I think Litchi screwed up my P4P

[Lefty63]

After much hesitation, I installed Litchi on my P4P, running FW 01.02.0304. It flew great for the two or three flights for my trials. Then I flew it with the DJI Go app again. I noticed a lot more interference, and loss of signal more frequently, in the same areas. The EXIF data on my photos also shows the wrong year in the date. I want to try and upgrade my FW, and then downgrade it back to the current version, to see if that fixes the interference and date issues. Then I'll wait before installing Litchi again. What kind of problems could I run into by changing around the firmware? I'm of the belief if it ain't broke don't fix it when it comes to FW upgrades, so I'm not too versed in FW changes.

 

[Meta4]

After much hesitation, I installed Litchi on my P4P, running FW 01.02.0304. It flew great for the two or three flights for my trials. Then I flew it with the DJI Go app again. I noticed a lot more interference, and loss of signal more frequently, in the same areas. The EXIF data on my photos also shows the wrong year in the date. I want to try and upgrade my FW, and then downgrade it back to the current version, to see if that fixes the interference and date issues. Then I'll wait before installing Litchi again. What kind of problems could I run into by changing around the firmware? I'm of the belief if it ain't broke don't fix it when it comes to FW upgrades, so I'm not too versed in FW changes.

It's unlikely that using Litchi made any changes to your Phantom.
Litchi is a good program with thousands of users.
I haven't heard any similar complaints before.

 

[Lefty63]

It's unlikely that using Litchi made any changes to your Phantom.
Litchi is a good program with thousands of users.
I haven't heard any similar complaints before.

Hmm, everything was working great until I installed Litchi. I'd heard lots of good things about it before taking the plunge, so I was surprised to have such issues. I guess I'll look at other avenues for solutions. Sending it to DJI is NOT an option.

 

[smiller]

Extremely unlikely, bordering on impossible, that Litchi was responsible for those issues.

 

[Lefty63]

I understand everybody wanting to stick up for Litchi. From what I've read about it, it's a great app, but not without it's problems. My P4P had NO issues. Once I installed and ran Litchi, these issues appeared. Based on that I would not say it is unlikely, or near impossible that Litchi caused these problems.

 

[stones]

IOS or Android? Did you have both apps running at the same time? Try uninstalling DJI Go and then run Litchi again. See what shakes out. Then do the opposite ( remove Litchi, run Go) and see what the results are.

 

[Lefty63]

IOS or Android? Did you have both apps running at the same time? Try uninstalling DJI Go and then run Litchi again. See what shakes out. Then do the opposite ( remove Litchi, run Go) and see what the results are.

IOS, and I only ran one program at a time. I deleted Litchi and ran DJI Go. Same issues. I'll try deleting DJI Go and then running Litchi. I'm going to wait until morning, and do an IMU calibration with Litchi.

 

[Lefty63]

OK. so you can't calibrate the IMU with Litchi. Oops. Still concerned about the date format, and what caused it. It's not terribly important other than knowing what caused it. I'll be flying in a different area today, so I'll see how the range and interference are.

 

[dwallersv]

I understand everybody wanting to stick up for Litchi. From what I've read about it, it's a great app, but not without it's problems. My P4P had NO issues. Once I installed and ran Litchi, these issues appeared. Based on that I would not say it is unlikely, or near impossible that Litchi caused these problems.

While I too am a Litchi user, it is not out of some misplaced loyalty, or worse some "fanboy" attitude, that I come to Litchi's defense regarding your problem.

I come at this as an engineer with deep understanding of how these things work.

It is simply impossible that Litchi is responsible for your problems. Litchi does not make any modifications to the firmware (i.e. the "software" running the machine) on the Phantom itself. It is purely a smart-device (phone, tablet) application that uses the DJI-supplied client SDK to send control commands to the aircraft.

The only thing that Litchi can modify on the drone itself are a small handful of stored parameters, like the home point location. And as noted above, it does this through programming interfaces supplied by DJI.

Yes, something is not working right with your P4P. The problems, however, are when flying with DJI client software, not Litchi. It is likely nothing more than coincidence that this happened at the same time you were experimenting with Litchi.

The problems you describe are somewhat common with DJI GO 4 and the latest release of the app AND firmware for the aircraft. There are many discussions regarding these same issues, with Litchi no where in the equation.

 

[Lefty63]

While I too am a Litchi user, it is not out of some misplaced loyalty, or worse some "fanboy" attitude, that I come to Litchi's defense regarding your problem.

I come at this as an engineer with deep understanding of how these things work.

It is simply impossible that Litchi is responsible for your problems. Litchi does not make any modifications to the firmware (i.e. the "software" running the machine) on the Phantom itself. It is purely a smart-device (phone, tablet) application that uses the DJI-supplied client SDK to send control commands to the aircraft.

The only thing that Litchi can modify on the drone itself are a small handful of stored parameters, like the home point location. And as noted above, it does this through programming interfaces supplied by DJI.

Yes, something is not working right with your P4P. The problems, however, are when flying with DJI client software, not Litchi. It is likely nothing more than coincidence that this happened at the same time you were experimenting with Litchi.

The problems you describe are somewhat common with DJI GO 4 and the latest release of the app AND firmware for the aircraft. There are many discussions regarding these same issues, with Litchi no where in the equation.

Thank you for explaining your answer, vs just dismissing Litchi as the culprit. I have read alot about Litchi, and was fairly confident in the program. The problems I did see people have were because they were either, running that app alongside the DJI Go, which to me sounds silly, or using the updated firmware release from DJI, which is not fully compatible with Litchi,

After doing some more research, and investigating, it seems as though you were correct, that this was just a coincidence with Litchi's install. I've looked at my video files in Adobe Bridge, which gives the wrong year. After looking on DJI's forum, others are having the same issue, and they are all using Adobe products. So I looked at the files in finder on my mac, and the dates are correct. Now I'm thinking it's an Adobe thing.
As for the interference issues, I noticed that the trees in my area have the leaves coming back on them. When I had the interference troubles, it was before the leaves had come out. I will fly in an open area where I've flown before and see if there's any difference.

 

[dwallersv]

Yeah, healthy, robust trees with nice green leaves look like a solid impenetrable wall to EM signals.

I have a Hubsan 501S that I use for "play" flying. My range record with it so far is 3200m (2 miles). Had to turn back not because of loss of signal, but because of battery. I plan to double up the battery and see how far I can go before it loses contact and does an RTH.

Anyway, there's a different direction I'd like to try off my deck, but there's ONE TREE in the way, and that is enough to cut that range down to about 600m before I lose video and control.

So there ya go.

(one nasty thing about the 501S RTH is it returns at whatever altitude it's at when RTH activates -- something I thankfully tested out in a flat field when I was first learning about the aircraft)

 

[Lefty63]

I've been looking at everything that changed when I started with the issues. Litchi was first on my mind as it was freshly installed. Then the Adobe thing came up, and as I was mowing the lawn, I noticed how the trees had filled out. Then it hit me. lol.

 

[bsartist]

I've been looking at everything that changed when I started with the issues. Litchi was first on my mind as it was freshly installed. Then the Adobe thing came up, and as I was mowing the lawn, I noticed how the trees had filled out. Then it hit me. lol.

I do my best thinking and problem solving while mowing.

 

[Lefty63]

I do my best thinking and problem solving while mowing.

I do my best thinking and problem solving while positioned like I'm mowing . . . .