Got my first ever drone - a Phantom3 Advanced 2days ago..
Came with FW1.3.2. Upgraded the aircraft to v.1.4.1, RC still v.1.3.2. For the moment did not go with the later versions of FW as they hold hostage with little possibility to downstep.. Will upgrade to higher versions as time passes, and I understand the compromises and fixes better..
Yesterday it was raining all day. So just tried to get everything setup indoors.. but was psyched out when the drone could not get a lock on more than 3 satellites.. and, ofcourse, long warmup times were adding to the anxiety.. Read through past posts in the forum and did the cold IMU calibration and gimbal calibration which solved the warmup times.. Thank heavens and everyone present here for this forum..
The GPS issues persisted.. took it out into the balcony with a good view to the sky, but still not able to get a lock on more than 5-6 satellites.. the possibility of a faulty GPS module and thinking about the process of replacement as I waited for the never ending drizzle to stop was very frustrating..
I had taken off from work the whole of next week to fly the P3A.. all the excitement of waiting & planning for the Phantom seemed to be totally rained upon..
today weather cleared and even a bit of sunshine.. Took the P3A into an open patch for my first flight in Beginner mode - normal IMU warmup and immediately locked on to 18 satellites. Huge relief.. Flew it around a bit until battery ran down till 50%.. It was awesome.. The colors in the video look good..
Blooper Test1 - Did not remove the protective film on the lens (still colors in video look good)
Issues Test1 - Weak RC Signal issue at start-up with only 3 bars. Did a run of "Link RC to Aircraft" which took 60seconds, but solved the problem. A quick restart of RC also solves the problem quicker than running the 60second "Link RC to Aircraft".
Checked the forum for fixes to "Weak RC signal" issues as I charged the battery to take the P3A for a second test flight.. Noted a fix from a P3 pilot that starting the RC after starting the aircraft solved the problem to try in the second test flight.
5mins into the second test flight got bored of the beginner mode. So removed it and went farther in altitude as well as distance.. Went over some trees & poles with sufficient clearance. Got over the shaking hands and beginners jitters. Tested the RTH - drone just dashes to the homepoint and brakes suddenly. I think in future, should plan to minimize the unnecessary use of RTH. The sudden braking on reaching homepoint can stress the bird a lot than normal flight..
Issues Test2: Starting the P3A before the RC did not prevent the "Weak RC Signal" issue at start-up. Took off with Weak RC Signal and as the aircraft hovered the issue disappeared on its own showing full signal strength with all bars.
Bloopers Test2: Did not calibrate compass before flight. But, No issues during test. Location was 2Km away from previous location where compass was calibrated earlier.. Got away with it.. Noted to never repeat this in future..
Drone was hand caught while landing at the end of both test flights...
Was an awesome experience overall..
Edit:
iPhone 5 was used for both flights.. a very very minor lag in video feed was observed, but it was almost imperceptible (I was literally looking for it because the phone was not recommended).. The response to all changes from the phone was without any lag or issues.. I just tried it only because I was in a totally open field, and was not planning to fly anything beyond very simple turns.. I know, almost everyone will disapprove the use of this phone because it is not recommended - I just could not decide quickly enough on a ipad Mini4 or ipad Air2.
I am leaning towards ipad Mini4 but the wife prefers ipad Air2 - as usual, the wife should win in a day or two !!
Came with FW1.3.2. Upgraded the aircraft to v.1.4.1, RC still v.1.3.2. For the moment did not go with the later versions of FW as they hold hostage with little possibility to downstep.. Will upgrade to higher versions as time passes, and I understand the compromises and fixes better..
Yesterday it was raining all day. So just tried to get everything setup indoors.. but was psyched out when the drone could not get a lock on more than 3 satellites.. and, ofcourse, long warmup times were adding to the anxiety.. Read through past posts in the forum and did the cold IMU calibration and gimbal calibration which solved the warmup times.. Thank heavens and everyone present here for this forum..
The GPS issues persisted.. took it out into the balcony with a good view to the sky, but still not able to get a lock on more than 5-6 satellites.. the possibility of a faulty GPS module and thinking about the process of replacement as I waited for the never ending drizzle to stop was very frustrating..
I had taken off from work the whole of next week to fly the P3A.. all the excitement of waiting & planning for the Phantom seemed to be totally rained upon..
today weather cleared and even a bit of sunshine.. Took the P3A into an open patch for my first flight in Beginner mode - normal IMU warmup and immediately locked on to 18 satellites. Huge relief.. Flew it around a bit until battery ran down till 50%.. It was awesome.. The colors in the video look good..
Blooper Test1 - Did not remove the protective film on the lens (still colors in video look good)
Issues Test1 - Weak RC Signal issue at start-up with only 3 bars. Did a run of "Link RC to Aircraft" which took 60seconds, but solved the problem. A quick restart of RC also solves the problem quicker than running the 60second "Link RC to Aircraft".
Checked the forum for fixes to "Weak RC signal" issues as I charged the battery to take the P3A for a second test flight.. Noted a fix from a P3 pilot that starting the RC after starting the aircraft solved the problem to try in the second test flight.
5mins into the second test flight got bored of the beginner mode. So removed it and went farther in altitude as well as distance.. Went over some trees & poles with sufficient clearance. Got over the shaking hands and beginners jitters. Tested the RTH - drone just dashes to the homepoint and brakes suddenly. I think in future, should plan to minimize the unnecessary use of RTH. The sudden braking on reaching homepoint can stress the bird a lot than normal flight..
Issues Test2: Starting the P3A before the RC did not prevent the "Weak RC Signal" issue at start-up. Took off with Weak RC Signal and as the aircraft hovered the issue disappeared on its own showing full signal strength with all bars.
Bloopers Test2: Did not calibrate compass before flight. But, No issues during test. Location was 2Km away from previous location where compass was calibrated earlier.. Got away with it.. Noted to never repeat this in future..
Drone was hand caught while landing at the end of both test flights...
Was an awesome experience overall..
Edit:
iPhone 5 was used for both flights.. a very very minor lag in video feed was observed, but it was almost imperceptible (I was literally looking for it because the phone was not recommended).. The response to all changes from the phone was without any lag or issues.. I just tried it only because I was in a totally open field, and was not planning to fly anything beyond very simple turns.. I know, almost everyone will disapprove the use of this phone because it is not recommended - I just could not decide quickly enough on a ipad Mini4 or ipad Air2.
I am leaning towards ipad Mini4 but the wife prefers ipad Air2 - as usual, the wife should win in a day or two !!
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