Mavic for Farm Use ? A few Questions:

[BraamMavic]

Just remember Warranty and Care assist are two very different things.

Yes indeed . And Although that post is very helpful, it only seems to speak to Warranty. Wonder what the Dji answer would be as far as Dji Care is concerned...

 

[Logger]

Yes indeed . And Although that post is very helpful, it only seems to speak to Warranty. Wonder what the Dji answer would be as far as Dji Care is concerned...

DJI Care Refresh does not cover the following:
11) Damage resulting from the use of third party accessories, batteries or software.

So if the accidental damage resulted from the use of litchi, you may have a problem. On the other hand if it resulted from you accidentally flying it into a tree, not because Litchi happened to be the software, you might be covered. In the same way as if someone who has a bright yellow skin (accessory) stuck to their Mavic might expect to be covered if they fly it in to a tree. A grey area.

That said I have not read of many cases of care refresh being refused.

 

[BraamMavic]

In the same way as if someone who has a bright yellow skin (accessory) stuck to their Mavic might expect to be covered if they fly it in to a tree.

What basis would a person have for reasoning that the colour of your drone will keep it from flying into trees ? Am I missing something ?

 

[Logger]

None. The user accidentally crashes into a tree, pilot error unrelated to the colour. User is then surprised DJI refuses to cover their care assist claim, because accident resulted from a flight with a third party accessory (yellow skin) fitted. Or DJI notice a third party after market battery was fitted. They cite clause 11.

Some people suggest DJI could theoretically try to refuse care refresh coverage. This would be just as silly as if they tried to refuse coverage when you were using Litchi but the accident acctually resulted from accidental pilot error and not the software.

I would assert that "Damage resulting from the use of..." does not mean the same thing as " Damage occurring when using..." . One would hope common sense prevails.

I certainly have no reservations using Litchi because of this.

 

[BraamMavic]

Hi Guys, so just thought I'd report back. So on the big morning ( barely having slept the 3 nights before due to excitement), the mavic's transmitter didn't want to connect to the phone. Spent all day trying everything I could and eventually at around 8pm I resorted to a firmware downgrade. Thankfully that worked and although I only had one more day on the farm, I flew about 35km in total over the farm the next day.

I noticed that due to the thick African bush, the signal drops almost to the point of total signal loss at 1.5km @ 30m altitude or lower. My advice :Keep it zoomed in and fly higher. Here are some pics.They are just snapshots from 2k video but you get the idea, The ones I took of wildlife is too large to upload sadly.

 

[Red_Raven]

i don't know if it has been mentioned, I didn't feel like reading every single reply. If you are flying over some area to get footage, litchi waypoint missions could be the way to go, you create a mission that the mavic will finish and return home, even if connection to the remote is lost it will simply finish the mission. I trust litchi perfectly and have used it alot without any complications except for the dji mess when 3rd party apps were not stable for few firmware versions.

 

[Plawa]

You can open the snapshots in Photo Editor and save them as .jpg, it will reduce the size dramatically.. or in VLC go to Tools -> Preferences -> Video and change the snapshot format to .jpg.

 

[Logger]

Hi Guys, so just thought I'd report back. So on the big morning ( barely having slept the 3 nights before due to excitement), the mavic's transmitter didn't want to connect to the phone. Spent all day trying everything I could and eventually at around 8pm I resorted to a firmware downgrade. Thankfully that worked and although I only had one more day on the farm, I flew about 35km in total over the farm the next day.

Good stuff.

If that happens again, you can try connecting without a device in the remote control. Turn on RC. When it says [CONNECTING], simultaneously hold down the hold down the C1 and C2 buttons on the rear as well as the Red video button - THEN press the shutter release button as if taking a photo. [BINDING] will appear onscreen. Then start up drone and press tiny button beside the SD slot, which I am sure you wore out yesterday.

 

[Plawa]

Good stuff.

If that happens again, you can try connecting without a device in the remote control. Turn on RC. When it says [CONNECTING], simultaneously hold down the hold down the C1 and C2 buttons on the rear as well as the Red video button - THEN press the shutter release button as if taking a photo. [BINDING] will appear onscreen. Then start up drone and press tiny button beside the SD slot, which I am sure you wore out yesterday.

I think he was having issues connecting the his phone, not to the Mavic... I've only had that happen once with a wonky cable.

 

[Logger]

So right you are. Sorry.

 

[Dragonfly]

BraamMavic, Also note now in new firmware, Mavic has new find my drone. So if it should autoland, go down or run out of battery, on first oage of Go4 app tap the three dots then find my drone. It also allows you to turn on or off the front LED lights for visual find at night and to activate the ESCs to sound for audible sound from a distance.
The map shows your position and drones position and gives you directions to it.

 

[BraamMavic]

@svavar, I've been really tempted ti buy the Litchi App but the big WHAT IF something goes wrong & DJI simply uses the 3rd party app excuse to not honour my DJI Care policy. By the way in Litchi:
A) Can you pause the drone mid mission to look around & resume;
B) Can you look( yaw too) around mid mission in flight or is the camera fixed in the direction the drone is headed ?

@Plawa - Thanks for the tip. Will this setting affect the quality of the image in VLC ?
@Logger - Thanks - yea I actually even tried that just before I resorted to software downgrade.
@Drogonfly, Which version are you referring to ? I know about the find my drone option and I think I have that option on the current ( downgraded 4.0.7) version , but I don't see the alarm / LED activation option ? I'm hesitant to download the latest version after DJI sent us all this email - I'm not quite sure what exactly the new version will do but it sounds like it might be even more restrictive:


Dear Customers,

DJI will soon introduce a new application activation process for international customers. This new step, to take effect at the end of this week, ensures you will use the correct set of geospatial information and flight functions for your aircraft, as determined by your geographical location and user profile. All existing flight safety limitations, such as geofencing boundaries and altitude limits, remain the same.

Even if you have registered when activating your aircraft upon purchase, you will have to log in once when you update the new version of DJI GO or GO 4 App. If you have forgotten your password since your initial login, you can reset it using a function within the DJI GO and DJI GO 4 apps.

You will need a data connection to the Internet for your smartphone or tablet when you log in, in order to verify the account information and activate the updated software or firmware. If this activation process is not performed, the aircraft will not have access to the correct geospatial information and flight functions for that region, and its operations will be restricted if you update the upcoming firmware: Live camera streaming will be disabled, and flight will be limited to a 50-meter (164-foot) radius up to 30 meters (98 feet) high.

The feature applies to all aircraft (except standalone A3 and N3) that have been upgraded to the latest firmware or when using future versions of the DJI GO and GO 4 apps.

DJI encourages pilots to always follow applicable laws and regulations in the countries where they operate, and provides information about these regulations on its FlySafe website at flysafe.dji.com.

Sincerely,
Your DJI Team

 

[Plawa]

[USER=17430]@Plawa - Thanks for the tip. Will this setting affect the quality of the image in VLC ?
[/USER]

It doesn't do anything to video playback, it just changes the format of the file it saves when you make a snapshot.. the difference in quality will be imperceptible, the difference in size is huge.

Given that you're in the middle of nowhere you shouldn't be affected by the new app in any way.. are there any NFZs or restricted zones anywhere near you when you check now in the app?

 

[BraamMavic]

Well..no I can't see any since I don't have the new version installed. Yes the farm is in the middle of nowhere but I live in a city (Pretoria) where they might start restricting to 50m line of sight...

 

[Markewing]

So I finally trusted myself to have gained enough knowledge about this machine to expect a safe first flight. Man am I impressed with this thing! Painted a cross on my home made landing pad to help the visual positioning system for a precise return to home...MAN it is accurate! Lands within 3cm of where it took off from!!

Another question regarding the planned use on the farm: What role does your mobile phone's gps really play? I have almost zero cellular reception on the farm so I was thinking of simply downloading that area to my offline google maps before I go. Will this allow me to put the phone on flight mode during flight ?

You dont need reception at all for you gps to work just use offline maps

 

[BraamMavic]

Jip, figured that out. Since May 2017 I have flown about 350 kilometres with the Mavic on the farm. It has its uses for monitoring wildlife, but I have found my 10 Trail Cameras on the farm provide much better & more detailed data. Check out our Facebook page - The Hunting Warehouse if you need more tips on monitoring wildlife.