Scary RTH experience

[sajindra]

Today I decided to fly my phantom 3 standard. A Shiny day. Not much wind at all. So I calibrated the aircraft. Then took off the unit. Slowly increased to 120 meters. Checked the battery level and other stuff. All were fine. Then I activated the home lock mod and verified my home location through this. Then I started to fly via FPV. Flew around 900 meters(I have installed magic power this is not the first time. My best range is 1800m) no problem at all. Then suddenly lost a connection. "Aircraft disconnected "kicked out. Actually, this is pretty normal. I have plenty of experiences like this. Then controller's LED light became red. Then I realized RTH should engage. After that, I toggled s2 switch as well. Then I waited approximately seven minutes. But there was no sign of my aircraft. I checked Dji go app. Still blank screen. I waited another 90 seconds. Then I felt I lost it. So I decided to turn off the controller. Still waiting, no sign of my aircraft. Heartbeat raised. I told my brother that I lost it and his face turned black. Then I heard the most wonderful sound in the world. I looked up and saw my aircraft was landing. Then I turn on my controller. Then I checked Dji go app and there was nothing on the screen. So I restarted the app and finally connected. So I grabbed my drone back. Battery level was around 50%. So usually app automatically connects back while the aircraft returning. But this time did not. In this case, I learned a lot of lessons. I have to keep the UAV in my sight. And the best thing to engage the RTH is turn off the controller and be patience. I am not an expert tho. Hope you guys have similar experiences. Happy flying all.

 

[With The Birds]

You shouldn’t have to engage RTH, if it’s a true signal loss and you have RTH set to return just let it do its thing. People have actually panicked and cancelled RTH trying to engage it, end up with the AC hovering until critical battery auto land kicks in.

 

[sajindra]

You shouldn’t have to engage RTH, if it’s a true signal loss and you have RTH set to return just let it do its thing. People have actually panicked and cancelled RTH trying to engage it, end up with the AC hovering until critical battery auto land

What happen if we toggle s2 switch while RTH?

 

[With The Birds]

RTH will be cancelled- see the problem? The potential issue is with marginal connection the AC could be returning and you may unintentionally stop it without realising.

 

[sajindra]

RTH will be cancelled- see the problem? The potential issue is with marginal connection the AC could be returning and you may unintentionally stop it without realising.

Well, i turn off the controller. This thing save me.

 

[With The Birds]

Well, i turn off the controller. This thing save me.

Perhaps. I don’t like the idea of getting to the point where you need to turn the controller off. It’s nice to have the luxury of being able to control the AC when signal is established. Once you are familiar with the performance of the AC and how to operate it you will likely feel the same way.

 

[sajindra]

Perhaps. I don’t like the idea of getting to the point where you need to turn the controller off. It’s nice to have the luxury of being able to control the AC when signal is established. Once you are familiar with the performance of the AC and how to operate it you will likely feel the same way.

What happens if the battery gets into the lower level? I mean fail-safe feature.

 

[With The Birds]

What happens if the battery gets into the lower level? I mean fail-safe feature.

At the critical level it will commence auto landing.

 

[Mark The Droner]

What happen if we toggle s2 switch while RTH?

RTH will be cancelled- see the problem? The potential issue is with marginal connection the AC could be returning and you may unintentionally stop it without realising.

I don't understand this comment. I know the S2 switch starts RTH. I know the S1 switch cancels RTH. I've never heard that it's vice versa or that opposite switches do the same tasks. Do you have a link?

 

[Mark The Droner]

Sajinda - there are some Androids that won't reconnect after you break off from the wifi connection with the Phantom regardless of whether you fly back in and how close you are. The Android deliberately stays unconnected from the Phantom network because the network does not include internet. This only happens on some Androids and only happens some of the time - I'd say about half the time. What I do when I lose connection is tap on the little square at the bottom of the screen and then go to the WiFi settings area of your Android. If your device senses the Phantom wifi signal, it will show up on the wifi list and it may give you a message such as "No internet, will not connect automatically", so in that case you must manually tap on it and connect. Then go back to your flight app and give it a second or two and you'll be connected. And it will reconnect automatically if you lose connection again during that flight. There is no need to turn off your controller to get it to reconnect.

 

[sajindra]

Sajinda - there are some Androids that won't reconnect after you break off from the wifi connection with the Phantom regardless of whether you fly back in and how close you are. The Android deliberately stays unconnected from the Phantom network because the network does not include internet. This only happens on some Androids and only happens some of the time - I'd say about half the time. What I do when I lose connection is tap on the little square at the bottom of the screen and then go to the WiFi settings area of your Android. If your device senses the Phantom wifi signal, it will show up on the wifi list and it may give you a message such as "No internet, will not connect automatically", so in that case you must manually tap on it and connect. Then go back to your flight app and give it a second or two and you'll be connected. And it will reconnect automatically if you lose connection again during that flight. There is no need to turn off your controller to get it to reconnect.

Actually i am using an IOS device. Usually it connects. But this time did not. ))

 

[Mark The Droner]

Okay. I don't know if iOS does the same thing.

 

[msinger]

I know the S2 switch starts RTH. I know the S1 switch cancels RTH. I've never heard that it's vice versa or that opposite switches do the same tasks.

The opposite does not work. It must be done as described in this video.

 

[sajindra]

At the critical level it will commence auto landing.

So, I don't know whether this is true or not. I set my low battery level at 20 %. When the aircraft reaches the low battery level, then RTH should kick out, right? Before the auto descending?

 

[msinger]

I set my low battery level at 20 %. When the aircraft reaches the low battery level, then RTH should kick out, right?

No. That setting just warns you when the battery reaches that level.

The Phantom will automatically determine when the battery is low based on its current distance from the home point.