Resetting Home Point

[Monte55]

I have a Phantom 1 but the answer to my question may apply to all Phantoms. Not sure. My first Phantom 1 is on ver 4.00. I did not upgrade to 4.02. I can not reset home position while flying. I jus received my second Phantom 1 ver 4.02. I believe it will let me reset home position while flying. The question is...does it have to be more than ten meters from original home point to do this? Next..does it have to be flying or can I land it and reset home point with props turned off? Same question with course lock.

 

[The Editor]

Ummm..... I would DEFINITELY upgrade to 4.02!

4.0 has a bug in the ringfence/limit feature. If you fly outside of your preset limit (either vertically or horizontally) you will lose control of your aircraft and be unable to 'bring it back' within the ring fence boundary.

Your only option to bring your Phantom back is to initiate RTH. DJI fixed this bug pretty quickly, hence the release of v4.02

 

[Monte55]

Ummm..... I would DEFINITELY upgrade to 4.02!

4.0 has a bug in the ringfence/limit feature. If you fly outside of your preset limit (either vertically or horizontally) you will lose control of your aircraft and be unable to 'bring it back' within the ring fence boundary.

Your only option to bring your Phantom back is to initiate RTH. DJI fixed this bug pretty quickly, hence the release of v4.02

I understand the fence bug but you don't lose control. You still have throttle and can land. I don't fly that far away and always keep los.If I set my limits far, I'll never reach them so that shouldn't be a problem. What about the home point reset thing?

 

[Monte55]

I just took the newer Phantom out ver 4.02 to see if I could reset home point while flying. After a few tries, it worked. It seems as I have to go to course lock, then flip between cl and hl about 10 times ending in hl position and wait for rapid green flashes. Is this how it's done? 5 to 6 flips of switch didn't seem to work. I have heard people say sometimes it takes a few tries. Is this correct. Is it just iffy

 

[N017RW]

I just took the newer Phantom out ver 4.02 to see if I could reset home point while flying. After a few tries, it worked. It seems as I have to go to course lock, then flip between cl and hl about 10 times ending in hl position and wait for rapid green flashes. Is this how it's done? 5 to 6 flips of switch didn't seem to work. I have heard people say sometimes it takes a few tries. Is this correct. Is it just iffy

It seems the cadence or timing of the switching is what causes it to seem to take more flicks.

The P2 manual (I know we're talking P1 here) states CL to HL for Home reset and Off to CL for Heading reset. Going form Off to HL runs the risk of resetting both parameters.

 

[Monte55]

I wondered about doing cl to hl after flipping S2. Should I end it in off or leave it in hl till I get the quick flashes. That seems to be the way it worked for me. My timing may be off . Not too fast but not slow. I guess I need to test more. I wonder if it's different from quad to quad. Compass calibration is always 5 flips of S1 switch although I have read where some say it takes more.

 

[crash1sttime]

Compass calibration is always 5 flips of S1 switch although I have read where some say it takes more.

Never needed more than 5, mind you ive been flying the same location recently due to weather and i rarely calibrate the compass

 

[Monte55]

Why would location make a difference. ? I always do compass calibration first flight of day at same spot.

 

[N017RW]

Many, including myself, only calibrate when they have changed something in or on their quad.

The purpose is to cancel or better yet compensate for the magnetic distortions produced by the ferrous materials on-board (research hard and soft-iron distortion if you want to learn more). BUT since magnetic conditions can vary from location to location so too will the distortions caused by the on-board materials and thus it is [DJI] recommended to calibrate when changing flying locations.

The absolute MUST is to calibrate when adding, removing, or relocating equipment on the quad as that distortion is local to the quad and will have the greatest impact on proper operation.

I've calibrated three times, once out-of-the-box, once again to be sure I was doing it properly, and once after swapping control systems to Futaba. That was 7 mos. ago.

However I usually fly within a 5-7 mile radius of my home which is where I calibrate(d).

 

[PhantomFanatic]

Why would location make a difference. ? I always do compass calibration first flight of day at same spot.

Why? From what I've read compass calibration is needed only if you fly from a new location.

Edit: You must not be referring to the two 360 degree compass rotations, vertically and horizontally.

 

[Monte55]

I'm asking why would location have anything to do with how many times you flip S1 to enter compass calibration.

 

[Monte55]

After some office work and charging the battery...I took the Phantom out again to further test the resetting of home point. Couldn't get it to take after about 5 tries...hmmm?????? Must not be a reliable thing. Now, it has to be close enough to see the led flashes so if far away...it's just a guess if it worked at all unless you go to homelock and test it.

 

[Monte55]

Took it out again this morning to try resetting home point while flying. First time it took flipping S2 from cl to hl ten times to get the new home point which I tested by going to home lock and it went to new home position. Great. I tried it three more times in different areas but only flipped S2 five times and it worked fine. Only difference is I flipped S2 a bit faster. Not crazy fast but quicker. I saw a video saying you have to be at least 30 feet or so from previous home point to set a new one. I haven't verified this but I will. I also am wondering if new home point can be set with quad on ground with props shutdown. I'll test that also.
FYI...With new battery and started timing from the time I powered up quad, I brought it in at 13 minutes with no red battery warning yet.
Phantom was bare.