As my machine is flying at 350 ft with no obstacles in the vicinity it suddenly brakes and comes to a hover. I hear an alarm, it will not move until I rotate port or starboard and then it will fly in either direction. It acts like there is an invisible object in front of it. Any others experience this?
P4P I experience a bit of a problem when flying.
- Thread starter doug_las
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Most likely sunlight affecting the sensors. They will do that at times.
Use lens cleaner, if you haven’t already, on your sensors especially the ones causing your problems, forward. You can always deactivate it but that doesn’t solve anything. Hope you have a smeared lens or something reflecting back, that you can remove. Those sensors are super sensitive, And they certainly work well. Love my P4P, will always be my favorite. And my avatar for now. Have fun, fly safe.
Thanks for the heads up though, I’ll know the reason if it happens to me.
Thanks for the heads up though, I’ll know the reason if it happens to me.
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For the record, I personally have serious concerns with all the added sensors. To me, they are useless and distract from the flying aspect. If I had my way, there would be none. At least not at this point until they are completely perfected. Granted, there may be some use for some, but I prefer the raw ability of control. ATTI included.
And the day you accidentally hit a branch or unseen powerline, you’ll be wishing you had sensors!
@RFP There are simply too many issues with these to make it worthwhile, at least from my prospective. I have seen too many crashes directly caused by these for one. Also, altitude issues with the VPS. There have been several issues where the aircraft will climb and keep climbing to max altitude and nothing you can do to stop it. Nor will it descend. Other instances involve the OA sensors where branches above, below or to the sides will steer the aircraft right in to the branches. Just too many "un-controlled" movements and not a thing you can do to prevent it other than doing without. I choose the latter.
I have also had issues when flying into the sun low on the horizon. My guess is that might be your issue as well.
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Whenever I am filming Sunset, I very often have to switch my Phantom 4 into sport mode or atti mode because the obstacle avoidance sensors will get messed up by the sun when it is low in the sky. The sensors will first warn that there is something 20 or 30 ft away, then it will start beeping. So I just switch it into sport or atti mode.
Yes, more technology and circuitry can create more things to malfunction. That's a given with all technology. However, when all is working well, the sensors do their job. They have saved my P4P from imminent destruction a few times.
Shoot4fun
Drone bum...
Thanks everyone for your experiences with the sensors. I have a few experiments to try. I will try flying it at night and shine a bright light at the same level and see what the reaction will be.
many good comments that seemed to zero in on the problem. On a related note, my SUV has a forward avoidance sensor - I was following a vehicle that had a shiny plastic cover on the back window area (must have been broken window) and the reflection of the sun seemed to trigger my sensor and start the auto-braking of my vehicle. Man, that sucked!
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That would scare me to death! My 2009 Jeep is old and fully manual! But someday we all will be blessed with the wonderful sensors that sometimes work (but sometimes don't) on all our cars!
I do live under a practice aviation area, but I am well below the area floor. Plus the fact that the interruption comes and goes and I do fly mostly in the evening and the problem only seems to happen when the drone is flying west. I am convinced that the sun is the problem with the sensors. We don't want to get rid of the sun, so I will take into account the problem and fly when the sun is not sinking in the west.
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