A couple of issues I have observed have come up that has caused people to fly and crash. One is battery issues and the other is GPS loss. I can't include everything but here are a few things you can do to help prevent fly-aways and battery malfunction.
1. Always fly your batteries at 100% and freshly charged. The battery gauge is not reliable enough because of limited technology to tell us what the actual percentage is. It's probably more accurate on a battery that has been freshly charged rather than one starts at 95-96%. Which will not make sense to most people. People think 95% is absolute when in fact it is not. This is a limitation to calculation in lipos.
2. Rely on voltage per cell. This is really the actual charge per cell you see. Most lipos start at 4.2 volts per cell at max charge. If you start at 3.89 volts per cell, then it is not far from fully (safe) discharged value of 3.5 volts. I know when I recently ran my phantom 3 battery down to 5%, it was at 3.5 volts. That was to cycle the battery. When I fly my helicopters, I always check the the cells with a little meter I have in my pocket. It doesn't tell me percentages, it tells me volts per cell and I want to see 4.2 volts per cell across the board, or I send it back to the charger for a balanced charge session. All it takes is one cell to botch the battery. People are seeing where batteries are dropping from 50% to 8% very rapidly. Note the charge per cell before flying.
3. Do not let a battery sit for days fully charged and then go fly. Charge them up that day, prior to flying. That means activating or starting the battery and topping it off to 100% until the battery shuts off in the charge process
4. Do not update firmware and then go fly. You won't have a battery that is 4.2 volts per cell
5. Do not calibrate the IMU and then go fly. You won't have a starting voltage of 4.2 volts per cell
6. Do not let your battery sit in excessive heat or cold and then go fly.
Regarding GPS
Do a calibration on the first flight of the day. Every time you fly. Doesn't matter if you change locations or go to the same place. You need the most current conditions on the compass. Atmospheric condition, location, metal objects, power lines, can all screw up the compass. Even a magnet can. Do this on your first flight.
Check the mod value. It should be around 1500 and not deviating largely. CHECK THIS BEFORE EVERY FLIGHT!. It only takes a second to go look at the sensitivity setting. I've asked Bladestrike to see if the pilot app can show the MOD value on the home screen. It would be nice to have it labeled green for go or red for out of range. This would help prevent many flyaways.
Take off and hover for no less than 5 seconds before you go off and fly. Make sure you are stabile and the bird is being kept in one place in GPS mode.
Learn to fly atti mode. The moment the phantom is not responsive like it's supposed to be, shift to atti mode and keep it there. Learn how to fly this way and land it. I've started to fly mostly ATTI mode and I think it adds security. For pictures or landings, I shift it back to GPS. But I'm always making sure it's holding position prior to landing.
At your own risk. I learned how to hand catch. Seems like the most controlled way to stop the phantom. Maybe not the safest.
Good luck.
1. Always fly your batteries at 100% and freshly charged. The battery gauge is not reliable enough because of limited technology to tell us what the actual percentage is. It's probably more accurate on a battery that has been freshly charged rather than one starts at 95-96%. Which will not make sense to most people. People think 95% is absolute when in fact it is not. This is a limitation to calculation in lipos.
2. Rely on voltage per cell. This is really the actual charge per cell you see. Most lipos start at 4.2 volts per cell at max charge. If you start at 3.89 volts per cell, then it is not far from fully (safe) discharged value of 3.5 volts. I know when I recently ran my phantom 3 battery down to 5%, it was at 3.5 volts. That was to cycle the battery. When I fly my helicopters, I always check the the cells with a little meter I have in my pocket. It doesn't tell me percentages, it tells me volts per cell and I want to see 4.2 volts per cell across the board, or I send it back to the charger for a balanced charge session. All it takes is one cell to botch the battery. People are seeing where batteries are dropping from 50% to 8% very rapidly. Note the charge per cell before flying.
3. Do not let a battery sit for days fully charged and then go fly. Charge them up that day, prior to flying. That means activating or starting the battery and topping it off to 100% until the battery shuts off in the charge process
4. Do not update firmware and then go fly. You won't have a battery that is 4.2 volts per cell
5. Do not calibrate the IMU and then go fly. You won't have a starting voltage of 4.2 volts per cell
6. Do not let your battery sit in excessive heat or cold and then go fly.
Regarding GPS
Do a calibration on the first flight of the day. Every time you fly. Doesn't matter if you change locations or go to the same place. You need the most current conditions on the compass. Atmospheric condition, location, metal objects, power lines, can all screw up the compass. Even a magnet can. Do this on your first flight.
Check the mod value. It should be around 1500 and not deviating largely. CHECK THIS BEFORE EVERY FLIGHT!. It only takes a second to go look at the sensitivity setting. I've asked Bladestrike to see if the pilot app can show the MOD value on the home screen. It would be nice to have it labeled green for go or red for out of range. This would help prevent many flyaways.
Take off and hover for no less than 5 seconds before you go off and fly. Make sure you are stabile and the bird is being kept in one place in GPS mode.
Learn to fly atti mode. The moment the phantom is not responsive like it's supposed to be, shift to atti mode and keep it there. Learn how to fly this way and land it. I've started to fly mostly ATTI mode and I think it adds security. For pictures or landings, I shift it back to GPS. But I'm always making sure it's holding position prior to landing.
At your own risk. I learned how to hand catch. Seems like the most controlled way to stop the phantom. Maybe not the safest.
Good luck.
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