Litchi App Questions

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I am fairly new to the drone world.
A little history - I've been flying my P4P for a few months now and feel like I've gotten pretty familiar with it and it's features.

Questions -
* Will Litchi work with the P4P?
* I read somewhere that when missions are loaded they get loaded straight to the drone so distance isn't a factor for disconnect with the RC, is this true?
* If it disconnects from the RC does it RTH during the mission?
* Any known issues with Litchi that would compromise the drone such as fly aways etc.

Thanks in advance.
 
If you lose connection when a mission is running, the AC will finish the mission.
 
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Litchi is available for the P4P but there were some issues with a few of the modes:
Litchi with P4P?
There was a recent updated iOS version which cured the problems with my P4 but I suspect that some of the outstanding concerns need to be addressed by a firmware update from DJI.
 
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Any known issues with Litchi that would compromise the drone such as fly aways etc.
The biggest problem with Litchi is that it will fly your Phantom exactly where you program it to.
If you send it into the trees, that's where it goes.
Litchi is very reliable (just like your Phantom) but not all users are.
 
You may also care to take note that the gimbal control is a function that comes from a connected transmitter, so if you fly out of range, all programmed or automated points of interest will not be sent to the phantom.
 
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You may also care to take note that the gimbal control is a function that comes from a connected transmitter, so if you fly out of range, all programmed or automated points of interest will not be sent to the phantom.
That's not true for Litchi. All gimbal and camera commands are remotely executed from the mission program that resides in the drone after the mission is started. All mission commands including camera pitch and pan will execute if radio connection is lost. That's one of the key benefits of flying autonomous missions with Litchi.
 
That's not true for Litchi. All gimbal and camera commands are remotely executed from the mission program that resides in the drone after the mission is started. All mission commands including camera pitch and pan will execute if radio connection is lost. That's one of the key benefits of flying autonomous missions with Litchi.

Sorry John, but but I respectfully state that your data is not correct. You can verify my comment in the Litchi Manual, page #28.

I honestly don't believe it is a failure on Litchi's part, but rather the nature of the DJI SDK.
 
Sorry John, but but I respectfully state that your data is not correct. You can verify my comment in the Litchi Manual, page #28.

I honestly don't believe it is a failure on Litchi's part, but rather the nature of the DJI SDK.
Really? Have you tested that? It's been about 6 months since I tested it, but when I turned off my radio to see the mission complete, all of the camera moves executed fine, just as programmed. Has that stopped working now? Or, is this specific to the P4P. My test was using P4.
 
My experience is the camera follows it's instructions, even when the RC disconnects, hiwever, you lose the ability to manually adjust camera position;something you can do while connected. Comes in handy for me when my mission planning is a bit off :)
 
My experience is the camera follows it's instructions, even when the RC disconnects, hiwever, you lose the ability to manually adjust camera position;something you can do while connected. Comes in handy for me when my mission planning is a bit off :)
And that is my experience as well. The mission is loaded onto the drone and will continue regardless, from memory if you have a signal disconnect, the mission speed will continue at the last setting which may be an issue if you have different speeds between WPs.
 
Really? Have you tested that? It's been about 6 months since I tested it, but when I turned off my radio to see the mission complete, all of the camera moves executed fine, just as programmed. Has that stopped working now?

The funny thing is I was about to ask you if they added it over the past few months.

I never fly out of range and I have never shutdown the radio to test the theory. The data that led me to this understanding started with a past post. A user was looking for a solution as to why after signal loss the POI's were not followed. At that time a I was almost a 100% Litchi user, so of course I wanted to have a clear understanding of the apps capabilities and limitations, so I did the research and I believe that I also had a confirmation from VC Tech.

If I am wrong, then something has changed beyond my knowledge.
 
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The mission will continue but for some reason, gimbal angles for the POIs are not honored if contact is lost with the RC. In addition, speed changes are not honored if contact is lost. I wrote to Litchi a while back and they (VCTech) said that it is because of DJI's SDK. They said that they have mentioned this to DJI but they didn't know if or when DJI would "fix" this issue in the SDK. If several of you are saying it DOES work now, then perhaps DJI has fixed it in one of the latest versions. I'll try to dig out the email so I can quote them accurately. I sincerely hope those of you saying the gimbal angle/POIs will now work, even when disconnected, are right!

The quote (from 7/2016):


"...Adding support for gimbal control when out of range of RC would require DJI to add support for it in their SDK, it is unlikely that they will add it at this point, but this has already been suggested to them."

Another interesting quote in response to a question I asked regarding estimated mission time:

"The estimated time takes into account custom speeds set at each waypoint, but if these are all set to "use cruising speed", then yes only the cruising speed will be used.
It is [also] correct to assume it doesn't take into account the stop time at each waypoint when using "Straight Lines" path mode. This can indeed result in bad time estimates especially with a lot of waypoints."
 
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There is nothing worse I could offer a uses than bad data, so to ensure an accurate account for my statement I have emailed VC Tech for an answer to the question.

I will happily post their response as soon as it has become available.
 
I think it is too broad to say that "POIs are not honored". To be more precise, it is only the gimbal pitch that is not commanded when flying a Litchi mission out of radio range. The aircraft will still yaw to the POI and put the camera on the POI, if your gimbal pitch is close. This is why I always plan my Litchi missions to fly to waypoints such that a -15 degree gimbal pitch will cover all the POIs I want when the bird is out of radio range. I make sure that the gimbal pitch is set to -15 before I lose radio contact, and I make sure waypoints are the right distance and altitude from the POI so that pitch works to capture what I want. Works every time.

The only things that don't work when you lose radio contact are speed changes, gimbal pitch changes, and waypoint "actions", but you can still use POIs very effectively out of radio range.
 
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There is nothing worse I could offer a uses than bad data, so to ensure an accurate account for my statement I have emailed VC Tech for an answer to the question.

I will happily post their response as soon as it has become available.
Ha. I was just getting ready to do the same but since you did it already, I'll wait for their response to you. :)
 
I think it is too broad to say that "POIs are not honored". To be more precise, it is only the gimbal pitch that is not commanded when flying a Litchi mission out of radio range. The aircraft will still yaw to the POI and put the camera on the POI, if your gimbal pitch is close. This is why I always plan my Litchi missions to fly to waypoints such that a -15 degree gimbal pitch will cover all the POIs I want when the bird is out of radio range. I make sure that the gimbal pitch is set to -15 before I lose radio contact, and I make sure waypoints are the right distance from the POI so that pitch works to capture what I want. Works every time.

The only things that don't work when you lose radio contact are speed changes, gimbal pitch changes, and waypoint "actions", but you can still use POIs very effectively out of radio range.
I use a slightly different approach. I plan the mission as normal. Then I set the pitch to match the POI exactly before sending her on her way (and disable POI mode). I may get a crappy view on the way there and back but the POI is spot on (even if flying close to the POI).
 
I think it is too broad to say that "POIs are not honored". To be more precise, it is only the gimbal pitch that is not commanded when flying a Litchi mission out of radio range. The aircraft will still yaw to the POI and put the camera on the POI, if your gimbal pitch is close. This is why I always plan my Litchi missions to fly to waypoints such that a -15 degree gimbal pitch will cover all the POIs I want when the bird is out of radio range. I make sure that the gimbal pitch is set to -15 before I lose radio contact, and I make sure waypoints are the right distance and altitude from the POI so that pitch works to capture what I want. Works every time.

The only things that don't work when you lose radio contact are speed changes, gimbal pitch changes, and waypoint "actions", but you can still use POIs very effectively out of radio range.
Well I've just read the Litchi manual and I'm pretty sure you are on the money. Thanks for that.
 
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Yes, when I said "make sure the gimbal pitch is -15 deg", I meant do it by disabling the POI pitch in the waypoint plan, just as you suggested.. I do that by designing a POI that will cause the pitch to -15 deg, and immediately thereafter, another waypoint that disables the gimbal pitch. Why -15 deg? Because that leaves a good horizon in the field of view, yet still covers a lot of ground in the frame. Works very well for a default pitch for good looking video.

Another trick to consider.... if you can predict where you'll be out of range, you can set and disable the pitch just before that point in the mission. That way you can have have your cake and eat it too, sort of. You'll have full pitch control at the beginning and end segments of the mission, and only lose pitch control for the far out portion of the mission.
 
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