Mavic Hovering

[devinrhall]

I took off with my Mavic just to check it out real quick out of the box, so I hadn't calibrated the compass and it was indoors and I did have 14 GPS satellites even though I was inside. It was about two feet off the ground and it didn't stay still, I had to correct it from drifting off. Is this maybe due to me not calibrating the compass yet?, or could it be from flying it only two feet off the ground?


Devin

 

[Chase R]

Probably not calibrating the compass. With all these issues around IMU and compass calibrations I would call that a bold move. ha

Did you update the firmware before flying it?

Mine is fairly steady all distances from the ground. Only moves when its in Vision mode and there is low light.

 

[Kilrah]

Your GPS fix quality might be poor even if many satellites are in view, pretty likely indoors. You'll only get very precise hover if VPS can lock on a detailed and well lit floor.

 

[devinrhall]

@Kilrah
@Chase R

Yeah it wasn't too well lit in there, and the carpet isn't very detailed. I did do the firmware update after activating it, once the batteries are all charged I'll take it outside and hopefully it's better out there. I also need to calibrate the compass.


Devin

 

[Chase R]

I was playing around with flying indoors this weekend. I turned on every light I had and it hovered perfectly using Vision (OPTI) mode. Flew to a darker side of the room and that sucker headed straight for a wall. ha Luckily I saved it but light in the room makes a huge difference when flying indoors.

 

[devinrhall]

I was playing around with flying indoors this weekend. I turned on every light I had and it hovered perfectly using Vision (OPTI) mode. Flew to a darker side of the room and that sucker headed straight for a wall. ha Luckily I saved it but light in the room makes a huge difference when flying indoors.

I just took it outside and calibrated the compass and took off and it hovered perfectly, didn't even budge.


Devin

 

[Andrew F]

The GPS signal indoors is a bad thing. Can't get a good fix but if it thinks it has a good signal it will try. Just manually switch to opti mode in the future in that situation. Also, yes, the lights need it be on and the floor needs to be varied or it will drift. ALWAYS treat it like ATTI when indoors and be happy when it has a visual lock.

 

[Chase R]

I just took it outside and calibrated the compass and took off and it hovered perfectly, didn't even budge.


Devin

As it should. Good news.

 

[devinrhall]

The GPS signal indoors is a bad thing. Can't get a good fix but if it thinks it has a good signal it will try. Just manually switch to opti mode in the future in that situation. Also, yes, the lights need it be on and the floor needs to be varied or it will drift. ALWAYS treat it like ATTI when indoors and be happy when it has a visual lock.

How do you manually switch to Opti


Devin

 

[dam]

 

[devinrhall]

The way my house is so dim with lighting I doubt the VPS would ever work great in my house. It's easy to manually control even if it's drifting but I believe the problem was most likely really weak GPS and low lighting. It worked perfectly outside.


Devin

 

[Kilrah]

How do you manually switch to Opti

You can't.

 

[devinrhall]

You can't.

Yeah that's why I was asking because maybe something had changed, but as far as i've known you couldn't manually switch it.


Devin

 

[leesmavic]

I took off on mine as well. At home. What an idiot. It did not even try to hover. Started drifting straight away. Not expecting it I've tried to shut down motors by CMC with no effect. Hit the wall, blocked one of motors. Had to shut it down manually.. I hope it won't affect the drone in long run. What calibrations do I need to go through? How many of them?

Sent from my XT1572 using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[devinrhall]

I took off on mine as well. At home. What an idiot. It did not even try to hover. Started drifting straight away. Not expecting it I've tried to shut down motors by CMC with no effect. Hit the wall, blocked one of motors. Had to shut it down manually.. I hope it won't affect the drone in long run. What calibrations do I need to go through? How many of them?

Sent from my XT1572 using MavicPilots mobile app

I don't even think compass calibration was the problem for me, I think low light with weak GPS and the VPS not having enough light is what made mine drift but since i've used plenty of other drones it was very easy for me to correct it and land it without a problem. I would definitely recommend doing a compass calibration no matter what though. I don't know how yours drifted so much to hit things if you were trying to correct it because it's pretty easy to control even without these automated systems, you might need to practice on a small cheap drone and learn some manual control so that doesn't happen again.


Devin

 

[Chase R]

I took off on mine as well. At home. What an idiot. It did not even try to hover. Started drifting straight away. Not expecting it I've tried to shut down motors by CMC with no effect. Hit the wall, blocked one of motors. Had to shut it down manually.. I hope it won't affect the drone in long run. What calibrations do I need to go through? How many of them?

Sent from my XT1572 using MavicPilots mobile app

Let it cool all the way down and do an IMU calibration then compass calibration and I'd do the gimbal too. I did vision sensors too after another issue so that wouldn't hurt either.

When that's all done, take it outside and takeoff without anything near by and let it hover for a bit. See if it does anything weird at low altitude. These things are pretty tough so I doubt you broke anything.

 

[leesmavic]

Let it cool all the way down and do an IMU calibration then compass calibration and I'd do the gimbal too. I did vision sensors too after another issue so that wouldn't hurt either.

When that's all done, take it outside and takeoff without anything near by and let it hover for a bit. See if it does anything weird at low altitude. These things are pretty tough so I doubt you broke anything.

That's the issue I've got - my Mavic arrived early, I'm supposed to be happy, but it's -8C outside. Thanks for your tips, guys.

Sent from my XT1572 using MavicPilots mobile app

 

[Mike_in_Letcombe]

How do you manually switch to Opti


Devin

On the Mavic...you can't. You can switch to Sport mode, but ATTI / Opti are triggered automatically when you haven't got GPS.


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