Just joined the drifting club

[Insideout]

So my mavic has been rock solid since day 1. It has always held completely steady when hovering. Today, it started drifting (yaw) periodically. Then it would stop and hold still perfectly even after yawing. Fly some more, and it starts drifting again during hover. It did it with both Litchi and Go4. No wind at all.

I don't think it's the firmware (latest) because I have flown it several times without this happening since update, so I doubt downgrading is the answer. The mavic has been sitting in it's case since last flight 3 days ago, in the exact same location, so IMU and compass should not need calibration. I don't understand how it can arbitrarily do it sometimes but not always. I checked all the settings in the pre-flight check, and all the vsp is enabled except landing protection. Also, I had 18 satellites showing.

Based on all the results I read on this forum when searching for "drifting" it doesn't look like anyone really knows what's causing this. Just wanted to go on the record to throw me in the hat of people hoping to find a solution.

 

[Bunny Too]

I keep my bottom camera leanses clean.

 

[Anthonyk]

Drifting yaw? First thing I would try is calibrating the remote.

 

[Squamer]

Have the same issue. Have had it for a while, comes and goes. Interested in seeing a fix. Have tried recalibrating the remote, IMU refresh and compas cal. No luck

 

[Bunny Too]

So my mavic has been rock solid since day 1. It has always held completely steady when hovering. Today, it started drifting (yaw) periodically. Then it would stop and hold still perfectly even after yawing. Fly some more, and it starts drifting again during hover. It did it with both Litchi and Go4. No wind at all.

I don't think it's the firmware (latest) because I have flown it several times without this happening since update, so I doubt downgrading is the answer. The mavic has been sitting in it's case since last flight 3 days ago, in the exact same location, so IMU and compass should not need calibration. I don't understand how it can arbitrarily do it sometimes but not always. I checked all the settings in the pre-flight check, and all the vsp is enabled except landing protection. Also, I had 18 satellites showing.

Based on all the results I read on this forum when searching for "drifting" it doesn't look like anyone really knows what's causing this. Just wanted to go on the record to throw me in the hat of people hoping to find a solution.

When you say drifting, do you mean centimeters, inches... Feet?

 

[Boog0822]

Do you mean it's moving to the right or left on its own or that it's staying in the same spot and it's spinning ever so slightly?

 

[Squamer]

Do you mean it's moving to the right or left on its own or that it's staying in the same spot and it's spinning ever so slightly?

Yaw, its remaining in the same spot but doing circles. OP is yours clockwise or counter clockwise? Mine seems to only drift counter clockwise

 

[Bunny Too]

Have you calibrated the controller?

 

[Insideout]

Yaw, its remaining in the same spot but doing circles. OP is yours clockwise or counter clockwise? Mine seems to only drift counter clockwise

Same, counter clockwise. It's not severe, but enough to see it when you have the grid on.

I'm not sure how it could be a controller issue. It happens when I flight straight up and then stop to hover. At any rate, I did try to calibrate the RC, but it times out every time I try. I'm pretty sure the Mavic has been communicating with my PC behind my back, and they are both plotting to kill me in my sleep.

 

[Insideout]

When you say drifting, do you mean centimeters, inches... Feet?

Centimeters. If I look at an object in the distance like a house, I can see it move across the grid lines very slowly. It's hard to tell if it's the gimbal that is moving or the drone itself. Clouds were moving slowly above, so there wasn't a good reference.

 

[james_mav]

Centimeters. If I look at an object in the distance like a house, I can see it move across the grid lines very slowly. It's hard to tell if it's the gimbal that is moving or the drone itself. Clouds were moving slowly above, so there wasn't a good reference.

Change your props

 

[HiVac]

Are you flying with an iPad? The iPad has magnets that can interfere with the remote. If you have an iPad, make sure the charging port is on the right side.....

 

[Mavicsailor]

So my mavic has been rock solid since day 1. It has always held completely steady when hovering. Today, it started drifting (yaw) periodically. Then it would stop and hold still perfectly even after yawing. Fly some more, and it starts drifting again during hover. It did it with both Litchi and Go4. No wind at all.

I don't think it's the firmware (latest) because I have flown it several times without this happening since update, so I doubt downgrading is the answer. The mavic has been sitting in it's case since last flight 3 days ago, in the exact same location, so IMU and compass should not need calibration. I don't understand how it can arbitrarily do it sometimes but not always. I checked all the settings in the pre-flight check, and all the vsp is enabled except landing protection. Also, I had 18 satellites showing.

Based on all the results I read on this forum when searching for "drifting" it doesn't look like anyone really knows what's causing this. Just wanted to go on the record to throw me in the hat of people hoping to find a solution.

Yaw drift problem and solution

Check out the thread above. Is this what you are experiencing? I had the same problem and posted a solution that worked for me.

 

[Squamer]

Change your props

Tried that as well. No change.

 

[Boog0822]

I noticed mine does the same thing, but only at low altitudes, 10-20 feet. Never really noticed it at 300-400 feet. Maybe it still does it up high and isn't noticeable.

 

[Insideout]

Considering I"m a scientist by trade, I just did something completely un-scientific. I changed multiple variable before testing again. Uh der. Anyway, I changed props, calibrated compass, and obviously re-booted the mavic and RC. Solid as a rock. No drift in yaw direction at all. So which one of those variables fixed it? We'll never know because I'm not messing with changing anything while it's working.

 

[iflyimpilot]

Considering I"m a scientist by trade, I just did something completely un-scientific. I changed multiple variable before testing again. Uh der. Anyway, I changed props, calibrated compass, and obviously re-booted the mavic and RC. Solid as a rock. No drift in yaw direction at all. So which one of those variables fixed it? We'll never know because I'm not messing with changing anything while it's working.

Curious as to whether or not your Mavic has been steady ever since. Throughout your troubleshooting "journey", have you ever done the IMU calibration? I'm getting the same drifting problem and so far all I've done was an IMU calibration and RC calibration.

 

[Insideout]

Curious as to whether or not your Mavic has been steady ever since. Throughout your troubleshooting "journey", have you ever done the IMU calibration? I'm getting the same drifting problem and so far all I've done was an IMU calibration and RC calibration.

It's really hard to say. The weather has been so sucky here. I haven't flown in the last 2 weeks because it's either raining or stupid high winds. I've flown maybe once in the last month. .0700 seemed to fix things, and now I've updated to .0800 and .0900 and haven't flown either of them. Will it ever stop raining around here?