RTH Height

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I am new to the P4 world. I am flying from some open space at the top of a valley, then flying down into the valley. My question is a RTH height of 30 metres, the height the drone will go to above the home point OR will the drone always keep 30 metres above ground level that the drone is currently flying over ?
 
I am new to the P4 world. I am flying from some open space at the top of a valley, then flying down into the valley. My question is a RTH height of 30 metres, the height the drone will go to above the home point OR will the drone always keep 30 metres above ground level that the drone is currently flying over ?
Your Phantom has no way to know what is below it or how far it is above solid ground (beyond the range of the VPS - 10 metres).
All heights are relative to the home point.
 
When RTH is initiated, your Phantom would ascend to the home point altitude and then ascend 30 more meters.
 
Make sure the phantom is calibrated and the app communicates to you that "the home point has been set" and wait for a "safe to fly" on the screen. When the phantom lifts off under those conditions it will leave with a proper reference to "HOME". RTH altitude is related to the home point.
 
And glance at your altitude now and then to be sure it jives with reality.

NoCo Drones
 
As stated above: Under normal conditions, the Home Point altitude is recorded at engine start. It is based on AGL (Above Ground Level at your present position). So at your home point the Phantom's altimeter is set to "0" AGL. Even if you are on top of a mountain. The RTH fly home altitude is set by you, but can not be less than 30 meters (98 Feet). As you ascend, the telemetry altitude will also go up based on the Home point Altitude recorded at Engine Start. If you are flying below 30 meters and initiate RTH, the Phantom will climb to the preset altitude of 30 meters and come home. If you are flying above 30 meters, the phantom will stay at that altitude and come home. It will not descend until in a hover over the Home Point. I'm referring to my P3P.
 
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There are multiple examples posted in this forum by people who lost their drones because they made the mistake of thinking that the RTH altitude was relative to the current terrain. I keep my RTH altitude set at 150m. While your drone will first ascend before starting it's trip home, you should also note that once that ascent begins, you can terminate it by simply moving your left toggle lever, at which point your drone will start the trip home. So set the altitude very high and simply pull down and release your left control lever if your circumstances don't need more altitude.
 
you should also note that once that ascent begins, you can terminate it by simply moving your left toggle lever, at which point your drone will start the trip home. So set the altitude very high and simply pull down and release your left control lever if your circumstances don't need more altitude.
Keep in mind that RTH is often triggered when the Phantom has lost the remote controller signal. At that point, moving the left toggle lever will not do anything. So, it's best to always double check the RTH altitude before taking off.
 
It's probably a good idea to set the RTH altitude to something well above the highest object that may come between you and the drone when RTH is activated for what ever reason. I would think 150m would be safe under any circumstances. That is of course unless you are flying in the mountains when you accidentally fly behind a hill that is higher. In which case you will have a long hike to pick up the pieces.
 
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RTH is always wrt your last home point set. RTH height will not be effective if you are not away by at least 20m from your home point. This is the problem we might sometimes face when flying in valleys or hills.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Keep in mind that RTH is often triggered when the Phantom has lost the remote controller signal. At that point, moving the left toggle lever will not do anything. So, it's best to always double check the RTH altitude before taking off.
Do you know what the max height is for RTH? Think I tried to set it above 400 and would not let me. Because I had my max altitude set at 400. So if you have your max altitude for flight set at say 400ft, is RTH only going to be able to be set at that 400ft altitude?
 
Do you know what the max height is for RTH?
The max is 500 meters.

if you have your max altitude for flight set at say 400ft, is RTH only going to be able to be set at that 400ft altitude?
I haven't tried that. However, I can tell you your Phantom will not fly above the max flight altitude.
 
Keep in mind that RTH is often triggered when the Phantom has lost the remote controller signal. At that point, moving the left toggle lever will not do anything. So, it's best to always double check the RTH altitude before taking off.

Are you sure? I think you are wrong, but it could be me who is wrong. I believe any time your P4 is climbing in RTH mode, pulling the left stick stops the climb and the drone simply starts home. There is nothing that distinguishes why you are in RTH mode.
 
Are you sure? I think you are wrong, but it could be me who is wrong. I believe any time your P4 is climbing in RTH mode, pulling the left stick stops the climb and the drone simply starts home.
How will your Phantom know you're pulling on the left stick if the remote controller is no longer connected to the Phantom?
 
How will your Phantom know you're pulling on the left stick if the remote controller is no longer connected to the Phantom?
Makes sense--you're right. What I have observed is that there are times when I disconnect, but the increase in altitude allows me to re-establish contact before the drone climbs all the way to 150m, at which point I can stop the climb.
 
Do you know what the max height is for RTH? Think I tried to set it above 400 and would not let me. Because I had my max altitude set at 400. So if you have your max altitude for flight set at say 400ft, is RTH only going to be able to be set at that 400ft altitude?

RTH max is always set in meters in the app. It doesn't matter if you change preferences to Imperial measurements. It remains specified in meters. And yes, if you set max height to 400 feet, it will not ascend above that for RTH. I'm not sure if you set max height at 400 feet if it will let you set RTH above that. I might check that later today when I'm flying just to satisfy my curiosity.
 
I set my RTH height at 30 meters (98 feet). Because most of the time I'm on the open desert where the tallest thing around is a Joshua Tree at only about 30 feet high. If I go to the mountains, I will set it accordingly.
 
Makes sense--you're right. What I have observed is that there are times when I disconnect, but the increase in altitude allows me to re-establish contact before the drone climbs all the way to 150m, at which point I can stop the climb.
You're confusing two different kinds of signal disconnects, control and video. Msinger was referring to control signal disconnect.

You can lose the video connection and still have control of the RC. In that case it's wise to ascend to reconnect the video signal, like you have done. I do that all the time.

However when the craft loses the control signal connection on my P4 I have noticed that video signal always goes out at the same time.

With my P4 I've had many instances where I lose control signal, and at the same time I lose video signal, using the stock P4 controller. RTH will enable if it disconnects for several seconds in these cases. However with my P3P I hardly ever lose control signal, I always lose video signal first, at which time I simply ascend to regain video connection. This is because the P3 controller has a stronger control signal.

When using stock controllers, the range on my P3P is twice what the P4 can do (2+ miles versus <1 mile). Being disappointed with the P4 range I started using an Inspire controller (stronger signal RC) to fly and now my P4 has the same range as my P3. Problem solved.
 
You know, John brings up a good point that I hadn't thought of. If I have lost signal on my P3P due to low altitude at range, by setting the RTH altitude to a much higher altitude than 98 feet, I just might regain control as it ascends. At just 98 feet, it might fly part of the way back before I can regain control.
 

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