Flying with only remote (no phone)

[Snow Bird 1]

Hi All; I am a new pilot - 1 hr flying so far - so please don't bag me for this one, but I can't find a firm "yes" or "no" anywhere. Docs allude to "yes" and it looks like you can, but.....

I have multiple batteries so the RC and Bird will likely outlast the phone battery. So, if I put the phone on charge, for say, 30 minutes, I could fly the bird just using the RC - still have some fun etc. And since the phone is not plugged in to the RC, I could have power to it (RC) while flying ???

Or am I nuts??

 

[Logger]

Yes it flies just fine without a mobile device attached. You won't have access the intelligent flight modes though as they need the app.

 

[AlanTheBeast]

In addition to Logger's comment: when you get far enough away that it's difficult to tell its orientation then it gets tougher and tougher to maneuver well w/o the camera view to help. You end up doing trial and error yaw hits until you see the lights...

 

[Snow Bird 1]

And, I could charge the RC while flying from it alone???

 

[JLane]

And, I could charge the RC while flying from it alone???

I've flown with a power bank plugged in and charging my RC, while my phone was plugged into the bottom USB port of the controller. This worked fine. Not sure if any of the newer firmware releases maybe have changed whether or not this still works. Easy to find out, though. Just try it.

 

[Snow Bird 1]

Awesome!! Thanks for that, will be flying AM tomorrow and will definitely be trying it out...

 

[Oyibo VFX]

Yes it does. Did the same thing. New firmware allows you to charge and fly


Adventure is just bad planning

 

[Rflush]

How many batteries do you own? Which phone are you using? A fully charged phone should outlast your RC remote battery

 

[RallySoob]

My controller doesnt charge my iphone when its hooked up and never did. I have been using less than 10% controller battery per mavic battery. Usualy 8% ish... so im getting 10+ flights no problem. I use iphone 6s plus. I got mine on 1/20, ordered 1/7... i believe that later manufactured batches have an update that does not use controller battery to charge your phone battery. Thats my theory. Because my controller lasts forever i can not relate to the batt life issues at all

 

[Snow Bird 1]

How many batteries do you own? Which phone are you using? A fully charged phone should outlast your RC remote battery

I have 3 batteries - RC outlasts them no problem, but if phone is at or below 90% it can be close, particularly when you forget to put it into airplane mode and keep WiFi off etc. Just wanted to know, and am happy it all works per above....

 

[m0j0]

I could fly the bird just using the RC - still have some fun etc. And since the phone is not plugged in to the RC, I could have power to it (RC) while flying ???

Or am I nuts??

Nope you aren't nuts. You could do just that. As a matter of fact I did it two days ago. My phone was glitching so I unplugged it while I was about 1000 feet downrange. I flew the battery down and landed at 30%. Changed the battery, fired it up, waited for the ready to fly prompts on the TX. Took off, fired up the phone, reconnected the phone to the TX. Video feed came back up kept right on flying.



Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

 

[aguinsburg]

Yes it flies just fine without a mobile device attached. You won't have access the intelligent flight modes though as they need the app.

Do you know if flight record can be recovered after flying without the phone?

 

[Logger]

Do you know if flight record can be recovered after flying without the phone?

Yes there is a flight record stored on the Mavics internal SD card. Normally you can retrieve it with DJI Assistant 2 software. However there is a bug in the .1000 firmware that is preventing DJI Assistant 2 from accessing it at the moment.

Flying without a phone or mobile device is not much value anymore. Flight is restricted to 30' height and 100' distance or something similar. In the past there were no such restrictions.

 

[Dragonfly]

Although some do charge the RC while flying DJI in Manual states not to charge the RC while it is turned on. This is due probably because it upsets the RCs battery discharge meter. Ie you will get an inaccurate RC battery voltage and discharge inaccuracy after unplugging charger.

 

[butterflyslicer]

I had one of them but the wheel fell off.

the wheels fall off most things I touch too..

 

[aguinsburg]

Yes there is a flight record stored on the Mavics internal SD card. Normally you can retrieve it with DJI Assistant 2 software. However there is a bug in the .1000 firmware that is preventing DJI Assistant 2 from accessing it at the moment.

Flying without a phone or mobile device is not much value anymore. Flight is restricted to 30' height and 100' distance or something similar. In the past there were no such restrictions.

Thank you Logger. I was asking about the log in DJI Go App. I flew just once in a different country but without the phone and those I dont want to loose the "footprint" at that place. Sorry if this is off topic let me know if I do need to open a different thred.

 

[Kilrah]

You will not have a log in the app if you did not have the phone connected. You can grab a log from the aircraft but there is no way to make it appear in your account/app log.

 

[JetexJim]

Depending on how well your phone works with DJI GO you may find yourself flying without the phone when you don't expect to! Then you've got to restart the app.

Does anyone know why the Litchi app tends to be more reliable than the DJI? My guess would be because it's not storing received video in real-time but it's a guess!

 

[butterflyslicer]

Hi All; I am a new pilot - 1 hr flying so far - so please don't bag me for this one, but I can't find a firm "yes" or "no" anywhere. Docs allude to "yes" and it looks like you can, but.....

I have multiple batteries so the RC and Bird will likely outlast the phone battery. So, if I put the phone on charge, for say, 30 minutes, I could fly the bird just using the RC - still have some fun etc. And since the phone is not plugged in to the RC, I could have power to it (RC) while flying ???

Or am I nuts??[/QUOTE

Visual line of sight could also be a valuable aid.

 

[DJI Ferrari]

Ever since my roommate broke my phone, I am flying now without my phone, but sport mode does not work, and it wont go above 30 feet or further than 20 feet away.