Dumb question... testing distance/range

[Jebus]

Sorry for the dumb question, but I was wondering how people test their Phantoms to see what kind of range or distance they can achieve. Are they simply relying on RTH failsafe? Basically fly it until RTH kicks in?

 

[davemcm]

that's what i do, usually got around 500-700m in urban area, but the other day i moved to the front of my house instead of the back and got 1300m no probs couldn't quite believe it...

oh yeah, forgot to add, i have done this on many many occasions, probably upward of 50, close to 100 and it hasn't failed me once, always hovers for a second, then turns and heads back, once it gets back a bit i usually switch to atti mode (then back to GPS mode straight away if you like) and take back control, haven't let it actually RTH land for a long while.

 

[Jebus]

Thanks davemcm. I assumed that's what people are doing, but didn't know if people actually trusted the RTH feature that much.

 

[2trickpony]

You HAVE to trust the RTH is you are performing range tests !!

 

[Jebus]

You HAVE to trust the RTH is you are performing range tests !!

Obviously! The best advice I think I've gathered from these forums is one member's suggestion to take the Phantom 40 or 50 feet away from home, switch to HL and pull back on the remote. This will let you know for sure whether or not the Phantom has recorded the home position properly. I would think if that works, then you should be pretty confident that RTH will work.

 

[Byrdimaging]

Just a suggestion.

The home point is set as soon as your phantom gets 6 sats. With GPS the more sats you have the better your position accuracy is. This is especially true if your Phantom set it's home point using 6 sats of which none are geosynchronous.

Let your Phantom set it's home point at 6 sats, then wait until you have like 8 sats and reset the home point. If you are having trouble getting more than 6 sats fly up to 20 feet or so AFTER you have 6 sats and have set the home point and hover for a few seconds. With less obstructions it will get sats quicker, then land and reset the home point.

 

[RogerClark]

Just a suggestion.

Let your Phantom set it's home point at 6 sats, then wait until you have like 8 sats and reset the home point.

I've noticed that my Phantom 2 (with latest firmware) sets the home point twice by its self.

It appears to do it once when it gets 6 sats, and again when it gets more e.g. 8 sats + etc.
(i.e I lie on the ground and watch the LED's - which can be tedious but necessary)

In terms of range testing, I'm not sure that relying on RTH is necessary the best option. I'd prefer to get a friend to hang on to the RC transmitter, then walk or drive off with the Phantom until the lights flash yellow.

Albeit this would not be line of sight range if there were any obstacles between you and the RC transmitter location, but it would give a "worst case" range. i.e in case you flew the phantom behind a tree at some distance from your location.

 

[ElGuano]

Just a suggestion.

Let your Phantom set it's home point at 6 sats, then wait until you have like 8 sats and reset the home point.

I've noticed that my Phantom 2 (with latest firmware) sets the home point twice by its self.

It appears to do it once when it gets 6 sats, and again when it gets more e.g. 8 sats + etc.
(i.e I lie on the ground and watch the LED's - which can be tedious but necessary)

In terms of range testing, I'm not sure that relying on RTH is necessary the best option. I'd prefer to get a friend to hang on to the RC transmitter, then walk or drive off with the Phantom until the lights flash yellow.

Albeit this would not be line of sight range if there were any obstacles between you and the RC transmitter location, but it would give a "worst case" range. i.e in case you flew the phantom behind a tree at some distance from your location.

the documentation for Naza doesn't describe this explicitly, but we think one set of rapid green flashes, which happens 30 seconds after boot up, is capturing course lock direction. The next, which happens after at least 6 satellites are locked, is home lock coordinates.

 

[RogerClark]

Ah OK.

Its hard to precisely know how many green flashes there were. It looked like it was setting Home Position twice.

I just looked up the docs from the wiki and I see it described as "Record forward direction or home point"

So I guess this is a bit confusing, as if you see twenty very fast green flashes, it may not have been Home point, it may have been "forward direction"

Hopefully by the time its just flashing green, it has done its home point stuff.

 

[Jebus]

Got me thinking... just wondering... if you don't wait for the second set of green flashes (setting home point) and you take off, go 40ft away and switch the remote to HL to test, what happens if there isn't a recorded home point? I assume nothing - as RTH can't kick in either because it has no 'home' to go to.

 

[RogerClark]

I assume nothing - as RTH can't kick in either because it has no 'home' to go to.

umm, thats a big assumption.

Its possible that it remembers the last home position it recorded. which could be a totally different location.

There are plenty of reports of FlyAway's, most of which seem to be attributed to not having set the Home Position.

I guess the sensible thing to do in terms of the programming of the NAZA is if the engines are powered up before home point is set, then if Fail Safe is entered in flight, then the best option would be to just land where it is, and not attempt to fly to the last home point (as this may not be valid)

However, there is preciously little documentation from DJI about these sorts of things as far as I know.

 

[Jebus]

I agree. That would probably be the most sensible thing - but it sounds like it'd be a good thing to know for sure! Anyone know?

 

[Byrdimaging]

Got me thinking... just wondering... if you don't wait for the second set of green flashes (setting home point) and you take off, go 40ft away and switch the remote to HL to test, what happens if there isn't a recorded home point? I assume nothing - as RTH can't kick in either because it has no 'home' to go to.

Correct, Also keep in mind that Home Lock switches off when it gets close. I think it's 30ft.

 

[Jebus]

Yup.

 

[phxbird57]

Thanks davemcm. I assumed that's what people are doing, but didn't know if people actually trusted the RTH feature that much.

Just remember to have a good GPS lock (more then 5 sat. ) So it knows where to come back too. Last week I was out 1200ft the drone was coming back and I lost all signals and it was talking me no gps . Not sure why that happen I was out in the open. anyways it did a hard landing backwards about 1000ft from me. I did recover the drone.

 

[Amckim2084]

Sorry for the dumb question, but I was wondering how people test their Phantoms to see what kind of range or distance they can achieve. Are they simply relying on RTH failsafe? Basically fly it until RTH kicks in?

Just make sure you have your RTH failsafe set to return to home. You don't want it to be set to hover or land. I check it every single time I fly because I have noticed it change on me before. Probably because of updates.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I've noticed that my Phantom 2 (with latest firmware) sets the home point twice by its self.

It appears to do it once when it gets 6 sats, and again when it gets more e.g. 8 sats + etc.
(i.e I lie on the ground and watch the LED's - which can be tedious but necessary)

...

This isn't correct.

You're referring to the flashing green lights.

The first set of flashing green lights is telling you that it knows what direction the aircraft is pointing. In other words, the compass is working correctly. This will happen well before you acquire six satellites.

Once you acquire your six satellites, it will flash green quickly again exactly as it had before. But this time, the flashing green means you have your home point locked.

Hope this helps.