Safe to update go app while on old firmware to avoid geo

[alirz]

Hi all,
As the title says. I've stuck around on DJI go app 2.4.3 for the past several months on my android devices. It works just fine. My bird is also on 1.4 firmware along with an old RC firmware.
All this was to avoid geo and other nonsense that I used to hear like reduced range introduced by DJI etc...

However I really haven't heard any horror stories with geo or any other restrictions that may have been introduced in newer firmwares.

So my question is let's say I just want to update the DJI go app to the latest.

1- Would that still work with my older firmware
2- will it infect my phantom and RC with geo data even if I'm staying on old firmware?

3, let's say I decided to update the firmware also, are their any new restrictions or limitations that I may be unaware of.

Thanks


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[alokbhargava]

I will not suggest just to update DJI Go App as I know APIs to interact with RC and AC have been changing and they may not be backward compatible. If you really want to experiment, get another device and install latest DJI Go app and try though I know it's not worth trying.

Geo data and its control over aircraft has not been an issue as we thought it earlier unless you are close to a restricted space. As I know and understand, geo data comes through internet connectivity from your device based on your geo location. If your device is not connected to internet when DJI Go app is on, it can't get new geo data from geo servers. DJI Go 2.4.3 was a critical version for geo data. All previous versions had no connectivity to geo servers but all later versions had. It it's not a big deal to have geo restrictions. In fact latest versions of Go app have provisions to avoid geo restrictions though I never tested in reality. It's true that once you get the geo data into RC / AC, there is no known way to clear it.

There were talks about distance restrictions by latest FWs, but I can't comment on it as I never flew my aircraft to its limits and I never noticed restrictions in say 5000' of distance.

What's tempting you to go for latest app and FWs? Have you noticed defects? Do you want to use latest third part apps like Litchi?




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[alirz]

Thanks for your reply. I can always update the go app to the latest and if something is not quite right i can always uninstall and manually install the .apk file for 2.4.3 or any version if i like. I have all those files on hand. Im just concerned that newer app may infect my RC and AC with some geo or restrictions that i may not like.

Reason why i would like to update the app is because of possible stability improvements. I've had a few atleast two occasions where the app disconnected from the bird and didnt reconnect, while i was flying over the carribean ocean in the middle of no where. luckily RTH kicked in and saved the bird.
Other reason to update the app are desgin changes, new functions in the app etc that i may be missing on.

While i'm not too keen on updating the firmware, i am one of those people who live on the edge running the latest and the greatest (read buggiest) software on their various devices. Im a techie person and staying behind of software releases bothers my restless soul
I guess i can hold off on the firmware but would really like to update the app as im kind of tired avoiding the app updates on my android device. As i've had to disable auto updates which in turn disbales it for my other apps and every few days i have to go through manually updating all my other apps and preventing dji go from updating...

any harm in updating the app and connecting to the RC/AC just see how it is? can i be infected with geo data on 1.4.x firmware also?

 

[CANEKiTA]

My AC is also on 1.4.x firmware, I use djiGo 2.7.2 & litchi 2.7.1 without any issues. Those are the two last versions of each app to use the correct SDK for our old firmware birds.

 

[alirz]

My AC is also on 1.4.x firmware, I use djiGo 2.7.2 & litchi 2.7.1 without any issues. Those are the two last versions of each app to use the correct SDK for our old firmware birds.

ok i see. Well thats good to know. I own both Litchi and an other 3rd party app. However i've never used them. So if i understand correctly, newer 3rd party apps only work with the newer firmwares?

 

[tvckz]

Trust me, nothing bad is gonna happened, I have absolutely different versions on RC and copter for a long time.

 

[flyNfrank]

I have the exact same GO app version and firmware version that you do. Something you may want to know is, the battery firmware has been jacked on the newer versions. I think as long as you stay away from the firmware versions above 1.4.1 you will be ok. Or....maybe the changes made in the battery firmware wont bother you as it does offer a line of protection from the aircraft dropping out of the sky. The trade off to that is, you a/c will not be as fast. If you watch the onscreen volts display then there would be no dropping from the sky.

The battery firmware was completely restructured to display voltage that is not the true actual reading. An example could be....when the battery displays 70% it actually has 78% remaining, or say when the battery cell/s display 3.0 volts is actually has 3.45 volts remaining. Dji had 1st made this revision to the battery firmware in firmware 1.5.0 but forgot to include the change in the a/c firmware. The result was a/c's began dropping out of the sky like crazy.

If you do go a different direction then where you are currently, I would be interested in the results you may go through. In that case...good luck!

Edit: Make sure you get a copy of your P3X_FW_LOG_AB.txt located on the microSD card and in the MISC/LOG folder. That will let you know which firmware and modules you have installed currently.

 

[alirz]

I know 1.5 and 1.6 had some battery firmware issues from what i read. But werent they resolved in later firmware. I have checked what the latest fw is, but i think its 1.9.x something?
Are there still known bugs in the latest fw?

 

[flyNfrank]

I know 1.5 and 1.6 had some battery firmware issues from what i read. But werent they resolved in later firmware. I have checked what the latest fw is, but i think its 1.9.x something?
Are there still known bugs in the latest fw?

Not that I'm aware of. Seems to currently be solid. The controller has to be updated a certain way before you start on the other firmware.

 

[flyNfrank]

Almost forgot. I have seen some complain about signal and video issues and that they rolled back and all was well again.

 

[alirz]

**** man... im confused. Im gonna stick on the current fw as long as i can control my inner OCD. At the end, DJI wants everyone to be on the latest fw and i think most people out there are on the latest revisions and things seem be going ok for them, so think an update may not be as bad as i think it is.

 

[alirz]

Does the newer fw have any optimizations for the tilted horizon issue?
The main reasons I want to finally move to the most up to date fw and dji go app is possibility of app stability, avoiding app disconnection issues, though they are extremely rare for me. Battery safety protection etc. while I'm ok with the speed of the AC slowing down a bit if I get some of those above improvements.

Still no word if range has been impacted in newer firmwares?


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