P4 "Jumping" around at hover

Joined
Sep 14, 2016
Messages
99
Reaction score
14
Age
51
Refurb P4, flies great so far, all appears good but I notice an odd jumping at hover. At 4 - 6 ft with little wind it will make small rapid jumps periodically and over a period of a minute of or so will descend slightly. I firmware upgraded, calibrated compass and VPS but have not yet calibrated IMU or attempted factory reset. Is this behavior normal? If not should I just factory reset rather than start with IMU calibration?

as an aside, I noticed 5 flight logs on the body when I first connected to PC. I've downloaded however have no idea how to view them. Not that it matters very much, it doesn't appear to have been crashed and otherwise flies fine.

Thanks
 
  • Like
Reactions: Minhlead
Same here. have exactly the issue you described but the difference was mine was not refurbished but a crashed one that I bought and repair my self. replaced the shell. the first time it fly the AC jumping up and down like crazy and then landing pretty rough on the ground. I thought to my self :there goes 400$.
But then I did a cold IMU calibration and it worked like a champ, hold position as it should and not jumping up and down anymore. but it does exhibit a slight descent when in hover for a while, sometime it do, sometime it dont but generally, it does descent a bit when hovering for a long time. I dont know if this is normal behaviour but i tested my phantom 3 adv and see that it too descent a bit when in flight for a long time, plus my p4 obviously more stable than the p3a.
So in sort, you really should do that cold IMU calibration. Try and report back your result. it's great to see some one with the same problem. I looked every where yesterday and really freaked out when see no one having it.
Also. It would be really nice to hear from some one who own a brand new p4 about the altitude hold. i'm afraid that maybe my solder work on the motor wasnt good enough that the resistance in wire goees up and reduce the output of the motors
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Badgenes
FYI - Mine occasionally does the same thing. Has only happened two times so far. Have not been able to pin it down to a cause. I went with a cold imu calibration with fingers crossed.
 
FYI - Mine occasionally does the same thing. Has only happened two times so far. Have not been able to pin it down to a cause. I went with a cold imu calibration with fingers crossed.
You mean the jumping around or the slight descent in hovering?
 
Yeah, mine does it too. I launch it up maybe 10-12 feet and see how it responds while I set the camera up, then I notice it bouncing a bit while hovering, or descending/ascending too. Warmup irregularities perhaps, or some internal fight between the VPS sonar, its 'sucky' barometer, and/or the GPS section. Complex system that DJI hasn't really finalized.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Badgenes
You mean the jumping around or the slight descent in hovering?
I mean rising and lowering in quick succession near the ground. Did it several times then smoothed out and was ok.
 
Ok so I need to do an IMU calibration for sure, no chance yet due to BF clothes buying. Add to that the poorly layer foundation where I rent, I'll have to rig something up tomorrow. Interesting that the p4 starts at 6ft and drops to 3ft then is solid.

Sent from my SM-N910V using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
Ok so I need to do an IMU calibration for sure, no chance yet due to BF clothes buying. Add to that the poorly layer foundation where I rent, I'll have to rig something up tomorrow. Interesting that the p4 starts at 6ft and drops to 3ft then is solid.

Sent from my SM-N910V using PhantomPilots mobile app
Tried again today. same result with the slow descent. really pissed with it. ironically, it only happen when the ac in sonar mode. the gps mode keeps altitude just fine
 
All latest firmware and updates and my P4 is performing flawlessly
Same here, make sure when you do your VPS calibration that you do not move the AC around the screen, maintain position (very still) and point the cameras to follow the marks on the assistant screen. Make sure the distance from the screen stays the same and the AC pivots on it's center axis. The first time I did a VPS calibration I was all over the place and moving the AC around the screen and it hovered like crap, redid the calibration exactly like the instructions and now the AC is very steady.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Badgenes
Same here. have exactly the issue you described but the difference was mine was not refurbished but a crashed one that I bought and repair my self. replaced the shell. the first time it fly the AC jumping up and down like crazy and then landing pretty rough on the ground. I thought to my self :there goes 400$.
But then I did a cold IMU calibration and it worked like a champ, hold position as it should and not jumping up and down anymore. but it does exhibit a slight descent when in hover for a while, sometime it do, sometime it dont but generally, it does descent a bit when hovering for a long time. I dont know if this is normal behaviour but i tested my phantom 3 adv and see that it too descent a bit when in flight for a long time, plus my p4 obviously more stable than the p3a.
So in sort, you really should do that cold IMU calibration. Try and report back your result. it's great to see some one with the same problem. I looked every where yesterday and really freaked out when see no one having it.
Also. It would be really nice to hear from some one who own a brand new p4 about the altitude hold. i'm afraid that maybe my solder work on the motor wasnt good enough that the resistance in wire goees up and reduce the output of the motors

So have you performed a factory reset and/or VPS calibration? I'll most likely be doing the whole deal today and see if the issue goes away.
 
No factory reset just VPS cal. I also have a good laptop with a very good 17 inch screen.
So have you performed a factory reset and/or VPS calibration? I'll most likely be doing the whole deal today and see if the issue goes away.
 
So have you performed a factory reset and/or VPS calibration? I'll most likely be doing the whole deal today and see if the issue goes away.
I tried doing a vps calibration but for some reason the screen just froze and no dotted pattern can be see. no idea why.
 
No IMU calibration, rock solid. Sport mode is ******* NUTS!!! OMG P4 is such a huge improvement over P3A. And FHD @ 120fps? Hell yes. However, 2nd flight of this bird and the app went all crazy, changing settings for video mode only showed up after I went back into menus. I had serious lag in the live feed. But my dog chasing this thing backward across a soccer field @ FHD @ 120? ****. DJI did good with the P4.

Sent from my SM-N910V using PhantomPilots mobile app
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,355
Members
104,934
Latest member
jody.paugh@fullerandsons.