RTH in case of low sun (confusing the sensors)

Tomas Wangen · Mar 15, 2017

When flying today, I had continuing problems with the low sun triggering the sensors (rear and front) and stopping the drone to avoid "collision". As I was above the sea, there was really no way to avoid this other than angling the drone carefully (not easy to finds shadows out there).

Of-course, this is easily avoidable going into sports mode, but what would happen in case of a rth? Would the drone keep climbing in an effort to avoid the "obstacle"?

(this was the first time the false alert caused actual difficulty flying, so it might have been extreme conditions rather than typical).

AlanTheBeast · Mar 15, 2017

In the GO menu you can turn off OA for RTH. Set RTH altitude high enough to clear everything in your area and you're set. This is my default mode now and it suits where I fly which is relatively flat.

The sensors are pretty good but when there is the glare of the setting sun hitting both it's like an obstacle is glued to the glass...

Tomas Wangen · Mar 15, 2017

AlanTheBeast said:
In the GO menu you can turn off OA for RTH. Set RTH altitude high enough to clear everything in your area and you're set. This is my default mode now and it suits where I fly which is relatively flat.

The sensors are pretty good but when there is the glare of the setting sun hitting both it's like an obstacle is glued to the glass...

Thanks for the tip, I was unaware of that option.

AlanTheBeast · Mar 15, 2017

And I hope you have it! (I'm speaking from the Mavic side of the fence but it makes sense that you would have it too for the Phantom.)

Meta4 · Mar 15, 2017

Tomas Wangen said:
As I was above the sea, there was really no way to avoid this other than angling the drone carefully (not easy to finds shadows out there).
Of-course, this is easily avoidable going into sports mode, but what would happen in case of a rth?

There have been a couple of reports of Phantoms climbing high to avoid the sun on RTH.
Two possible solutions:
1. Engage RTH, Phantom starts to climb - cancel RTH and manually fly in the direction that RTH has put you on.
2. Disable object avoidance. If you are over the sea, you don't need it and you get extra speed as a nice bonus.