Recent content by Earthman

Use a rosin paste flux similar to this on electronic stuff: 2 Jar Solder Flux, Flux for Soldering, Rosin Soldering Flux Paste for Lead-Free Electronics Soldering and Soldering DIY (1.2oz/35g in a Jar) https://a.co/d/29v52pp No need to clean off the residue/excess from rosin flux except to be...

I have made "zillions" of solder connections, but not the one you are going to make on your drone , so I may not know what I'm talking about. Still, I suggest using plenty of acid-free flux, cleaning off any coating on the wires by lightly scraping them with a sharp blade; and tinning the wires...

Make sure the propellers have the correct pitch direction and are installed in the right place. I don’t have a P4 and never looked at one closely, but based on my experience with other RC multi rotor and fixed wing RC aircraft, your description sounds like the pitch is wrong on one or more...

You can’t produce a survey or a very useful map with a drone, or the software that runs on it, or the software that is used to plan and fly its missions. Responses here seem to be discussing all three components of the system(s) used to produce a deliverable. Drones collect data (typically...

We fly many DJI Mavic Pros, Pro2s, Minis, Sparks, and Tellos in our training programs and swap display devices (iPhone, iPad, CrystalSky, etc.) all the time between flights and have had no problems. We do not fly P4Ps however, so no direct experience with your situation. Still, it would...

Don’t point the ends of the antennas at the drone. There are “dead zones” off the ends of the antennas. Best signal strength is perpendicular to the antennas. On the attached figure, the Z Axis is the antenna. So the antennas on the transmitter and drone each have dead zones that can affect...

It's likely that the original battery self-discharged to zero volts, or to below the voltage threshold that the built-in smart battery circuitry will let you recharge it. This can happen to any LiPo-based smart battery that isn't properly maintained, which is why I call them "pet batteries"...

I get involved with search and rescue, media coverage, and UAV flight training where we need to keep a Mavic or Mavics in the air nearly full time for hours at a time landing only to charge the batteries. For the Mavics, we use AC-powered “Yx for Mavic” smart chargers that are able to charge...

I have been using ImBatch for years. It does lots more than resizing photos, it’s free for non-commercial use, and it does its thing(s) on any number of photos (batch jobs). You can down load it here: https://www.highmotionsoftware.com/products/imbatch

A flying drone is not as likely to work as well as an autonomous robot, for which there are commercial options you can find with Google. The robot and your warehouse may need to be customized. For example, Walmart currently has robots cleaning and sanitizing shelves in some of its stores...

The headline is obviously meant to get clicks. It should say: “FAA Can’t Find Rogue Drone Pilot Who Stopped Firefighting“ or “FAA Investigated A Drone Pilot And Found Insufficient Evidence to Prosecute” or “We Have Nothing To Report But Need More Clicks” I’m complaining about the...

It’s $2 for the replacement card. I just ordered extra cards for my Part 107 and private pilot’s licenses. I also just passed my 2nd Part 107 recurrent exam. I file the paper copy, and scan and keep digital copies of the test reports on my iPhone and in DropBox for easy access.

Yes, elevating your antenna is good too. I don’t recall the power in Watts at which DJI UAVs operate, but I’ve communicated with the ISS, which was hundreds of miles away, using a 5-Watt VHF HT (Ham Radio for handheld walkie-talkie), which demonstrates how well elevating your antenna can work...

If interested in antenna performance, get your ham radio license and you’ll learn a lot along the way. Seven year old kids have gotten ham radio licenses, so it’s not that tough. Interestingly, high-gain antennas and so called range extenders generally don’t increase the power of the...

I have a Mavic 2 and a Spark. If I grab them from below during a hover and turn turn quickly to their side, they turn off without messing with the throttle. I think this is default behavior.