Lost signal, P3 did not RTH: because of battery charge level?

[corto]

Hi all,
I'm new to the P3 (pro) so would appreciate some insight. I lost signal of my P3 the other day while flying low above a river. While knowing why I lost signal, I'm trying to figure out why it did not RTH. I waited 5 min for the craft to come back then ran along the river's edge until I spotted it. It was in attitude mode, hovering stationary at the same spot where it lost signal with controller. I regained control and flew it back. I wonder why it did not RTH upon losing signal. Battery still had 72% charge upon landing. If battery level would have dropped below a certain level during that hover with no signal with controller, would it have eventually RTH?
Thanks!
Corto

 

[NickCopter]

No idea why it did that, but if you ever are expecting an RTH and your controller isn't beeping, hit the button and do a manual RTH. The beeping indicates that it's coming home and takes all the guess work out of it.

 

[corto]

Thanks for the advice NickCopter. I did hit RTH but as there was no signal between copter and controller, nothing happened.

 

[PhantomAtAK]

You likely lost video signal, but not controller signal - two separate things. Not uncommon, just undesirable. It would auto rth at your preset critical battery level, had you done nothing.

 

[NickCopter]

Thanks for the advice NickCopter. I did hit RTH but as there was no signal between copter and controller, nothing happened.

I've never heard of anyone losing complete signal between the bird and controller.

Even when I fly out 4 miles and the screen shows 0 bars and the red "no signal" warning, it still returns home without fail when I push the button.

 

[corto]

Ok! That must be it. Good to know it wasn't a glitch. Thanks PhantomAtAK

 

[Jbundy63]

No idea why it did that, but if you ever are expecting an RTH and your controller isn't beeping, hit the button and do a manual RTH. The beeping indicates that it's coming home and takes all the guess work out of it.

Yes best thing to do in that case is to manually hold the RTH button for a couple of seconds, it will flash and beep then ascend to your pre set RTH height and return to the GPS take off point. Did it record your GPS take off point when you took off?

 

[corto]

I think what happened is that I lost video signal, then due to stress and inexperience I hit the power. Button instead of the RTH button and then waited, haha. There was no beeping sound of course.. So in these conditions of moronic flying the P3 would still be forgiving enough to RTH once minimum battery power is reached..

 

[Jbundy63]

I think what happened is that I lost video signal, then due to stress and inexperience I hit the power. Button instead of the RTH button and then waited, haha. There was no beeping sound of course.. So in these conditions of moronic flying the P3 would still be forgiving enough to RTH once minimum battery power is reached..

LOL That makes sense and I can see that happening. Glad it all ended up good!

 

[Kenneth Gundersen]

So do the videosignals cut before controllersignals cut? That would stress me too.

 

[NickCopter]

So do the videosignals cut before controllersignals cut? That would stress me too.

For me, video signal has ALWAYS dropped before controller signal. As I said above, I've never lost full controller signal, even after flying out 4+ miles.

 

[Meta4]

Did you lose video signal .. was the screen black?
There is a glitch in the current firmware that pops up signal lost errors even though everything is just fine.

 

[corto]

Yes, video screen was black. I kind of remember (but not 100% sure) that besides the red bar on top the screen ("Lost signal") the other parameter indicators off the app (for battery status, gps, etc) were saying: N/A.
With hindsight, it might have been a result of me inadvertently powering off the remote instead of hitting the RTH button...

 

[corto]

Regarding FW updates, I managed to update my Phantom with the latest version, but wasn't able to update the controller. Probably also due to clumsiness (and a screaming toddler). I wonder if once the next update is out, I'll be able to correct and put phantom, controller and batteries all on the same page, or if I definitely screwed something up? Yesterday flew the phantom 1,500 m offshore to film humpback whales and it performed flawlessly...

 

[Jbundy63]

Regarding FW updates, I managed to update my Phantom with the latest version, but wasn't able to update the controller. Probably also due to clumsiness (and a screaming toddler). I wonder if once the next update is out, I'll be able to correct and put phantom, controller and batteries all on the same page, or if I definitely screwed something up? Yesterday flew the phantom 1,500 m offshore to film humpback whales and it performed flawlessly...

I believe that it's not a good idea to run the FW update without doing both the the aircraft and controller, that can give you issues. The batteries update when they are in the aircraft, you should leave the updated FW file on the SD card. You should be able to go to the DJI web site and go to the downloads tab for the FW

 

[corto]

My hope is that the Phantom + controller already had the latest FW. I got it 2 weeks ago but no way of knowing what FW version was on it. Reason I tried to update is that one day I got a signal lost warning for a few seconds and then "update firmware". But as said I managed to get the P3 updated then never managed to get the update on the controller (never got a green light nor a .txt status file). Possible that the controller refused to update because it already had the latest update (mid june version I think)?

 

[jake88]

Corto i had the same problem with updating the firmware on the controller.put your sd card back in the gimbal now connect your controller to the connection on the gimbal...power on your remote then the p3 and the p3 will auto update the controller within 60seconds u will here it update

 

[Jbundy63]

My hope is that the Phantom + controller already had the latest FW. I got it 2 weeks ago but no way of knowing what FW version was on it. Reason I tried to update is that one day I got a signal lost warning for a few seconds and then "update firmware". But as said I managed to get the P3 updated then never managed to get the update on the controller (never got a green light nor a .txt status file). Possible that the controller refused to update because it already had the latest update (mid june version I think)?

Yeah you may have the most updated FW? P3P came out 6/15/2015 and P3A on 6/18/2015

 

[jcknows0]

Regarding FW updates, I managed to update my Phantom with the latest version, but wasn't able to update the controller. Probably also due to clumsiness (and a screaming toddler). I wonder if once the next update is out, I'll be able to correct and put phantom, controller and batteries all on the same page, or if I definitely screwed something up? Yesterday flew the phantom 1,500 m offshore to film humpback whales and it performed flawlessly...

Man can I relate to the screaming toddler distraction. I suggest just putting the sd card (in usb adapter) directly into the usb slot on the controller. It should go really quick (unlike the 50 minutes of the copter firmware). They also said you should delete the controller txt file when successfully completed.

 

[Jbundy63]

Man can I relate to the screaming toddler distraction. I suggest just putting the sd card (in usb adapter) directly into the usb slot on the controller. It should go really quick (unlike the 50 minutes of the copter firmware). They also said you should delete the controller txt file when successfully completed.

This is definitely the best method and is how I updated mine as well.