If you know how to do this, please help those of us who are unsure.

[Ripper7620]

I had a close call today, because I didn't let my P4P come home when it first asked. instead of staying calm, and checking the map, and following it to the drone, I panicked, broke everything down, and went out on my bike to look. I found it in a small field relitively nearby. It decided to land in a safe location, rather than try to RTH. So what I'm asking, is can you track it on the map up to until the battery dies? Thank you in advance, my stupidity could have cost me my P4P, if was any farther away.

 

[Timinator]

If you had left the controller on, you would have seen exactly where it landed. When you panic, you make poor decisions. Poor decisions lead to poor airmanship. Definitely lessons to be learned here.

 

[Fly Dawg]

I found it in a small field relitively nearby. It decided to land in a safe location, rather than try to RTH. So what I'm asking, is can you track it on the map up to until the battery dies?

This most likely occurred due to critical battery auto land. Tracking on the map is one thing. Reading the actual location, per GPS CO, is another. The map will only give you a very vague general area. If you pull the data files from the device or the AC itself will give you much more precise CO. Data to the device is only available when you have Downlink from the AC.

 

[Ripper7620]

This most likely occurred due to critical battery auto land. Tracking on the map is one thing. Reading the actual location, per GPS CO, is another. The map will only give you a very vague general area. If you pull the data files from the device or the AC itself will give you much more precise CO. Data to the device is only available when you have Downlink from the AC.

Thank you very much, very helpful info, something I should have known before I flew.

 

[Ripper7620]

If you had left the controller on, you would have seen exactly where it landed. When you panic, you make poor decisions. Poor decisions lead to poor airmanship. Definitely lessons to be learned here.

Yep, if there's a next time, I'll keep my cool and go about it methodically.

 

[Fly Dawg]

Thank you very much, very helpful info, something I should have known before I flew.

Not necessarily,transmitted or recorded data is after the fact. Not a complete real time thing that you can see or notice while flying. But it is worth looking at from time to time. Just for informational purposes. But if there is ever an "incident" it will usually confirm any issues with the AC.

 

[Deleted member 109724]

I had a close call today, because I didn't let my P4P come home when it first asked. instead of staying calm, and checking the map, and following it to the drone, I panicked, broke everything down, and went out on my bike to look. I found it in a small field relitively nearby. It decided to land in a safe location, rather than try to RTH. So what I'm asking, is can you track it on the map up to until the battery dies? Thank you in advance, my stupidity could have cost me my P4P, if was any farther away.

First, you should probably get a Marco Polo drone tracker. The $250 is worth it for a 1500 dollar drone. Second, never panic! If you find you have made a mistake, stay calm. Your phone or tablet will give you a general location of the drone. Third, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS return to home when it warns you!!! I always watch the green bar that tells me how I am doing for rth time. Also never fly too far. Keep the drone close when the battery is under 60 percent. You might get away with a mile or 2 on 1 battery, but only attempt that if you have 90 or more percent battery. Fly safe![emoji3]

 

[Just_nick]

First, you should probably get a Marco Polo drone tracker. The $250 is worth it for a 1500 dollar drone. Second, never panic! If you find you have made a mistake, stay calm. Your phone or tablet will give you a general location of the drone. Third, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS return to home when it warns you!!! I always watch the green bar that tells me how I am doing for rth time. Also never fly too far. Keep the drone close when the battery is under 60 percent. You might get away with a mile or 2 on 1 battery, but only attempt that if you have 90 or more percent battery. Fly safe![emoji3]

$60 a year of State Farm insurance with almost 100% guarantee of refunds>a tracker that has zero guarantees which has higher up-front cost along with higher annual fees.

 

[Ripper7620]

First, you should probably get a Marco Polo drone tracker. The $250 is worth it for a 1500 dollar drone. Second, never panic! If you find you have made a mistake, stay calm. Your phone or tablet will give you a general location of the drone. Third, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS return to home when it warns you!!! I always watch the green bar that tells me how I am doing for rth time. Also never fly too far. Keep the drone close when the battery is under 60 percent. You might get away with a mile or 2 on 1 battery, but only attempt that if you have 90 or more percent battery. Fly safe![emoji3]

Great advide, thank you. I'm getting a pinger when they're available.

 

[Ripper7620]

$60 a year of State Farm insurance with almost 100% guarantee of refunds>a tracker that has zero guarantees which has higher up-front cost along with higher annual fees.

Not a bad deal at all, and if I get the Inspire 2, there's no way it's leaving the house without full coverage.

 

[Numone]

First, you should probably get a Marco Polo drone tracker. The $250 is worth it for a 1500 dollar drone. Second, never panic! If you find you have made a mistake, stay calm. Your phone or tablet will give you a general location of the drone. Third, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS return to home when it warns you!!! I always watch the green bar that tells me how I am doing for rth time. Also never fly too far. Keep the drone close when the battery is under 60 percent. You might get away with a mile or 2 on 1 battery, but only attempt that if you have 90 or more percent battery. Fly safe![emoji3]

Unless you're practicing something like manual T/O and landings, never EVER start a full flight with anything other than a 100% battery.

 

[Numone]

$60 a year of State Farm insurance with almost 100% guarantee of refunds>a tracker that has zero guarantees which has higher up-front cost along with higher annual fees.

Yeah, the word to note being "almost"....

 

[Ripper7620]

I forgot to mention, the drone beeps up until the battery gets too low when it can't make the RTH, that's a big part of how I found it so fast.

 

[Meta4]

I had a close call today, because I didn't let my P4P come home when it first asked. instead of staying calm, and checking the map, and following it to the drone, I panicked, broke everything down, and went out on my bike to look. I found it in a small field relitively nearby. It decided to land in a safe location, rather than try to RTH. So what I'm asking, is can you track it on the map up to until the battery dies? Thank you in advance, my stupidity could have cost me my P4P, if was any farther away.

If you want to learn from the incident, you might get enough information from the flight data to work out what happened.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

 

[Loz]

I feel you have has lots of good advice, also suggest you focus on avoiding this situation - know what the battery settings mean, typically settings are 30% of full charge will warn you of low battery, then, if you are still flying (like it sounds you were) at 10% the Phantom will try and save its self and land where it is, as battery is now critical. If this happens to be a hostile landing spot (eg water) the Phantom has no knowledge of this & is typically lost - many pilots then wondering why.. Key learning as you indicated in your first message, if one ignores warning messages and sounds, understand risk, ignoring is not always a bad idea, experienced pilots practice unexpected situations all the time.

 

[Speedmeister]

First, you should probably get a Marco Polo drone tracker. The $250 is worth it for a 1500 dollar drone. Second, never panic! If you find you have made a mistake, stay calm. Your phone or tablet will give you a general location of the drone. Third, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS return to home when it warns you!!! I always watch the green bar that tells me how I am doing for rth time. Also never fly too far. Keep the drone close when the battery is under 60 percent. You might get away with a mile or 2 on 1 battery, but only attempt that if you have 90 or more percent battery. Fly safe![emoji3]

The RTH battery guage does not take into account wind. If you travelled in one direction at 40mph for 10 minutes and If the the return speed is half that because of wind then you will need atleast 20 minutes to get back. If you waited for the RTH warning to return, it may not have enough power to do just that.

 

[Technical Bob]

I have one of these, already had it for a run away cat,
Loc8tor Plus drone / pet tracker / lost keys phone finder NEW | eBay

they are found much cheaper.

 

[Deleted member 109724]

The RTH battery guage does not take into account wind. If you travelled in one direction at 40mph for 10 minutes and If the the return speed is half that because of wind then you will need atleast 20 minutes to get back. If you waited for the RTH warning to return, it may not have enough power to do just that.

Yes, of course. I was assuming optional weather conditions. You obviously must be more cautious in bad weather.

 

[Speedmeister]

Yes, of course. I was assuming optional weather conditions. You obviously must be more cautious in bad weather.

I always check my speed on opposite direction when I get the wind warning. A seemingly perfect flying condition from the ground could be different from the air. It is in this 'perfect' conditions that get most of us caught off guard.

 

[$gambino$]

$60 a year of State Farm insurance with almost 100% guarantee of refunds>a tracker that has zero guarantees which has higher up-front cost along with higher annual fees.

Yea till you use it one time then state farm boots u from pa policy...had it happen to 2 friends already....its a bad deal for state farm