RTH kicked in at 2 miles battery at 64% no signal loss

[Phillip LaRose]

Flying yesterday trying channel 30 I was at a distance of over 2 miles. I was using the sport mode with the battery at 64% and no indication of signal loss or video transmission loss. I got the message that the battery was low and the aircraft would land in 10 seconds. Immediately it went into return to home. It did not land and continued home. I did use the stick to increase speed to about 35 mph on the way home and the battery was at 47% when it reached home. The only explanation I can think of is that it was using the P mode speed to calculate the battery needed to reach home. However I have read reports of much greater distance and no indication of messages or RTH activating.
Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[Wibble]

Did you have a strong tail wind? If you speed over ground was too high it would work out that you needed longer to get home.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Flying yesterday trying channel 30 I was at a distance of over 2 miles. I was using the sport mode with the battery at 64% and no indication of signal loss or video transmission loss. I got the message that the battery was low and the aircraft would land in 10 seconds. Immediately it went into return to home. It did not land and continued home. I did use the stick to increase speed to about 35 mph on the way home and the battery was at 47% when it reached home. The only explanation I can think of is that it was using the P mode speed to calculate the battery needed to reach home. However I have read reports of much greater distance and no indication of messages or RTH activating.
Please let me know your thoughts.

Turn off "Smart Return Home"...
It's not that "smart"...

 

[Phillip LaRose]

Did you have a strong tail wind? If you speed over ground was too high it would work out that you needed longer to get home.

It was calm, no wind.

 

[Wibble]

It was calm, no wind.

What height were you flying at? Just because it was calm where you were doesnt mean it was calm 2 miles away at 200'.

 

[Phillip LaRose]

Turn off "Smart Go Home"...
It's not that "smart"...

Question: If I turn off RTH, what happens if I get a signal loss?

 

[r62ewa]

RTH will still work if you have RC signal loss, Smart RTH will initiate if the App calculates you need the remaining battery to return to home and Failsafe RTH is initiated if the RC is shut off. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. So you can turn off Smart RTH and still have RTH if you lose signal.

 

[Phillip LaRose]

What height were you flying at? Just because it was calm where you were doesnt mean it was calm 2 miles away at 200'.

I was flying at 200' . I was at the highest point with everything where I was flying below me. I could tell there was very little wind because while I was flying away from me or back, there was no resistance.

 

[GadgetGuy]

RTH will still work if you have RC signal loss, Smart RTH will initiate if the App calculates you need the remaining battery to return to home and Failsafe RTH is initiated if the RC is shut off. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. So you can turn off Smart RTH and still have RTH if you lose signal.

Exactly! It's the Smart RTH that is causing the premature return, based upon too conservatively calculated values from battery remaining. Fail safe RTH is also initiated by 3 seconds of total loss of control signal, even if the RC is still on. Usually, the properly set RTH altitude value will restore the latter RTH, and you can cancel it and continue, if it was too low or behind an obstruction.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I was flying at 200' . I was at the highest point with everything where I was flying below me. I could tell there was very little wind because while I was flying away from me or back, there was no resistance.

Just turn off Smart Return Home. Regular RTH still works fully with Smart Go Home turned off.

 

[Phillip LaRose]

Just turn off Smart Go Home. Regular RTH still works fully with Smart Go Home turned off.

Thank you.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thank you.

It's the first thing I did! It's way too conservative, and ever so annoying!

 

[Stealthmatt]

Where do you turn this off?

 

[GadgetGuy]

Where do you turn this off?

"Smart Return Home" toggle is just below the RTH setting for Remote Controller Signal Lost

However, you are now responsible for turning around with enough battery power to make it home! Don't forget!

 

[Stealthmatt]

"Smart Return Home" toggle is just below the RTH setting for Remote Controller Signal Lost
View attachment 54324

However, you are now responsible for turning around with enough battery power to make it home! Don't forget!

So will it still return to home when it hits 30%?

 

[GadgetGuy]

So will it still return to home when it hits 30%?

No, but it will give you a low battery warning at whatever you have the low battery level set at (30% to 15%), and start autolanding when it reaches 10%. You have to turn around, when flying away, well before 50% to have enough battery to return home. My point is that when you turn off Smart Return Home, you now have to be smarter, and know what you are doing, and turn around manually before it is too late to make it back. It will no longer return to home, based upon any battery level! Sounds like you better leave it on, until you more fully understand what you are doing by turning it off.

 

[Sim597]

You were 2 miles out at 200'? I mean, first, on a stock setup? Wow, that's impressive, I don't care if he had surfers even, that's way better then I can do with the small DBS antenna. And with the big one and boosted, if I can get 1.7 miles and land and take off again, is my goal, so 2 miles at 200' is pretty good, what was your RTH altitude? When did you regain signal?

 

[Sim597]

No, but it will give you a low battery warning at whatever you have the low battery level set at (30% to 15%), and start autolanding when it reaches 10%. You have to turn around, when flying away, well before 50% to have enough battery to return home. My point is that when you turn off Smart Return Home, you now have to be smarter, and know what you are doing, and turn around manually before it is too late to make it back. It will no longer return to home, based upon any battery level! Sounds like you better leave it on, until you more fully understand what you are doing by turning it off.

hey guy, on a side note, I can't find my remote battery power anymore? I swore I saw it in my android device, or is it only the iPhone I can see the remote battery level?

 

[GadgetGuy]

hey guy, on a side note, I can't find my remote battery power anymore? I swore I saw it in my android device, or is it only the iPhone I can see the remote battery level?

Never seen the remote battery power in the app on iOS, so it must have been on Android at one time. It's redundant, as you can clearly see the remote battery level, right below the tablet, next to the green remote LED, based upon the number of white lights displayed of the four. Remote lasts 5 or more flights, so it's easy to just top it off next time, whenever it dips to 3 white LED's.

 

[Phillip LaRose]

You were 2 miles out at 200'? I mean, first, on a stock setup? Wow, that's impressive, I don't care if he had surfers even, that's way better then I can do with the small DBS antenna. And with the big one and boosted, if I can get 1.7 miles and land and take off again, is my goal, so 2 miles at 200' is pretty good, what was your RTH altitude? When did you regain signal?

My RTH was set at 200' . However, I never lost signal. As I mentioned, I was in sport mode (high speed) and I think the Smart RTH calculated my battery usage as if I was in P mode and issued the RTH. I was using channel 30 and could have gone farther seeing that I had 64% of the battery left. I flew the same route the day before using the auto setting and only went half that distance before I got a signal warning. Also I am using surfers.