pointed as directly as possible towards your Phantom to Maintain WiFi and thus GPS location within the DJI app. Also make sure your transmitters antenna is pointed straight up and not sideways as seen in many peoples videos.

7) Reference how much battery life is remaining before the crash so you can have an idea of how far it may travel should it be in the process of flying away from you. Also note the Radar screen of where it's current position is relative to you, should you not have an actual Visual of your Phantom. Again making sure to try to keep your Wifi repeater pointing in it's direction to maintain connection as long as possible.

8) Turn off transmitter as last resort to activate the failsafe return to home function. Keep in mind that if you're below 66 feet when hitting RTH and their are obstacles between you and your Phantom that your Phantom WILL run into said obstacles as by default it flys in a straight line above the home position before descending.

Your bird is on the ground now. Steps for recovering a downed Phantom once you believe it's on the ground. It is of vital importance you begin your search IMMEDIATELY to take advantage of certain features of your Phantom that you can use as a means to locate it.

1) If you had a Visual of your Phantom as it reached the ground run to it immediately.

2) call some friends to help you search.

3) If you didn't have visual range but had a Wifi connection, refer to the last known position within the DJI app and go to that location as a starting point for your search. On full charge I believe the range of the Phantom is around 10 miles give or take.

4) Provided you've not lost power to the Vision Camera in your fly away or crash event, you can take advantage of the Visions Wifi connection as a means to track it from greater distance. It would also have been helpful if the vision's Wifi itself wasn't hidden as it would make this process a bit easier. But what you will do is circle the perimeter of the last known location and cycle the power on the Wifi repeater from time to time, then try to make a connection to your Phantom. Keep doing this at set intervals and with the Wifi repeater antenna pointing in different directions. Wait about 30 seconds to a minute after each power up and then try to connect with your smart phone. If you make the connection it's a simple matter to find your Phantom by using the Find you Phantom function in the app.

5) Continue searching in a grid pattern, fanning out if you have more than one person looking. You should be constantly trying to regain a wifi connection as you do this. Also ask any bystanders if they saw your Phantom flying and or landing anywhere.

Additional things you can add to your Phantom to aid in a recovery should you loose your bird.

1) Use a label maker and print your Name and Number and affix it to the Phantom. Add reward if found, if you feel it's appropriate.

2) You can add a cell phone based GPS tracker. They come in many sizes, makes and models. They use GPS for location data and Cellular service for internet access to the device so you can find the location by searching an internet web site associated with the device. Price plans for these devices can be as little as $10 a month or upwards of $30 a month, not including the cost of the cellular service. I'd suggest using a pre paid plan for the cellular portion.

3) A relatively free way you can use Cell GPS tracking. Get a second phone that supports cellular based GPS tracking. You can do this with android phones and the right apps like Trustgo though I don't know how reliable those are. I highly recommend going with an older iPhone such as a 3G or 3GS using the "Find my iPhone" function. If you have a GSM based cell service all you'd have to do is pop your SIM card into the phone you'll be using for tracking. And have the phone attached with velcro to your Phantom. That way you can have cell tracking without having to pay additional monthly or yearly service plan costs. Just the initial cost of a second phone for the use of tracking.

4) Add a "clapper" like device to your Phantom that can cycle the power on something or create a horn effect. That may help you in your search should you not have a visual and you can't attain wifi connection to your Phantom.

5) Consider adding a TP-Link 9 or 14dDB high gain antenna to your built in repeater to extend your Wifi FPV range to the DJI app.

Steps to take to minimize a fly away from happening at all.

1) Update all Firmware on both your Phantom and the Transmitter before you fly.

2) Calibrate your Phantom's compass before your initial flight in an open field away from metal or power lines or concrete floors to get the best possible calibration

Watch this great video from DJI's CIO Colin Guinn on calibrating your Compass for first flight as well as flight basics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... osbWTHLfQQ

3) Do not calibrate your compass before every flight, this is not necessary and may actually increase your chance of having a problem.

4) Make sure all of your batteries are charged. (silly, but some may forget :p )

5) Try to avoid flying near cell towers, over head power lines or areas were you believe their may be heavy interference from other 2.4 and or 5 ghz signals.

6) Make sure your S1 and S2 three way toggle switches are both in the UP position.

7) Before you take off make sure your Phantom has a good GPS lock. After power on the tail lights of your Phantom will quickly flash green then followed by a slow blinking green. This means you have marked your GPS home location. BUT it doesn't mean you will still have a solid GPS signal as sometimes you may need to let your bird sit for another minute.

8) Reference your DJI app on your device. Make sure that you maintain GPS satellite lock of the Minimum 6 satellites or more for at least about a minute to be on the "safe" side. I've seen the satellite lock drop in and out sometimes until finally it staying stable. If you take off while your signal is dropping off and on you may experience erratic flight behavior.

That's mainly it for now. If anyone would like to add to this please feel free. Good luck and safe flying!

Excellent info!
 
Re: STICKY: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly awa

Great thread!
I did fly some 30 size choppers many many years ago, and I wonder if any one that have been flying in manual mode can give a hint of the "feel" of it?
With the underlying weight and a prop in each corner is it self stabilized in manual mode or does it need constant adjustment to not "tip over"?
If you tried manual and flown chopper before how hard is this thing in manual, very easy, medium or hard?

-Tomas

Edit in,
Found part answers in this thread, but not all,

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=216
 
Re: STICKY: Preventing & Recovering a Phantom from a fly awa

tomas99 said:
Great thread!
I did fly some 30 size choppers many many years ago, and I wonder if any one that have been flying in manual mode can give a hint of the "feel" of it?
With the underlying weight and a prop in each corner is it self stabilized in manual mode or does it need constant adjustment to not "tip over"?
If you tried manual and flown chopper before how hard is this thing in manual, very easy, medium or hard?

I have not had the guts to push my Vision into manual mode... but I've flown a number of quadcopters of varying lesser varieties in the lead-up to my purchase of the Vision, most with manual flight mode only... and I can tell you I found manual flight to be exhausting. There really isn't a threat of "tip over"... all rotors are constantly lifting on all four corners... so as far as pitch and roll, that part is actually fairly stable. You actually really have to work at it to flip one over. But it IS absolutely constant adjustment to maintain altitude and position. I'd come in from flights with other quads with massive headaches from the stress of trying to keep up. And that was with much shorter flight times (8-12 minute battery life). Kind of took the joy out of flying. And trying to take any kind of still or video footage was near impossible... if you take your eyes off the copter to focus on camera controls, then look back up, your bird is likely to be 30 feet away from the position you left it... and in any direction.

I feel pretty confident that I could fly the Vision on manual, given my previous experience, but, unless it's a critical situation where I absolutely need that control (or I want to play with really aggressive/aerobatic flying), I don't think I'll ever do it.
 

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