Problems at sea with P4P v2

[PhantomPhactorDroneServ]

Good morning, first time poster, long time reader. I have a P4P V2, and was just off the coast of NJ about 2 miles out in the Atlantic filming for a boat owner. The first time I went to deploy, I got a warning that the downward facing avoidance was not working and gave directions for calibration in which I had to hold the drone and go in a square pattern, in one direction, to calibrate it. It never worked. Took off any way. Everything worked fine, until, it seemed, that about half the battery was gone then I lost my right control. Luckily, with only 120 seconds left on the battery, we brought it in. This scenario happened two other times. Luckily, got the job done and came home with all equipment. Sitting here now, figured I’d look into the problem, but everything is normal now. What caused the issues I had out in the ocean? The only thing I could possibly think is that the GPS from the boat was causing some kind of interference. I even had everyone else on the boat turn off their phones, but that did not seem to help either. Any thoughts? Thanks, in advance.

 

[Meta4]

I got a warning that the downward facing avoidance was not working.

You don't need the downward facing sensors out at sea (or most places).
Just turn them off in the app.

Took off any way. Everything worked fine, until, it seemed, that about half the battery was gone then I lost my right control. Luckily, with only 120 seconds left on the battery, we brought it in. This scenario happened two other times

Can you explain what happened a little better, because it's not clear.

The only thing I could possibly think is that the GPS from the boat was causing some kind of interference. I even had everyone else on the boat turn off their phones, but that did not seem to help either.

The boat's GPS had no effect on anything.
GPS receivers are passive and just receive , without transmitting anything.
It's unlikely any of the boat's other equipment caused a problem and the phones on the boat wouldn't have made any difference.

If you post data from one of the affected flights that might help to identify the issue.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report on the flight data.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides and someone might be able to analyse it and give you an understanding of the cause of the incident.
or
Just post the .txt file here

 

[PhantomPhactorDroneServ]

I think I’ve figured it out. I believe it was just a matter of updating my home point. I checked my last flight report and it stated I was 6,300 feet away from the last time the home point was updated and my parameters are set for roughly 1,200 max distance. And it seemed that once a certain percentage of battery was used up it would stop going forward, backward, etc. yet it would fly up and down fine. So, I’m thinking with a full battery the drone figured it could return home and would function normally, so once the battery was used up it figured it no longer had the “strength” to make it back to the home point and thus rendered itself no to be able to fly further away from said home point.

 

[Pygar70]

I think I’ve figured it out. I believe it was just a matter of updating my home point. I checked my last flight report and it stated I was 6,300 feet away from the last time the home point was updated and my parameters are set for roughly 1,200 max distance. And it seemed that once a certain percentage of battery was used up it would stop going forward, backward, etc. yet it would fly up and down fine. So, I’m thinking with a full battery the drone figured it could return home and would function normally, so once the battery was used up it figured it no longer had the “strength” to make it back to the home point and thus rendered itself no to be able to fly further away from said home point.

I have difficulty understanding both your description of what happened and your diagnosis above. When you say you lost your 'right control', are you referring to the right-roll, the right-yaw or the right stick? And if the right stick, how did you make it back? At any rate, your home point not being updated should only cause problems if the drone (or you) were to initiate a RTH. It would not affect the controls. Nor should your battery level affect your controls. Even in a forced landing (<=10%), your controls should still work. And when the drone determines that you need to return, it won't prevent you from flying further away, should you choose to.

If you're still looking for an explanation, I recommend posting the flight log.

 

[Meta4]

I have difficulty understanding both your description of what happened and your diagnosis above. When you say you lost your 'right control', are you referring to the right-roll, the right-yaw or the right stick? And if the right stick, how did you make it back? At any rate, your home point not being updated should only cause problems if the drone (or you) were to initiate a RTH.

If the homepoint was not updated and the boat was sailing, that could cause problems, particularly as the OP mentioned that he had a max distance limit enabled.
That max distance would be a max distance from where the drone was launched, not from where the boat had moved to.
As the drone approached the distance limit, it would have been like hitting an invisible wall.
To get the drone back, he would have had to remove or increase the distance limit or reset the home point.

If RTH was initiated, that would have sent the drone back to where it was launched, not where the boat now was.

It would not affect the controls. Nor should your battery level affect your controls. Even in a forced landing (<=10%), your controls should still work. And when the drone determines that you need to return, it won't prevent you from flying further away, should you choose to.

Your drone constantly monitors the distance from the recorded homepoint and the battery level and will warn that it is about to iniate RTH when it calculates that the battery level is just a little more than necessary for teh return trip.
If you are following a moving boat and don't update the home point, that can happen when there is still plenty of battery and the drone is close, because it's all calculated based on where the homepoint is recorded, not where the drone is now.

It would be interesting to see the data to find out what the OP did to bring the drone back.

 

[PhantomPhactorDroneServ]

Meta 4, it WAS like hitting an invisible wall. Luckily, we had a good captain and he was able to maneuver under the drone each time. The first being the closest, battery only had 120 seconds left on it. Each time it hit the “invisible wall”, after the battery was at it‘s final warning, I received a prompt that said within 7 seconds the drone would initiate RTH on its own unless I cancelled it, which I did each time. Took the drone out yesterday, at home, and everything is as it was before. Ay, lesson learned, when out to sea constantly update home point.
The only way to practice flying off a boat, is flying off a boat.

 

[CoreySnipes]

I've done a little boat work here on Lake Erie. P3 and P4 are great for this because they have something you can grab. Based on some trial and error and looking at others' recommendations, here are the settings I check before takeoff:

• Controller in ATTI
• Vision positioning OFF
• Obstacle avoidance (if applicable) OFF
• Set “remote controller signal lost” mode to HOVER
• Turn max distance limit OFF

 

[PhantomPhactorDroneServ]

 

[Droneted]

good post