Franks Phantom 4 Story.

[Frankc]

Been out again. Tried a few of the modes. Tap fly, worked flawlessly. Spotted the tree in front of it and went over it. Terrain mode, worked great. In fact all the modes I tried worked as they should and just as important I could get into and out of the different modes with ease. Draw mode works great. etc

Just waiting for a day where the wind is not blowing hard!

 

[kpspecial]

Well took it out for a fly today. Just to get the feel for it. I converted it to a smaller format to make it clearer.

Click this :- Franks First Flight to see how it went.

One thing I did learn was dont play it in the VLC media player. It played vid back so badly I thought I was going to have to return it to Amazon! Was REALLY bad. I just played it through Microsoft Media player and despite it being low res player it played it ok. Phew!

Where did you fly?

 

[Frankc]

Where did you fly?

The hills you see in the Video are the Malvern Hills.

 

[kpspecial]

The hills you see in the Video are the Malvern Hills.

Very nice [emoji1360][emoji6]

 

[Frankc]

Well just been out in those rather high winds. Tried several 'modes'. Tap fly, worked as it should first time. Could stop and restart etc. Draw mode. Drew a U shaped line and it flew along it lovely. Terrain mode, despite wind keep trying to push it down it kept level flight. Active Track. Now this mode I was super impressed with. I used the mode at the bottom, focus? The one where you fly in any direction and up and down and it focuses on the object. Despite the wind shoving the drone in all sorts of directions it kept focus on me all the time. I flew off till I was a tiny dot on the screen, moved the drone from side to side. I walked away in several directions and it kept focusing on me all the time.

I know I have said this before but the contrast between this model and the last one I sent back is amazing. Now 100% sure that the one I sent back was wrong. No blacking out screens (touch wood etc) no being locked into functions or drones heading for trees instead of away from them. This new one is simply ******* great in comparison.

 

[sparky1111]

I have a P4 and tbh I'm scared to death to "Trust" any of the modes. I just feel when it's in autopilot something dreadful is going to happen to it. I mean I **** myself when I hit Rth as I never know if it will fly the right way. I hit rth last week and I'm sure it was going to fly straight over me but it did an emergency brake before landing. Phew!!

 

[Frankc]

Simply put it in beginner mode and you know it wont fly off far. Id just fly away a few yards and straight up and keep using the RTH mode till your confidence comes back. One thing you have to trust is the RTH. More than once I have flown it off and found something of interest on the screen and when I have pushed RTH the drone has returned from an unexpected direction. I honestly think the RTH is the best function of any of these drones.

 

[John Locke]

I have a P4 and tbh I'm scared to death to "Trust" any of the modes. I just feel when it's in autopilot something dreadful is going to happen to it. I mean I **** myself when I hit Rth as I never know if it will fly the right way. I hit rth last week and I'm sure it was going to fly straight over me but it did an emergency brake before landing. Phew!!

Part of owning a Phantom is learning to fly all modes so you understand how to use them, and use them enough to to trust them. RTH is very important to understand, use, and trust when things don't go as planned. What happens in various scenarios is essential to prevent mishaps. RTH altitude must be considered and set for each flight location, based on the height of buildings, trees, towers or mountains. This is because sometimes RTH will enable on its own, so it must be set prior to launch to prevent collisons if RTH auto-enables.

I recommend that each time you fly, master one of the flight modes in an effort to become an expert. Even if you won't use each mode in the future, you'll know how it works, and hopefully won't be afraid of it. The GO4 app can be complex to newbies, learning it takes time and persistence. However learning GO4 completely it is essential to minimize risk.

 

[Frankc]

I agree with John. There is no point in having a drone if your not going to use it and there is no point in using it if you dont trust it. If you do nothing else in the next week simply keep flying the drone away and hitting the RTH. As stated before ensure the RTH height settings will clear any buildings, trees etc by a good distance.

A few of things I should mention.

1. Dont fly from your back garden, apart from the legal stuff, unless you have a very big garden it could come to land next door. There is a precision landing setting but lets just stick to basic Return To Home for the min. 3 times out of 5 it will land 12-30 feet away from where it took off. As I said not every time but depending on circumstances, GPS, Compass etc it could go a little off landing pad so to speak. So fly in an open safe space till you know your and the drones limitations. More than once I have nearly landed it in a field hedge. Miles clear in front but I had a tree hedge behind.

2. When you press the RTH and say the drone is 40 feet in front of you do NOT expect it to come straight back to you. I did when I had my first drone and nearly had a brown trouser moment when it suddenly shot up into the air by 100 feet. To avoid obstacles that may be between you and the drone it firstly goes straight up to its Return To Home height. It then moves along and down. A sort of n shape in the sky.

3. Learn how to cancel the RTH. Its easy just push the cancel button on the left middle of the screen. Again just practice that a few times. Better to find out how to do it now than when you really need it. (like my BTM above ) It will simply stop and hover.

4. Even in RTH mode you still have control via the sticks if you need it.

5. Relax. This is supposed to be a fun hobby. Perhaps you could find a flying buddy who lives nearby to help until your confidence builds up.

Hope this has been of help.

 

[Frankc]

Till the cows come home..........

I went out this evening with nothing particular in mind. Where I film is what we call in the UK 'Common Land'. Basically its land owned by the locals. I can graze cows on there if I want! I did not bring my cow with me but took the opportunity to do some filming around them. These are not your ordinary cows. They have been bred to be placid. You can literally drive up to them and they just look at you as if your a tree. In the video below you can see this. At 1:34 the cows come over to take a look!

Anyway enjoy the video, it really was a lovely evening.

 

[Frankc]

Updated Soft/firmware.

Tonight I updated the DJI GO app and the aircraft firmware. That created a few problems but I hope after an hour or so working on it I have it sorted now. I will only know after I have flown tomorrow. The troubling bit is that this interface looks alarmingly like the interface of the drone I sent back. We will soon see if it presents the same problems as the previous Phantom.

 

[JHook]

Loved the cow video Frank. I'm still researching and reading a lot of threads before I buy. I do have a question. When you were flying just above the cows, how do you maintain your altitude to make sure your not getting any lower? Is there an altimeter signal on your screen you are watching to keep a level flight?
I'm interested in how your updates will go, I read a lot of bad vibes about the new firmware. Sometimes with all the reading I do here I'm kind of scared of buying a P4P
Thanks buddy,

John

 

[andy_k]

Simply put it in beginner mode and you know it wont fly off far. Id just fly away a few yards and straight up and keep using the RTH mode till your confidence comes back. One thing you have to trust is the RTH. More than once I have flown it off and found something of interest on the screen and when I have pushed RTH the drone has returned from an unexpected direction. I honestly think the RTH is the best function of any of these drones.

Rather than using RTH - learn to fly it properly and if you keep it within line of sight RTH is not going to be needed

 

[Frankc]

Loved the cow video Frank. I'm still researching and reading a lot of threads before I buy. I do have a question. When you were flying just above the cows, how do you maintain your altitude to make sure your not getting any lower? Is there an altimeter signal on your screen you are watching to keep a level flight?
I'm interested in how your updates will go, I read a lot of bad vibes about the new firmware. Sometimes with all the reading I do here I'm kind of scared of buying a P4P
Thanks buddy,

John

Hi John. Thanks for the compliments. Regarding the cows. The Phantoms are very good at keeping a steady altitude all by themselves. The problems come about because the ground rises and the drone doesn't! I flew very slowly as I did not want to disturb the cows, hence the cuts in the film. Need not have worried though as the drone had the opposite effect. Myself and the drone became surrounded by cows curious as to what we were and what we were doing. It frightened the dog, on a lead, who ended up barking at the when one went nose to nose with her.

Shame you dont live a little closer Id love to give you a free fly to boost your confidence in these machines. Being hi tech they can go wrong, like any device. Usually its because of the person flying either making a mistake or not understanding what they have to do. Buy a cheap, but good one, off ebay. Not the P4P yet. Practice with that first or even better find someone local who is willing to let you have a fly. I had a nice guy (just in case he reads this ) come over from Wales for a couple of lessons. After half and hour he was shooting the drone off in all directions.

Things to contemplate............. If you let go of the controls the phantom stops straight away and hovers. So if something is worrying you e.g you have flown to within inches of a wall/tree, you can simply let go of the controls while you work out what to do next. If you loose sight of it you simply push the RTH button and it will fly directly upwards, along, and (in theory) come back and land at your feet. NEVER be afraid to look like an idiot and ask questions. No matter how daft you may think they sound we have all been there.............. done that.

As for "you should never fly out of sight" yes your right. We should never go over the speed limit or eat/drink whilst driving our cars either.

 

[andy_k]

As for "you should never fly out of sight" yes your right. We should never go over the speed limit or eat/drink whilst driving our cars either.

Nor should we drive with our eyes shut!

Staying within line of sight is really easy - just don't let the drone go out of your line of sight - if that's too hard for you just set a distance limit in the app.

As for going over the speed limit....surprisingly, most people don't (to any great degree) as they tend to value their licences. sure, everybody strays over by a few mph now and then but that's very different to blatantly ignoring the law and doing just what you like when behind the wheel.

Your video? Why are you flying that close to livestock? 50m of separation is surely the minimum distance in this case?

 

[Frankc]

All good and valid points.

 

[Alan-G]

Update. The fun continues.

Sorted out most of the problems above, screen going black etc. The advice from DJI is you should uninstall the GO app and re-install it. On a tablet or phone I have no problem with that on the Pro Plus though I do not quite know where to begin except of course I may connect the RC to the PC. However I will only do this if the problems continue.

I also had a problem the next day when the video would not start. At home I sorted that be re-setting everything and starting again. That worked photos and videos ok.

Next Problem. Would not exit Tap Fly (TF) mode. Would not exit on going from P to A on switch at rear. Would not exit when I tapped the STOP button. Eventually I got it back to me but would not dare loose the controls as it immediately wanted to fly over to a nearby housing estate! Even on landing it tried to fly off, at one point turning the drone into a strimmer, now have a green prop.

Sorted that the next day. I feel pretty sure this is not an official way to do it but hey it worked for me. To exit TF mode I tapped the stop button. It does not immediately respond takes anything from 6 to 10 seconds, a lifetime when your heading towards a tree. Eventually it turns from STOP to the TF icon. Tap that again you have to wait, but at least at this point the drone has actually stopped, it goes into the Mode screen. Then I tap the 'Normal' icon, the one with the RC icon. The drone is now back into 'Normal mode'.

I have previously done a Compass calibration. So I thought id do a IMU calibration. Worked my way through the settings and found IMU calibration. Simple I thought all I have to do is follow the graphics. Yea right. Got stuck on 4 would not progress. Got green flashing lights but would go no further on the diagram. Left it for 15 mins. Still there. Ended up shutting off the drone and the RC and trying again. 3 attempts later still sticks at 4. Wont bore you with 'how' just tell you what I did. The way to calibrate your IMU or the positions they want you to put the drone in.

Drone on its legs facing towards you on a flat level surface. No Props!
Start calibration.
Calibration starts then not long after you hear the beep the green lights flash. Then you put down on your left side. (diagram obvious)
Beep and green lights ........ Turn it on to its right side. (diagram obvious)
Beep and green lights ........ Put the front nose down (not obvious!)
Beep and green lights ........ Put the rear of drone down. (again not obvious)
Beep and green lights ........ Lay drone on its back. (obvious diagram)

Seconds later job done. However I feel you should restart your drone and RC to finialise the job.

Franks Tip for newbies. Red circle = Video. White circle means camera. Little circular Icon above green/white icon changes between the modes. Tap relevant circle to either start video recording or take photo. (ok its obvious to you guys but not so obvious to new flyers)

Hope this post helps someone.

That calibration reminds me of my APM days about six/seven years ago. I thought things were moving forward not backward.

 

[andy_k]

I think that DJI's constant need to simplify the process of actually getting these drones off the ground is meaning more and more increasingly accurate calibration is required. Unlike other R/C flying there's almost no user input involved (apart from following a few simple diagrams) and no manual trimming of aircraft etc - open the box, follow the update process and away you go.

 

[Frankc]

Update woes?

This is a new one on me. Went flying this afternoon and the RC basically said I had run out of space on the SD card. Never known that before but as I had not cleared the previous days flights I assumed it could have just run out of storage. However on looking at the card tonight on the computer I had 29 Gb left. Hmmmm anyway I have formatted the card and will see when I next fly what the problem is.

I was hoping to catch some interesting video. I tried to deliberately crash the drone, or rather let the drone do that itself.

Terrain Follow. I used Terrain Follow and sent it down a flat bit of field with bramble bushes either side. With a lot of self restraint I just let it fly forward on the stick. It got to within a foot of the brambles and stopped! Phew. I really thought I was going to have to retrieve it. I found also found out a new, to me anyway, trick. Whilst its in Terrain Follow pull down on the left stick and you will find that the drone will NOT reduce in altitude. However if you hold down the left stick and the drone rises over a bump it will go down again on the other side to the set height. So I followed a rather undulating path quite well.

Tap Fly. Again I left the device to its errr own devices. It headed off course, due to wind, for a bunch of brambles. Again with a lot of self restraint I let it go......... It rose up above the brambles and down the other side.

The other problems is that after the new update I get the message "2.5 strong interference from your mobile or other sources" My phone was off and I was standing in the middle of a field where I had never had problems with interference in the last 3 years flying there.

So I have to sort out this recording business. Ohhh and the maps have gone again, despite downloading the offline maps.

 

[andy_k]

Update woes?

This is a new one on me. Went flying this afternoon and the RC basically said I had run out of space on the SD card. Never known that before but as I had not cleared the previous days flights I assumed it could have just run out of storage. However on looking at the card tonight on the computer I had 29 Gb left. Hmmmm anyway I have formatted the card and will see when I next fly what the problem is.

set the video cache to clear itself automatically