13 min into flight 1st satellite signal drops then RC signal lost.

[Mavic Magic]

13 minutes into my flight at 300 feet alt at about 7400 feet away I turn 180 degrees and started back. All of the sudden satellite signal goes from 20 to 0 in an instant. I fly visually the next 30 seconds or so hoping to make it back. I know the area well. Then I notice rc signal dropping quickly even though I'm getting closer. Went from 4 bars to nothing in about 15 seconds. I get a couple warnings about RC signal strength. Then I get a Compass error warning followed by immediate loss of picture and controller signal disconnects. From that point I waited for a couple of minutes hoping it would reconnect on its own. It never did. Thought for sure I had lost it. I waited for what seemed like forever and it finally showed up to my disbelief. I could see it over head and the controller finally reconnected at that point. It landed safely. 3% left on the battery. I have flown almost 1.7 million feet with no incidents like this. I am baffled. Mavic or controller error I don't know. Dji said to sent it in for repair. I have never crashed or dropped signal or had any problems in flight until today. What do you all think?

 

[TestPilot]

This is one of those RISKS that never go away....I would never fly the Mavic more than a few hundred meters away. Unless I have a lot of money to easily get a new one...

The risk of loss of signal and connection is too high - always.

 

[Ben Murray]

1.7 million feet with no issues? I guess you do u get kinda well then.
Couldn't it of just been a one off?? And at the end of it all it came back as it was supposed too.
Not a bad run if you ask me.

Sent from my SM-G935F using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[Mavic Magic]

This is one of those RISKS that never go away....I would never fly the Mavic more than a few hundred meters away. Unless I have a lot of money to easily get a new one...

The risk of loss of signal and connection is too high - always.

Signal loss is not my main concern. GPS signal should never be lost unless there is an obstruction blocking the signal.. flying under something. It lost GPS and then simultaneously had a compass error. Smells like a glitch to me. The controller wouldn't reconnect until it was overhead. If GPS signal was actually lost and compass inop how did it return to the home point? Doesn't add up to me. Appreciate your response.


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[Anthony]

I am just wondering if DJI are aware of an issue and as soon as you report an issue with dropping gps and connection they want it back to replace the defective parts ??

The GPS/connection loss is starting to be a common issue and while I have not had the GPS loss issue I have lost connection a few times.

If DJI have requested you return it for repair then I would just return it.

I am hoping for some good weather this weekend as I need to get more air time in.

 

[DirkGently]

Signal loss is not my main concern. GPS signal should never be lost unless there is an obstruction blocking the signal.. flying under something. It lost GPS and then simultaneously had a compass error. Smells like a glitch to me. The controller wouldn't reconnect until it was overhead. If GPS signal was actually lost and compass inop how did it return to the home point? Doesn't add up to me. Appreciate your response.


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My original Mavic was repaired under warranty for gimbal issues - and with the winter weather ( wet and windy ) I've only had a few proper flights and lots of very short ones.

All flights fine until today - thankfully only 45 seconds in to the flight and not far away it lost GPS suddenly - went from a good fix on 16 satellites to a poor fix and it switched in to Atti mode.

I was able to fly it back to me - a few more GPS found and GPS losts - then for the remaining 6 minutes it was fine.

I'm not sure what happened. My DJI Phantom 3 Adv which I flew many times over 18 months never suffered any serious issues - rock solid!

My Mavic feels like a prototype. Whether its yet another hardware fault or something DJI can fix in firmware I'm not sure. After such a long wait to get it, then another wait while it was repaired - I'm not sure I can face yet another wait while its returned and repaired.

Also the lens on this one is brilliant - my first Mavic was actually replaced not repaired - but the first one had a slightly dodgy lens.

If I return this second one there's a risk if they replace rather than repair I'll get a 3rd one with a working GPS but bad lens!

The Mavic feels such a hassle compared to the Phantom 3. If the Phantom 3 was as small and light as the Mavic I'd be sticking the my good old reliable Phantom 3.

I know people are very precious about their Mavics - "You can say what you like about my mother but DON'T YOU DARE insult my Mavic"

But more and more my own experience and reading the forums makes me feel its a bit of a working prototype.

Anyway I'll hang on to my Mavic and see if the issue appears again. I'm hoping its something DJI can fix in firmware.

 

[Mavic Magic]

Well spoken and I appreciate what's you have said. Maybe I hold off unless it happen again. Hope that a future firmware will address the issue. Wish I kept my P4. Loved it...rock solid!


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[Mavic Magic]

I am just wondering if DJI are aware of an issue and as soon as you report an issue with dropping gps and connection they want it back to replace the defective parts ??

The GPS/connection loss is starting to be a common issue and while I have not had the GPS loss issue I have lost connection a few times.

If DJI have requested you return it for repair then I would just return it.

I am hoping for some good weather this weekend as I need to get more air time in.

Actually initially they told me not to fly there....really that's your answer. They are just operators with a small booth that's says if customer has this issue this is the answer. If the issue isn't known then you get a thoughtless answer back like I did. I think like all new technology this is more in a prototype stage of issues unknown until after release. Look at Samsung... time will tell.


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[Mavic Magic]

Meant "book"


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[DirkGently]

Actually initially they told me not to fly there....really that's your answer. They are just operators with a small booth that's says if customer has this issue this is the answer. If the issue isn't known then you get a thoughtless answer back like I did. I think like all new technology this is more in a prototype stage of issues unknown until after release. Look at Samsung... time will tell.


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I think the thing is a drone is actually a pretty complex bit of technology. I suspect gets a lot of user error and issues with calibration.

So the initial stock reply to any question is calibrate everything! Which sometimes works - a bit like the "if you PC isn't working re-boot it" answer.

You: "The screws came unstuck in my Mavic during flight and its crashed in to 1000 pieces"
Support : "Try re-calibrating the Mavic and see if that solves the issue".


Anyway given the GPS and signal loss issues I think not flying the Mavic too far is the best option until enough people have had the issue to get DJI to take note and do a firmware upgrade.

Or it might be a lot of Mavic's have hardware issues that are not apparent at first.

At this stage its impossible to say but I'm reluctant to send it back until I'm sure its a hardware issue and not a firmware issue.

 

[Anthony]

We can only hope that the issue can be resolved via a FW update.... fingers crossed.

 

[DirkGently]

We can only hope that the issue can be resolved via a FW update.... fingers crossed.

I really hope so. The more people report it to DJI the more they'll be aware of the issue and look in to it.

If people brush it off as "That's the way GPS is" as some have the issue will never get solved.

I flew the DJI Phantom for a long time and never had any issues like this with it. The worst I had was when the DJI GO app crashed on my Android phone.

 

[Savededa]

Do you calibrate your compass before every flight? Did you calibrate your IMU straight out of the box and after every subsequent firmware upgrade? That's a good rule of thumb that I follow and haven't had any hiccups yet. Calibrate compass before each flight regardless of location unless you bring it to the same exact spot every time. Calibrate IMU right out of the box and also calibrate it once after a firmware upgrade. After an upgrade or calibration I will fly for roughly five minutes to make sure signal and GPS is solid and the uav is doing what it's supposed to. Then I'm off

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[BudWalker]

There have been several GPS related incidents posted recently where the cause was a drop in gpsHealth. These incidents are characterized by an abrupt unexplained GPS loss and then a switch to ATTI mode.

Here are the analyses of a few of these incidents;

Why did it fly away?
Did I Have a Fly Away or Did the Drone Return to Home?

gpsHealth is NOT the same as numSats, but, instead a measure of gps signal quality. gpsHealth has a range of 0 to 5 and a value of 4 or 5 is required for GPS mode. In these incidents gpsHealth abruptly drops from 5 to 1 causing the switch to ATTI mode. If this were ever to happen to my Mavic it wouldn't fly again until it had been repaired by DJI.

 

[DirkGently]

Do you calibrate your compass before every flight? Did you calibrate your IMU straight out of the box and after every subsequent firmware upgrade? That's a good rule of thumb that I follow and haven't had any hiccups yet. Calibrate compass before each flight regardless of location unless you bring it to the same exact spot every time. Calibrate IMU right out of the box and also calibrate it once after a firmware upgrade. After an upgrade or calibration I will fly for roughly five minutes to make sure signal and GPS is solid and the uav is doing what it's supposed to. Then I'm off

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I'll follow your advice - I have to say I've not done a compass or IMU calibration.

I've done it now and will hope this solves the GPS issues.

 

[Savededa]

I'll follow your advice - I have to say I've not done a compass or IMU calibration.

I've done it now and will hope this solves the GPS issues.

Great man, follow the on screen instructions when you calibrate IMU you have to do it when the drone is folded

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[RIchard Host]

I'm definitely not an expert, but perhaps there was sudden radio interference from an unknown source that caused loss of connection. You said loss of RC signal was the first symptom - all the other losses of satellite, compass, etc were maybe just showing as such at your end but not real. After all, the Mavic must have still had satellite to return home?

 

[idiogenic]

Hey mate, I had a similar experience recently and have seen a few reports of this. I've started a thread here to discuss the issue:
Is there a widespread problem with RC signal?