*Caution* Regarding Use Of Custom Android Software

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So for New Years I wanted to be up in the sky filming all the illegal fireworks lol. I was doing auto pilot missions using V11 of ilovecoffee's custom app. I flew the first 2 missions exactly the same and without an issue. For the 3rd mission (same mission specs and waypoints) I turned on "GS Bank & Turn" and that's when the crash happened.

Mission 1 (Bank & Turn Off)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjrkuv0itxa5h ... 8.MP4?dl=0

Mission 2 (Bank & Turn Off)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6wqgcktz00g9o ... 1.MP4?dl=0

Mission 3 (Bank & Turn ON)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vb16daya0bdqn ... 3.MP4?dl=0


Notice how in the first two videos the Phantom lifts off, drifts left just a hair then turns right and climbs fast, mission completed. When I turned on GS Bank & Turn it lifts off, drifts left a hair then turns right and climbs SLOW thus hitting the wall and crashing. The key here being with "GS Bank & Turn" switched on the climb performance was greatly affected. I am NOT blaming the app for this, I blame myself but this is something I think people need to factor in when using "GS Bank & Turn" feature.... understand that it will climb SLOWLY as it heads towards your first destination. Best move is to program the flight on the phone, manually fly the drone up over the highest obstacle in the area then activate the mission. With "GS Bank & Turn" turned off it will climb faster in a much shorter distance.



I will also say I bought the gimbal protector for $25 and the intertia guard for $5... My $700 camera survived the crash. All I need is new props and a new shell, maybe $150 max vs a $1,000+ repair. VERY pleased with this $25 investment!!!!!
 
these files must be huge !

Trying to watch one but waiting for ever for it to load.

Can you put them on youtube or other ?
 
Sorry I had posted the thread before they were fully uploaded to Dropbox. Should all be working now.


Update: I was able to fully repair the Phantom with simply a set of new props. The camera guard and inertia guard saved me $750, best $25 investment ever. Didn't even crack the case with this crash onto a cement wall and onto hard pavement ground. Had to open up the shell to reset a screw that was pushed out, otherwise grabbed my spare props and the bird is flying again. Soo happy...
 
Anon-e-mouse said:
http://www.uavbits.net/store/p10/Inertia_Guard.html

http://www.uavbits.net/store/p4/Carbon_ ... _P2V_.html

Best investments ever made! I crashed my phantom on day 4 of owning it and paid $750 for a new camera and gimbal, since then bought the protection stuff and while this crash was worse than my first one, I sustained damage to my props only. $20 repair!
Thx and happy new year!!!
 
Good to see damage is not that bad!One thing I always do on waypointsmissions is start the mission by myself and go up to about 75 mtr.Annd then I start the mission.Also using ilikecoffee his app and it works much better than the original.The limitrange of 500 mtr is gone, and that's very, very nice.Bank and turning is most of the times handy
I was also to plan a firework mission, but i chickened out, so you're a daredevill
 
I don't think this is directly related to Bank and Turn feature. I've used GS for at least 100 flights and even before Bank and Turn was available, the quad would take off and go to it's first waypoint at different altitudes on idential missions. Sometimes it would go to the first waypoint at 15-30 feet above ground for quite a while, then in the last 100 feet it would quickly rise in elevation to the waypoint's specified elevation. Other times it would rise almost immediately to the waypoint elevation and proceed to the first waypoint.

I always place the first waypoint very close to takeoff, usually less than 20 feet, and set elevation so I clear any trees, buildings or any obstruction in the immediate area. Either that, or as is suggested above, take off manually to a safe height, then hit the GO button for GS mission.
 
mij119 said:
I always place the first way-point very close to takeoff, usually less than 20 feet, and set elevation so I clear any trees, buildings or any obstruction in the immediate area. Either that, or as is suggested above, take off manually to a safe height, then hit the GO button for GS mission.

I do the same as well.. I also set a "last way point" (technically second to last since home is last) so i can bring it down from whatever my "mission altitude" is to 50-75 feet. Before I started doing that I almost clipped the top of a neighbors tress as it was descending to the hope way-point.
 
The "GS Bank & Turn" may have caused the Phantom's climb to take more space to reach the first "mission altitude" way point, but I can tell you this issue exist on the "Official" DJI Vision app. I crashed my Phantom the first week using the ground station mission because I did not know the bird would take an angle approach to reach the first way point altitude which unfortunately for me was in the path of a row of trees and to my horror the bird caught the top of the tree and fell to the ground from about 40 to 50 feet. The shell of one arm was bend and one ESC cracked, the camera survived for about a week then the wobble of death arrived on the gimble.

Since then I set the first way point within a few feet of the home point at an altitude I need to clear the nearby obstacles or get the bird into the air at the correct height and then load the mission.

One other tip is to get in mind you can cancel a mission by switching S1 on the controller which stops the mission and you can take control of the Phantom.
 
I do agree this was pilot error and not a result of the custom software. I still use ilovecoffees app and am not complaining. I just wanted people to know that the climb characteristics seem much different than with GS Bank & Turn featured enabled. As you can see in the first 2 videos the phantom climbed rapidly towards waypoint 1 and cleared the obstacle with plenty of room to spare, but on that 3rd identical flight with Bank & Turn enable it climbed at such a slow rate that it hit the building wall. My fault! In the future, I will manually raise the bird above any obstructions and then hit go to begin the mission.
 
Thanks for this discussion! I am a real FNG and have been wary of using the Ground Station feature on my new PV2+ v3 because I could not get a definitive answer about this exact issue. There are obstacles near by and depending on how (altitude and heading) the Phantom leaves and returns they could be a problem.

If I am understanding this correctly, you are making a waypoint several yards away from your homepoint (little blue circle with an H in the middle) and assigning a safe altitude to that waypoint and then making the other waypoints for your mission. As an alternative, one could fly the Phantom up to a safe altitude and then begin the mission with "Go" button.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Would it be wise to do the same thing for returning to the homepoint?

By the way, I put the camera guard, prop guards, and the inertia guard on my Phantom. I agree that the cost is a small price to pay to avoid having to buy another camera and/or gimble. I have no idea if they reduce my flying time (put them on before first flight) but if so--so be it. I can charge and interchange batteries all day! I have made about 30 flights now w/GPS mode and the Phantom has been very stable. It responds just as I would expect with no surprises. It will hover at about any altitude with little or no movement. I'm anxious to try the other features--IOC, CL, HL etc.

Again, thanks for the great information!

Semper Fi
 
I made a similar mistake with the DJI waypoint feature and miscalculated the rate of climb between two points. My end point was nice and high but a tree was along the flight path and the drone didn't climb fast enough to clear it. Total pilot error on my part.
 
Sorry to hear about this anon-e-mouse

I personally never have trusted my Phantom to take off by itself maybe only a few times. Out of those few times it looked like it was about to tip over. Obstacles being another issue but also failed compass calibrations being another which could result in a lost phantom.

While I didn't download the video, interesting that bank and turn ascends slower to a close way point than the regular stop and turn. I wouldn't have thought it would be any different.

I think lifting off and hitting go is on the same level as "hand catching" in terms of preventing needless damage.

I too have replaced my shell after a bad compass calibration resulting in a flyaway. Get ready for some tedious work but it's generally easy to do. I recommend getting it done all in one go so you don't forget how stuff was situated inside. There are a lot of subtle things one might forget if re-assembling it the following day.
 
I agree the lesson learned for me was to ALWAYS hit "Go" from Ground Station once the bird is already 100' in the air. To me the main point of the thread was to point out the flight difference using GS Bank & Turn featured of the modified app which I am sure most of us are using. It was just really strange how with that feature turned off the phantom would turn and climb really fast but with it on it would turn and climb VERY slowly towards waypoint one. This was a learning lesson to me but thank god for the camera protection and inertia guard, this crash cost me a set of prop guards and that's all... I can live with that. Definitely pilot error but I hope this thread helps someone else make the decision to always hit GO from the Ground Station app once the bird is above the highest obstacle in it's path.
 
ilovecoffee said:
I too have replaced my shell after a bad compass calibration resulting in a flyaway. Get ready for some tedious work but it's generally easy to do. I recommend getting it done all in one go so you don't forget how stuff was situated inside. There are a lot of subtle things one might forget if re-assembling it the following day.

I've never had to do it, but one suggestion I have is to take photos as you go along so you can see how things go back together during re-assembly.
 

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