couse lock

[bcass1]

I'm getting the hang of using course lock but do you have to se course lock before take off once the home point is locked. In other words do you have to set the switch to course lock after the home point is recorded and then take off or can you switch to course lock anytime during flight and the course is locked on the direction of the front of the drone.

Thanks for the help.

 

[N017RW]

Let's be clear here...
In Phantom or Naza GPS mode during the 1-2 min warm-up and initialization phase that occurs everytime you power up the a/c, two things are saved or recorded.

First is the direction or heading that the a/c is facing with it's magnetometer, this is for use with Course Lock (CL). The rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

Next will be the Home Point which includes GPS X-Y coordinates and the current elevation (as measured by atmospheric pressure). This requires 6+ GPS satellites to be acquired first and the time it takes depends on local GPS 'receiveability conditions'. Progress can be monitired by the rear LEDs via a green-red LED flash pattern. Once again the rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

This should be your normal take-off proceedure, wait for both sets of rapid green flashing LEDs.
After each of these things is stored the a/c in generally considered ready to fly.

Once airborne you can enable and disable CL as you wish.
You may also select CL before you take-off but that may not be adviseable as this is the time to check the 'health' of the a/c prior to flight with basic control inputs and CL could confuse the pilot.

Additionally the Course Lock heading can be reprogrammed in-flight via the S2 switch. Once the a/c is facing the new direction or heading you wish to store, move S2 from Off-to-CL-to-Off 3-5 times. Just as before, the rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

 

[gunslinger]

Let's be clear here...
In Phantom or Naza GPS mode during the 1-2 min warm-up and initialization phase that occurs everytime you power up the a/c, two things are saved or recorded.

First is the direction or heading that the a/c is facing with it's magnetometer, this is for use with Course Lock (CL). The rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

Next will be the Home Point which includes GPS X-Y coordinates and the current elevation (as measured by atmospheric pressure). This requires 6+ GPS satellites to be acquired first and the time it takes depends on local GPS 'receiveability conditions'. Progress can be monitired by the rear LEDs via a green-red LED flash pattern. Once again the rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

This should be your normal take-off proceedure, wait for both sets of rapid green flashing LEDs.
After each of these things is stored the a/c in generally considered ready to fly.

Once airborne you can enable and disable CL as you wish.
You may also select CL before you take-off but that may not be adviseable as this is the time to check the 'health' of the a/c prior to flight with basic control inputs and CL could confuse the pilot.

Additionally the Course Lock heading can be reprogrammed in-flight via the S2 switch. Once the a/c is facing the new direction or heading you wish to store, move S2 from Off-to-CL-to-Off 3-5 times. Just as before, the rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

That's by far the most in depth, understandable and accurate documentation I've ever seen on the subject. Thanks!!!

-slinger

 

[DrD]

Its very easy to miss the rapid flash sequences, due to sunlight and other readiness activities that you might be involved with during that flash time. So you never really know IF rapid flashing was CL or the GPS, unless you reset CL and see the response again. If you see slow green flashes, you have made it through the preliminary steps, and have faith that CL is included!

As part of my pre-flight routine, I test HL and CL once airborne, to make sure they work as planned. This also helps me to remember that S1 and S2 switches are where I want them to be.

 

[Happyflyer]

Totally agree with DrD above. That way you know it will/should return if you loose sight and turn to HL to come back home.

 

[probonic]

Let's be clear here...
In Phantom or Naza GPS mode during the 1-2 min warm-up and initialization phase that occurs everytime you power up the a/c, two things are saved or recorded.

First is the direction or heading that the a/c is facing with it's magnetometer, this is for use with Course Lock (CL). The rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

Next will be the Home Point which includes GPS X-Y coordinates and the current elevation (as measured by atmospheric pressure). This requires 6+ GPS satellites to be acquired first and the time it takes depends on local GPS 'receiveability conditions'. Progress can be monitired by the rear LEDs via a green-red LED flash pattern. Once again the rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

This should be your normal take-off proceedure, wait for both sets of rapid green flashing LEDs.
After each of these things is stored the a/c in generally considered ready to fly.

Once airborne you can enable and disable CL as you wish.
You may also select CL before you take-off but that may not be adviseable as this is the time to check the 'health' of the a/c prior to flight with basic control inputs and CL could confuse the pilot.

Additionally the Course Lock heading can be reprogrammed in-flight via the S2 switch. Once the a/c is facing the new direction or heading you wish to store, move S2 from Off-to-CL-to-Off 3-5 times. Just as before, the rear LEDs will rapidly flash green for a second or so once recording is complete or successful.

I actually always wondered why there were 2 sets of rapidly blinking green lights. I didn't realise the first set was for course lock. Now I know

 

[BWJ]

In Phantom mode, is there only 1 set of rapidly blinking green lights. Right ???

 

[ianwood]

Setting CL in the air is such a pain. The amount of time I've sat there flipping the switch then waiting for the flashes is just silly.

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Wait. Nothing. Wait. Nothing. Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Wait. Nothing. Wait. Nothing. Curse. Curse. Flip. Flip. And so on for about a minute until something magically makes it work. Stupid.

Why should you have to flip the switch so many times? Why not just lock the current course when you engage CL? Duh.

Are you listening DJI? Bad design. Fix it!

 

[Pacific Barbarian]

Setting CL in the air is such a pain. The amount of time I've sat there flipping the switch then waiting for the flashes is just silly.

Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Wait. Nothing. Wait. Nothing. Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. Wait. Nothing. Wait. Nothing. Curse. Curse. Flip. Flip. And so on for about a minute until something magically makes it work. Stupid.

Why should you have to flip the switch so many times? Why not just lock the current course when you engage CL? Duh.

Are you listening DJI? Bad design. Fix it!

You perhaps mean setting new course lock heading? Or new home point? Setting course lock itself is only setting it to CL on S2, not flip flip flip flip flip.

 

[Prylar Bek]

OK, slowly I'm getting this. So...regardless if i'm in Nasi mode or newbie Phantom mode the S2 switch works as just described?

 

[doug86]

OK, slowly I'm getting this. So...regardless if i'm in Nasi mode or newbie Phantom mode the S2 switch works as just described?

No, the S2 switch works differently in Phantom mode and NAZA mode. Page 18 of user manual. In Phantom mode, the S2 switch only resets the Home Point. To use IOC (Course Lock & Home Lock) you need to be in NAZA mode.

 

[Prylar Bek]

Ok, see that. Now for practical sake. As a total newbie practicing in Phantom mode before progressing on to the other modes, wouldn't the ability to reset the compass and home mode be of benefit in a real world situation? I realise that many of you are vets at this and I's sure those of us who are just starting out have respective and sometimes duplicate questions can be annoying,so thank you in advance!

 

[bcass1]

Best to stick with Phantom mode until you are very comfortable whit the complicated operation of your drone. There is so much to learn just to be able to fly safely . You will learn something on every flight and make many mistakes as all of us did in the beginning. Just preparing for flight is complicated and involves many important steps. Don't worry about CL and HL or Naza mode for a while. It seems simple but it really is not. Naza mode is a totally different ball game. You do not want to change your home position in the air as a newbie because one time you are going to loose control of your drone when it is far away and you want to be sure it comes back to you where you are. You may think the drone has registered a new home position but it may not have and your drone might fly off into never never land. I believe that has happened to most of us and it's not a fun experience watching you drone fly off and not being able to get it back. Many of us were lucky and were able to have the drone fly home with out user control but many were not and their stories are here. Read them all. Good luck.

 

[wattage]

You perhaps mean setting new course lock heading? Or new home point? Setting course lock itself is only setting it to CL on S2, not flip flip flip flip flip.

I think that's what he means. I also have that problem, on both my FC-40 and F450 with NazaM FC. I've never successfully reprogrammed CL or HL in the air. Compass calibration on S1 works fine but rapid toggling of S2 does nothing. I've tried it every which way and the Naza just doesn't want to know.

 

[rrmccabe]

Why should you have to flip the switch so many times? Why not just lock the current course when you engage CL? Duh.

Are you listening DJI? Bad design. Fix it!

Well in my case I start off by possibly lining the direction for course lock to something so I can fly parallel to it.

Then start my filming. I don't want to set the angle of grid as soon as it's flipped on.

 

[ianwood]

Well in my case I start off by possibly lining the direction for course lock to something so I can fly parallel to it.

Then start my filming. I don't want to set the angle of grid as soon as it's flipped on.

Yeah, I'll do that too but often I find out the course is not perfectly aligned or I need to engage a different course. My whole point is that it's unnecessarily difficult to change it in flight.

 

[jwegener]

You can also use waypoint mode btw to see where home is set and see which way the drone is pointing which helps you figure out orientation