Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several miles?

[RCRookie]

I have a question about the use of Failsafe as a mission feature.

If I take my Vision out into an open area. boot the craft, get 7 or more sats, and set my Homepoint. Could I then put the Vision in the back of say,... a Pick-up truck, ..and 'not' turn the Vision off. Drive say 10 miles away,...still with satellite lock and home point set. Lift the Vision to an adequate Altitude, then turn on Failsafe. I would then be able to Record the journey home?
Would the camera still be recording after the Vision leaves the range of the Tx ?? I assume it will continue to record, regardless of loss of video wifi connection.

Is this a "doable" mission ? Obviously you would need to ensure plenty of extra altitude, if you did not know what obstacles might lie in the path of the Visions journey home.

I'm looking at trying this out.
Please let me know if I'm missing something or if this is achievable.Or perhaps I'm stark raving mad !

 

[GneeChee]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

Interesting idea. I considered something similar, then realized I was too chicken **** to try it

So you go on ahead ... give it a shot ... let us know

But seriously, I have no idea ... do you know the RTH/failsafe flight speed? can the quad make it back 10 miles before the battery goes?

 

[OI Photography]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

But seriously, I have no idea ... do you know the RTH/failsafe flight speed? can the quad make it back 10 miles before the battery goes?

Those are the two real obstacles, battery life and max flight speed on RTH. I'd be surprised if either will let you hit anywhere near 10 miles, and you'd only get as far back as the combination of those two factors will allow.

The general plan is possible in theory, and I believe others have run similar tests (right down to the pickup truck). Just make sure your entire return path is a safe potential landing zone.

 

[RCRookie]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

That's kind of what I thought too.. Although Colin Quinn did a 8 mile "Follow the Boat" on Lake Austin, here in Texas, but I don't know what max throttle is compared to max "Return to Home" speed.
So maybe start my first test within 3 miles and see what my battery says upon return.

 

[skyhighdiver]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

I have a question about the use of Failsafe as a mission feature.

If I take my Vision out into an open area. boot the craft, get 7 or more sats, and set my Homepoint. Could I then put the Vision in the back of say,... a Pick-up truck, ..and 'not' turn the Vision off. Drive say 10 miles away,...still with satellite lock and home point set. Lift the Vision to an adequate Altitude, then turn on Failsafe. I would then be able to Record the journey home?
Would the camera still be recording after the Vision leaves the range of the Tx ?? I assume it will continue to record, regardless of loss of video wifi connection.

Is this a "doable" mission ? Obviously you would need to ensure plenty of extra altitude, if you did not know what obstacles might lie in the path of the Visions journey home.

I'm looking at trying this out.
Please let me know if I'm missing something or if this is achievable.Or perhaps I'm stark raving mad !

http://youtu.be/mjDu-Yyn4rA

watch this and yes

 

[GneeChee]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

One of the interesting benefits of something like this could be what you find in your video.

When we travel from A to B, we seldom take a straight line, but the quad will ... who knows what treasures you might find


EDIT: just did a VERY unscientific test ... I sent my quad out about 1200 feet, then kicked in failsafe. There was about a 5-10 mph breeze, so I had the quad fly cross wind. The highest speed I got during RTH was 17.3 mph.

 

[nhoover]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

Should work. I did a complete RTH from 1.2 miles. It flies at about 16mph horizontally but only 3.3 mph vertically.

 

[cavaleiro01]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

It's a doable mission, but you really need to know and understand the P2V limitations regarding battery level (ie, autonomy) and speed, I guess.

Considering that, I would say that maybe you should be able to make it for 5 miles, but not more than that.

 

[Gizmo3000]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

Someone did that with a P1 awhile back as well, and it worked.

 

[RCRookie]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

Thanks for the input... I think i will try it from 2 miles, and see what battery level is upon return.
I live on a lake that is approx 2. 5 miles across, with a clear line of sight, so i may try that this summer when the weather is nice. I can follow the Vision home from a boat, and be directly under it, in the event that I need to re-take control in an emergency. Probably should put some floaties on it first...Just in case.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

This sounds like it would be a lot of fun. I think when I get home tonight, as long as the wind it calm, I may "Test" the RTH feature from a remote point. I'm trying to think of a good start & end point that would result in some interesting footage. I do have a nice 36-hole golf course close by... maybe a little tour at altitude would be in order... more to come!

U.M.

 

[RCRookie]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

Excellent...Let us know the results. Raise it up and have a good look in the direction of travel for any obstacles or towers, etc before you set RTH.

The video posted earlier in the thread is a good reference to what the Vision will do, however, the Guy had flown the Vision to the location if I understood the video correctly, then set it to RTH and he simply followed it home. That's why he nearly clipped a steeple. If you draw your map in advance in Goggle Earth (it has a ruler for miles/feet/yards/meters), so for "mission planning"...you draw a line for your route, that gives you effective distance, and the satellite view will tell you if there is anything interesting to "overfly' and you can select your maps and launch points accordingly. This is effectively doubling the RTH range by carrying the "powered up" GPS locked, aircraft in an open vehicle (truck) to its launch point. This is a range experiment as much as anything else. I'm sure the Vision wont have a problem as long as battery (flight time) is closely monitored, and you account for any obstacles.
May take a few flights to get the max safe range.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

HOLY CRAP I THOUGHT I HAD LOST MT PHANTOM!!!!

So I go out to an area close to a golf course. I let the Phantom set its home point. Then I do the compass dance. Everything is good to go. This is a 36-hole course so it's BIG. I fly my Phantom way out over the golf course and out of sight. I shut off the transmitter and wait. A minute or so later here she comes right back to me. Great I think, RTH is working as designed. So I continue to fly around until that battery pack is dead. I move to a different location farther down the road and repeat the whole process again. Set home point, do the dance, take off and fly the Phantom way out of sight. Shut off the transmitter and wait. Once again just as designed she returns back to me. I again fly around until I've exhausted the battery pack. Now the real test... :twisted:

I go home and out into my back yard. I install a fresh battery, let it set the home point and then do the compass dance. Only this time I leave everything powered up and I drive to a point that is about one mile from my house (as the crow fly's). I had a green flashing light the whole time I was driving to my take off spot. I get out of the CAR and put the Phantom on the ground. I pull the sticks down to get the motors running and then take off and climb to about 300 feet or so. Now I made sure my take off spot was up wind from my house. There was about a 5-7MPH breeze and I figured better to have a tail wind than a head wind on the automated return to the house. Once I had her at altitude I cut off the transmitter jumped in the car and hauled butt back to the house and ran to the back yard and waited, and waited, and waited... 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 7 minutes, oh gawd I got a fly away. DAMMIT!!! I stood there for 12 minutes waiting, hoping for my Phantom to come home. No dice. I was bummed to say the least.

I decided to jump in the car and go back to the drop off point. Maybe if I walked in a straight line from my take off point towards my house I may get lucky and find it in someones back yard. So as I am pulling into the parking lot where I had taken off from what do I see? My Phantom sitting on the ground RIGHT WHERE IT TOOK OFF FROM!!! Mind you it's 5PM and there is traffic everywhere, there is even 2 baseball games going on across the street with a bunch of kids. I was amazed nobody had seen it auto land and then subsequently stole it. What REALLY makes me scratch my head is why did it land from where it took off and NOT the home point I set in my back yard!?!?! Now I did put the Phantom in the car with me on the trip from my home to the launch point, so I guess it is possible that the compass might have gotten messed up during the drive even though I kept it away from the speakers and all, but that doesn't explain why it landed exactly where it took off from... a location I had never flown from before and not set as the home point?

Needless to say I'm relived I still have my Phantom and confused as to why it behaved the way it did. :?:

U.M.

 

[cavaleiro01]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

1) Why did you do the compass calibration every time? That makes no sense, unless you were moving more than 1,000 Km away from where you usually fly. Normally, you only need to do it once and that's it.
2) Your P2V just landed back to its Home point which was set just before it took off! Why do you say its Home point was the first one you set earlier, when you set another afterwards? Do not forget that, if the P2V it's on, it will be updating its Home Point wherever you take it, before it takes off.

 

[SlackerATX]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

I don't think the home point is set until it is off the ground. Take off where you want to set home and do a hand landing and it should work.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

1) Why did you do the compass calibration every time? That makes no sense, unless you were moving more than 1,000 Km away from where you usually fly. Normally, you only need to do it once and that's it.
2) Your P2V just landed back to its Home point which was set just before it took off! Why do you say its Home point was the first one you set earlier, when you set another afterwards? Do not forget that, if the P2V it's on, it will be updating its Home Point wherever you take it, before it takes off.

First off... I have a Phantom v1.1.1, not a P2V. Additionally I'm flying in GPS mode with IOC set to off (both toggle switches in full up position). Not sure if that makes a difference in your reply.

Okay correct me if I'm wrong here. When I plug a battery into the Phantom and wait until I get a rapidly flashing set of green lights followed by a stead flashing green light, does that not mean my home point is now set to the point where the Phantom is currently powered up? I've been under the impression that every time the Phantom is powered up and allowed to get a full lock on the satellites this is where its new RTH point is set. Are you saying this is incorrect? Are you saying I need to actually fly it a bit before that home point is recorded?

As for why I calibrate the compass each and every time I fly... well duh, they say this is the best way to prevent "Fly Aways". How is the GPS and RTH function supposed to know which way is North if you DON'T do the compass dance at each new flying location? I was told that anytime you fly from a different location you should perform the compass dance.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Still learning this stuff.

I don't think the home point is set until it is off the ground. Take off where you want to set home and do a hand landing and it should work.

Thanks, I'll give that a try next time. I'll also wait until I actually see my Phantom autonomously start flying to my home point BEFORE I jump in the car and start driving! :lol:

U.M.

 

[gunslinger]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

One of the interesting benefits of something like this could be what you find in your video.

When we travel from A to B, we seldom take a straight line, but the quad will ... who knows what treasures you might find

The guy in the video nearly found a church spire !!! :shock:

Still and all... That was way cool...

-slinger

 

[RCRookie]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

1) Why did you do the compass calibration every time? That makes no sense, unless you were moving more than 1,000 Km away from where you usually fly. Normally, you only need to do it once and that's it.
2) Your P2V just landed back to its Home point which was set just before it took off! Why do you say its Home point was the first one you set earlier, when you set another afterwards? Do not forget that, if the P2V it's on, it will be updating its Home Point wherever you take it, before it takes off.

Uncle Meat did exactly as I intend to do...He set the Home Point in his yard. To set Home point, I believe you wait for the IMU to warm up..then you get approx. 10 fast green flashes (Home Point Recorded), Then, 4 green flashes,... indicating adequate satellite lock (6 minimum). He then drove the Phantom (power still on, just not armed) to its launch location, sent it up to adequate altitude and set RTH (S1)....It should have returned to Home point (his house in this instance)...I'm not sure why it didn't work. I'm going to test this in a few weeks over 2.5 miles across a Lake, where I can be under it, in a boat, for the entire Journey home. Will monitor this thread for any updates or re-attempts.

 

[RCRookie]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

I don't think the home point is set until it is off the ground. Take off where you want to set home and do a hand landing and it should work.

Where did you find this ?...I'm under the impression a "rapid 10 green flashes" indicate "Home Point Recorded"
Do you know differently ? Please let us know.

 

[SlackerATX]

Re: Using Failsafe, to return to Homepoint from several mile

I don't think the home point is set until it is off the ground. Take off where you want to set home and do a hand landing and it should work.

Where did you find this ?...I'm under the impression a "rapid 10 green flashes" indicate "Home Point Recorded"
Do you know differently ? Please let us know.

I don't know anything really, just from what I've experienced. I once set the phantom down in a park waiting for green satellite indicator and got the green after a bit. I then picked it up to move it about 20 feet away from a group of kids that came around. After flying a bit I lost sight and turned off control to activate go home and it came back to the take off point rather than the place I initially placed it.

I was still 100 in the air when I took control back so it's hard to judge location, but I do remember thinking it seems to have gone back to the pace I moved it to. I just took that to mean it might wait till you've got 5-10 feet of altitude before activating home point. It's all anecdotal and I haven't tested the theory since.