Scared to fly

[upgraders]

The end of February marks the 2nd month since owning my Vision, and I have had it out about 4 times, but I'm a little timid until I feel more comfortable with it. The first flight I took it up about 100 feet and took some great shots for about 10 minutes or so. Nothing fancy, just up and down. After that, I ordered some prop protectors and extra spare parts to have on hand. Being in Ohio we have not had many good days to fly, but the next time I took it out I just went straight up about 40 feet but this time is was all over the place. I mean that it drifts a lot. At least a 20-30 feet area.

I know what you will ask, did I wait for the Green light and GPS signals and the answer is yes, I also did the recalibration of the compass and all my battery levels were good.

The 3rd time out I installed my proper protectors (just to be safe) and went up about 15 feet and it was still drifting. I did a recalibration again and it did not make any difference.

2 days ago I took it out the 4th time it did not seem to drift as much maybe 5 - 10 feet so I took it up about 40 feet above the tree line and then it lost connection! (WTF??) all battery levels good and it is on FCC mode (Two beeps) Trying not to freak out, it started to RTH but 20 -30 feet away from my launch point slowly coming down on top of a tree! I tried to reconnect but it wasn't until it was about a few feet from the top limbs I switched on and off the transmitter and throttled up....and it responded in the nick of time!! I was able to manually maneuver it and land.

Yesterday and another compass calibration and I took it out again but this time just about 5 feet just to see what it would do. At first giving it a little throttle it starts to tip forward and I stopped the props moved it and tried again and gave it more throttle quicker and it goes up. But still it starts to drift.

I am new to DJI but I have other less "smart" quads so I know how to fly but I am not an expert yet on anything advanced on the DJI. I make sure I follow the pre-flight instructions to the letter. I wait until I get a solid green and 5 satellites before starting the props. I let it idle for about a minute or two. I have done the compass calibration away from anything metal or near anything electronic. I am not near any cell towers or power lines. There are high power lines about 1/4 mile away. Each flight was not on a cloudy day and the day I got it, I checked the firmware and it was all up-to-date on or around December 30th or so.

Needless to say I am scared to fly it anymore until it starts to fly as it should, but aside from the first "out-of-the-box" flight, something is not working right. Loosing connection at 30 feet? Tipping? drifting. It feels like I am flying a $50 nano than an advanced quad. I can crash my nano a 100 times and be fine... but if I crash a vision?

I fired an email off to DJI to see what they suggest, but I wanted to get some other seasoned pilots to chime in.

Thanks for any input or suggestions
Jason

 

[Geoelectro]

I'm a new flyer as well. 6 weeks. I would suggest you download the assistant software and check for updates. (If you haven't done so yet) I have about a dozen flights and only once did it fly very badly. I set it down and went through the calibration again. It's been fine since. I have switched to Naza-M mode for additional features.

Geo

 

[Jax Quad]

Any chance any other Phantom pilots live anywhere near you? Do you have a good hobby shop within a couple hours drive? Usually these tend to be minor issues but if you are new it may be difficult to diagnose.

 

[Suwaneeguy]

Your first few flights are always scary.
Until you master how it responds to your touch.
First aerial RC I ever owned and it is dang easy to fly.

On my first actual flight, I found out my RC batteries were dead.
Thought they were brand new but were not.
The unit beeped a few times, and when the drone couldn't get a signal, boom!, up in the air it flies.
Shocked me at first. Until I realized it was doing what is supposed to.
Shot up to sixty feet, hovered, came back to ground, landed and politely turned off.

On another flight, I did something and it suddenly it shot out into the wild blue and managed to bring it back to me.
Just like learning to ride a bicycle, we crash many times as we learn.
welcome to the club.
Now get out there and keep working on it.

 

[iDrone]

A few comments... 6 satellites please, and solid blinking greens before takeoff. Power-up Vision only after setting it on the LZ and after everything else is turned on - this so the IMU & compass can complete preflight cal & error checking. Clear your person & pockets of ferrous metal or electromagnetic radiating devices... Keys, celfone's, even the Controller; keep approx 4-6ft away from Vision during Compass Dance. Prop protectors, make certain if you ever remove them you replace the long screws with the original short screws else risk damaging the moor windings. Motors: check E-Clips, binding rotations. Props: check for hairline cracks by flexing blades. The stock antenna on the Controller can't communicate with Vision if its flying directly overhead, tilt the antenna so the tip points to your forehead. Tipping over: Nope, not normal... After checking previous items, connect Vision to Vision Assistant and run IMU Advanced Calibration. Drifting or Circling? Circling is a symptom of compass error, drifting can be caused by many things including being in NAZA ATTI mode which is perfectly normal esp after a move.

iDrone :ugeek:

 

[mikeramsey52]

Tipping on takeoff seems to be caused by timidity. If you slowly apply "throttle" * , any weight imbalance or difference in lift from the props becomes apparent. There's not enough motion for the controller to detect and correct. Goose it enough to get off the ground then begin gentle control inputs.

* I'll repeat a comment I made in another thread. The left stick forward/back motion is altitude, not throttle. If I push hard forward on the right stick, the quad tilts forward and moves quickly forward with no lose of altitude. That requires more power (throttle)- but I don't have to move the left stick at all.

 

[onesNzeros]

I would start with connecting the controller up to the RC Assistant software and run a calibration on the controller after checking for updates. The USB port is internal on the controller, but fairly simple to get to... remove 4 screws, slightly separate the from the bottom and slide the top part of the cover back to release it from the antenna.

Then, as previously mentioned. Connect the P2V to the Assistant software and check all the basics on the view tab. Check for updates to the P2V and install any if available. Then jump over to the Tools tab and monitor the readings of the Compass, Gyro and Accel as you move the P2V around with your hand. Lastly, run an IMU calibration.

 

[upgraders]

Gee thanks everyone for the input. I'll start off with the suggestions and report back.

I was not aware of the antenna direction when flying overhead. Is there an aftermarket antenna that is more omni directional that would eliminate that situation? I am not talking long range.. I plan to go there eventually but I still have a lot to learn before I let my baby out of my sight. Some of you guys have balls of steel!

Jason

 

[OI Photography]

* I'll repeat a comment I made in another thread. The left stick forward/back motion is altitude, not throttle. If I push hard forward on the right stick, the quad tilts forward and moves quickly forward with no lose of altitude. That requires more power (throttle)- but I don't have to move the left stick at all.

That's because the NAZA compensates to keep it level for you. Try that same thing in Manual mode and you'll see the difference. The left stick is definitely throttle, but like any control input in GPS mode it's more like "intelligent assisted throttle"

 

[iDrone]

Excellent point, yes if your controller sticks are out of cal in dead stick position that might explain an offset & tilt during liftoff. Calibrate your Controller using RC Assistant, or at least check it using Vision Assistant which let's you monitor & test your sticks & switches.

As for antennas, we have two or three threads devoted to this. You'll find them floating on the first two pages of the Vision forum... "More powerful repeater" by Uncle Fester was the original thread.

iDrone

 

[gbshovel]

With only 6 sats I get some drifting .
I shut her down move 10 feet or so and pick up 8 and she is fine. I like to have 8 before I am comfortable to fly because I fly beyond sight range on my property and I don't want it drifting any more than a foot or so.
I live Ohio also and fly almost everyday that is not heavy wind, snow or below 20 F. don't be scared its only money! :lol:
Im over by the PA line..

 

[Pull_Up]

The higher you go, the less "shadow" from ground clutter and the better sat reception (usually). And by "high" I just mean above the tallest things in your immediate launch area (house roof, trees, etc).

6 received is the minimum to fly with full gps control. If you only have 5 you could effectively be in attitude mode whereby the aircraft stabilises itself to keep things level but it can't hold station and will drift with the wind. You could always try launching from another area and see if that helps with sat reception.

 

[Bigbells]

Tipping on takeoff seems to be caused by timidity. If you slowly apply "throttle" * , any weight imbalance or difference in lift from the props becomes apparent. There's not enough motion for the controller to detect and correct. Goose it enough to get off the ground then begin gentle control inputs.

* I'll repeat a comment I made in another thread. The left stick forward/back motion is altitude, not throttle. If I push hard forward on the right stick, the quad tilts forward and moves quickly forward with no lose of altitude. That requires more power (throttle)- but I don't have to move the left stick at all.

The word that's incorrect, in my opinion, is "props". They're rotors! (But I know I'll get nowhere trying to change such a widely used nomenclature.)

 

[themosttoys]

There is a reason the little satellite counter icon in the app turns blue at 6+ sats. If the icon is not blue (6 or more) you do not have GPS lock. As others have said, without GPS lock, the P2V will drift. Even with lock, six sats is only accurate to about 30 feet, so the P2V will circle / drift in a 30 foot area. Also, without GPS lock, your home position may not be good (or very accurate), IMHO, taking off without a solid GPS lock (blue icon) is one of the main causes of "fly aways".

It can be a damper on the party, but if you wait the extra time or move the P2V to a location that gives eight sats before takeoff (six is the min, eight is better) your experience will be confidence inspiring.

 

[gfredrone]

Pull your panties out! Go full throttle at lift off. :shock:

 

[dkatz42]

That's because the NAZA compensates to keep it level for you. Try that same thing in Manual mode and you'll see the difference. The left stick is definitely throttle, but like any control input in GPS mode it's more like "intelligent assisted throttle"

Technically, all of the controls are throttle, because they are all translated to relative motor speeds.

And there's nothing manual about "manual" mode--it's just a fly-by-wire mode with somewhat less computation thrown in than other modes. A truly manual mode would give you four throttle levers, one for each motor, and would be pretty impossible to fly.

In old-school airplane RC the left stick really was throttle--the receive channel drove a servo connected to the single engine, and in helos it is presumably collective pitch (which also is not throttle).

Functionally the left stick is more of a "go up/down" control; in manual mode "up" is defined as "away from the landing gear" whereas in the other modes it is relative to the earth.

 

[F6Rider]

When I un-boxed my bird the motors would not even start because the 'center' position on the sticks were so far out of adjustment. By all means do both an IMU and control stick calibration, make sure you have enough sat's locked in and you might find all is well.
As an old Army Helicopter Crew Chief and Tech inspector. (anyone here old enough to remember when we had run-up & Taxi cert't) I equate the left stick with the collective and the right with the cyclic, and the yaw r/l with the tail rotor pitch control pedals. The only real trouble I have is getting used to the reversed controls when the bird is pointed at me so I am trying to get used to flying IFR instead of VFR. To this end I am installing a 7" monitor to replace my tiny iPhone screen.

PS... And they are not "Prop's" they are "Rotor's" :twisted:

 

[Pull_Up]

Heh, if you really want to go IFR just keep the lens cover on... At least we've got an artificial horizon and a "radar"!

 

[mikeramsey52]

PS... And they are not "Prop's" they are "Rotor's" :twisted:

Just because they're on a vertical axis rather than a horizontal one? Seems to me there are plenty of other attributes to consider...

Variable pitch
Cyclically variable pitch
Taper
Twist

They look most like Props to me.

In GPS mode, none of the Phantom controls correlate exactly to any airplane or helicopter control, other than yaw maybe. In either full size aircraft, the controls affect the aircraft's attitude which then causes it to change it's movement through the air. The pilot often has to apply multiple control inputs to make the intended movement. To make a coordinated turn in an airplane requires aileron, elevator and rudder inputs. The Phantom controls affect position in space and are independent of each other. Hold the aileron or cyclic constantly to the right and both an airplane and a helicopter will roll. The Phantom will move sideways. HL and CL are just special cases of changing the coordinate system to which the controls apply, a cylindrical one for HL, and fixed cartesian one for CL and a cartesian one fixed to the aircraft for normal. I haven't flown ATTI much but believe it's similar - motions along axes. Haven't even enabled manual mode.

 

[Bigbells]

I call the blades on a Phantom "rotors" because they are the sole means of providing lift. Fixed-wing aircraft (may) have propellers, but rotating wings are rotors, to me anyway.