Phantom still drifting after advanced IMU calibration.

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I did an advanced IMU calibration today because my Phantom was drifitng to the left. I took it out to test it and it is still doing it.

Help please.
 
Did you do a compass calibration after the IMU calibration? Did you do a basic or an advanced IMU calibration? Are you flying in ATTI mode instead of GPS mode?
 
what does drifting to the left mean? what mode are you flying? perhaps a gps issue. need more info.
 
If you haven't already:
-- try calibrating your controller in the RC assistant.
-- then calibrate it in the PC assistant.
-- then calibrate your compass where you are going to fly, ensuring your pockets are empty, nothing on your wrists and no ferrous materials in the ground.
-- then ensure you have a good satellite count (>= 6, preferably more).
-- ensure you are in GPS mode.
-- fly.

Should fly with no drift after all that. If not, let us know. With a sat count of 6, it may drift at first and become better with time in the air. Sat counts of 7 and preferably 8 or more should be very stable.
 
Basically the whole problem is this: I crashed my Vision + recently, damaging the front left arm and ESC, and I damaged one of the receiver antenna wires while taking the damaged shell off. I have replaced the shell, the ESC and have fitted a new receiver, but I have noticed upon start up that after I get the initial sounds and lights of the power on/self test, the front left LED Lights up red and bleeps 4 or 5 times. I have also noticed this motor starts up first and looks like it might be a little lower than the others when it is spinning, when i say "lower" I mean physically a few millimetres lower. The phantom drifts to the left while in flight, even with a full GPS lock, so I did an advanced IMU calibration to fix that. It helped slightly but still drifts, I have also noticed that when I turn the camera on to record, it breaks the GPS lock.

So there you have it, i'm not sure what's causing what. But if anybody has any suggestions or help at all I will be so grateful as this is really starting to frustrate me know. Thanks guys.
 
HeliGuy said:
what does drifting to the left mean? what mode are you flying? perhaps a gps issue. need more info.

By saying "drifting to the left,"I mean when the phantom should be hovering on the spot asIi am not touching any of the controls, even with 6 or more satellites it moves around a lot ( mainly to the left.) I am flying in GPS mode. The GPS was working fine before I crashed it, now it seems every time I turn the camera on to record, it cuts the GPS. I had 9 satellites the other day, I turned on the camera and went down to 4, so I turned the camera off and it went back up to 7,8 and then 9 again. I repeated the process a few times to make sure and it did that every time.

Any ideas?
 
BlackTracer said:
If you haven't already:
-- try calibrating your controller in the RC assistant.
-- then calibrate it in the PC assistant.
-- then calibrate your compass where you are going to fly, ensuring your pockets are empty, nothing on your wrists and no ferrous materials in the ground.
-- then ensure you have a good satellite count (>= 6, preferably more).
-- ensure you are in GPS mode.
-- fly.

Should fly with no drift after all that. If not, let us know. With a sat count of 6, it may drift at first and become better with time in the air. Sat counts of 7 and preferably 8 or more should be very stable.


I have done all of those things except calibrate the controller. By controller you mean the transmitter yes? Just checking lol Do you have to calibrate both the Phantom and the controller/ transmitter together?
 
Could it be the motor? If not spinning the same speed as the others while in a hover, would that cause it to drift to the left?
 
Larry L said:
Could it be the motor? If not spinning the same speed as the others while in a hover, would that cause it to drift to the left?


It seems to be spinning the same speed as the others and in the correct direction. I flew it up a few feet under my garden light, and the light lit up the propellers as they were spinning so they looked like 2 big circles, and it looked almost as if the front left propellers were spinning slightly below the front right. But I couldn't be 100% sure.

When i say "below" i mean physically lower.
 
I hope you got the same motors+esc and not the upgraded versions to suit the 9450 props.
 
Jenko1989 said:
I have done all of those things except calibrate the controller. By controller you mean the transmitter yes? Just checking lol Do you have to calibrate both the Phantom and the controller/ transmitter together?
I did not know u had crashed and done repairs. My recommendations are for an undamaged craft. And yes by controller I mean the handheld transmitter.

You would think that it could compensate for the misalignment you have. But it appears it is too unbalanced to handle. You are going to have to align everything and be sure you have the same hardware on all four corners.

Your satellite count dropping when you record is likely due to it needing the foil mod. Look it up. You don't HAVE TO cal everything together but you should in this case.
 
BlackTracer said:
Jenko1989 said:
I have done all of those things except calibrate the controller. By controller you mean the transmitter yes? Just checking lol Do you have to calibrate both the Phantom and the controller/ transmitter together?
I did not know u had crashed and done repairs. My recommendations are for an undamaged craft. And yes by controller I mean the handheld transmitter.

You would think that it could compensate for the misalignment you have. But it appears it is too unbalanced to handle. You are going to have to align everything and be sure you have the same hardware on all four corners.

Your satellite count dropping when you record is likely due to it needing the foil mod. Look it up. You don't HAVE TO cal everything together but you should in this case.

Ok thanks for your help, but thing about the GPS is that, it was working absolutely fine before the crash. No problems what so ever. Now it's not so great, i'm just not sure if that foil mod will do anything?
 
Jenko1989 said:
Ok thanks for your help, but thing about the GPS is that, it was working absolutely fine before the crash. No problems what so ever. Now it's not so great, i'm just not sure if that foil mod will do anything?

Maybe the GPS device in the top of the shell is damaged. I have heard of them cracking in a crash. Remove the shielding and have a look.
 
BlackTracer said:
Jenko1989 said:
Ok thanks for your help, but thing about the GPS is that, it was working absolutely fine before the crash. No problems what so ever. Now it's not so great, i'm just not sure if that foil mod will do anything?

Maybe the GPS device in the top of the shell is damaged. I have heard of them cracking in a crash. Remove the shielding and have a look.

Ok will do thanks man. What would you recommend if it was damaged?
 
Jenko1989 said:
Ok will do thanks man. What would you recommend if it was damaged?

Actually the more I think about it, the damaged ones show 0 satellites I think. I still think you should try the foil mod cause the symptoms are pointing to that. I know, it was fine before lol.
 
BlackTracer said:
Jenko1989 said:
Ok will do thanks man. What would you recommend if it was damaged?

Actually the more I think about it, the damaged ones show 0 satellites I think. I still think you should try the foil mod cause the symptoms are pointing to that. I know, it was fine before lol.

Ok well thanks for your help. I will do the foil mod and see what happens. What kind of material do you recommend that I use? I was going to use copper as I think they use that to shield the GPS anyway.
 
As far as the 4 extra beeps, I have the same thing after replacing one of my ESCs.

Its because its a compatible ESC, but not the same as the ones that came with the bird.

Works fine for me. The new motor is a little stickier, but no issues in flight, no more heat in that ESC than the others, etc.

As far as drifting, you really do need to be specific - even in GPS mode, the tolerance for horizontal position is quite large (6 ft I think?) - so if it drifts around, but doesnt drift away on you, you could be looking at something that is normal.
 

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