Point of Interest with P2, P2V, P2V+

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I discovered recently on rcgroups that the hacky point of interest feature of the Phantom 2 was not well known... people seemed to assume that it simply wasn't possible until I pointed out how, so I thought I'd come here and explain for my favourite forum:

The Phantom already has POI.

Quickly switching the S2 switch of the remote controller from upper most to lower most positions 3 to 5 times will reset the home point of PHANTOM 2. When the home point is set, you will see a series of rapid green blinks on the LED Flight Indicator.

Source: DJI Wiki

If you use this in combination with IOC you can simply set your home position above an object, then use your right stick to fly in a circle around it.
 
Not just the P2, that behavior applies to the regular Naza-M (and the pro FCs) as well. The main limitation compared to the real POI of the A2 and WKM is that HL, along with its radial aileron movement, only works from greater than 10m (~33ft) away from the recorded home point, which can limit its practical functionality if videoing or taking photos.
 
I didn't want to comment on uses / capabilities that I wasn't familiar with. I have seen at some point that the P1 has a method to set the home point, although I think it's different ... and I'm not sure if it has IOC.

Can you explain what you mean about the 10m limit as if I was a 5 year old? I'm not certain I've understood it completely.
 
MonsieurAnon said:
I didn't want to comment on uses / capabilities that I wasn't familiar with. I have seen at some point that the P1 has a method to set the home point, although I think it's different ... and I'm not sure if it has IOC.

Can you explain what you mean about the 10m limit as if I was a 5 year old? I'm not certain I've understood it completely.

The P1 (and every DJI flight controller) has IOC as well (normal flight mode as well as course lock and home lock). The way you set either is the same/similar as on the P2. CL is flipping between top and middle position 5 times, HL is flipping between middle and bottom (or top and bottom) 5 times.

The thing with HL mode on a DJI flight controller is that it is only active from more than 10m away from the current saved home point. Because it is radial, your forward/backward elevator does not always fly in the same cardinal direction, it depends on where the MR is in horizontal space in relation to the home point. Because of this, DJI set it so that you can only activate it if you are far enough away where it is patently clear what direction "away from home point" is. If you enter the 10m radius while in HL mode, it switches to CL mode and stays there until you reset the tx switch.

This means that you can set a set a new home point to establish a point of interest. But you can't activate HL mode unless you're at least 10m away from it, and if you enter that 10m radius at any time, you're no longer in HL mode so you lose the radial "circle-around-the-target" aileron movement.

The A2 manual has the best illustrative description of how CL and HL work (and as an added bonus, it supports real POI so you can compare that as well on the same chart): http://wiki.dji.com/en/index.php/A2_Int ... on_Control
 
Just keep in mind, if you choose the homepoint over an object (Lets say a rock) if you loose control or your controller goes dead, or you fly around a little and go out on transmitter range, it will try to land on the object that was your POI, like a rock.
 
thedjiguy said:
Just keep in mind, if you choose the homepoint over an object (Lets say a rock) if you loose control or your controller goes dead, or you fly around a little and go out on transmitter range, it will try to land on the object that was your POI, like a rock.

Good point. Once you start using a function for a secondary purpose, it's easy to accidentally lose track of what else it's done! POI around a big pine tree = RTH onto a big pine tree :)
 
This is a very silly thing to do. As the previous posters have said, recording a new home point means that you are essentially flying without RTH failsafe.
 
rilot said:
This is a very silly thing to do. As the previous posters have said, recording a new home point means that you are essentially flying without RTH failsafe.

Unless you're recording it after landing, obviously. I use this to reset my home point after every landing, because I never land in the same spot.
 
Well yeah, I meant, to use it for what the OP described. I thought that was pretty obvious from my post.
 
ElGuano said:
MonsieurAnon said:
I didn't want to comment on uses / capabilities that I wasn't familiar with. I have seen at some point that the P1 has a method to set the home point, although I think it's different ... and I'm not sure if it has IOC.

Can you explain what you mean about the 10m limit as if I was a 5 year old? I'm not certain I've understood it completely.

The P1 (and every DJI flight controller) has IOC as well (normal flight mode as well as course lock and home lock). The way you set either is the same/similar as on the P2. CL is flipping between top and middle position 5 times, HL is flipping between middle and bottom (or top and bottom) 5 times.

The thing with HL mode on a DJI flight controller is that it is only active from more than 10m away from the current saved home point. Because it is radial, your forward/backward elevator does not always fly in the same cardinal direction, it depends on where the MR is in horizontal space in relation to the home point. Because of this, DJI set it so that you can only activate it if you are far enough away where it is patently clear what direction "away from home point" is. If you enter the 10m radius while in HL mode, it switches to CL mode and stays there until you reset the tx switch.

This means that you can set a set a new home point to establish a point of interest. But you can't activate HL mode unless you're at least 10m away from it, and if you enter that 10m radius at any time, you're no longer in HL mode so you lose the radial "circle-around-the-target" aileron movement.

The A2 manual has the best illustrative description of how CL and HL work (and as an added bonus, it supports real POI so you can compare that as well on the same chart): http://wiki.dji.com/en/index.php/A2_Int ... on_Control

According to the WIKI, POI remains active from 5M to 500M from home point. If that's the case, I would think that POI would be very useful for camera work. Or am I missing something?
 
npalen said:
According to the WIKI, POI remains active from 5M to 500M from home point. If that's the case, I would think that POI would be very useful for camera work. Or am I missing something?

Yes, the flight controller has to support POI mode in order to use it :) The Naza controller doesn't support it. Which is why there is all this talk about deputizing home lock to approximate it. The wiki article is for the professional A2 controller.
 
According to the WIKI, POI remains active from 5M to 500M from home point. If that's the case, I would think that POI would be very useful for camera work. Or am I missing something?

Being able to easily fly POI is probably close to the top of every aerial photographer's Wish List. The comment that using Home Lock to emulate POI control is "silly" is either from someone who doesn't understand or is such a skilled pilot that he doesn't need it. You decide.... :)
 
You're not ... these guys are mostly just concerned about not having failsafe.

I tend to use failsafe primarily for when I have flown outside of FPV range, as it's simpler than trying to judge the heading ... but I've never needed it in an emergency when flying close to an object that I want to circle, so it feels to me that this point is highly contextual.
 
POI is extremely useful for photography yes. If you want POI and want to be safe then change craft and use a WKM or A2. Fudging POI by forcing a new home point save is dangerous as you will lose the ability to return to home in the event of an issue with the control link.

I don't think anyone is saying that POI is a silly function, just doing it this way is silly.
 
rilot said:
POI is extremely useful for photography yes. If you want POI and want to be safe then change craft and use a WKM or A2. Fudging POI by forcing a new home point save is dangerous as you will lose the ability to return to home in the event of an issue with the control link.

I don't think anyone is saying that POI is a silly function, just doing it this way is silly.


+1

Practice, practice, PRACTICE and you will be able to fly POI very easily and it will become second nature to you.
 

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