New firmware / software 7th Sep - First impressions

[GadgetGuy]

While a bummer, the waypoint feature was actually pretty smart on their part.
1. It allows you to frame your shots
2. While I'm not sure if intentional, one can't claim "I didn't fly there it just automatically went there" no, you have to purposely preselect your spots on a first flight. Think of a prison drop...

Dang! There goes my business plan of doing prison drops!
DJI is raining on my parade!
How else am I going to be able to get this thing to pay for itself?

 

[GadgetGuy]

That is a great point for all to remember. After a FW update you should recalibrate the:
1. IMU
2. Gimbal
3. Gimbal Thumb wheel on the RC
4. RC
5. Compass (that should start an argument)

That depends upon the update. I didn't need to do any of the above and just completed a 2.8 mile long distance flight, after updating only the aircraft and the app this evening. Completely stock P3P setup without any mods.

 

[GadgetGuy]

That's true, in theory. But if you have a rather long mission, something that is going to push a battery, you don't have time to screw around at each point. And you cant modify a mission once its saved. So if you cant create an entire mission before the battery dies you area bit screwed.

Except you can break your entire master mission into a series of smaller saved favorite missions that you can run back to back on one battery, after you get them dialed in, or use multiple batteries to resume where you left off, if the entire mission is longer than can be completed on a single battery charge.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I heard something about "favorite route". Idk

Exactly. The routes can be saved as Favorites to fly repeatedly, and multiple saved Favorites can be combined into a single mission, if you break the mission up into consecutive segments. Lots of flexibility there!

 

[GadgetGuy]

There is no documented reason. The only time a IMU calibration should really be required after an update is if the past IMU cal. data is wiped during the update. Which would lead to a warning that the IMU needs calibrated. Unfortunately, that doesn't work with logic. As we have seen in several instances, a compass calibration WAS needed, even though there was no warning of its need, and there was no indication by observing the compass MOD value.
In the end, documented or not, those ritualistic calibration activities obviously CAN have some value.

Obviously, it depends upon the update. This particular update did not require any recalibrations for me, while other updates absolutely did. Near 3 mile flight out after updating last night, with no new calibrations necessary. Oh, and the bird came back, too!

 

[GadgetGuy]

You can never exceed 500m altitude, in any mode. The limitation is 500m from the home point.

Can't you reset the Home Point, in flight, to the current Aircraft location, and thereby bypass the 500m limit from your starting point, and combine missions back to back on the same flight? Wouldn't that still work?

So glad all these so called FAA reported sightings of drones looking like "trash cans" at 6,500 feet around LAX couldn't possibly be reckless P3 flyers! "Sorry, my trash can only flies to 500m!"

 

[GadgetGuy]

So you can, for example, set a 2 point mission to fly from 500 meters away from the home point at 3m altitude to a waypoint 1km away, at 500m altitude

Not without first resetting the Home Point to the aircraft location after arriving at point 0 which is 500m away...should still be doable, though, by resetting the home point at the end of each 500m leg of your multiple 2 point missions, all combined into one flight, as long as the battery still has juice.

Or, are you simply saying that each mission cannot exceed 500m in radius from its point 0 origin, which your example seems to imply?

Still looks workable. Just need to combine multiple missions into one flight, with necessary Home Point resets to the aircraft location to keep to the 500m range from each point 0, or the Home Point, whichever it is...

 

[GadgetGuy]

As do many people. And for the most part that is probably the best path to follow. But it also gives a far higher opportunity for error. If you calibrate once and fly 100 times, you end up with a total odds or error being somewhere like .5% If you calibrate every time, you have no better than 50% odds across ALL flights. That doesn't mean your wrong in doing it! But is does put you at a significantly higher risk.

Agreed. Grandpa always said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
I think that's still sound advice. If you have reason to believe it might be "broke", test it first, and then consider fixing it, if it really is "broke."
Many perfectly good things are broken by needless attempts to fix them.
Doing the "compass dance" before every flight, unless you have moved over 100 miles from a good compass calibration, is guaranteed to eventually cause a bad compass calibration, given unseen metal in many environments you might fly from. If you have 100 good flights on your current calibrations, and the first test flight after the update was good, leave 'em alone!

 

[GadgetGuy]

Did you format it in the quad via the RC or externally through card reader and PC? I know that cameras can be fussy how cards are formatted, maybe the P3 is as well. If you did it one way, why not try the other - just in cases.

Always reformat in the P3, even if you reformatted the card elsewhere first. It will make sure the P3 "likes" your card!

 

[Jeff48920]

That depends upon the update. I didn't need to do any of the above and just completed a 2.8 mile long distance flight, after updating only the aircraft and the app this evening. Completely stock P3P setup without any mods.

Glad to hear you didn't have any issues. I still stand by my statement. DJI recommends the calibrations and I want to make sure that if the worst happens they have no wiggle room for getting out of the warranty.

 

[robinb]

Lots of thunderstorms where I am and heavy rain, so no chance to fly drone today. :-(

 

[robinb]

Anyone had problems with video down link not working well ?

 

[III% Streve]

Can't you reset the Home Point, in flight, to the current Aircraft location, and thereby bypass the 500m limit from your starting point, and combine missions back to back on the same flight? Wouldn't that still work?

So glad all these so called FAA reported sightings of drones looking like "trash cans" at 6,500 feet around LAX couldn't possibly be reckless P3 flyers! "Sorry, my trash can only flies to 500m!"

Not sure about that. I don't know that anyone tried that and documented it during testing. The could especially work if there is no GPS at the transmitter! Ill have to give that a shot!

 

[III% Streve]

Not without first resetting the Home Point to the aircraft location after arriving at point 0 which is 500m away...should still be doable, though, by resetting the home point at the end of each 500m leg of your multiple 2 point missions, all combined into one flight, as long as the battery still has juice.

Or, are you simply saying that each mission cannot exceed 500m in radius from its point 0 origin, which your example seems to imply?

Still looks workable. Just need to combine multiple missions into one flight, with necessary Home Point resets to the aircraft location to keep to the 500m range from each point 0, or the Home Point, whichever it is...

Its a 500m radius from transmitter. But I don't actually know if that's because of the home point, or based on what the app sees as the P3s distance from the controller.

 

[tcope]

There is also a question as to where the favorite waypoints are stored. If it's in a file and GPS info can manually be entered...

 

[III% Streve]

IF we could find the file. Its yet to be discovered.

There is also a question as to where the favorite waypoints are stored. If it's in a file and GPS info can manually be entered...

I requested the location so favorites could be copied to all devices used to fly, but never got a response

 

[Pulsar747n]

Updating the firmware and overview of the GS Functions:

Guide: Phantom 3 Firmware 1.4.0010/1.1.0030 Update:
DJI Forum|Guide: Phantom 3 Firmware 1.4.0010/1.1.0030 Update

OVERVIEW OF THE NEW "GROUND STATION" FUNCTIONS
DJI Forum|Guide: OVERVIEW OF THE NEW P3 GROUND STATION FUNCTIONS

Best video showing the GS Functions:

 

[Stdquad]

Updating the firmware and overview of the GS Functions:

Guide: Phantom 3 Firmware 1.4.0010/1.1.0030 Update:
DJI Forum|Guide: Phantom 3 Firmware 1.4.0010/1.1.0030 Update

OVERVIEW OF THE NEW "GROUND STATION" FUNCTIONS
DJI Forum|Guide: OVERVIEW OF THE NEW P3 GROUND STATION FUNCTIONS

Best video showing the GS Functions:

VERY WELL DONE,

 

[GadgetGuy]

Glad to hear you didn't have any issues. I still stand by my statement. DJI recommends the calibrations and I want to make sure that if the worst happens they have no wiggle room for getting out of the warranty.

Actually, DJI makes no mention of these recalibrations in the release notes that accompany each update, which is where you would expect to find them, if they were required for warranty.. They have, however, been recommended by many senior forum members who have seen the results of not doing the recalibrations with older updates that did mess with all sorts of things. The worst that could happen is replacing a good cold IMU calibration with a warm bad one. At the very least, that would lead to excessive Warmup Times, which shortens remaining battery capacity, which could lead to a forced landing (maybe over water) before the craft returned home, on a day when everything went horribly wrong. It's a double edged sword, with no right answer. I follow the, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra, and more damage is done by bad new calibrations than leaving by a perfectly good one alone.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Its a 500m radius from transmitter. But I don't actually know if that's because of the home point, or based on what the app sees as the P3s distance from the controller.

Worthy of further investigation! If anyone figures it out, please let us know! Will changing the Home Point to the Aircraft or the RC (assuming you follow along behind the craft) permit exceeding the 500m limit from the original Home Point at the Aircraft and RC location for creating or combining missions during one flight?