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Air 2S remote losing signal at 4,200 - 5,000 ft and getting max of 13mins of flight time

TheBlueFlyer

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Colorado
Wondering if there is a setting that would cause the signal to get lose and RTH, or if I have a defective Air 2S.

I've seen some videos of other Air 2S'ers keeping a signla even past 15,000 - 20,000 feet.

To be honest, the flight time seems to be way less than advertised as well (max of 13 minutes with combined hovering and and forward/lateral movement)
 
Signal loss is related to distance between your controller and the Air 2S. And the effective range decreases if there are obstacles between you and your drone, or radio frequency interference from nearby sources. How far away from you is the drone (vertically and horizontally) and what is in the area when you lose the signal?

With respect to flight time, since you are in Colorado, I assume your starting altitude is somewhere around 5,000 ft. above sea level. Compared to sea level, the air at that altitude is significantly thinner, which means the motors have to run faster just to stay in the air. That will drain the battery more than it would if you were flying at lower altitude. Although I don't know if it explains quite that much loss of flight time.
 
Signal loss is related to distance between your controller and the Air 2S. And the effective range decreases if there are obstacles between you and your drone, or radio frequency interference from nearby sources. How far away from you is the drone (vertically and horizontally) and what is in the area when you lose the signal?

With respect to flight time, since you are in Colorado, I assume your starting altitude is somewhere around 5,000 ft. above sea level. Compared to sea level, the air at that altitude is significantly thinner, which means the motors have to run faster just to stay in the air. That will drain the battery more than it would if you were flying at lower altitude. Although I don't know if it explains quite that much loss of flight time.
No sky scrapers. Small town with nothing blocking LOS. My elevation is around 5260ft. Am usually at 390ft AGL and it starts losing signal around 4200ft.

Very well could be some interference as there have been reports from others about their vehicle's bluetooth disconnecting at this one exact spot in town.
 
Signal loss is related to distance between your controller and the Air 2S. And the effective range decreases if there are obstacles between you and your drone, or radio frequency interference from nearby sources. How far away from you is the drone (vertically and horizontally) and what is in the area when you lose the signal?

With respect to flight time, since you are in Colorado, I assume your starting altitude is somewhere around 5,000 ft. above sea level. Compared to sea level, the air at that altitude is significantly thinner, which means the motors have to run faster just to stay in the air. That will drain the battery more than it would if you were flying at lower altitude. Although I don't know if it explains quite that much loss of flight time.
Well said! Yes elevation has a huge roll to play here…the pitch of the props are not aggressive enough for high elevation flying. The fpv guys (throughout several videos)tested and experimented with the ties between elevation and prop size and pitch.
As far as the connection issue…I’ve noticed with my air 2s is even when I’m in vlos my signal integrity is sensitive when moving my controller around. Far more sensitive the my other drones
 
Wondering if there is a setting that would cause the signal to get lose and RTH, or if I have a defective Air 2S.

I've seen some videos of other Air 2S'ers keeping a signla even past 15,000 - 20,000 feet.

To be honest, the flight time seems to be way less than advertised as well (max of 13 minutes with combined hovering and and forward/lateral movement)
I live in southern California. Any type of "civilization" can cause signal loss. there is a lot of "noise" out there even in a rual or semi rural area. When I go out to the desert there is almost no noise. My max distance has been 5 miles and the only reason I return is because of battery life.
 
Density altitude does mean a lot, winds, lots of things affect flying time..doesn’t that Martian heli have a 2,400 rpm to keep airborne…still 4200ft is just shy of a mile so..not too bad but yes..maybe you’ve discovered an untapped ore body..keep trying various spots..sounds like that area you mentioned has some gremlins..enjoy..my personal record in wilderness is 5 kms..kinda scary, kinda fun..great hobby..warm thoughts
 
Please make sure you're flying your drone within line of sight. At 4200', you're not.
 
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Density altitude does mean a lot, winds, lots of things affect flying time..doesn’t that Martian heli have a 2,400 rpm to keep airborne…still 4200ft is just shy of a mile so..not too bad but yes..maybe you’ve discovered an untapped ore body..keep trying various spots..sounds like that area you mentioned has some gremlins..enjoy..my personal record in wilderness is 5 kms..kinda scary, kinda fun..great hobby..warm thoughts
Please make sure you're flying your drone within line of sight. At 4200', you're not.
I live on the beach in Southern California and have tested my air 2s over the water, straight out. I consistently lose signal at approximately 4000’ distance. I even tried an antenna extender and that didn’t help. What the hell?
 
I live on the beach in Southern California and have tested my air 2s over the water, straight out. I consistently lose signal at approximately 4000’ distance. I even tried an antenna extender and that didn’t help. What the hell?
What else is going on inside that 4000' radius around the controller?

I'd expect that most of the Southern California coast has more than a typical share of wifi and other EMI that can interfere with the signal between the controller and drone. If you're on the beach in the midst of several thousand household and business wireless routers, a few dozen cell towers, and such, 4000' feet of solid signal might be something to celebrate.

What's in your immediate area - buildings, power lines, communication facilities, radars?

What connection range are you expecting?
 
I live on the beach in Southern California and have tested my air 2s over the water, straight out. I consistently lose signal at approximately 4000’ distance. I even tried an antenna extender and that didn’t help. What the hell?
I live in socal also. Any kind of populated area is going to give
give you interference. Boats with all those radios are going to cause problems. Cell towers etc. Just way too much noise.
I took my mav 2 out to the desert and flew it across the Salton sea. Personal best at 4.3 miles. Could have gone much further but battery concerns prompted me to return.
 
What else is going on inside that 4000' radius around the controller?

I'd expect that most of the Southern California coast has more than a typical share of wifi and other EMI that can interfere with the signal between the controller and drone. If you're on the beach in the midst of several thousand household and business wireless routers, a few dozen cell towers, and such, 4000' feet of solid signal might be something to celebrate.

What's in your immediate area - buildings, power lines, communication facilities, radars?

What connection range are you expecting?
Well I have Wi-Fi in my house and I suspect everyone else on the beach has it too. But I typically fly about 100’ offshore and about 100’ high when flying along the shoreline. But it also happens when I fly straight out and it’s just ocean between the controller and the drone. It gets a little scary because my Air 2S is out there 4000’ and then aircraft disconnects from the controller. Something’s not right. I have a Mini 2 and it does the same thing. Thoughts?
 
Well I have Wi-Fi in my house and I suspect everyone else on the beach has it too. But I typically fly about 100’ offshore and about 100’ high when flying along the shoreline. But it also happens when I fly straight out and it’s just ocean between the controller and the drone. It gets a little scary because my Air 2S is out there 4000’ and then aircraft disconnects from the controller. Something’s not right. I have a Mini 2 and it does the same thing. Thoughts?

(I'm not playing drone nanny, but you do realize that flying the drone beyond your visual line of sight is a substantial violation of the FAA regulations for both recreational and commercial flights?)

The specs for both those drones give a communication range in absolutely ideal conditions - 12 km "unobstructed, free of interference." It's not reasonable to expect to maintain control at that distance under the best real world flight conditions. And operating in a densely populated area introduces a lot of interference.

What sort of useful operating range were you expecting from the Air 2S and the Mini 2?
 
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So much for worrying about line of sight flying here. 😂
Well, it's a law for a reason.

Here in Canada, you need a special permission from the regulator to go BVLOS.

These are consumer drones, I'm not sure what range or altitude people are expecting exactly. A commercial drone like a Matrice, I'd expect more capabilities from that.
 
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