Need help - REALLY weird issue with phantom - Will not hover AT ALL

[ChrisRL]

Hmm.. you're probably right, Monte.
I only tested the P1's to around 200ft away or so, maybe 100ft AGL, wasn't concentrating on the live view so much as to get the P1 not to toilet bowl, to hold altitude within reason, etc.
But I can tell you I do know of at least two LA TV producers who are still flying them, still shooting with their Hero 4's, still using the footage...
When I asked them why, they both said "I know it inside out by now, it works, the footage is great, why change?"
Why indeed.

 

[ChrisRL]

Often people do something (anything) and believe 'that was it'.

It's a type of logical fallacy: Correlation = Causation.

It's worse when a combination of things are done without iterative testing cause then you can't be sure what it might have been.

Agreed, 107.
I just wish my old BMW mechanic felt the same way...

 

[Monte55]

Hmm.. you're probably right, Monte.
I only tested the P1's to around 200ft away or so, maybe 100ft AGL, wasn't concentrating on the live view so much as to get the P1 not to toilet bowl, to hold altitude within reason, etc.
But I can tell you I do know of at least two LA TV producers who are still flying them, still shooting with their Hero 4's, still using the footage...
When I asked them why, they both said "I know it inside out by now, it works, the footage is great, why change?"
Why indeed.

They are steady birds. I have the 2 and 3d Walkera Gimbles. Not as good as the newer stuff....but I can fly anywhere.

 

[ChrisRL]

Amen, Monte. No, it's not as "good" as the newer stuff. But so what? Like you, those producers can indeed fly the heck out of their birds. And they still do. A lot of my repairs were replacing parts that were just worn out...

 

[Monte55]

Amen, Monte. No, it's not as "good" as the newer stuff. But so what? Like you, those producers can indeed fly the heck out of their birds. And they still do. A lot of my repairs were replacing parts that were just worn out...

When mine die, I may not get another Phantom. New tech is cool but with all the restrictions and having to learn so much more...I just want to fly. Hell, It took me a few minutes to figure out how to shut down my 2 day old Win 10 Laptop. How sad is that.

 

[ChrisRL]

Now don't get me started on that, Monte!!!

1) my el-whiz-bang iPhone's latest iOS keeps on either crashing or updating, on its own, restarting all by itself, sometimes right in the middle of a phone call

2) my Win7 Pro machine, good ole faithful, is starting to plague me with the "when do you want to update?" deal, and I notice that there's no choice about it now.

3) don't even start with the Go4 app. Now I'm as persnickety about no-fly and Temp Flight Restrictions and all of the airspace regs as the next guy, but, in a country where finally they got something right, where the FAA rules go "Here's a great big book of rules. But rule 1 is this: you are the PIlot in Command. And you are allowed to break any one of these rules to ensure the safety of yourself, your aircraft, your passengers, and those people and things on the ground your aircraft might come into contact with". Now that's good, common sense, right?

But no, DJI knows better.

Oh, I already got started. Sorry.
Doesn't take much, these days...

 

[Monte55]

Now don't get me started on that, Monte!!!

1) my el-whiz-bang iPhone's latest iOS keeps on either crashing or updating, on its own, restarting all by itself, sometimes right in the middle of a phone call

2) my Win7 Pro machine, good ole faithful, is starting to plague me with the "when do you want to update?" deal, and I notice that there's no choice about it now.

3) don't even start with the Go4 app. Now I'm as persnickety about no-fly and Temp Flight Restrictions and all of the airspace regs as the next guy, but, in a country where finally they got something right, where the FAA rules go "Here's a great big book of rules. But rule 1 is this: you are the PIlot in Command. And you are allowed to break any one of these rules to ensure the safety of yourself, your aircraft, your passengers, and those people and things on the ground your aircraft might come into contact with". Now that's good, common sense, right?

But no, DJI knows better.

Oh, I already got started. Sorry.
Doesn't take much, these days...

I'm still on My Samsung Galaxy S2, Still works fine, I dread the day I have to go get a new phone. Finding a laptop was bad enough. They have taken away so much stuff on many models, Backlit keyboard, cd drive, Ethernet port, numerical pad, among other things. I finally found one that I could live with but no backlit keyboard and what's the deal with speakers on the bottom that suck. A $12 set of speakers solved that and ordered a light for it from Amazon this morning. So, I have this nice new laptop with 12 pounds of crap plugged into it to use it.

 

[ChrisRL]

Amen, brother. You're singing my song!

 

[anthonyp]

Thanks everyone for information, time to update.

There is a lot of discussion going on here about calibration. I took the original advice, brought it outside, used like 20 feet of USB extension, and did an advanced IMU calibration. I JUST did this as it is almost midnight and much cooler outside. I was successful, no temperature error. I did, however, get a GPS error either before I started or as I clicked start, but the Advanced IMU itself seemed to give no errors and ended in a green checkmark.

Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem. This did not even so much as alter the symptoms.. drone feels exactly the same when attempting to fly. Now obviously that GPS error is attention grabbing, and worth addressing. I've already got a replacement ceramic plate and I will be installing it Tuesday night so I can do my next advanced IMU cal later on Tuesday. The reason I did this was because the GPS appears a little burnt? I'm not actually sure if this is okay or not, figured better safe than sorry. So in the meantime... the question is - would a broken GPS cause this symptom? It doesn't seem to give me any errors... and shouldn't it at least try to float in atti mode?

EDIT: I Just wanted to add that I had done the advanced IMU in front of my air-conditioner a few nights ago without the GPS error. May or may not be relevant.

 

[cneedelman]

Your picture shows the GPS antenna. I just replaced mine which looked exactly like yours. I replaced it for a higher gain antenna, to get more satellites, it functioned OK, so I don't think that is your problem.