Help with drifting

keith00 · May 12, 2017

I think my Mavic is drifting too much. When it hovers it drifts, when I stop forward motion it drifts to the right several feet, and when I stop side motion it drifts upward up to a foot.

I've calibrated the IMU, the compass, the gimbal, and the vision sensors. I've changed the firmware from .600 to .700 and back to .400, but I get the same results.

Here is a video showing the drifting. After each move to the left or right, but especially to the left, you'll see the Mavic drifting upwards and then drifting downwards. You'll also notice it drifting some while it's hovering. I think I only changed the height of the Mavic once or twice around the 1:10 and 1:40 marks when I tried to raise it a little to make sure the problem wasn't being cause by being too close to the ground.

Looking at the video, it also looks like the video isn't straight.

Here's the video:

Does anyone else see the problem and have any ideas about what's causing it?

Thanks.

Keith

mravicprilot · May 13, 2017

do a remote controller calibration, its probably a faulty stick on remote, but I could be wrong, it's worth a check.

for the camera, you need to adjust the tilting manually if gimbal calibration wont cut it.

sorry for my bad English

gusri.candra · May 13, 2017

how many satellite did the bird receive.??

keith00 · May 13, 2017

The logs show between 13 to 16 satellites.

SweeT · May 13, 2017

It does when you fly above the height of the fence or only when you fly at low altitude!?!?

keith00 · May 13, 2017

It does it all the time.

wayy510 · May 13, 2017

Controller calibration will correct.

SweeT · May 13, 2017

wayy510 said:
Controller calibration will correct.

[emoji108]
Inspect the propellers to.

keith00 · May 13, 2017

Thanks, everyone. I've calibrated the controller twice today, but it's still having the same problem. I've also looked at the propellers, and they look fine. I haven't had any crashes (knock on wood). The faster I move, the more dramatic the drift is. Today I tried Sport mode...when I stopped forward movement, it drifted several feet to the right, and when I stopped backward movement, it drifted several feet to the left. And when it's just hovering, it drifts pretty substantially, I think. I don't know what else to do.

Timbooo · May 14, 2017

keith00 said:
Thanks, everyone. I've calibrated the controller twice today, but it's still having the same problem. I've also looked at the propellers, and they look fine. I haven't had any crashes (knock on wood). The faster I move, the more dramatic the drift is. Today I tried Sport mode...when I stopped forward movement, it drifted several feet to the right, and when I stopped backward movement, it drifted several feet to the left. And when it's just hovering, it drifts pretty substantially, I think. I don't know what else to do.

When I had the 600 fw, my Mavic was extremely solid and experienced zero drifting. It had gimbal horizon issues (unresolved by calibration etc).

When I downgraded to the 550 fw, the gimbal issues went away, but it started drifting instead. Which fw are you on?

keith00 · May 14, 2017

Well, I think you guys are right and it's a problem with the RC calibration. Unfortunately, I think I have another faulty RC.

Based on advice here, I checked the RC calibration and, sure enough, the right stick was off center. So I calibrated it and went flying yesterday. But it was still drifting. It was windy, though, so I wasn't sure if the drift was from the wind. So I came back home and checked the calibration, and it was off center again. So I calibrated it again and went flying this morning.

With absolutely no wind and about 50 feet off the ground, it was still drifting. So I landed and checked the RC calibration, and this is what I saw:

So I calibrated it again:

And then, without doing anything else, I immediately checked the calibration again, and this is what I see:

So, what do you think? Do I need to send the RC back?

This is my second RC...the right stick went completely dead on the first one. I'm sure this one has been bad from day one, but I've been so focused on learning to fly better, that I've just now started paying attention to the video.

ksull72487 · May 14, 2017

keith00 said:
Well, I think you guys are right and it's a problem with the RC calibration. Unfortunately, I think I have another faulty RC.

Based on advice here, I checked the RC calibration and, sure enough, the right stick was off center. So I calibrated it and went flying yesterday. But it was still drifting. It was windy, though, so I wasn't sure if the drift was from the wind. So I came back home and checked the calibration, and it was off center again. So I calibrated it again and went flying this morning.

With absolutely no wind and about 50 feet off the ground, it was still drifting. So I landed and checked the RC calibration, and this is what I saw:

View attachment 12801

So I calibrated it again:

View attachment 12802

And then, without doing anything else, I immediately checked the calibration again, and this is what I see:

View attachment 12803

So, what do you think? Do I need to send the RC back?

This is my second RC...the right stick went completely dead on the first one. I'm sure this one has been bad from day one, but I've been so focused on learning to fly better, that I've just now started paying attention to the video.

Doubt it. I think the app is a little buggy. Mine does that exact same thing. No issues with drifting.

Recalibrate your IMU and Compass. Also check the props. If one is bent or cracked or loose if it doesn't fall off you will get drift.

mravicprilot · May 14, 2017

if you want to check the faulty rc, check through the flight log, and display the virtual rc usage. if there's movment on the stick even when you didn't touch it you might have a faulty stick usually the right stick can cause drifting and the left stick cause spining.

Mavicsailor · May 15, 2017

keith00 said:
I think my Mavic is drifting too much. When it hovers it drifts, when I stop forward motion it drifts to the right several feet, and when I stop side motion it drifts upward up to a foot.

I've calibrated the IMU, the compass, the gimbal, and the vision sensors. I've changed the firmware from .600 to .700 and back to .400, but I get the same results.

Here is a video showing the drifting. After each move to the left or right, but especially to the left, you'll see the Mavic drifting upwards and then drifting downwards. You'll also notice it drifting some while it's hovering. I think I only changed the height of the Mavic once or twice around the 1:10 and 1:40 marks when I tried to raise it a little to make sure the problem wasn't being cause by being too close to the ground.

Looking at the video, it also looks like the video isn't straight.

Here's the video:

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And here's the flight log:

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Does anyone else see the problem and have any ideas about what's causing it?

Thanks.

Keith

Truthfully, it doesn't look that bad. It doesn't seem out of the norm for close video. Maybe take a video of the Mavic hovering relative to a reference point. The little bit I saw in the video taken by the Mavic would not be noticeable at higher altitiudes.

keith00 · May 15, 2017

How about this from yesterday...watch the trees on the left for an easy reference. I am not giving any stick input and there was little or no wind.

keith00 · May 15, 2017

It looks like it was the propellers. I changed just the back two propellers and now it's rock solid. I don't know what could have been wrong with them, though. Do others take off the props when folding the Mavic, or do you leave them on? I wondered if something happened to them while folded.

Andrew F · May 16, 2017

keith00 said:
It looks like it was the propellers. I changed just the back two propellers and now it's rock solid. I don't know what could have been wrong with them, though. Do others take off the props when folding the Mavic, or do you leave them on? I wondered if something happened to them while folded.

Very cool! Why don't you edit your first comment to include the solution so folks can find it easily. The GPS and IMU should compensate for the bad propellers but any solution is a good solution.

SoCal_Mavic · Aug 4, 2017

Good thread- I'm having the same issue out of the blue with drifting and a bit of altitude variance when hovering and no commands to the sticks. Gonna try the props and see if that helps.
Fingers crossed!!

Dan · Aug 4, 2017

very interesting, was there anything noticeable on the propellers?

If your run your finger along the blade of the ones you removed and the new ones does anything stand out.?

SoCal_Mavic · Aug 5, 2017

Dan said:
very interesting, was there anything noticeable on the propellers?

If your run your finger along the blade of the ones you removed and the new ones does anything stand out.?

They were a little worn- they are the original blades from about a year ago. I did replace and lifted off about 5-6 feet off the ground and it appeared to hold its GPS much better. I'll give it another go and see how they respond.