Litchi RTH and made it home safe !

[SteveP55]

Just yesterday I was out flying park where I usually fly kind of out in the country, I had put together a way point mission with a round about flight of about 3.0 miles, everything was going fine then I started to lose control connection, I figured regardless it will complete it's mission and return, I was about a half of a mile or so in distance away and only flying an altitude of 196 ft. and a lot of trees between me and the P3 Adv. so I waited and every few seconds I got an update on the flight data and seems it was just hovering somewhere, Now I'm beginning to become nervous, so we started to walk in the last direction it showed on the map for it's location, I had already tried RTH on Litchi and nothing happened, we kept walking in that direction, finally after a 100 yards or so of walking I tried RTH again... battery at about 53 %... then like magic the app voice says Returning Home and starts giving me live data again and a speed of 22 mph, she's coming home, shortly we could hear that beautiful sound of the props overhead. This was my very first scary situation for sure, But she made it home and that's what counts. I think maybe if my Altitude would've been like 300' ft. or so I might not have lost connection, but since my altitude was only 193 ft. with all the trees it was not reaching the P3 adv.
The Moral of the story is DO NOT Panic, keep cool and use your head.. and more then likely everything will be fine !

 

[StevemanSR802]

I haven't gone past the line of sight yet.
I just went from djigo to litchi app. I know when you lose single Dji go app will return to home. But I'm hearing with litchi app you have to make do RTH . So I'm not to Confident in the app . But I also read about
How great it is .

 

[LarBear360]

I haven't gone past the line of sight yet.
I just went from djigo to litchi app. I know when you lose single Dji go app will return to home. But I'm hearing with litchi app you have to make do RTH . So I'm not to Confident in the app . But I also read about
How great it is .

Thanks for sharing. Don't forget you can always trigger a RTH from the controller unless, of course, you lose your connection. From there the Phantom will revert to fail-safe mode and return to home on its own. Once it's back within range you can always cancel and resume flying.

 

[StevemanSR802]

Thanks for sharing. Don't forget you can always trigger a RTH from the controller unless, of course, you lose your connection. From there the Phantom will revert to fail-safe mode and return to home on its own. Once it's back within range you can always cancel and resume flying.

Thank you fro the feed back . What do u think of the licthi app or do u prefer the Dji go app

 

[SteveP55]

Thanks Guy's for your responses, LarBear360, thanks for the ideas, I completely lost control signal that's why when I hit the H key in the Litchi app nothing happened, I was beginning to become nervous because it was hovering somewhere and that somewhere was quite a distance from me at the time, I couldn't have walked there in time, I could have drove there, that would've been my last resort... But I did keep my head and walking towards the area evidently I got close enough for it to make contact again and then RTH worked, LarBear360 do you think my altitude might have played a part in losing connection? and to you StevemanSR802 just be careful with the Litchi until you get knowledge of the ins and outs of the app, I take the same wisdom to account, this had only been like my 3rd way point mission and I had a friend with me as back up. Litchi is a good app, But as any software anything can happen and at anytime, so being prepared to resolve a hick up problem in a split second is my best plan. Thanks again guy's, You're the BEST !
SteveP55

 

[LarBear360]

Thank you fro the feed back . What do u think of the licthi app or do u prefer the Dji go app

Steveman, I'm using both. If I'm just flying around under my control I'm using GO. That way if something unexpected happens, DJI can't blame it on Litchi.

I have flown a few missions with Litchi using Orbit and waypoints. I had one my first waypoint mission running fine. As the bird was returning back to me, it turned around and headed off in another direction. I never did figure what happened there. Another day I set-up an orbit and it ran fine. The next day I set-up another orbit and the thing went in the opposite direction. Probably my error in setting up.

I have also used GO to oribit and it worked fine. Actually quite easy and you can focus on the camera. It will also allow you to adjust altitude and width of your orbit on the fly.

I'm gradually trying to trust Litchi but those long distance autonomous flights are not in my plans.

So to answer your question plainly, at the moment I prefer Go, but if I start to get video lag again, I'll go back to Litchi for everyday use.

 

[LarBear360]

Thanks Guy's for your responses, LarBear360, thanks for the ideas, I completely lost control signal that's why when I hit the H key in the Litchi app nothing happened, I was beginning to become nervous because it was hovering somewhere and that somewhere was quite a distance from me at the time, I couldn't have walked there in time, I could have drove there, that would've been my last resort... But I did keep my head and walking towards the area evidently I got close enough for it to make contact again and then RTH worked, LarBear360 do you think my altitude might have played a part in losing connection? and to you StevemanSR802 just be careful with the Litchi until you get knowledge of the ins and outs of the app, I take the same wisdom to account, this had only been like my 3rd way point mission and I had a friend with me as back up. Litchi is a good app, But as any software anything can happen and at anytime, so being prepared to resolve a hick up problem in a split second is my best plan. Thanks again guy's, You're the BEST !
SteveP55

SteveP, some more altitude wouldn't hurt but as you said, even with a lost connect, it should have continued. If you were receiving updates on the app you should have had control of the bird. Assuming your mission failed AND lost connection, the bird should go into fail-safe mode with no direction from you.

Did you sign up for the free trial on Airdata UAV? Do you have a flight log? There is also a flight log on the Phantom that can be downloaded. That will a lot of information you can use to figure it out.

 

[SteveP55]

SteveP, some more altitude wouldn't hurt but as you said, even with a lost connect, it should have continued. If you were receiving updates on the app you should have had control of the bird. Assuming your mission failed AND lost connection, the bird should go into fail-safe mode with no direction from you.
LarBear360,
I didn't start getting my voice data until I walked a bit to get closer, so I just took it for granted that it wasn't continuing the mission, so that's when I tried the RTH, but that was taking precious time on the battery, I'll try to check the log on the P3adv.
Thanks Guy's
SteveP55

Did you sign up for the free trial on Airdata UAV? Do you have a flight log? There is also a flight log on the Phantom that can be downloaded. That will a lot of information you can use to figure it out.

 

[SteveP55]

I did sign up for Aitdata, but haven't tried to even use it yet.

 

[LarBear360]

I did sign up for Aitdata, but haven't tried to even use it yet.

Check it out. There is a boatload of data it collects on each and every flight.

 

[Neon Euc]

If it helps... Set up a waypoint mission where you can have line of sight the whole time, start the mission then turn off the remote. You will see it will carry on the mission. Hopefully that will give you more confidence. And don't worry I always do lose of sight... Makes it really exciting for me personally waiting for 12 long mins only to hear and not see the drone coming back [emoji6]

 

[53-63-6f-74-74]

As long as your mission uploaded I don't believe the aircraft would have stopped to hover. On my last mission I lost connection and had a similar situation, the flight was at a relatively low altitude and heavy tree cover. I got sporadic verbal updates that all indicated the same position, but this was NOT the case; The app was simply reporting the same information that was on the screen when it lost contact. It also indicated zero percent battery. I was not too concerned, as my last way-point was next to my first, so I simply waited for the mission to complete and brought it down as usual. I think that if you had just waited it out the mission would have completed correctly. Also, since you did not have radio contact to initiate RTH, then you couldn't possibly know that it was hovering (unless you could see or hear it), because Litchi would not show where the aircraft was until you regained contact. It would be interesting to see flight logs if you can post them.

 

[SteveP55]

Thanks Guy's ,
I will Take every piece of advice and knowledge and utilize it ! It was kind of scary, my blood was a pumping for sure LOL
53-63-6f-74-74 When I watched the video from this way point mission the P3adv. was hovering for quite a period of time,
but maybe it was due to me trying to use the RTH at the time I lost connection. I'm going to try the same mission again but at a greater altitude, and even if it loses signal see what happens, Hopefully it comes home LOL that's why it's my P3adv. going first instead of my P4 LOL How do I get the flight logs ?
Thanks
SteveP55

 

[SteveP55]

If it helps... Set up a waypoint mission where you can have line of sight the whole time, start the mission then turn off the remote. You will see it will carry on the mission. Hopefully that will give you more confidence. And don't worry I always do lose of sight... Makes it really exciting for me personally waiting for 12 long mins only to hear and not see the drone coming back [emoji6]

Thanks Neon Euc, I'll try that for sure, I might go out today, it's turning Fall and the weather has been awesome.
Thanks for the advice !
SteveP55

 

[SteveP55]

Check it out. There is a boatload of data it collects on each and every flight.

Hi LarBear360,
How do I get this info from the airdata site?
Thanks
SteveP55

 

[SteveP55]

Hi Again Guy's,
Here is the unedited video of this mission, you'll see it hovering over the trees for quite a bit of time, maybe to me messing with it when I lost signal LOL I don't know for sure yet. It Hovered for 3:12 secs.
Thanks, SteveP55
Link:

 

[SteveP55]

Ok Guy's, I down loaded the Data Files from my Airdata.com , I don't really understand them, It won't let me upload the files, says file extentions are wrong ? How to I open the Standard.cvs files and the KML files?
then I'll paste them in if I can open them/
SteveP55

 

[SteveP55]

If it helps... Set up a waypoint mission where you can have line of sight the whole time, start the mission then turn off the remote. You will see it will carry on the mission. Hopefully that will give you more confidence. And don't worry I always do lose of sight... Makes it really exciting for me personally waiting for 12 long mins only to hear and not see the drone coming back [emoji6]

Exciting, LOL, to me it was a nightmare for 3 minutes,
I'll take your advice and do the turn off RC on a short mission and see what happens, I'm going out to fly
Today, and I'll get back with results.
Thanks Bud
SteveP55

 

[LarBear360]

Hi LarBear360,
How do I get this info from the airdata site?
Thanks
SteveP55

Steve, your app will synch with the site. Nothing to upload. View everything on-line.

Litchi will also produce a flight log saved in the Litchi app folder on your device. You can upload that here:

DJI Flight Log Viewer

Loads of information you can view that should explain exactly wha happun.

Beautiful scenery by the way. I miss the midwest. My parents lived in Marengo,

 

[LarBear360]

Ok Guy's, I down loaded the Data Files from my Airdata.com , I don't really understand them, It won't let me upload the files, says file extentions are wrong ? How to I open the Standard.cvs files and the KML files?
then I'll paste them in if I can open them/
SteveP55

I think the KML open with Google Earth. Try uploading the csv files here: DJI Flight Log Viewer