>>ZERO<< anxiety "Go Home and Land" check routine!!

[PhantomFan]

Just did this on both my Phantom and DJI Flamewheel F450, and it worked brilliantly.

Start NAZA Assistant and set your voltage monitor first and second level protection for "Go Home and Land" to a high voltage of your choosing (i.e. LOTS of battery power left). Go out and fly around yourself for long enough to see the first red flashing lights. Bring the Phantom to within no more than 50 feet of the HOME POINT you established at the beginning of the flight, place it in a hover at about 20 feet altitude, and wait...

As soon as the second level protection is triggered (safe to do since there is, in reality, still plenty of battery power!) watch it go HOME and descend. You can either allow it to land or take control once you see the process begin.

Doing this proves your Phantom is properly registering HOME at the beginning of each flight, and that the GO HOME software settings and voltage monitoring are in fact, coordinated and fully functional. Really gives you a lot more confidence to know it for a fact.

PF

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Wow....turn the Tx OFF?? I don't have my manual handy but my memory from reading it was that the process of over-riding Return To Home (RTH) process is easy if RTH is activated by setting, in Assistant, the down position of the ATTI switch to RTH....just toggle back through ATTI to GPS....bingo...you are back in control. I have done that....inadvertently...several times. BUT...if the TX has been turned OFF...the process was definitely more complicated and not recommended except in an all out, bone fide emergency.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it WAS complicated and has been changed in firmware upgrades, but I would recommend anyone considering this to double check BEFORE turning the TX off in flight...just as a test....thinking you are going to re-establish control. I suppose, at worst, you won't get control back and it will land in fail-safe mode.....ASSUMING you had good home lock.....which is what you were testing for. So Solly....if you DIDN'T have Home lock...tested for it by turning the Tx off....couldn't re-establish control....while your bird sets off for Asia. Check Your Manual!!

 

[PhantomFan]

Yeah, Peter is right. Don't EVER turn off your transmitter except as a last resort. The method I outlined is completely safe to do since radio contact is NEVER relinquished, yet demonstrates with 100% reliability the in-concert workings of the home point recording, the voltage monitoring and the GO HOME and LAND function.

PF

 

[eckoner]

Yeah, Peter is right. Don't EVER turn off your transmitter except as a last resort. The method I outlined is completely safe to do since radio contact is NEVER relinquished, yet demonstrates with 100% reliability the in-concert workings of the home point recording, the voltage monitoring and the GO HOME and LAND function.

PF

I guess if your gonna do a good amount of flying for the session it would not hurt to perform this. I guess as you say it's really to give you the confidence to kinda push the limit a bit.

BTW i played around with this a few times and i did turn off my TX as well and it worked but ....ehhh i would not really recommend this unless it's a last resort...

But if you want to have "Zero Anxiety" you should play around with the functionality and get comfy with it as you may have to use it and when you do you want to make sure it's not in "make a mistake" "panic mode"

 

[zdawg]

If you're flying the phantom with NAZA lite as I do..you can only initiate return to home by turning off the transmitter..but..It always works and I have never had a problem regaining control....ZDAWG

 

[Buk]

I'm just a bit confused, what version of firmware are you using that low battery causes the Phantom to go home?

My guide says this:

In ATTI. Mode & GPS ATTI. Mode.
 The first level protection has LED warning.
 During second level protection the aircraft will land automatically with LED warning. Meanwhile the center point of throttle stick will move up slowly to 90% of endpoint, you should land ASAP to prevent your aircraft from crashing! When the center point is at 90% of endpoint, aircraft will still ascend slowly if you continue to pull the throttle stick, and the control of Pitch, Roll and Yaw are the same as before.

No mention the Phantom will attempt to go home. It just lands with decreased throttle response.

? ? ? ?

 

[PhantomFan]

You know what, I think you are correct, and I'm in error. It may be it only appeared to have done the "return home" thing due to the wind direction and NOT because of the programming. Mea culpa.

PF

 

[flyingfrog]

Funny I just did this as well over the Thanksgiving holiday in a big open field. Wanted the piece of mind that this actually works. Did it twice both times landed within 36 inches of original take off spot.

 

[PhantomFan]

Well, either it's an undocumented feature we've just stumbled upon, or, as pilots we naturally fly our aircraft upwind of our position. I know if I have a choice, I always try and keep the sun somewhere more or less behind me, and I'll stand facing into the wind so I always know what the effects are going to be on my aircraft without really needing to think about it.

The more I think about it, if DJI was thoughtful enough to provide the mechanism for landing the craft upon a low voltage condition, why WOULDN'T they chose to employ the home position as a site for the landing if the distance is not great - an easy determination for the NAZA to determine in a few clock cycles. I know I did the test in my yard, which is only 1.2 acres in area...so I was close at all times.

Anyone else care to add some data points??? Maybe this is an undocumented feature - or not!!

PF

 

[havasuphoto]

I'm not seeing that feature in the Naza-M 2.20 version software. I see the 2 limits where you set your voltages. but, the only options are blinking light, and land. What am I missing? DJI Phantom 1.1.1

 

[PhantomFan]

You are not missing anything. Check off "land". If you want to do the test, keep the Phantom within about 50 feet of where you take off. See if it simply "lands" directly above where the second level of protection is invoked, or whether it translates laterally to the home position and lands ("Go home and Land").

The question at issue is whether there is an undocumented feature of going home and landing if the second voltage limit is reached >>>AND<<< the copter is near to its home point. If you do it, PLEASE post your result here!!!

PF

 

[havasuphoto]

You are not missing anything. Check off "land". If you want to do the test, keep the Phantom within about 50 feet of where you take off. See if it simply "lands" directly above where the second level of protection is invoked, or whether it translates laterally to the home position and lands ("Go home and Land").

The question at issue is whether there is an undocumented feature of going home and landing if the second voltage limit is reached >>>AND<<< the copter is near to its home point. If you do it, PLEASE post your result here!!!

PF

I will try-soon.
But, that would require that the Phantom calculates the voltage remaining, compares the distance to home, and then decides it has enough power to move that distance, and land safely.
I don't believe it's capable of that....but, we'll see.

Also, on your Phantom, what did you set your 2 low voltage limits too?

 

[PhantomFan]

I don't recall what I used because I changed them back. Pretty sure it was around 11.8 volts with a .60 v drop.

PF

 

[arejay222]

Wow....turn the Tx OFF?? I don't have my manual handy but my memory from reading it was that the process of over-riding Return To Home (RTH) process is easy if RTH is activated by setting, in Assistant, the down position of the ATTI switch to RTH....just toggle back through ATTI to GPS....bingo...you are back in control. I have done that....inadvertently...several times. BUT...if the TX has been turned OFF...the process was definitely more complicated and not recommended except in an all out, bone fide emergency.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it WAS complicated and has been changed in firmware upgrades, but I would recommend anyone considering this to double check BEFORE turning the TX off in flight...just as a test....thinking you are going to re-establish control. I suppose, at worst, you won't get control back and it will land in fail-safe mode.....ASSUMING you had good home lock.....which is what you were testing for. So Solly....if you DIDN'T have Home lock...tested for it by turning the Tx off....couldn't re-establish control....while your bird sets off for Asia. Check Your Manual!!

Peter, exactly how do you set RTH in the NAZA assistant? In the Assistant I can only see GPS, ATTI, and then ATTI or Manual as an option for the third position. I don't have RTH as an option for that third position. Is there something to do with the U control to get the RTH option. Forgive me, I am a total newbie to this - just got my Phantom 1.1.1 two weeks ago.

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Arejay222,
I am looking at Assistant v2.18. Same place you are referring to....Basic/RC/Control Mode Switch. My bird is not attached at the present but I see all 4 options, GPS, ATTI, FAILSAFE, and MANUAL. FAILSAFE IS Return To Home (RTH). You can map which switch position initiates which flight mode. Since this a 3 position switch and 4 options....you can't have it all. Believe me, as a newbie you do NOT need (or want) MANUAL until you are very comfortable flying aggressively and pushing the limits.

Yes, I know people talk about using MANUAL to over-ride whatever and get the bird back in case of a fly-away, BUT....I don't think you can over-ride EVERYTHING causing a fly-away AND an inexperienced flyer is more likely to crash out-of-control trying to fly in MANUAL. You are much more likely to need and use RTH (FAILSAFE) than you are to successfully recover your bird in MANUAL.....until you are much more experienced flyer.

 

[arejay222]

Peter, it's funny, but I just opened the assistant and can now see Failsafe as an option for the third position - my bird is not turned on either. But the last time I was in the assistant, with the Phantom turned on, I could have sworn that Failsafe was not an option. I'll try it again with the bird attached and see if it is still there as an option. Believe me, manual flight is the last thing I want to do right now. For the last week I had been pretty content with flying this thing just in my back yard until I got comfortable with just the simplest of controls. Tomorrow I head to the open field, but still being cautious with limits set reasonably low around 100 meters or so. Thanks for your help.

 

[Jre]

In the tutorial video, Colin switched off the Tx to demonstrate the Return to Home feature. So I did this on my first flight (with the Vision) and it worked perfectly. Are you saying though that there's a chance that it could fly somewhere else even though the home point has been established and confirmed with the green LEDs (and the home point is not reset by pushing S2 down from position 1 to position 3)?

I read on an Amazon review, a user programmed a switch to activate the Return to Home feature so he wouldn't need to switch off the Tx.

I'm still a bit lost on the switch positions. Other than for compass calibration, can the bottom pos. of the S1 switch be programmed to perform a function like mentioned above? Or is it the function of the bottom pos. of the S2 switch that can be changed?

Top position of S2 switch is GPS and middle pos. is ATTI, correct? Or is that the S1 switch? If S2 is for flight modes, what would happen if I put S1 to the middle position during flight?

Sorry, I'm a brand nubian to the Phantom world.

 

[ElGuano]

Well, for consistency in behavior for one. The level 2 low voltage alarm is supposed to really be a fail safe against low voltage. You don't want it to be ascending to 60ft and flying wherever on its own when the batteries are seriously drained it in danger of cutting out. But I've never tested level 2 alarm extensively, as my goal is to never get low enough to hit it

 

[Peter Patricelli]

Jre,
"I'm still a bit lost on the switch positions. Other than for compass calibration, can the bottom pos. of the S1 switch be programmed to perform a function like mentioned above? Or is it the function of the bottom pos. of the S2 switch that can be changed?"

The right hand switch comes from the factory set to GPS as top position and ATTI middle position (or did with my bird...but that might have changed in newer versions).

In Assistant, with your bird connected to your computer, you are given a number of options including INITIALIZING the CL and HL features of the left switch AND adding or reprogramming options to the right switch. Yes, you can make the bottom position FAILSAFE....which is RTH ONLY IF YOU CHOSE IT TO BE AT ADVANCED/F/S....YOU COULD JUST CHOSE SAFE LAND). After reprogramming to some switch position you can initiate the chosen FAILSAFE action WITHOUT turning the transmitter off, and I think it is very advantageous to do so. RTH is only going to work well IF you had a good home lock position. If you turn your TX off to start RTH...then recovering full control of your bird by turning the TX on again while still a distance away is quite complex. If you initiated RTH by the switch, then just toggling that switch from ATTI to GPS STOPS RTH and you are back in control....no muss....no fuss.

I have accidentally toggled that switch several times now while flying...suddenly the bird is climbing to 60 feet and I have no control. I look, yup, switch got displaced, run through ATTI to GPS and I'm back in control.

 

[Jre]

Okay cool, I'll check it out. Thanks Peter. P.S. Your name reminds me of "Peter Petrelli" from Heroes :ugeek: