Phantom 4 Pro+ - VERY annoyed!!

[Ben01]

Hi all,

I updated my p4p+ about a month ago shortly before leaving to travel around Australia for a year.

Ever since I’ve updated, every time I turn on the RC it starts continuously beeping - I then have to go into the settings and calibrate the controller sticks. The ridiculous thing is when I press “start” to calibrate it tells me to continuously move the sticks around their extremities but the second I start doing it the beeping stops. I can continue to do it for many minutes and it does not give me the option to press “done” or come up with a completed prompt so I just exit out and I’ve flown a few times with no further problems. Until today.

Usual thing, beeping, calibrate sticks and beeping stops. Turn on the drone and connect to RC. The SECOND I turn the drone on it takes off and starts flying uncontrollably in circles and flying away from me. I tried to take over and I could somewhat control it in height and direction but I was unable to fully control it as it kept wanting to fly away and doing circles.

My only option was to crash it into a nearby bush which I did and apart from a little dirt and chopped up plant material all over my drone it seemed to be in perfect condition.

I was absolutely furious, so I took it to a safer place and started to process again - this time having my wife hold the drone above her head when I turned it on. I turned it on and no problem, safely launched from her hands and flew around perfectly like it never happened.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this and has anyone ever had this incessant need to continually calibrate the RC sticks every time you turn the RC on?

 

[Paul2660]

Not sure what the problem is. However in the sticks calibration process I have noticed that unless you move the gimbal dial all the way left then right the cakibraton process will not normally terminate.

You will see a smalll green icon on the calibration screen for the gimbal dial.

Whole process to me is a bit lame. You never get a “done” or “process complete” just for the sticks. And not message telling you to rotate the gimbal dial to complete the process.

Paul C

 

[Ben01]

Not sure what the problem is. However in the sticks calibration process I have noticed that unless you move the gimbal dial all the way left then right the cakibraton process will not normally terminate.

You will see a smalll green icon on the calibration screen for the gimbal dial.

Whole process to me is a bit lame. You never get a “done” or “process complete” just for the sticks. And not message telling you to rotate the gimbal dial to complete the process.

Paul C

When you say gimbal dial left then right you mean the dial that controls the camera going up and down right?

Probably a dumb question sorry but just want to be sure so I can then put this in to action.

So if you then do this as you say with the dial what happens? Does the process then finish or you still have to exit as I have been doing ?

 

[bsartist]

As I’ve said in the past, I wish I had a nickel for every post that starts with “I upgraded the firmware and now...” So I have a stable copy installed and don’t update. It is possible you may be able to downgrade to the version you were on before. I think it lets you downgrade one version. But don’t quote me on that.

 

[Paul2660]

When you say gimbal dial left then right you mean the dial that controls the camera going up and down right?

Probably a dumb question sorry but just want to be sure so I can then put this in to action.

So if you then do this as you say with the dial what happens? Does the process then finish or you still have to exit as I have been doing ?

Yes. Sorry for confusion. You have to move the gimbal dial all the way in one direction then the other. Process will then complete. However the calibration process never tells you the actual sticks calibration is done, fixed, or anything.

Paul C

 

[WV. Rootman]

The uncontrolled circular flying is the compass. You may have taken off over some metal. That is a separate problem from what you first mentioned.

 

[Ben01]

The uncontrolled circular flying is the compass. You may have taken off over some metal. That is a separate problem from what you first mentioned.

Interesting mate, I actually took off from the hood of my truck as I was in a very dusty and dirty area so didn’t want to launch from ground.

The hood is all metal so this may explain it?! Surely once it had taken off it would have corrected or no ??

 

[Starz]

Interesting mate, I actually took off from the hood of my truck as I was in a very dusty and dirty area so didn’t want to launch from ground.

The hood is all metal so this may explain it?! Surely once it had taken off it would have corrected or no ??

Tons of reading material on the dreaded metal syndrome.
Probably the worst thing you can do is park on metal, then fire up a DJI product..

 

[Starz]

And then there’s the 600 lbs of metal motor hiding just below the hood.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Interesting mate, I actually took off from the hood of my truck as I was in a very dusty and dirty area so didn’t want to launch from ground.

The hood is all metal so this may explain it?! Surely once it had taken off it would have corrected or no ??

Once magnetic Interference happens or comes up on the screen, the drone is 100% entirely compromised. it is likely to have a compass error , kick out of GPS lock and enter Atti mode and still and the than as yaw errors take place start to fly away.

I made a very important video on how exactly this happens.
Using the magnet on my phone i demonstrate a hood of the car or anything else metal and why this happens to so many.

 

[Oso]

@Ben01 - We often tell people to do the scroll wheels portion of the RC calibration or it won't complete the process. I'm confident that @Paul2660 has hit the nail on the head with his reply.

We also routinely advise about the perils of launching in an area with metal and especially from the top of a car which seems to be something people unfortunately do with some frequency. I'm also confident that the replies in this thread regarding launching from metal and what it does to your compass, etc are spot on and should help you going forward.

Hopefully with those lessons in mind you will be safely back in the air quickly. Cheers!

 

[WV. Rootman]

Interesting mate, I actually took off from the hood of my truck as I was in a very dusty and dirty area so didn’t want to launch from ground.

The hood is all metal so this may explain it?! Surely once it had taken off it would have corrected or no ??

Next time use a floor mat from your truck.

 

[Ben01]

Thank you all for the very useful information.

Needless to say I now know how to properly calibrate my RC sticks and to not launch my drone from my car [emoji106]

 

[Vista de Condor]

That is why I stick to P3S simple and no troubles and the bird is 3 years old,been repired by DJI in CA ,usa after one major crash .
Always read about problems with P4's
P3S never had to update firmware,or calibrate sticks or gimball...
May be I have been lucky