Startup?

[ChrisV]

Hello everyone. I just purchased my first quadcopter, the FC40. I have a pretty good background in heli's and planes but not quads. I am a little confused during my startup. During startup I get a green light followed by 4 red lights. After this repeats several times, it then blinks a fast green several times. Then it goes to a slow green where it stays. I have calibrated the GPS but I don't know if its working correctly. I did still fly it once like this with no issues, however, the return home feature did not work. When I let go of the stick it did, however, hold its position. Can anybody give this quad newbie any suggestions?

Thanks
Chris

 

[zerodb]

Once you get the slow, steady green lights, the GPS is locked correctly.

When you say the return home feature didn't work, how did you attempt to activate it?

 

[ChrisV]

When I took off I had both S1 and S2 swith in the up position. I brought the copter to about 50' altitude and maybe 60' out. I then let go of the controls and flipped S2(switch on left) all the way down to the "home lock" position according the the instructions. The copter didn't do anything. Then thinking maybe it was the other switch that was home lock, I returned S2 to the up position and brought S1 to the bottom position. Still nothing. I then took control and landed. I just want to make sure it is working correctly before I start pushing it.

Thanks!

 

[lake_flyer]

did you activate IOC in the NAZAM software and activated the RTH function on the S1 switch?
The S2 switch is 'off' by default and the RTH function on the S1 as well.

Homelock doesn't bring you quad back automatically. You have to move and hold the pitch stick back. A return to home can only be invoked by switching off the transmitter, flying out of range OR by moving the S1 switch all the way down, IF you have enabled it in NAZAM.

Take good care that you don't choose MANUAL mode by accident when changing the S1 switch to RTH in the software. Manual mode would totally disorient you if never flew a quad before in manual. Even experienced pilots can crash when they don't realise they are in manual mode, specially when the quad is far away and probably beyond camera range.

 

[ChrisV]

I did not hook the quad up to the software yet because when I purchased it I was under the impression that those settings were already programmed. I will try connecting it and programming it. I can tell you that all though I do have experience with heli's, it is a little more difficult to identify direction on the quad since the front and back are the same.

 

[wattage]

Think you're misunderstanding what home lock is and the fact that it's not even enabled as standard. What you mean is return to home, which has to be assigned to the S1 switch in NAZA assistant. The other way to initiate a return to home is switch the transmitter off but that's usually for emergencies when it's gone from visual and FPV range. You really need to absorb the user manual pdf before taking your FC40 out again, you'll just end up wrecking it otherwise.

it is a little more difficult to identify direction on the quad since the front and back are the same

The light on the back is a help in this regard.

 

[ChrisV]

Thank you guys. I just finished adjusting the settings using NAZA assistant. We will see how it goes.

 

[mikey]

I am disappointed that the fc40 does not have a setting to 'return to home' upon low battery like the vision model. I was under the impression that it did before purchasing - but I'm seeing now (that I've had it for a few days) that the fc40 can only 'return to home' if you activate it either by switch, lost connection etc. Seems like it wouldn't be to hard to have it return to home upon low battery no? Within the software I can't figure out how to change this setting, please correct me if I'm wrong. I really want it to return to home when my battery in low.

 

[lake_flyer]

agree, it shouldn't be too difficult to add a checkbox at the voltage levels with the option to invoke RTH on first warning level. overriding the lowest voltage settings even. Rather buy a new battery than loose the Phantom over the lake here. But at most it would take about 2 min. to bring it back from a fair distance, with 10m/s you could be 700 feet away and still make it home before second level when RTH would kick in straight away on first level. The battery wouldn't suffer at all.
Didn't know that the Vision had this option, does it? Maybe somebody can hack NAZA someday. This would be a great thing to have. It might even be already there but disabled and not visible.
I doubt that DJI will add Vision features in NAZA for FC40 or P1. I asked them already but they never responded as they never responded to a earlier support question I raised, They are not really communicating with users, other than one way communication on their facebook page. Sorry to come to that conclusion.

 

[J.James]

even the vison when the battery is to low will just start to auto land were ever its at. and even will do it when the faulty so called smart battery's go bad and when its still showing on the ap that you still have plenty of battery left or if you lose contact with the pins on it and the phantom thinks some ones using a non dji battery. Then it will crash about 3-7 minutes in to the flight. way uncool.

Tho the software will give you a warning that the battery is low and to bring her in about 5 minutes or so after she crashes some place and only if the battery dont go flying out of it or if you dont smash the $500 camera or pull out the plug on back Which frys the camrea if the wire pulls out while its powered.

 

[mikey]

J.James,

Are you sure about the vision not having rth on low battery? I swear DJI advertises as such?

 

[Kwas]

There are a few things that they could have done better, like why would they allow the motors to be shut down while the craft is off the ground?

 

[ChrisV]

Thanks for the help everyone. I took the quad up this morning after adjusting all the settings. Once at altitude, I flipped S1 to failsafe and after several seconds the quad entered it's pattern to return home. It landed within inches of the takeoff location.

 

[SimonH78]

I am disappointed that the fc40 does not have a setting to 'return to home' upon low battery like the vision model. I was under the impression that it did before purchasing - but I'm seeing now (that I've had it for a few days) that the fc40 can only 'return to home' if you activate it either by switch, lost connection etc. Seems like it wouldn't be to hard to have it return to home upon low battery no? Within the software I can't figure out how to change this setting, please correct me if I'm wrong. I really want it to return to home when my battery in low.

A FC40 It does both of these just fine !? - It has the same Naza inside!?

 

[mikey]

I am disappointed that the fc40 does not have a setting to 'return to home' upon low battery like the vision model. I was under the impression that it did before purchasing - but I'm seeing now (that I've had it for a few days) that the fc40 can only 'return to home' if you activate it either by switch, lost connection etc. Seems like it wouldn't be to hard to have it return to home upon low battery no? Within the software I can't figure out how to change this setting, please correct me if I'm wrong. I really want it to return to home when my battery in low.

A FC40 It does both of these just fine !? - It has the same Naza inside!?

Simon,

You may need to reread my comment. I know it has rth feature. But this feature can only be activated by either manually flicking a switch, or if your transmitter loses signal to the phantom (for whatever reason).

What I don't believe (either that or I don't know how to set it up) it can do is automatically rth when the battery triggers the low voltage limit.

I'd be so appreciative if you (or anyone else) knows how to set this up in the desktop software, as I can't figure out how.

Thanks.

 

[lake_flyer]

Thanks for the help everyone. I took the quad up this morning after adjusting all the settings. Once at altitude, I flipped S1 to failsafe and after several seconds the quad entered it's pattern to return home. It landed within inches of the takeoff location.

And that is what it was all about! Great to see that it works OK now.