lost phantom

[ouzoman]

hi guys, after several successful flights my phantom 2 vision took off on me today apparently to the last place it thought was home. i managed to do it by having the right switch down so it went up and over until out of range and then i realized i had hot set home properly. the direction it took off was directly to a prior home about 2.2km away. two questions:
how far will this unit fly on a brand new fully charged battery in a 5-10mph wind?
what happens when the battery runs out?
I am trying to gather enough info to make a good guess on where it might be as the terrain is very challenging
thanks!

 

[nintendrone64]

hi guys, after several successful flights my phantom 2 vision took off on me today apparently to the last place it thought was home. i managed to do it by having the right switch down so it went up and over until out of range and then i realized i had hot set home properly. the direction it took off was directly to a prior home about 2.2km away. two questions:
how far will this unit fly on a brand new fully charged battery in a 5-10mph wind?
what happens when the battery runs out?
I am trying to gather enough info to make a good guess on where it might be as the terrain is very challenging
thanks!

I would definitely go check your last home location...

 

[N017RW]

hi guys, after several successful flights my phantom 2 vision took off on me today apparently to the last place it thought was home. i managed to do it by having the right switch down so it went up and over until out of range and then i realized i had hot set home properly. the direction it took off was directly to a prior home about 2.2km away. two questions:
how far will this unit fly on a brand new fully charged battery in a 5-10mph wind?
what happens when the battery runs out?
I am trying to gather enough info to make a good guess on where it might be as the terrain is very challenging
thanks!

It surely is possible that there was a GPS problem of sorts without a proper home lock but not sure it has been documented that the Naza (FC) retains any past GPS flight location(s) between power cycles that it could revert to (anyone???).
Could this be a coincidence?

Are you in Naza mode? That changes the possible meaning of S2's lower position such as 'Atti." or "manual" or "Fail-safe".

 

[ouzoman]

Re. home location:
I did check the last home location and it didn't make it, that is why I was wondering about the range and does it land gently when the battery dies or does it just fall out of the sky? Is it possible that it would land and flash red lights so you could find it at night?

 

[N017RW]

Assuming no GPS it should land where it is at upon low batt. fail-safe plus any wind influence.

 

[rrmccabe]

I guess my question, not owning the first vision is about the original home location.

Was not aware that it would store home after a power cycle. So did not know if you didn't actually get lock on the last takeoff it would fly to something previous???

 

[N017RW]

I guess my question, not owning the first vision is about the original home location.

Was not aware that it would store home after a power cycle. So did not know if you didn't actually get lock on the last takeoff it would fly to something previous???

Ponderous... I don't believe it does store any locations either.
At least never heard or read anything indicating it does.

I'd think we would have by now.

 

[rrmccabe]

OK. I was surprised it would be flying to an old location is all.

 

[N017RW]

Could be coincidence???

 

[ouzoman]

Re. Naza mode:
Sorry I can't figure out what Naza mode is
S1 was down putting the unit in Atti mode and not having realized it I think this is what got the unit away from me in the first place. As I was watching in disbelief the direction it went in was that of a prior home. It had only flown at three locations and they were in different directions so what I am trying to figure out is how far it went in that direction, any idea on the distance range?

 

[ouzoman]

So it does not store home locations? If so, it was just a coincidence it went in that direction. If it doesn't store home locations then it did not have one so would it land once it looses connection?

 

[ProfessorStein]

Did "the direction of the prior home" also happen to be the direction the wind was blowing? If it was in ATTI mode, I'm betting the wind took it.

AFAIK, the Phantom loses any home locks at had once it is powered down. If it retains home locks through power cycles, that would be an interesting (and troubling) bit of information to know. Either way... you did wait for the rapid green flashes before you took off, didn't you? In which case the old home location would've been overwritten anyway.

 

[ouzoman]

I just noticed on my "connection broken" screen the distance is 14ft. and the book says that is from home. looking at the photo I know I have never been there, does that mean it tried to land 14ft. from this last camera image and some how thought that was home?

 

[ProfessorStein]

Not necessarily. It just means it was 14ft away was the last telemetry that was sent before the connection was lost.

How long ago did this happen? If we're talking hours, and there's a chance your batteries are still powered up, have you tried the "Find my Phantom" button under Settings in the Vision app? It may just relay the same data (14ft), but maybe not.

 

[ouzoman]

Re. Direction of home:
actually it almost went into the wind, for sure not with it.
As for the lights, I goofed, it was my second day flying and I thought yellow/green was "ready"

 

[ouzoman]

about 12 hours ago. I thought it had a feature like that (find my Phantom) thanks for telling me. Let it be known I called the DJI tech support # today and they told me there was no way to find it and to call Quadcopters where I bought it and I did and they told me the same thing :x doesn't anybody know what they are talking about!!!

 

[rrmccabe]

about 12 hours ago. I thought it had a feature like that (find my Phantom) thanks for telling me. Let it be known I called the DJI tech support # today and they told me there was no way to find it and to call Quadcopters where I bought it and I did and they told me the same thing :x doesn't anybody know what they are talking about!!!

Well your battery is dead by now of course.

However if there was no home set and you were in ATTI mode I am guessing it drifted until the battery went dead and then autolanded straight down as designed.

However I don't know DJI protocol and I am not sure how long you flew with the switch UP. Wonder if it ever pics up GPS as its drifting and sets home. Also wondering if in ATTI mode if it will even homelock. I might have to test that.

Your only option is to start walking the direction it drifted.

 

[ProfessorStein]

Also wondering if in ATTI mode if it will even homelock. I might have to test that.

If it has GPS, it will set a home lock on lift off, regardless of what flight mode you're in.
Remember, it will lock onto satellites on the launch pad even if you're in ATTI or Manual... it just doesn't use the GPS data for anything except telemetry. Always a good idea to wait for the green flashes, even if you're flying ATTI.

If it can't get a GPS lock, then, of course, there's no home to lock onto
If it doesn't have GPS on the launch pad (or has fewer than 6), and you take off into the air, it will acquire satellites and lock on when it finally can see 6 or more. But what it does with home lock at that point, I don't know. Not sure if it just never sets one, or it sets one at the location it's at when it acquires full GPS lock.

 

[rrmccabe]

Yes be interesting to know if blowing down wind in ATTI mode and was 1000' away and got enough satellites to lock would it continue to drift and then return to the 1000' lock point as soon as it loses control.

My thinking is this. Unless you are really working hard to point the TX at the craft, have stock antenna, etc then it probably did not get more than 1000' away before losing control signal. And unless satellite conditions were poor it probably got lock somewhere.

All this depends on how hard the wind was taking it away.

I would be walking that direction back and forth about 1000' many times if possible.

Hmmm

 

[ouzoman]

Thanks for all the help, just want to report back that after two days of heavy recon we were unable to locate the Phantom. I've contacted DJI and after filling out a survey they will discuss options with me. Have there been many cases of lost drones?