Hello, fello DJI friends.
I am finally appealing for help and advice on the next step to take with solving my problem. I am including a link to my video example of the problem.
I have been reading every word I can read about everything relating to my problem for about 3 months. I am an old man and after 57 years of wedded bliss, I can take instructions VERY well. So whenever someone who has had a similar problem, has been given suggestions from you all, I have tried them myself. Always with optimism, and always with the same results. If any of you share my new proclivity of clicking on the PhantomPilots app on my phone every few hours, you know how it goes.
So here's my story as briefly as I can make it. Got the Phantom 4. read the book (of course I downloaded the manual months earlier, but now I had the machine and pieces in my hands) then connected things according to instructions. When I fired things up, I got the update message and followed the procedure and it failed to update the AC. I went to the forums before doing anything else. Try again, it worked. Hooray. I was in the air. Being a multi-rotor builder and flyer, I was not accustomed to looking at anything but what I was flying. So looking down at the screen (which was my Iphone at the time) just wasn't working. It was too small to read and it took forever to try to understand what I was seeing, or why I wasn't seeing anything, the glare was awful, and it was doing what I am showing in my attachment, so I didn't do more than glance at the screen on my first few flights, and since the video from the sd card was great, I didn't even know I had a problem for the first couple or three flights.
After getting over the thrill of having such great videos, I went to the task of digging in and going through all the settings and trying this and that. That's when I found that my "problem" was serious. And my visits to the forums were constant whenever I had time, and I was finding that LOTS of guys were having this problem, and lots of them were blaming it on upgrades. Too many of them were right after upgrading to be a coincidence if you ask me. It was like, the common thread. So like I say, I have been trying every suggestion that came along. I won't cover them here. Just read back through the threads. You will know that every thing has been tried. Please don't ask me if I have done this or that. I believe I have done everything except one perhaps, and that's where I come to ask you. Can I just wipe the slate clean and start somewhere that might result in success.
(this is where I start getting asked things like is there any magnetic material nearby? Have you calibrated this, or that? are you in a no-fly zone? etc. etc.) (this condition exist in all locations. I live in the Mohave desert and can get to places where there are no interfering radio signals. yes I know about magnetic infulences of rocks. It does it on my ipad AND my iphone) It is the same if I use the Letchi app. on either device.
I'm thinking much like the DJI guys. I didn't set it up properly. That appears to me, the reason that DJI isn't addressing the problem directly. There must be hundreds of thousands of phantoms flying around doing exactly what they are meant to do. MOST people don't have our problems. DJI has no place to look for a common cause. They do what they can, looking at flight records and analyzing logs and suggesting things. It is hard, however, to understand the consistent link with the upgrades. It isn't hard to find out where the problem happened, but not so easy to know why. Without you guys, well, I hate to think of where we would be without these forums.
I'm inclined to think that maybe it was that first upload failure,-- I don't know. I have installed and uninstalled DJI GO, But I haven't gone for taking the upgrades beyond my device. My upgrades have come from re-installing the app. I have fear of upgrades. I'm afraid I'll end up being one of those guys who write in because their Phantom won't work at all. And I have changed so many settings in so many ways, I no longer think I can menu my way out of the problem at all.
If you know the name David Windestal , you'll know where and when I got involved in multirotors, and in those days just the ability to put a camera in the air was the goal, never dreaming that in just 4 years, things would have evolved to the present state . So I am happy to have such a steady flying machine with such a great camera even without the FPV. The Phantom is a far better platform than I ever built and it answers just what I was trying to do. So I can fly it like it is and get a whole lot of enjoyment out of it, and some great photos. The last thing I want is to do something that would cause me to lose that. It almost seems greedy to ask for more, but the Phantom promised more and suddenly that's what I want.
I guess I'm asking if there is a safe way to go back to go and start over with a clean slate. Can I remove all of my apps, then re-install the DJI GO app and overwrite what is in the controller and push that to the Phantom? Having trouble upgrading really puts me in fear of DOWN grading. Grading may be my problem. I am hoping that there is a simple way to reset everything. Simple to understand. Back in the Atlas Missile Days in Wyoming, I did some tech writing and I know there must be someone out there (meaning maybe you) who can write an easy to follow prescription for all of us guys who are unable to use our Phantoms to their fullest potential because of a common problem, especially if the problem is an incorrect setup procedure. We can't all be a dumb as me.
Thanks for reading all this. MikeyP
I am finally appealing for help and advice on the next step to take with solving my problem. I am including a link to my video example of the problem.
I have been reading every word I can read about everything relating to my problem for about 3 months. I am an old man and after 57 years of wedded bliss, I can take instructions VERY well. So whenever someone who has had a similar problem, has been given suggestions from you all, I have tried them myself. Always with optimism, and always with the same results. If any of you share my new proclivity of clicking on the PhantomPilots app on my phone every few hours, you know how it goes.
So here's my story as briefly as I can make it. Got the Phantom 4. read the book (of course I downloaded the manual months earlier, but now I had the machine and pieces in my hands) then connected things according to instructions. When I fired things up, I got the update message and followed the procedure and it failed to update the AC. I went to the forums before doing anything else. Try again, it worked. Hooray. I was in the air. Being a multi-rotor builder and flyer, I was not accustomed to looking at anything but what I was flying. So looking down at the screen (which was my Iphone at the time) just wasn't working. It was too small to read and it took forever to try to understand what I was seeing, or why I wasn't seeing anything, the glare was awful, and it was doing what I am showing in my attachment, so I didn't do more than glance at the screen on my first few flights, and since the video from the sd card was great, I didn't even know I had a problem for the first couple or three flights.
After getting over the thrill of having such great videos, I went to the task of digging in and going through all the settings and trying this and that. That's when I found that my "problem" was serious. And my visits to the forums were constant whenever I had time, and I was finding that LOTS of guys were having this problem, and lots of them were blaming it on upgrades. Too many of them were right after upgrading to be a coincidence if you ask me. It was like, the common thread. So like I say, I have been trying every suggestion that came along. I won't cover them here. Just read back through the threads. You will know that every thing has been tried. Please don't ask me if I have done this or that. I believe I have done everything except one perhaps, and that's where I come to ask you. Can I just wipe the slate clean and start somewhere that might result in success.
(this is where I start getting asked things like is there any magnetic material nearby? Have you calibrated this, or that? are you in a no-fly zone? etc. etc.) (this condition exist in all locations. I live in the Mohave desert and can get to places where there are no interfering radio signals. yes I know about magnetic infulences of rocks. It does it on my ipad AND my iphone) It is the same if I use the Letchi app. on either device.
I'm thinking much like the DJI guys. I didn't set it up properly. That appears to me, the reason that DJI isn't addressing the problem directly. There must be hundreds of thousands of phantoms flying around doing exactly what they are meant to do. MOST people don't have our problems. DJI has no place to look for a common cause. They do what they can, looking at flight records and analyzing logs and suggesting things. It is hard, however, to understand the consistent link with the upgrades. It isn't hard to find out where the problem happened, but not so easy to know why. Without you guys, well, I hate to think of where we would be without these forums.
I'm inclined to think that maybe it was that first upload failure,-- I don't know. I have installed and uninstalled DJI GO, But I haven't gone for taking the upgrades beyond my device. My upgrades have come from re-installing the app. I have fear of upgrades. I'm afraid I'll end up being one of those guys who write in because their Phantom won't work at all. And I have changed so many settings in so many ways, I no longer think I can menu my way out of the problem at all.
If you know the name David Windestal , you'll know where and when I got involved in multirotors, and in those days just the ability to put a camera in the air was the goal, never dreaming that in just 4 years, things would have evolved to the present state . So I am happy to have such a steady flying machine with such a great camera even without the FPV. The Phantom is a far better platform than I ever built and it answers just what I was trying to do. So I can fly it like it is and get a whole lot of enjoyment out of it, and some great photos. The last thing I want is to do something that would cause me to lose that. It almost seems greedy to ask for more, but the Phantom promised more and suddenly that's what I want.
I guess I'm asking if there is a safe way to go back to go and start over with a clean slate. Can I remove all of my apps, then re-install the DJI GO app and overwrite what is in the controller and push that to the Phantom? Having trouble upgrading really puts me in fear of DOWN grading. Grading may be my problem. I am hoping that there is a simple way to reset everything. Simple to understand. Back in the Atlas Missile Days in Wyoming, I did some tech writing and I know there must be someone out there (meaning maybe you) who can write an easy to follow prescription for all of us guys who are unable to use our Phantoms to their fullest potential because of a common problem, especially if the problem is an incorrect setup procedure. We can't all be a dumb as me.
Thanks for reading all this. MikeyP