Recent encounters - not good!

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Paulus198310

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Hi All,

I've been looking at purchasing a drone for some time. I eventually jumped in and purchased the Phantom 3 standard. Straight out the box it required a firmware upgrade; I completed this and all seemed well. I flew the drone 3-4 times with no issues. However, on the 5th or so flight, i was approx. 200ft distance and 60ft high; I got the 'signal lost' error. The drone did what i expected and RTH. However, i did expect the signal to come back the closer the drone got to me - this didn't happen like it had done on previous flights. Cutting a long story short, the drone ended up in a tree due to signal loss at a distance of approx 10ft.

I took the drone out the following day to test everything was ok - it wasn't. With the drone hovering at head height at a distance of approx. 6ft the signal kept dropping out erratically. I returned the drone for a new replacement. Questions I have are -

1) Has anyone else experienced similar errors?
2) Should i update the firmware on my new drone?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Hello Paul and welcome to the Forum.

Those situations do NOT sound normal. Hopefully your replacement aircraft will not exhibit these same traits.

Safe flights :)
 
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Congratulations on a great purchase. I love my P3S.

The signal loss is not normal and could be due to interference. Where are you flying? Have you tried a different location? Get into a wide open area and try again

I have powered mine up in the house and get the "weak signal" all the time. One day tried turning off the wifi in the house and all is good.

And before you fly again, go back into the GO app and be sure your Return to Home (RTH) is set high enough to avoid any obstacles. It will only accept meters which are about 3 to 1 in terms of feet. I have mine at 60 which comes out to 197 feet.

As to firmware, there are many here of the belief that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't blame them. Too many stories about updates going badly. Fortunately, many f these are with the more sophisticated models like the P4 Pro.

Personally, I "abide" by all updates; firmware and software and I have experienced zero issues. If I fail to update and if something does go wrong, I can see DJI denying any responsibility under warranty or my DJI Care due to the fact the updates were not performed. Not that the update could have prevented whatever happened!

All the best to you and good luck with the replacement!
 
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Paulus198310 said:
Hi All,

I've been looking at purchasing a drone for some time. I eventually jumped in and purchased the Phantom 3 standard. Straight out the box it required a firmware upgrade; I completed this and all seemed well. I flew the drone 3-4 times with no issues. However, on the 5th or so flight, i was approx. 200ft distance and 60ft high; I got the 'signal lost' error. The drone did what i expected and RTH. However, i did expect the signal to come back the closer the drone got to me - this didn't happen like it had done on previous flights. Cutting a long story short, the drone ended up in a tree due to signal loss at a distance of approx 10ft.

I took the drone out the following day to test everything was ok - it wasn't. With the drone hovering at head height at a distance of approx. 6ft the signal kept dropping out erratically. I returned the drone for a new replacement. Questions I have are -

1) Has anyone else experienced similar errors?
2) Should i update the firmware on my new drone?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Welcome!

Updates are optional. My suggestion is to just fly it first without updating so you know what normal looks like before changing anything. Once you know that everything works and you've done your research, you can make a more informed decision on whether or not you want to update. If you then choose to update, you'll be able to recognize any issues introduced with the changes.

Also, make note of which FW versions are on your AC and your RC before you change anything. Its much harder to help people when we ask them what they had before and they say they don't know.

I agree with LarBear that it appears you didn't set your RTH height adequately. Based on what you said, it sounds like that is what caused it to hit a tree. Not signal loss.

As Mark noted, antenna orientation is very often an issue with new owners. Understand what is correct for max signal.

tcope was correct to suggest read the manual fully. Not only the lame quick start guide that comes with the P3, but the complete downloaded manual. Then read it again. Adjust your settings for your use, fly for a time or two, then stop and read the manual yet again now that it will make a bit more sense to you. After that, read the manual. :)

Keep in mind that as you have already seen, pilot error is what causes a large percentage of issues.
 
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Mark The Droner said:
Are you sure you were aiming the controller correctly on the first problem flight? It sounds to me like it's possible you don't know how to cancel RTH...? Also, did you try to steer it down as it was descending?

What mobile device are you using?
Click to expand...

I'm aware of how the antenna should be pointed at the aircraft. I'm using a Samsung s8. I couldn't cancel the RTH or control the aircraft in any way shape or form because the controller wasn't able to connect to the aircraft, even when it was 10m away.
 
tcope said:
If you have not already, read the online manual completely. Next, read it again. If you know this information backward and forward, you will better enjoy your drone.
Click to expand...

Already have done this. Still no mention of controller signal loss.
 
Well, you're new at this, and some people don't understand that there are two connections. One is 2.4 ghz and the other is 5.8 ghz. If you lose your 2.4 ghz, you may or may not have the 5.8 ghz connection. You don't know because your screen is frozen or black. This is a common issue with new pilots using a wifi Phantom.
 
Oso said:
Welcome!

Updates are optional. My suggestion is to just fly it first without updating so you know what normal looks like before changing anything. Once you know that everything works and you've done your research, you can make a more informed decision on whether or not you want to update. If you then choose to update, you'll be able to recognize any issues introduced with the changes.

Also, make note of which FW versions are on your AC and your RC before you change anything. Its much harder to help people when we ask them what they had before and they say they don't know.

I agree with LarBear that it appears you didn't set your RTH height adequately. Based on what you said, it sounds like that is what caused it to hit a tree. Not signal loss.

As Mark noted, antenna orientation is very often an issue with new owners. Understand what is correct for max signal.

tcope was correct to suggest read the manual fully. Not only the lame quick start guide that comes with the P3, but the complete downloaded manual. Then read it again. Adjust your settings for your use, fly for a time or two, then stop and read the manual yet again now that it will make a bit more sense to you. After that, read the manual. :)

Keep in mind that as you have already seen, pilot error is what causes a large percentage of issues.
Click to expand...


Thanks for this. However, it wasn't the RTH height that made it crash. It cleared all obstacles on its way back home. It landed in a tree whilst landing. The RTH function may not be as accurate as I originally thought.
 
Mark The Droner said:
Well, you're new at this, and some people don't understand that there are two connections. One is 2.4 ghz and the other is 5.8 ghz. If you lose your 2.4 ghz, you may or may not have the 5.8 ghz connection. You don't know because your screen is frozen or black. This is a common issue with new pilots using a wifi Phantom.
Click to expand...

If I remember rightly, the 2.4ghz is for the camera and 5.8ghz is for the aircraft control. Nothing worked on the controller or the dji go app. It seemed to just cut out all together
 
Once it goes into RTH, the AC will ignore the controller (the 5.8 signal) until you cancel RTH. However, it should still let you steer it down after it has reached homepoint and is descending. You can easily cancel RTH by toggling the S1 switch. In this way, you're using the 5.8 signal to cancel rather than the 2.4 signal.

It's very rare for both the 2.4 signal and 5.8 signal to go out at the same time, and then neither signal return during the rest of the flight as it RTHs.
 
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Mark The Droner said:
Once it goes into RTH, the AC will ignore the controller (the 5.8 signal) until you cancel RTH. However, it should still let you steer it down after it has reached homepoint and is descending. You can easily cancel RTH by toggling the S1 switch. In this way, you're using the 5.8 signal to cancel rather than the 2.4 signal.

It's very rare for both the 2.4 signal and 5.8 signal to go out at the same time, and then neither signal return during the rest of the flight as it RTHs.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I recall trying everyhing you have mentioned but had no joy. With that said i was stressing so may not have toggles the s1 switch. Panic had set in by then
 
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