What not to do

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Well, I found out one thing not to do today.
I've only had my "Vision" for a few days. Snowing heavily outside. No chance to try it out, so, I thought I would do some double duty testing today. I figured I would run the battery down for recharging before I head to the warmer south next week, and I thought this would give it a chance to show any dreaded battery disconnect error. So, I started the motors, but then I figured why run the controller when I wasn't going to control anything, so I shut it off. Several minutes later, I entered the room just in time to see it zoom to the ceiling and stick there. I had to run for a step ladder to get it down. Then it dawned on me. The connection was broken so it was attempting to get to 60 feet so that it could fly home. No damage, but a lesson learned.
 
I suspect just about everyone has made the error of turning the TX off early in their quadracoptic career. I suspect there are a significant number of brand new Phantom owners looking at this forum every day so these reminders are helpful.

The more interesting question is.....where was it going? If you were indoors that it is unlikely that it got enough satellites to get a home lock where it was, so it would go to the default site, which has been reported by some to be in CHINA! If such a thing happened outdoors and the PH had not gotten a good home lock were it was sitting, the bird would start flying away right in front of your eyes and then turning the TX on and trying to re-take control from a TX-off scenario is quite a complicated process....which most newbies and a lot of experienced flyers would FAIL at....in a crisis.

This also raises the question.....if one of the new "flyaway prevention" updated software sequences is for the activated and motors turning bird to monitor TX input and if there is no change in TX input for 10 seconds....conclude that this is an extraneous radio interference situation and click into Failsafe mode (which you probably set as Return To Home (RTH). SO even with Tx ON...starting the motors turning while sitting on the ground and then leaving the Tx and bird to just sit that way might initiate a fly-away. That has already been reported here.

Just reinforcing how complex these birds are and how carefully the manual and instructions must be studied and understood before an excited new owner rushes out to see his $$$ at least hovering in the air.
 
Peter... can you explain the 'complicated process' of turning the Tx on & off to regain control of the Phantom after a failsafe has been triggered? I thought it was just a matter of turning the controller back on (which I think I read only works sometimes - so there must be something else). Obviously it'd be a good thing for us n00bs to know.
 
Peter Patricelli said:
I suspect just about everyone has made the error of turning the TX off early in their quadracoptic career. I suspect there are a significant number of brand new Phantom owners looking at this forum every day so these reminders are helpful.

The more interesting question is.....where was it going? If you were indoors that it is unlikely that it got enough satellites to get a home lock where it was, so it would go to the default site, which has been reported by some to be in CHINA! If such a thing happened outdoors and the PH had not gotten a good home lock were it was sitting, the bird would start flying away right in front of your eyes and then turning the TX on and trying to re-take control from a TX-off scenario is quite a complicated process....which most newbies and a lot of experienced flyers would FAIL at....in a crisis.

This also raises the question.....if one of the new "flyaway prevention" updated software sequences is for the activated and motors turning bird to monitor TX input and if there is no change in TX input for 10 seconds....conclude that this is an extraneous radio interference situation and click into Failsafe mode (which you probably set as Return To Home (RTH). SO even with Tx ON...starting the motors turning while sitting on the ground and then leaving the Tx and bird to just sit that way might initiate a fly-away. That has already been reported here.

Just reinforcing how complex these birds are and how carefully the manual and instructions must be studied and understood before an excited new owner rushes out to see his $$$ at least hovering in the air.

I can't speak for GPS lock when it took to the ceiling, but I do know that by the time I got the stepladder and pried it down, the lights were blinking green. I am hoping that it was only attempting the 60' in altitude and NOT a trip to China.
 
I've gotten GPS lock on all satellites in doors so I'm guessing if you where getting all green you where locked into GPS and turning the TX off caused it to go into GTH function which was right in that spot, If it was planing on a fly away then it would have taken off and just hit the wall at some point! Did it touch the ceiling?
I'm also assuming it would have came down on it's own when it ran out of battery lol. If you turn your TX off and that happens just turn it back on I'm guessing with GPS switch set would be better and you should regain control of it even after its gone into RTH funtion, I've put my switch into fail safe by accident while flying around and this happened when I realized this I switch it back and got it to come back to me!
I think the fly away issue has a lot more to do with interference of some sort like Wi-Fi no mystery really!!
 
phantomflyer said:
I've gotten GPS lock on all satellites in doors so I'm guessing if you where getting all green you where locked into GPS and turning the TX off caused it to go into GTH function which was right in that spot, If it was planing on a fly away then it would have taken off and just hit the wall at some point! Did it touch the ceiling?
I'm also assuming it would have came down on it's own when it ran out of battery lol. If you turn your TX off and that happens just turn it back on I'm guessing with GPS switch set would be better and you should regain control of it even after its gone into RTH funtion, I've put my switch into fail safe by accident while flying around and this happened when I realized this I switch it back and got it to come back to me!
I think the fly away issue has a lot more to do with interference of some sort like Wi-Fi no mystery really!!

Yes it hit the ceiling. It was stuck up there rubbing the paint off with the 4 rotor hubs. I just painted the ceiling about a month ago. Also put up a new ceiling light fixture and it missed it by about 2 inches.
 
Banjonut said:
Yes it hit the ceiling. It was stuck up there rubbing the paint off with the 4 rotor hubs. I just painted the ceiling about a month ago. Also put up a new ceiling light fixture and it missed it by about 2 inches.

Yup sounds like it was trying to get to that 60foot mark but your ceiling was stopping it! So yeah don't do that again lol. I would just take the prop's off when your starting it indoors and if your trying run the battery down plug some extra stuff into the balance cord like lights and camera setup if you have one! Just to be safe you know you wouldn't like it if you really did get some kind of interference from some electronics running in your house and have it really have a fly away into you or your nice flat screen lol.
 
Left stick all the way down---->ATTI mode-----Turn on----you will regain control----move stick quickly to middle position.

Jebus said:
Peter... can you explain the 'complicated process' of turning the Tx on & off to regain control of the Phantom after a failsafe has been triggered? I thought it was just a matter of turning the controller back on (which I think I read only works sometimes - so there must be something else). Obviously it'd be a good thing for us n00bs to know.
 
I get GPS in my home in a few rooms...UPSTAIRS. Complete GPS---no red lights.



Peter Patricelli said:
I suspect just about everyone has made the error of turning the TX off early in their quadracoptic career. I suspect there are a significant number of brand new Phantom owners looking at this forum every day so these reminders are helpful.

The more interesting question is.....where was it going? If you were indoors that it is unlikely that it got enough satellites to get a home lock where it was, so it would go to the default site, which has been reported by some to be in CHINA! If such a thing happened outdoors and the PH had not gotten a good home lock were it was sitting, the bird would start flying away right in front of your eyes and then turning the TX on and trying to re-take control from a TX-off scenario is quite a complicated process....which most newbies and a lot of experienced flyers would FAIL at....in a crisis.

This also raises the question.....if one of the new "flyaway prevention" updated software sequences is for the activated and motors turning bird to monitor TX input and if there is no change in TX input for 10 seconds....conclude that this is an extraneous radio interference situation and click into Failsafe mode (which you probably set as Return To Home (RTH). SO even with Tx ON...starting the motors turning while sitting on the ground and then leaving the Tx and bird to just sit that way might initiate a fly-away. That has already been reported here.

Just reinforcing how complex these birds are and how carefully the manual and instructions must be studied and understood before an excited new owner rushes out to see his $$$ at least hovering in the air.
 
Thanks kenskid... very good to know! One dumb question - just to clarify - when you say 'turn on', I assume you mean turn on the Tx because failsafe was triggered by turning of the Tx - right?
 
Yes...I had to turn off my Tx a few times under emergency situations. One time I lost sight of it over the freaking Mississippi River! I had about 100 people feeling bad because I lost my "helicopter". I said, hell....and turned it off and hoped. Sure enough after about a minute I could barely make it out but it was coming back. Everyone was freaking.

As it came closer, I could see it was moving slow. I was worried that it wouldn't make it in from the river before the battery ran out.
I followed the instructions. Put it in ATTI mode, pulled stick all the way down...turned on the TX. After about 1 second, I pushed throttle to about half. I knew I had it b/c it started to go up a little. I then gunned it home for the last 200 feet. I tell ya, I though it was gone.




Jebus said:
Thanks kenskid... very good to know! One dumb question - just to clarify - when you say 'turn on', I assume you mean turn on the Tx because failsafe was triggered by turning of the Tx - right?
 
ya should have waited................it would have come down soon, and maybe some insulation too :lol: .............i know not funny :D
 
Thanks again for the reply kenskid. Even though I'm a complete n00b, the first thing I did was setup the S1 switch for failsafe - for peace of mind (as opposed to turning off the Tx and hoping that it'll trigger RTH).
 
From Quickstart Manual v1.6, NAZA firmware 3.12

"When you turn off the transmitter, use the following
method to regain control:
(1) Switch the transmitter S1 switch to GPS. position.
(2) and then put the throttle stick to lowest position,
you can now turn the transmitter back on (greater than
5secs after switching off, important), then put throttle
stick to the center position immediately. If you hear the
transmitter alarm, make sure the throttle stick is at the
bottom position before moving to the center position.
(3) then you can switch the transmitter S1 switch to the
middle position (ATTI. Mode) to regain control.

NOTE that all of us do not have the same bird, or firmware. The above MAY or MAY NOT have changed. READ YOUR OWN MANUAL for your bird and firmware. After reading the above three or four times I am not at all sure that, in the panic of the moment, I would remember exactly how to execute the commands correctly....and I do not hear Tx audible warnings!

DJI, in their manual immediately under the above does, not recommend using the Tx OFF method of initiating RTH except as a last resort since 1) it will only work if home lack was properly established (or not changed by switch manipulation after takeoff) 2) will not work if GPS-satellite connection is lost 2) will take a blind flight path to home position at either 60 feet OR the elevation >60 feet the bird was at when RTH was initiated....regardless of intruding trees, buildings, etc.
 

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