Distance of the Phantom 4

[ftttu]

I just got back from a Tap2Fly long distance mission using DJI Go 4. I can't use my 32 channel hack with it but I did use my Skyreat copper windsurfers. It was a little breezy but I went out 17,740' before RTH activated(58%). I took a minor detour before landing, but I landed with 17% battery.

When I do these long distance missions from my house, they are due south over open desert. Sometimes, I get interference from somewhere during those runs, but today, I was surprised I made it that far without any dropouts in RC or video connection. I'm wondering if DJI Go 4 had anything to do with it.

Again, if I go north where there is a mix of neighborhood residences and golf course, I can't make it to a water tower right at a mile away, even with the 32 channel hack and windsurfers. I have no idea what the interference wall is, but it stops me cold.

 

[radmx]

I got almost 10,000 feet with a mod dronenerds $159 booster. The software then stopped it. I had plenty of battery to come back. this was over the city of Murietta, Ca. heading over farm & suberb area thru a mountain pass. If u need to fly your drone further away then that, you should probably just drive walk or hike there. I got my booster for more close range penetration. @droneeverything on IG

 

[John Locke]

If you haven't experimented with Custom Channel, click HD and select the least busy channel and set that as a custom channel to fly. After that's done you then see the option to adjust the "Transmission Quality". Set that to the minimum of 4mbps. You won't see much degradation in video quality, however you will notice more range capability. This is because the craft doesn't have to work as hard to send video data back to the RC. Less dropouts and more range. That's what I always fly because I get better results. I also installed the 32ch hack and fly on Ch30 most the time.

 

[ftttu]

***Cut and pasted from another thread***

"I just got back from another Tap2Fly distance run, but this time it was on Go 3.1.1 or whatever the latest one is. I went out 20,226'(3.83 miles) with a round trip of 40,494'(7.669 miles). Again, it was south from my house so it is mostly over relatively flat and empty desert and the breeze was lighter than earlier today."

I started getting connection problems about 17.5k'/18k', but I only turned around due to low battery. I landed with 12% just because I RTH landed from 400'. I flew this one on channel 32 with the transmission quality all the way down just like John Locke advises.

Skyreat copper windsurfers, 32 channel hack

 

[diajavier]

23,000 feet

 

[diajavier]

 

[John Locke]

Nice distance, did you make it back?

 

[diajavier]

 

[diajavier]

With phantom 4 Pro Battery

 

[John Locke]

With phantom 4 Pro Battery

Yep, I was thinking you cut this flight kinda close. During the last10% you had to give it full up elevation to maintain elevation, right? It would be interesting to see your log on this flight. I'm wondering how far away you were from home when you got the auto landing notification, and how far you had to travel with full up elevation. At 0%, don't the motors turn off? Were you able to land it OK? Seems like there's more to this story than you've revealed so far. Let's hear more detail!

 

[diajavier]

Yes when the drone come down automatically, you need to pull up, so en the battery go to 0% you have like 3 min more in a good battery, I every drone a test firt the capacity of the battery but in the same place at 5 feet high, try it.

 

[go fast]

Yes when the drone come down automatically, you need to pull up, so en the battery go to 0% you have like 3 min more in a good battery, I every drone a test firt the capacity of the battery but in the same place at 5 feet high, try it.

Interesting that's good to know , I never run my batteries that low but in an emergency it's good that there's a little reserve power...

 

[John Locke]

Interesting that's good to know , I never run my batteries that low but in an emergency it's good that there's a little reserve power...

Agreed, it's good to know and understand a viable contingency plan. I'm guessing 90% of phantom pilots don't know how to maintain elevation when under 10% battery during the auto-land sequence, if they got into a pinch. Somebody needs to make a good video on this subject so pilots can learn about their options if they get caught downwind too far at 10% battery.

The guy that bought my P3P had it about a week and lost it downwind in the ocean because of low battery. He didn't know about this contingency plan at 10%. I'm pretty sure this contingency plan ISN'T mentioned in the manual.