P3A - the downward sensor is abnormal message

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So I just picked up a barely used P3A - I did the compss calibration but noticed during the first flight that it kept wanting to head downward on its own until raised a lot higher in the air.

I calibrated the IMU and it told me successful but then I got the attached error. I did a second round of calibrations and it came over again so I reset the craft and haven’t seen it since - it seems to be working perfectly fine even only a foot off the ground. Still a little worrisome.

Any ideas?
 

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Turn the VPS Off.......You do not need it. It will improve that.....
 
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So I just picked up a barely used P3A - I did the compss calibration but noticed during the first flight that it kept wanting to head downward on its own until raised a lot higher in the air.
Another vote for disabling the VPS in your app settings.
It's of little use anyway.
 
What exactly is its purpose? I’m new to the P3A scene but own a spark and I keep all the sensors on. Is this a common issue?
 
Another vote for disabling the VPS in your app settings.
It's of little use anyway.

I've never use auto takeoff in the last 3 years with my p3p but a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd try it, (VPS ALWAYS OFF IN THE PAST) when it took off in auto takeoff mode it went about 1 ft off the ground and kept going up and down about 6", similar to the OPs, this puzzled me so I then turned on VPS and auto take off worked as it should (up to about 4-5 ft and hovered) I tried this a few times and always as it should be, then I switched off VPS again it went back to take off about 1 ft and bouncing up and down, so it appears that auto take off needs VPS to be on, correct or not?
 
I've never use auto takeoff in the last 3 years with my p3p but a couple of weeks ago I thought I'd try it, (VPS ALWAYS OFF IN THE PAST) when it took off in auto takeoff mode it went about 1 ft off the ground and kept going up and down about 6", similar to the OPs, this puzzled me so I then turned on VPS and auto take off worked as it should (up to about 4-5 ft and hovered) I tried this a few times and always as it should be, then I switched off VPS again it went back to take off about 1 ft and bouncing up and down, so it appears that auto take off needs VPS to be on, correct or not?

I always do manual takeoffs too - but I’m a little surprised the solution is to just turn them off. I was hoping there was a calibration somewhere I missed.
 
The VPS is generally the least faulty component, so it is easy to buy a used one in working order. If you really want it to work, just buy a replacement from crashed drone.

Calibrating VPS isn't easy. You need to have a service software (which only DJI does). Noone cares to re-create this software, as the component is just not worth the effort to fix it.

Calibration software is available for Ph4 - you have to have monitor of proper size and proportions for the software, and then the service software shows various shapes and you need to move the drone near the monitor in proper positions. But Ph3 used a simpler video processing unit for VPS, so I imagine the procedure might be more complex.
 
Visual positioning sensor - for use indoors when there is no satellite lock. I have never used it in 5 years' flying.

It is also used to enhance the positioning accuracy even with the GPS. But in Ph3 it works only for limited distances - usually you're either too low or too high to use it.
 

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