A couple of beginners questions

[MPWDrone]

Hi,

I have recently bought myself a DJI Phantom 3 Drone which I have now done four flights with. I have a couple of beginners questions. Apologies if these have already been discussed. I have done a quick search but I didn't seem to find anything.

When the drone first takes off and hovers, I take it up to about 10 feet above the ground to acclimatise and it seems to drift a little bit. There was only a light breeze at the time. Otherwise it responds fine. Is this normal? More noticeably, when I ascend above a tree line where there would be more affect from wind, the drone noticeably drifts more. You can also hear the 'note' from the rotors changing at times. I'm guessing that this is the drone correcting for the affects of the wind?

I am still flying in beginners mode at the moment. The drone has been in GPS mode. The wind speed is no greater than 15mph. I am obviously still gaining confidence in my flying but I also need the confidence that the drone is responding as it should!

Many thanks for any feedback.

Regards,

Matt.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Yeh the p3s does drift sometimes,it dont have vps unit on bottom,,vision positioning system.
Yip wind will make motors change to counteract, in strong wind it will probably hover leaning forward,,to make sure remote is set you can do rc calibration which stick input is pushed all the way to 100% in all directions,this way in hover it's all even at zero with no input,,,its not always needed but mayby a compass calibration will help it sit with GPS lock and not drift,,another reason for slight drift is unbalanced prop or props,new props can be unbalanced aswell if not original dji which will be on the blade,,,,,,just add when your drone not doing as it should never panic,unless it's coming down get it back up to buy yourself time to work out what goes on,,they like to change to atti mode which is no gps and will drift or be blown,,its same with p4 range,,,,when sufficient it will change back to pgps when satellites are available again,,its like flying oldschool,,

 

[Meta4]

Is this normal?

That would depend on how much it's drifting.
The drone won't sit absolutely rock steady in the air.
According to the specs....
Hover Accuracy Range
Vertical: ±0.5 m
Horizontal: ±1.5 m

 

[NM_Quad]

There are some functions with the P3S that are not activated until at least 30 feet away from home point, such as the intelligent flight modes and RTH. Therefore, when I launch my P3S, I send it up 15-20 feet and 30+ ft. away and let it hover there. I find it hovers better at this distance than just a few feet away. Mine hovers like a rock on a perfectly still day, but yes, will drift a bit as the wind increases. Each motor is controlled independently, so hearing slight pitch changes is just the Phantom regulating the motor speeds to keep it stable. Absolutely normal. DJI recommends NOT to fly with winds at 20 mph or greater. Adhere to this to ensure good flight stability, AND you don't exhaust your batteries quickly fighting a head wind bringing her home. Lots of sad stories on this forum of loosing a bird in high winds. Good luck with your drone - you'll enjoy it like we do.

 

[gitrman]

The first thing I would suggest is to do a IMU Calibration...

 

[PeterX]

The drift of the P3S is dependant how many satellites are locked to the copters GPS. If ya see more sats have been locked then the box of drift is smaller. As Meta4 said,the box of drift is normal 1,5x1,5x0,5 meters in volume.