Home Lock ****l

[pdmike]

I ran into a little problem today attempting to put the Phantom 4 quad into Home Lock. I thought you began the process by taking off and hovering the quad at least 20 feet away from the home point. I did that. The next thing I did was tap the quad icon (image of a quad with "OPTI" to the right of it.) Did that. This took me to Main Controller Settings. I had thought the next step was to tap on Advanced Settings in the Main Controller Settings, which was supposed to take me to a screen where I could switch on Multiple Flight Modes. Once that happened, a window was supposed to pop up giving me the option to tap on Home Lock and hit Apply.

Well, the first part of all that happened but not the last. I hovered a distance away from the home point and then hit the quad (OPTI) icon. This took me to the Main Controller Settings. There is a Multiple Flight Modes switch in the Main Controller Settings. I switched that on. After that, nothing happened. No window popped up giving me the opportunity to switch the quad into Home Lock.

I'm really getting frustrated with this Home Lock thing. It should be very easy to do it, yet I have spent hours trying to find instructions for the Phantom 4 Home Lock feature (I found none).

Could anyone reading this give me a step-by-step on how to get the P4 into Home Lock?

Also, I have a related question. When I finally figure out how to do it, will the quad fly in all directions (forward, back, left and right) regardless of which way it is facing, or will it just return to home if you pull down on the right stick without directional control in the other three directions?

 

[PaulSouthport]

Hi. With everything powered up and ready to fly - but not flying - enable multiple flight modes (making sure beginner mode off first).. Reboot the everything.
Now when you next power up multiple flight modes will be enabled, no need to set it again (except possibly after app update).
When in flight and away from you, click the quad icon - left of camera view below the take off and land buttons - that should now take you straight to the flight modes

 

[pdmike]

Hi. With everything powered up and ready to fly - but not flying - enable multiple flight modes (making sure beginner mode off first).. Reboot the everything.
Now when you next power up multiple flight modes will be enabled, no need to set it again (except possibly after app update).
When in flight and away from you, click the quad icon - left of camera view below the take off and land buttons - that should now take you straight to the flight modes

Thank you. What do you mean exactly when you say, "Reboot the everything"? Would that be quad, controller and GO app?

 

[Mark The Droner]

...

Also, I have a related question. When I finally figure out how to do it, will the quad fly in all directions (forward, back, left and right) regardless of which way it is facing, or will it just return to home if you pull down on the right stick without directional control in the other three directions?

It'll do all the above as you describe. One of the cool things it will do that nobody ever mentions is it will fly a circle around the home point - all you have to do is left or right on the right-hand stick. Doesn't matter how it's pointing.

 

[pdmike]

It'll do all the above as you describe. One of the cool things it will do that nobody ever mentions is it will fly a circle around the home point - all you have to do is left or right on the right-hand stick. Doesn't matter how it's pointing.

Yes, but will it fly left and right, forward and back, regardless of the way it is facing?

 

[Mark The Droner]

Yes, but will it fly left and right, forward and back, regardless of the way it is facing?

Yes sir. Everything it does is relative to the home point.

 

[AnchorageAk]

You do not have to be more then 20 feet away for it to acquire a home point, for a normal landing. I like to fly with the camera pointing in the direction of travel. It helps OA, and steering the drone on the operator end.

 

[PaulSouthport]

Thank you. What do you mean exactly when you say, "Reboot the everything"? Would that be quad, controller and GO app?

Yes, restart quad, controller, close and reopen Go app

 

[sar104]

Yes, but will it fly left and right, forward and back, regardless of the way it is facing?

Relative to the direction home, which is a radial, yes. If you want it to fly like that relative to a fixed bearing then you want course lock.

 

[pdmike]

Relative to the direction home, which is a radial, yes. If you want it to fly like that relative to a fixed bearing then you want course lock.

So, let's say the quad is still in sight, but so far away, I can't tell which way it is facing. I put it into Home Lock. I push the right stick to the right. Will the quad fly directly to the right, regardless of the way it is actually facing? When I say directly to the right, I mean 90 degrees to the right from a direct line between the quad and the controller. Will it do that?

 

[JazzAir]

Mike. It sounds like you might be confusing Home Lock (HL) with Course Lock (CL). Home lock you'd use in that instance where you've lost 'head' of the craft and want to pull it straight back home. After getting it into HL as described above, you'd pull STRAIGHT BACK on the right stick to bring it back home... no matter which way the 'head' is facing. CL is a different function. Once in the air, point the craft the direction you'd want it's 'head' to be. From that point, no matter where the 'head' is facing it will be forward or back, side to side with the right stick.

Correct me if I'm wrong folks.

Try it in the simulator to get the feel of it. No trees.

 

[PaulSouthport]

So, let's say the quad is still in sight, but so far away, I can't tell which way it is facing. I put it into Home Lock. I push the right stick to the right. Will the quad fly directly to the right, regardless of the way it is actually facing? When I say directly to the right, I mean 90 degrees to the right from a direct line between the quad and the controller. Will it do that?

See JazzAirs response above - but also, don't forget you have a "radar" display and map view that will give you directional feedback

 

[sar104]

So, let's say the quad is still in sight, but so far away, I can't tell which way it is facing. I put it into Home Lock. I push the right stick to the right. Will the quad fly directly to the right, regardless of the way it is actually facing? When I say directly to the right, I mean 90 degrees to the right from a direct line between the quad and the controller. Will it do that?

Yes - relative to the line between the aircraft and the home point. So left or right stick will actually cause it to move in a circle around the home point, as mentioned in post #4.

 

[pdmike]

See JazzAirs response above - but also, don't forget you have a "radar" display and map view that will give you directional feedback

Prior to getting my Phantom 4, I had a Syma X8SC that was able to fly in what they call HEADLESS mode. With HM activated on the Syma, it didn't matter which way the drone was pointing, it would react exactly as if it was pointed directly away from the controller, which means it would not only come straight back if you pulled it back or go forward if you pushed it forward, but it would also go left and right in a straight line if you moved it either way with the controller.

No one has answered this question for me yet. I have a feeling that Home Lock with the P4 won't do all that. Yes, you can pull the quad straight back toward you in HL. You may even be able to push it away from you as well. But all I have seen on YouTube so far is that if you move the P4 right or left in Home Lock, it will circle the point of takeoff (the home point) but will not move left or right horizontally.

Do I have that right?

 

[JazzAir]

Prior to getting my Phantom 4, I had a Syma X8SC that was able to fly in what they call HEADLESS mode. With HM activated on the Syma, it didn't matter which way the drone was pointing, it would react exactly as if it was pointed directly away from the controller, which means it would not only come straight back if you pulled it back or go forward if you pushed it forward, but it would also go left and right in a straight line if you moved it either way with the controller.

No one has answered this question for me yet. I have a feeling that Home Lock with the P4 won't do all that. Yes, you can pull the quad straight back toward you in HL. You may even be able to push it away from you as well. But all I have seen on YouTube so far is that if you move the P4 right or left in Home Lock, it will circle the point of takeoff (the home point) but will not move left or right horizontally.

Do I have that right?

Yep. and Yep. The Phantom line doesn't have HM or Headless as described above.

 

[PaulSouthport]

With respect, there's no point trying to compare the P4 series to a toy. As regards the Syma, if I recall, headless mode relied on the drone setting a directional flag internally. So yes, on the Syma you can fly it left and right, then pull back and it will, roughly, come home. Make that left and right movement in the distances the P4 can manage and it will miss you by a mile.

So to answer your question, yes, it will do all the Syma can do.

 

[pdmike]

With respect, there's no point trying to compare the P4 series to a toy. As regards the Syma, if I recall, headless mode relied on the drone setting a directional flag internally. So yes, on the Syma you can fly it left and right, then pull back and it will, roughly, come home. Make that left and right movement in the distances the P4 can manage and it will miss you by a mile.

So to answer your question, yes, it will do all the Syma can do.

I don't think it will. Consider a situation where the P4 is still in sight, but is so far away you can't determine its orientation, i.e., you don't know which way it is facing. If you put it into Home Lock, it seems to me all you are going to be able to do is bring it home by pulling the right stick down. You will not be able to fly it as you would if it was flying directly away from you in normal mode. If you try and fly it right or left, it won't go right or left; it will circle the home point. So it won't do all the Syma can do. Am I missing something?

 

[pdmike]

Yep. and Yep. The Phantom line doesn't have HM or Headless as described above.

Thought so. Thank you.

 

[pdmike]

OK - now the main question posed by the OP on this thread: Can anyone give me a step-by-step on how to activate Home Lock with a Phantom 4. Not a Phantom 2 or 3 (which seems to be the only You Tube videos available on this question), but a Phantom 4.

 

[PaulSouthport]

I don't think it will. Consider a situation where the P4 is still in sight, but is so far away you can't determine its orientation, i.e., you don't know which way it is facing. If you put it into Home Lock, it seems to me all you are going to be able to do is bring it home by pulling the right stick down. You will not be able to fly it as you would if it was flying directly away from you in normal mode. If you try and fly it right or left, it won't go right or left; it will circle the home point. So it won't do all the Syma can do. Am I missing something?

Then you put in course lock - or use the radar or map views.

To add to that, the reason the Syma works the way it does is because it can't do what the Phantom does. That's fine when your range is 100m or thereabouts, but absolutely not fine when you have the range you now have.