P4P slowed down, is someone interfering with my transmission or is it a software or a hardware issue?

[John Gowland]

Returning from a short journey my Phantom 4 Pro v2 started to slow down. In P mode it travels about 40 km an hour. It slowed down to 12 km an hour. It would not speed up, I had to put it into Sport mode to get it home. As it came in, I switched to P mode and it slowed down as I tried to descend. This time even in sport mode it slowed to a crawl even slowed to less than tripod mode.
When it eventually landed, I rebooted everything and again it did it.
The aircraft would travel normally and then just suddenly slow down again. It really felt like someone was interfering with my transmission. I took the craft to another location and it was back to normal. The slow down incident happened in a public place but there were no restrictions in the area. Just a general warning to take care because there could be low flying manned aircraft.
It felt like someone was taking partial control of my P4P. Is this possible?
Has anyone experienced this slow down issue?

 

[With The Birds]

Where you flying against the wind? If someone had hijacked your control link you might expect they would do more than simply slow it down and that if they took control you would have no connection. Jamming the connection would initiate RTH (or whatever lost signal action you have set).

 

[John Gowland]

I was returning having flown into the wind. So the wind was behind the aircraft at about 7 kl. When it got back and slowing down on part of its decent again very little wind.
It's alway set to RTH. But it didn't do on this occasion.

 

[With The Birds]

The flight log may reduce the guesswork

 

[John Gowland]

Good idea, need to go out for the day but will definitely have a look later, just don't feel confident to fly until I know what it is. Unless it was just a one-off fluke. Very unlikely with these machines.

 

[John Gowland]

Found out what the problem is. I was carrying a light payload. A 65 gram torch. With the torch attached the aircraft slowed to 12 km intermittently. It would fly slow then normal. This also happens when I was descending sometimes not moving at all. I had to switch to speed mode to override the slowing down.
I would like to know if other P4P V2 owners have similar problems carrying small payloads. I have used this excellent torch many times before with the P4P v2 before and Mavic Pro without problems.
I have used Strobon Cree but sometimes cant see the P4P at 300 meters in the day. I can see the P4P at 2 lk in the day and way more at night. I would hate to not use this great little cheap torch.
I may start a new thread to see if other people have this issues. I looks like som of the latest firmware upgrades has produced this problem.
Removing the torch and the P4P returns to its faultless flight.

 

[slugger]

Returning from a short journey my Phantom 4 Pro v2 started to slow down. In P mode it travels about 40 km an hour. It slowed down to 12 km an hour. It would not speed up, I had to put it into Sport mode to get it home. As it came in, I switched to P mode and it slowed down as I tried to descend. This time even in sport mode it slowed to a crawl even slowed to less than tripod mode.
When it eventually landed, I rebooted everything and again it did it.
The aircraft would travel normally and then just suddenly slow down again. It really felt like someone was interfering with my transmission. I took the craft to another location and it was back to normal. The slow down incident happened in a public place but there were no restrictions in the area. Just a general warning to take care because there could be low flying manned aircraft.
It felt like someone was taking partial control

j


of my P4P. Is this possible?
Has anyone experienced this slow down issue?

 

[With The Birds]

I would rather have the extra minute and a half flight time than carrying a torch... what’s it good for really?

The weight would have had nothing to do with it. You were interfering with the sensor ofperation.

 

[John Gowland]

Its personal choice, what you feel comfortable with. I don't mind losing a few minutes on the occasion I want to identify the aircraft easily, sometimes a few hundred meters away. Some days in a bright sky I have difficulty finding my aircraft. With the torch I can always see it immediately. That is one of the beauties of the Mavic 2. I think all future DJI drones will have lights for this reason. DJI call them landing lights which is ok.
If it is a sensor issue why has in never interfered with my P4P or Mavic Pro in the past? It's never been an issue till now. I am not saying your wrong just why interfere now after a few years of using the same torch?

 

[John Gowland]

I hope you are right then I can put the torch out of the way of the sensors.

 

[John Gowland]

Your a clever man With The Birds I have used torches many times on my P4P but this time I attached it on the inside of the aircraft's leg. The downward sensors detected it and figured it was landing and slowed down to 12 km an hour. It was a few hundred meters away and I could have lost the bird. Going into Sports mode saved me. So always consider where the sensors are if you carry a payload and always test it near you.

 

[With The Birds]

Your a clever man With The Birds I have used torches many times on my P4P but this time I attached it on the inside of the aircraft's leg. The downward sensors detected it and figured it was landing and slowed down to 12 km an hour. It was a few hundred meters away and I could have lost the bird. Going into Sports mode saved me. So always consider where the sensors are if you carry a payload and always test it near you.

No mental aptitude required- simply a suspicion that anything added in the path of the sensors may fool them. You might recall many people had issues with the gimble protectors and all sorts of blingy pretend carbon fibre and alloy stuff bolted onto the skids.