Return to Home - within 30 Metres

BMP

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Sorry if this has already been answered - couldn't find it with search.

If return to home is triggered within 20 or 30 metres of home the drone will land at that point - 20 or 30 metres away.

Why ?

Why doesn't it return to the home point set ?
Can this be changed?

I am a new Phantom 4 owner and had a lucky escape today.
My controller showed it was 100% charged.
I took off in a field and hovered for a few seconds and then flew about 15 to 20 metres away across the field. At that point my controller went off and the drone just landed where it was.
I have checked the manual and apparently that is what is is supposed to do.

The issue with the controller is a different issue. Apparently my controller is faulty. It has been reporting 100% full for the last few days. I just assumed it lasted for ages but looks like it was wrong. I plugged it in and after about a minute it was showing 100% again. It is going back to be changed.

Thanks for any help.
 
If return to home is triggered within 20 or 30 metres of home the drone will land at that point - 20 or 30 metres away.
Yes.

Why doesn't it return to the home point set ?
DJI does not explain the reason anywhere, but I'm assuming it's for safety reasons. Back when the P2 was the current model, people sometimes had the RTH trigger while the Phantom was right next to them -- causing the Phantom to sometimes ascend into a nearby roof/tree.

Can this be changed?
No.

I took off in a field and hovered for a few seconds and then flew about 15 to 20 metres away across the field. At that point my controller went off and the drone just landed where it was.
Correct. By default it will RTH when the remote controller signal is lost. If interested, the following setting in DJI GO allows you to change that behavior:

DJI-GO-RC-Signal-Lost.jpg
 
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RTH.jpg
If return to home is triggered within 20 or 30 metres of home the drone will land at that point - 20 or 30 metres away.
It's 20 metres and no-one knows why.
But it shouldn't be anything to worry about.
How often are you likely to initiate RTH when your Phantom is less than 60 feet away?
About the only time anyone notices this is timid new flyers trying RTH for the first time.
 
It's possible, but as mentioned above, DJI either doesn't want to implement it or can't.

I have a 3DR Hexacopter that will land within a meter of its takeoff point no matter where it is when RTH is activated.

I see DJI seems to have really refined RTH with the Mavic. It uses camera positioning. It takes a 'photo' of the home point as it takes off and uses the photo to find the exact landing point as it comes down. But who knows, maybe that only works within 30 meters too. :)
 
Does this mean if you were 20 meters from a cliff and RTH was activated it wouldn't land were you launched and potentially fall off the cliff ?? I'm so confused lol
 
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Does this mean if you were 20 meters from a cliff and RTH was activated it wouldn't land were you launched and potentially fall off the cliff ?
It means your Phantom will auto land at its current location if RTH is activated and it's within 20 meters of the home point. Cliff, pond, tree... it doesn't matter what's below it.
 
Wow interesting, thank you for clearing that up for me.hopefully mavic don't do that.
 
Ok I'll make a mental note of that.so many things to learn, I'm kinda scared lol
 
Does this mean if you were 20 meters from a cliff and RTH was activated it wouldn't land were you launched and potentially fall off the cliff ?? I'm so confused lol
The assumption from DJI is that you should be in visual contact with the bird and able to pilot it back to you and land it manually or via the land button on the screen (if this still exist).
Like what @msinger stated, it was to prevent users from freaking out thinking it was a fly-away. This happened a lot in the P2 era. The P2 batteries required draining after 20 cycles. Users would let the phantom idle with props on in their garage. Sometimes, the P2 would find an inaccurate GPS lock and try to RTH on the second battery warning. If you didn't bolt down the bird, it would rocket into the roof.

In relation to the P2, some users thought it was a flyaway when they triggered RTH next to them. Users would forget that they set RTH to ascend to a nominated height and then land. If they triggered RTH a few meters from them, the bird would rise and the user would panic and do a CSC to save the bird forgetting that it is apart of RTH feature.

It is a well designed feature if you understand why its there for. And just remember - you can cancel out of RTH via the screen or flicking from P to F and back to P or holding the RTH button. And you are also able to control with RTH with the limitation ascending speed. So if you are over water, just push up to maintain height and fly it to a safer landing area.
 
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The assumption from DJI is that you should be in visual contact with the bird and able to pilot it back to you and land it manually or via the land button on the screen (if this still exist).
Like what @msinger stated, it was to prevent users from freaking out thinking it was a fly-away. This happened a lot in the P2 era. The P2 batteries required draining after 20 cycles. Users would let the phantom idle with props on in their garage. Sometimes, the P2 would find an inaccurate GPS lock and try to RTH on the second battery warning. If you didn't bolt down the bird, it would rocket into the roof.

In relation to the P2, some users thought it was a flyaway when they triggered RTH next to them. Users would forget that they set RTH to ascend to a nominated height and then land. If they triggered RTH a few meters from them, the bird would rise and the user would panic and do a CSC to save the bird forgetting that it is apart of RTH feature.

It is a well designed feature if you understand why its there for. And just remember - you can cancel out of RTH via the screen or flicking from P to F and back to P or holding the RTH button. And you are also able to control with RTH with the limitation ascending speed. So if you are over water, just push up to maintain height and fly it to a safer landing area.
I don't think RTH can be cancelled during the initial climb to RTH preset height. I haven't tried it recently though.
 
I don't think RTH can be cancelled during the initial climb to RTH preset height. I haven't tried it recently though.

I am sure RTH can be cancelled any time.
I can't validate it as I manually fly back and hand catch. The only time I use RTH is when I'm showing off, "Look Mum - no hands!!".. =)
 
Thanks for the replies. It confirms what I thought.
Be nice if that was an option to change.

If I took off yesterday from the edge of a lake or on a pier I would have lost the drone.
Good news today is that the shop I bought it from exchanged everything because I had only had it for 2 weeks.
 

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