Help... lost my P3... what now?

I appreciate the advice and opinion. Honestly, thank you to all who took the time to look at the logs. I am not ignoring or denying wind was a significant role here, But to me its about when it became a factor. I maintained line of sight and I saw it drift after disconnect. Not controller response. Not struggle to come home at 1:14 plus 3 as it should have I just didn't see the redundant safety factors that DJI sells their platform on, kicking in here at all. I will keep all posted

The first downlink disconnect was at 74 seconds, 670 ft altitude, and 1490 ft distance. I'm sorry, but I simply cannot see how you could have had VLOS and were able to distinguish drifting (whatever that means) at that distance.

The log data, on the other hand, clearly show what it was doing, and why, i.e. your stick inputs. Before downlink was lost you had been driving it NE with around 2/3 elevator at 35 mph. 0.6 seconds before downlink was lost you centered the elevator stick. When downlink was recovered 18 seconds later the elevator stick was still centered, and the aircraft speed had dropped to 6.5 mph, but still moving away to the NE - that was the best it could do in the wind while trying to hold position. It was not simply drifting. That tells you how strong the wind was.

2017-10-08_0-30-12_Standard_03.png
 
so sorry on the loss of your phantom. I hope you are able to replace it. I crashed my first P3S on my 4th flight. I replaced it and bought DJI refresh so that in the event of a crash while I am learning the ins and outs, it won't be so bad. I learned a lot from your loss and all the analysis here, so thanks for sharing. Good to know about the uplink not being lost along with the downlink and therefore RTH not being initiated.
 
I'm new here so I hope I'm not violating any rules. I'm also hoping someone can point me in the right direction.... since I've spent all day in a raft and walking around a marsh. Story: brand new phantom 3 (7/2017) have been extremely cautious with it. Have range extender and I live in the city where there's lots of interference, so when I come down to the shore my range doubles and triples it seems. Last night took off with 12 satellites and 100% battery and 3 minutes in it was gone. RTH was set up and should have kicked in? I actually set the RTH height as I took off.
I jumped in my jeep and drove towards the direction and I got one more feed of information that showed it over marsh land at an altitude of around 600' and then nothing. I am assuming that it continued to slowly drift with the wind and then dropped? I don't see any sign RTH kicked in, but I was very conservative with the limits. ( always landed when battery hit 50% for example) I uploaded to Air Data and everything looks okay, that I just wasn't in range? But technically I was. Why wouldn't the RTH bring it back? Should I call DJI, can they offer any further info? I appreciate any info, I really enjoyed this drone and the camera and feel like I just lost my wallet!

Below is the link for the flight CSV.

2017-10-08_0-30-12_Standard.csv
You can replace your wallet for $314. Newegg has DJI refurbished Phantom 3 Std on sale for $314 until Wed 18th. These are from official DJI store. I got one 2 weeks ago for $349. It arrived in 5 days, looks and flies like new.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thatsanicepicture
You can replace your wallet for $314. Newegg has DJI refurbished Phantom 3 Std on sale for $314 until Wed 18th. These are from official DJI store. I got one 2 weeks ago for $349. It arrived in 5 days, looks and flies like new.


Waiting for my refurbished from Newegg now be here Monday
 
  • Like
Reactions: thatsanicepicture
P3's do not have any redundant sensors, that was introduced with P4. Sorry if I am mixing up posts where someone other than OP was commenting on their P4 thoughts.

I can attest to a P3 not engaging RTH on a perceived signal loss. I had that happen where RTH only engaged due to low battery (BIG sigh of relief). I analyzed both the drive DAT log and app TXT log, AC claimed never having lost signal but app did claim signal loss.
There are actually 3 signals: video downlink, telemetry downlink and control uplink.
On a P3, 'disconnected' refers to connection between app and RC, not between AC and RC. The latter is signified by 'no or weak signal' which you'll see when you have the AC off but app connected to RC. At least this is true for A or P, but still likely for WiFi based Standard.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thatsanicepicture
Sorry to hear about your lost P3. All I have from the peanut gallery is be careful about beyond LOS flying. Another thing I recommend for all of us is to study for and get a Part 107 certificate. We are pilots and need to know the rules.
 
Sorry for your loss, but flying ~200' above the maximum allowed level is a bad idea nonetheless (you are into manned flight airspace, drones should never fly above 400' in the USA). In many years in this hobby (DYI), I have seen countless examples of new pilots flying too high without realizing that winds at >200' have no relation to the ground level, and that's one more reason to look for wind effects while going up (put the drone in ATTI mode every 100' or so and monitor drift. A fast drift while gaining altitude is a sure sign of a strong wind gradient, and usually it gets worse with height. Modern DJI drones do not require the pilot to learn to fly, really, so in case of problems it's hard for a pilot to know what to do. Flying a drone 100% manually (which is not possible in a P3S) or at least in ATTI is a good idea to know what the environment around you is. Only when flying in ATTI, the strength of the wind above ground can be truly appreciated

As a side note, adding a range extender made your problem worse. Not sure if you realize it, but a range extender only increases the Tx range, not telemetry and video, making the drone capable of being controller at 2-3x the distance the drone signal can travel. So you can keep control of your P3S well beyond when the telemetry and video disappears. That might make you think that the drone lost signal, when in reality the drone has very strong signal and you simply don't see anything anymore. In those conditions the drone will never trigger RTH: you losing telemetry and video has no relationship to the RTH which depends on the P3S receiving a signal at all

There's a reason why the more expensive DJI drones use better radio links both ways. DJI designs the drones to be "balanced": strong signal both ways, or weaker signal both ways (P3S). Adding a signal extender would also require adding an extender to the drone and better drone antennas, if you want to maintain control all the way. Or a stronger Tx signal only means no RTH until you are past the ability of the drone to return in a windy situation
 
  • Like
Reactions: thatsanicepicture
P3's do not have any redundant sensors, that was introduced with P4. Sorry if I am mixing up posts where someone other than OP was commenting on their P4 thoughts.

I can attest to a P3 not engaging RTH on a perceived signal loss. I had that happen where RTH only engaged due to low battery (BIG sigh of relief). I analyzed both the drive DAT log and app TXT log, AC claimed never having lost signal but app did claim signal loss.
There are actually 3 signals: video downlink, telemetry downlink and control uplink.
On a P3, 'disconnected' refers to connection between app and RC, not between AC and RC. The latter is signified by 'no or weak signal' which you'll see when you have the AC off but app connected to RC. At least this is true for A or P, but still likely for WiFi based Standard.
Sorry - this isn't quite right.

AC claimed never having lost signal but app did claim signal loss.

The AC is telling you the truth. The app is disconnected so the data on the screen and in the log on your mobile device is not correct. Your app gives you info indicating a loss of connection, but you actually do have a control connection which is why it won't RTH. Turning the controller off will initiate RTH every time.

There are actually 3 signals: video downlink, telemetry downlink and control uplink.

There are actually 2 signals: control and FPV/telemetry. The telemetery is imbedded within the video signal channel where the audio channel would normally be.

On a P3, 'disconnected' refers to connection between app and RC, not between AC and RC.

On a P3S, DISCONNECTED means loss of the control signal. This is rare because usually you'd have a loss of the FPV (i.e. wifi) signal first which means the screen would freeze.
 
Just curious why has no one ever mentioned putting one of these on all your drones? Would this not solve a lot of these problems super light weight, flat and unobtrusive.?

weighs a few ounces very small for a Phantom, cost to loss ratio really good

Just a thought
https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Vehicle-Tracking-Real-time-Motorcycles/dp/B01BEZ7TQM/?tag=aboutcom02lifewire-20&ascsubtag=1683621|google.com|||83,88,4,15,79|1|

I don't think anybody has every looked into trackers. ;) :D

any way of tracking a lost phantom? or stolen....

Search Results for Query: tracker | DJI Phantom Drone Forum

Rod
 
I am a big fan of trackers but the Vectu makes me hesitant because I'm in the USA and it uses 2G. Trackimo OTOH uses 3G if I'm willing to pony up the bucks. I keep hoping Flytrex will get back online.
 

Recent Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,094
Messages
1,467,602
Members
104,979
Latest member
ozmtl