a deeper discussion and experience with drone hacks mods on various drones

[mj2019]

hi everyone ... since there are a lot of notes or info scattered or missing on drone hacked dji drones by the drone hacks site, and since personally i my self have a lot of questions and discoveries after a while of using this... this should be a place to share those thing hopefully to help and insure safety and better use

 

[djiuser12345]

general disclaimer: there is no safety in a compromised device.

one breaks said safety with the mod/hack/custom software whatever any non-DJI site offers

 

[mj2019]

first am a year into drone hacks use on a mavic3 and some times used an air2s for a friend with the same thing.
first am too thankful for the dh guys for offering those enhanced capabilities for our dji drones... i was once explaining what drone hacks do to the drone or more precisely what it allows the drone to do ... he commented that a dji drone becomes an f16 after the dh
now it is a fact that dh boosts the performance and am a fan of this, but away from the bells and rings a lot of details are missing on how to best operate or understand the mods and things need to be a bit or much more detailed... hopefully this thread will help in this direction...

first on drone hacks its self , i started my experience with them with dh 1.35 ..
now since 2 or 3 months ago they seem to have changed the ownership of the site, now as a user for my self and for a studio i work for and a couple of friends a pro and a hobbyist i have done some 6 drone hacks...
today i read about the boosted mod of the dh so i tried to connect for curiosity a dh moded air2 , i discovered that not any earlier version of drone hacks application work any more i have copies of dh 1.35, dh 1.38, dh 1.40
dh 1.42 alll now are non functional!!!!! although a month ago they were still working and connect to drone!!!???? i dont remember that the dh site mentioned they will deactivate old versions, i once contacted them a year ago on help as i was having trouble connecting to the air 2 they recommended that i use an older dh version but now they deactivated all old ones, i will try to retrive the older accounts and emails i used during the mods to relog in as they recommend now on there site hopfully to keep drone hacks remembering the licenses i bought !!

 

[djiuser12345]

not sure what to make of this,
drone hacks for sure does not alter the drone's performance.
It only breaks and modifies rules by the manufacturer.

The drone's performance is given by the manufacturer, even if you mean the values you set in DH application: setting speeds to go over certain values is still not a DH achievement.
It just shows that the manufacturer clearly did not intend to make it go that way and it will have implications.

 

[mj2019]

general disclaimer: there is no safety in a compromised device.

one breaks said safety with the mod/hack/custom software whatever any non-DJI site offers

hi , after 10 years in this rc world and more than half that time with dji ...safety is a multi layer and the user is layer one in my opinion, a drone operator for rueters news a friend of mine did the dh since he may need to film in some conflict sites ... he needs the mod and to understand what he messed in the drone and how not to hurt any one during its use this is an example
on another hand the restrictions imposed by dji on there drones in name of saftey are not always as pretended!!!!! a drone landing by its self with no control in a restricted zone is not so safe and is hazardous in equality or more than flying in the restricted place ...

 

[AeroJ]

For now at least, in the UK, DJI have removed a lot of their 'non CAA based' no-fly zones and left it as it should be to pilot discretion. Nor are we restricted to 120m, again as it should be so that we can legally fly up hills etc etc.

And since that has been the case I don't find any compelling reason to do mods / hacks on my DJI kit. Very risky if there is ever any chance of your machine being confiscated... but of course I would feel differently if I regularly found I couldn't launch when there was some unjustified no fly zone implemented.

 

[djiuser12345]

safety is a multi layer and the user is layer one in my opinion

you are right in that you are free to have opinions on that.
but manufacturers have to follow strict rules to adhere to regulations.
these regulations are based on safety for anyone else and the public.
if you decide to circumvent these rules AND come into conflict: you take all responsibility from that point on and its the pilots fault if something bad happens.

he needs the mod and to understand what he messed in the drone and how not to hurt any one

This can always happen - you don't run the product with official software in this case.
NO ONE can give you information on what will happen if you run UNofficial (and thus never tested by the manufacturer) software. The drone was simply never made for that in the first place.

a drone landing by its self with no control in a restricted zone is not so safe and is hazardous in equality or more than flying in the restricted place ...

"not so safe" as you say might be.
but its still the manufacturer following the rules and keeping consumers to their limits so DJI does not get into trouble because of bad pilot behaviour.

DJI clearly states on multiple occasions how one should behave:

DJI UAVs cannot takeoff in Restricted Zones. When a UAV flies near the boundary of a Restricted Zone, it will automatically decelerate and hover in place. If it flies into a Restricted Zone without a GPS signal, it will automatically land once it regains a GPS signal.

Its mandatory for every pilot to read these instructions. So you know that it will happen and don't do it.

Everything else is opinion and maybe experience but not what you're supposed to do.

If your reuter reporter cannot use DJI drones because of restricted zones - they should switch to a different brand or build their own quad

 

[Felix le Chat]

not sure what to make of this,
drone hacks for sure does not alter the drone's performance.
It only breaks and modifies rules by the manufacturer.

The drone's performance is given by the manufacturer, even if you mean the values you set in DH application: setting speeds to go over certain values is still not a DH achievement.
It just shows that the manufacturer clearly did not intend to make it go that way and it will have implications.

The D-H GUI is based on the original DJI assistant that had a 'bug-fix' mode through which is was possible to tweak a huge range of parameters. I've used both, so I recognised the D-H version immediately.

It is possible to alter the drones performance: horizontal speed: ascent/descent speed, etc. etc. safely as long as you know what you're altering.

The performance of all DJI drones has been dialled down from the maximum default level they are capable of. This has been done for a number of reasons: to fit in with operational parameters insisted upon by various Aviation Authorities and to maximize the drones operational life are the two most obvious.

The same applies to the transmitter output. The maximum legal transmitter strength in the US is +30db. US drones are dumbed-down to +26db across the two main operating frequencies as this is in compliance with the terms of the FCC license. But the transmitter (controller) is perfectly capable by design of permanently and safely operating at the full +30db signal, so it is also possible to boost the performance of the controller as well (legal/illegal arguments to one side).

This is all academic: I'm not thick enough to start poking and prodding under the hood and I certainly would never recommend that anyone else do so.

 

[djiuser12345]

It is possible to alter the drones performance: horizontal speed: ascent/descent speed, etc. etc. safely as long as you know what you're altering.

Well, thats pretty much the point of discussion, isn't it?
OP asks what will happen - so they don't know what they're altering.

The performance of all DJI drones has been dialled down from the maximum default level they are capable of. This has been done for a number of reasons: to fit in with operational parameters insisted upon by various Aviation Authorities and to maximize the drones operational life are the two most obvious.

Doesn't really matter - the product was released with specifications adhering to rules and you break them.
Not only is the manufacturer out of responsibility because of this - you are made responsible.
Altering the descend speed for e.g. a Air 2s will result in a crash at some point as even DH acknowledges.

Frequency and Signal power aside, thats probably the least offenisve thing this unofficial firmware (which runs on mavic 3) does as its not really relevant when talking no fly zones anyway.