Aircraft Orientation Issue

[Jdowg92]

Hi All

Looking for a little bit of advice in regards to the aircraft orientation when flying the DJI Mini.

I seem to have an issue were no matter where im stood the drone its not giving me the right aircraft orientation in the bottom middle of my screen it really seems to be hit and miss it working correctly.

Ive already tried the following:

• Compass calibration on the drone itself
• Compass calibration on my Iphone 11 Pro Max
• All firmware is updated to the latest firmware
• Making sure the antennas are pointing in the right direction of the drone to ensure good signal

Main reason for the post is ive had it a couple of time now where ive ran into the issue of getting the compass icon in the bottom middle to come up with a flashing red icon looks like its completly lost signal. My worry is the drone was only around 300 ft away when this happened and ive read that is this happens the RTH wont work. Is there anyone here that can maybe help me out trying to resolve theses issues i seem to be running into to.

Thanks

 

[scro]

Do you have GPS enabled on the phone? That's one possible reason the compass indicator turns red (phone icon with strikethrough). The indicator seems to want a GPS signal from your device if it has GPS. I'm not sure why it doesn't get upset by devices that don't have a GPS receiver. The compass/indicator icon is quite susceptible to not working right for several reasons discussed in several past threads on here.

Where did you read that flashing red compass means RTH won't work. It doesn't sound right to me. RTH relies on the drone GPS and compass (and a valid home point), and not anything on the controller or phone. If either the drone's GPS or compass aren't working properly you'll know by the status of the GPS indicator and any popup warnings about compass calibration being needed.

 

[kjmasson]

Hi All

Looking for a little bit of advice in regards to the aircraft orientation when flying the DJI Mini.

I seem to have an issue were no matter where im stood the drone its not giving me the right aircraft orientation in the bottom middle of my screen it really seems to be hit and miss it working correctly.

Thanks

Hey Jdowg92,

There have been a few other posts about this issue. I also have the orientation indication problem.
Others on here have said the most important thing is the MM's orientation on the map in the bottom left. As long as that shows correct (which it always seems to be), you are good to go.

Whenever I prepare for a longer distance /risky flight, I always run a quick test of controls while hovering within 20' or so. I enlarge the map to ensure I can see the mini's location clearly and do a short side-to-side, back-and-forth (couple of feet each), and complete 360 degree rotation of the mini. Once I'm done doing this, I verify the orientation on the map. If all is good, I'm confident to start my flight. This also an opportunity to ensure the MM is responding as expected to my controls and nothing odd is happening.

The orientation indicator is convenient if it works but ultimately, I decided I cannot rely on it. (That being said, once the MM is further away, it seems to correct itself.)

Happy Flying.

 

[Jdowg92]

Do you have GPS enabled on the phone? That's one possible reason the compass indicator turns red (phone icon with strikethrough). The indicator seems to want a GPS signal from your device if it has GPS. I'm not sure why it doesn't get upset by devices that don't have a GPS receiver. The compass/indicator icon is quite susceptible to not working right for several reasons discussed in several past threads on here.

Where did you read that flashing red compass means RTH won't work. It doesn't sound right to me. RTH relies on the drone GPS and compass (and a valid home point), and not anything on the controller or phone. If either the drone's GPS or compass aren't working properly you'll know by the status of the GPS indicator and any popup warnings about compass calibration being needed.

Hi there

Yes GPS is enabled on the phone I even went to the extent of checking it was allowed in the permissions in phone settings and it’s all good that end to.

I’ve seen it on a few videos on YouTube people saying it that’s why I’ve come here to get some concrete answers on it, as at the minute I’m a bit sceptical to take it long range as the last thing I need is to loose connection and not being able to retrieve my drone.

Yeah I’ve done the compass calibration serval times and doesn’t seem to have an effect on the issue I’m running in to unfortunately

 

[Jdowg92]

Hey Jdowg92,

There have been a few other posts about this issue. I also have the orientation indication problem.
Others on here have said the most important thing is the MM's orientation on the map in the bottom left. As long as that shows correct (which it always seems to be), you are good to go.

Whenever I prepare for a longer distance /risky flight, I always run a quick test of controls while hovering within 20' or so. I enlarge the map to ensure I can see the mini's location clearly and do a short side-to-side, back-and-forth (couple of feet each), and complete 360 degree rotation of the mini. Once I'm done doing this, I verify the orientation on the map. If all is good, I'm confident to start my flight. This also an opportunity to ensure the MM is responding as expected to my controls and nothing odd is happening.

The orientation indicator is convenient if it works but ultimately, I decided I cannot rely on it. (That being said, once the MM is further away, it seems to correct itself.)

Happy Flying.

Hi there

Yeah I searched the forums for it to but it seemed to be a little vague still to how to get the issue resolved.

And I actually do that myself also just as a safety check to ensure it’s working correctly on the map icon on the app itself.

Hopefully there’s a fix though as it’s a little off putting when flying and it says it’s completely the wrong way.

 

[scro]

I'm with @kjmasson in that I ignore the indicator as it's often wrong, and hence unreliable. I try to fly VLOS and if I lose track of the drone I use the pop-up map from the bottom left as that is far more reliable.

 

[Jdowg92]

I'm with @kjmasson in that I ignore the indicator as it's often wrong, and hence unreliable. I try to fly VLOS and if I lose track of the drone I use the pop-up map from the bottom left as that is far more reliable.

Thanks for the reply, it looks like I’m not going to have a choice in doing the following, is this some this Dji should fix with the dji care ?

Just seems a little disheartening that I spend £400 for a drone that doesn’t work as it should. I get that sometimes things aren’t always going to run perfectly but I don’t expect to have to keep doing what you mentioned above in terms of using the map itself to do the job that’s intended for the drone orientation.

 

[kjmasson]

Thanks for the reply, it looks like I’m not going to have a choice in doing the following, is this some this Dji should fix with the dji care ?

Just seems a little disheartening that I spend £400 for a drone that doesn’t work as it should. I get that sometimes things aren’t always going to run perfectly but I don’t expect to have to keep doing what you mentioned above in terms of using the map itself to do the job that’s intended for the drone orientation.

Some have indicated this is more of an issue with the Remote Control speaker interfering with the phone's compass, which is likely unavoidable and not something DJI can do much about because every phone is different.

I certainly understand your frustration with spending that kind of coin and not having things perfect, but I'm sure in time, much like myself, you'll see and appreciate all the amazing technology you have in your hands for only $400 (sorry can't find the correct money symbol).

 

[Jdowg92]

Some have indicated this is more of an issue with the Remote Control speaker interfering with the phone's compass, which is likely unavoidable and not something DJI can do much about because every phone is different.

I certainly understand your frustration with spending that kind of coin and not having things perfect, but I'm sure in time, much like myself, you'll see and appreciate all the amazing technology you have in your hands for only $400 (sorry can't find the correct money symbol).

Maybe I will possibly try getting a phone mount that doesn’t mount at the bottom and try one of the 3rd party ones that mount on top and see if that makes and slight difference. But if they know the feature doesn’t work correctly it’s better for them to completely remove it from the app in stead of leaving it there for it to cause more harm that it’s worth.

Haha If I payed 400 dollars for it though I wouldn’t be complaining at all [emoji12][emoji23].

 

[scro]

Try calibrating your phone compass when it's clipped into the remote controller. This has helped for some, as it can cancel out the magnetic field from the controller (the sticks use magnets for position sensing). Aonther thing that's helped some is to spin the phone 180deg in the holder. You'll need a longer cable as the phone's port will be on the right hand side.

It is a bit silly that something simple like this doesn't work for many people on what's supposed to be a market leading drone brand.

 

[Jdowg92]

Try calibrating your phone compass when it's clipped into the remote controller. This has helped for some, as it can cancel out the magnetic field from the controller (the sticks use magnets for position sensing). Aonther thing that's helped some is to spin the phone 180deg in the holder. You'll need a longer cable as the phone's port will be on the right hand side.

It is a bit silly that something simple like this doesn't work for many people on what's supposed to be a market leading drone brand.

I’ve not calibrated it whilst it’s connected to the controller itself this is something maybe I will try to see if helps any.

But like you say it’s silly having theses issues on a drone that’s meant to be market leading in its category. Like I mentioned before, if they are are of theses issues either completely remove them from the app itself or do something about it and try and find a definite fix for it.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

With regards to the flashing red icon and RTH, I have yet to see a fully functioning icon whilst flying from my garden, sometimes bits of it are red and sometimes it may be all red. So much so that I no longer conciously look at the icon but I have never yet had any problems with an RTH in my garden.
Away from my garden the icon seems to work (when I have taken notice of it)

 

[BokiFly]

Sometimes that orientation icon is off so when I land for battery replacement I calibrate compass on phone and in the same time drone by itself indicate that I should calibrate compass on Mini, and after that next flight has correct orientation icon. Too bad that we need to do this often in order to orientation icon work correctly, maybe every few flights in my case.

 

[scro]

I suspect having a bit of distance between you and the drone helps the indicator. Given that it wants to use your phone's GPS (if it has it) it probably uses the relative positions between the phone and drone to help it determine what to display. If the drone is fairly close the error between the 2 GPS positions can put it off by quite a bit.

 

[EyesWideShut]

I suspect having a bit of distance between you and the drone helps the indicator. Given that it wants to use your phone's GPS (if it has it) it probably uses the relative positions between the phone and drone to help it determine what to display. If the drone is fairly close the error between the 2 GPS positions can put it off by quite a bit.

I agree with @scro. I find that some distance does definitely help. Also as he said, it helps to have some separation between the phone and controller either with a mount or even by just sliding the phone a few mm further away in the controller's claws, as far as the short cable allows. I find that also helps minimize the magnetic effect from the sticks. Others have tried rotating their phone 180 degrees in the claws if the cable is long enough.

Personally, I forget about that orientation icon and use the map down in the corner and make it full screen and then minimized as needed. I very seldom use RTH as I'm out to fly not go get a coffee while it's returning, but I sometimes initiate RTH to get the mini started pointed in the right direction and then cancel and fly home manually.

 

[Jdowg92]

I agree with @scro. I find that some distance does definitely help. Also as he said, it helps to have some separation between the phone and controller either with a mount or even by just sliding the phone a few mm further away in the controller's claws, as far as the short cable allows. I find that also helps minimize the magnetic effect from the sticks. Others have tried rotating their phone 180 degrees in the claws if the cable is long enough.

Personally, I forget about that orientation icon and use the map down in the corner and make it full screen and then minimized as needed. I very seldom use RTH as I'm out to fly not go get a coffee while it's returning, but I sometimes initiate RTH to get the mini started pointed in the right direction and then cancel and fly home manually.

Once this rain passes I’ll go out and give it a try moving the phone down a little bit to increase the distance between the rc and phone to see if that makes any difference.

And I’m not saying I’m worried about it in terms of pressing the RTH button and flying the drone back as to be honest I normally fly my drone back manually anyway as I prefer it that way.

But the main thing was why implement a feature to the app to show its orientation and it not work correctly it’s just very off putting and miss leading especially to new flyers.