Air Controller beeping continuously

[Columbian 73]

Hello, Forum. I had to take about a year off from flying my Air, and just today decided I should give it a try again. I charged everything up--the batteries seem fine--but when I turn the controller on it emits a continuous fast (~3x/second) beep. I can't find any way to stop it. I did manage to link the drone and controller, and even started up the props, but the beeping continued.
Can anyone tell me what's wrong and how to fix it?
Thanks for any help.
Tim

 

[jaypike]

I hate it when that happens.... you need to recalibrate it. Try this: DJI Mavic Compass Calibration Guide | Mavic Help

 

[Columbian 73]

I hate it when that happens.... you need to recalibrate it. Try this: DJI Mavic Compass Calibration Guide | Mavic Help

Thank you, jaypike. But unfortunately it's the controller that's beeping, and it started doing it even before I turned the drone on, and after I turn the drone off. It did it again just now, and the drone's turned off. Too bad, that would have been simple.

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

On the Mini 2, the fix for this is before you turn on the controller, manipulate the sticks in all directions, and wiggle the gimbal control wheel all the way from one side to the other. Then turn on the controller.

The first time someone told me this I thought was similar when a computer tech I knew waved a rubber chicken about every time there was a computer problem before he fixed it. But in this case it actually seems to have something to do with the controller thinking there is a fault with the physical controls unless you wiggle them in advance.

 

[jaypike]

Thank you, jaypike. But unfortunately it's the controller that's beeping, and it started doing it even before I turned the drone on, and after I turn the drone off. It did it again just now, and the drone's turned off. Too bad, that would have been simple.

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't specific enough in my first reply. You need to recalibrate your controller. It will keep beeping like that constantly until you do. Once you do, it'll be good. I read this posting here originally on this and it fixed my controller for me: "Beeping is triggered if the RC thinks the sticks aren't centered upon startup. Try re-calibrating the controller again. If it still doesn't go away, your controller might have a hardware defect." (ref: Mavic Air Remote Controller Will Not Stop Constant Beeping)

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

Like Paint Rock Drones says, wiggle the control sticks before you turn it on. You can even turn it off if it's beeping, wiggle the sticks (I usually move them together in the up, down, left, right direction), and it will stop the beeping. Once you're airborne, after a while it will stop the beeping if left to it's own devices. A lot of times, it's because the remote has been stored with one of the sticks in a different position than centered, like in a bag or gets hung up on a cutout in your hard case.

 

[hiflyer201]

re-calibrate or easier yet..rotate the sticks and control wheel aggressively thru all the axis before powering up. That is generally all it takes with the Mavic air 1

 

[tlswift58]

Like Paint Rock Drones says, wiggle the control sticks before you turn it on. You can even turn it off if it's beeping, wiggle the sticks (I usually move them together in the up, down, left, right direction), and it will stop the beeping. Once you're airborne, after a while it will stop the beeping if left to it's own devices. A lot of times, it's because the remote has been stored with one of the sticks in a different position than centered, like in a bag or gets hung up on a cutout in your hard case.

Should you not remove the sticks before putting into a case / etc? I only leave mine on when it's sitting out somewhere as I did leave the sticks on once when putting in a bag and trying to save time for next spot to fly drone and it was not happy on next boot up.

 

[Columbian 73]

I was hopeful your suggestions on wiggling the sticks and control wheel would work, so I wiggled them for a full minute in and out of every position, and rolled the wheel back and forth, before turning it on, after turning it on, and after turning it off. But, no joy. Does the Air need to be on and connected to the RC while I do this? I'm real leery about trying to fly with this going on, esp since it's been in is bag for a while.
Guess I got to remember how to calibrate the RC again. I used to have a rubber chicken around here, somewhere

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

Although you have tried moving the sticks around, my recent experience was similar. I purchased two stick extensions to make it easier to control when videoing. These extensions have silicon boots to help ease the sticks around. My controller started beeping, even when moving the sticks.
Found the answer was to remove the sticks before firing up then reinstall them.
The RC does a self test when turned on. Yours may have a bit of dirt or some sticky substance stopping the sticks being centred at start up.

 

[hiflyer201]

I was hopeful your suggestions on wiggling the sticks and control wheel would work, so I wiggled them for a full minute in and out of every position, and rolled the wheel back and forth, before turning it on, after turning it on, and after turning it off. But, no joy.

Sorry that didn't work for you..yes to calibrate it has to be powered up. Click on the three dots upper right of screen then find it here

 

[Columbian 73]

Thank you all for your kind suggestions. Though none were effective in my case, I did find another thread on this forum (from a DDG search) that stopped the beeping. I only needed to calibrate my sticks. It can be found here:

<How to calibrate sticks on Mavic Air Controller>

He has lots of screen grabs that helped me, but if you're quicker on the uptake than I, the text-only procedure is:

(1) Power on the remote controller, attach your mobile device, and launch the DJI GO4 app
(2) In the GO4 home screen, tap on the "enter device" option
(3) On the next page, tap on "Enter the Camera View" option.
(4) Once in the camera view, tap on the three dots at the top right corner (bottom left, in my version of the app) to enter the settings.
(4b) Under settings, tap on the remote controller icon,
(4c) Then tap "Remote Controller Calibration".
(5) On the Remote Controller Calibration page, follow the directions on the screen (which tell you to push your sticks "through their entire range of motion" in a complete circle, around the entire perimeter, repeatedly.

I hope this may help anyone with the same problem in the future.

Thanks again for all suggestions.

Tim

UPDATE: It turned out that while I got the beep to shut up while I was in the Calibrate Stticks page, the little "Finish" button, which I believe was supposed to light up when the sticks got all calibrated, never lit up. So when I just backed out of that page, the calibration did not actually take. So when I shut the controller off, and then turned it on again, the beeping started right back up too. I went through this several times, with the same result. At this point, I have to think my controller's trashed. So, unless there's anyone out there who knows where I can get one for less than an arm & leg, my re-entry into drone flying isn't going to happen any time soon.

Thanks again to all of you for the support.
Tim

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

Should you not remove the sticks before putting into a case / etc? I only leave mine on when it's sitting out somewhere as I did leave the sticks on once when putting in a bag and trying to save time for next spot to fly drone and it was not happy on next boot up.

I have a custom cutout in my case from case builder that has the sticks cut out so I don't have to take them off every time. The pick and pluck foam that came with the hard case didn't last very long...

 

[Columbian 73]

LAST UPDATE, I hope.
As a last hope, I found a shop in a nearby city that advertises Drone Repair and gave them a call, explaining the problem to the very helpful tech.
Most helpfully, he said he was familiar with the Stick-Calibration routine, and that, "What they don't tell you about that, is that after you push the sticks all around for a while, you also have to move the Gimbal Control Dial back and forth a few times."
So I tried again, and as soon as I started pushing the gimbal dial, the little thermometer-type guage below the stick pictures started showing a green line going left and right as I moved the dial.
The "Finish" button lit up, I pushed it and the calibrate screen went away. Shut the RC off, turned it on again and No Beeping! Synced it to the drone and it worked perfectly. I was indoors, so I couldn't stress-test it, but it appeared to work perfectly.
Looking forward to a dry day to get it in the air!!
Hope this helps anyone with the same problem in the future.
Tim

 

[Glacier991]

Thank you all. The last post solved it for me!!!