Almost lost control today.

[Knudar]

Hi folks.
Today I was experiencing a total mess of a trip. Have never had any error but this overcurrent after driving a bit to hard.
Took my drone up to 120m and started to fly. It was a sunny day, with a bit low sun. I was flying towards the sun as suddenly I got ambient light to weak error. Then straight after I got obstacle avoided with nothing in my way. Thought it might be the sun flares creating those problems. Because each time I turned the aircraft towards the sun it happened again. Readjusted my flight path so this would not happen. Then I got a lots of compass error. Those errors did come and go. Then I was thinking I might be returning home. Suddenly a speed error did show up. The drone was a absolutely mess steering. Tried to head to my direction but the drone went almost 90degrees in sideways motion when I set the yaw forward direction. Then I got Yaw Error.
As I can see in the flight log there was at this point compass error. Exit P-GPS mode; Yaw error.
Now I did start to loose hope. Then also the IMU heading error. Please restart aircraft also did show up. Did shortly after get weak gps signal. With 19 satellites?!?
Did some hard work trying to get the bird home, and at last I got it safe on the hoodman.
Anyone experienced this before??
I did try to fly after calibrating the compass and it went almost great.
Did have some RTH problems. The craft positioned itself over the point but started ascending even it was 10m over the RTH altitude. Tried once more with my last battery, then it all did work well.
This scared me. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Log: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Knudar]

And for the record. I am using DJI go 4, latest firmware, iPhone Pro 11 Max and in aircraft mode.

 

[Moose1967]

I did once and it was the result of a bad compass calibration - hopefully you got it resolved.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Hi folks.
Today I was experiencing a total mess of a trip. Have never had any error but this overcurrent after driving a bit to hard.
Took my drone up to 120m and started to fly. It was a sunny day, with a bit low sun. I was flying towards the sun as suddenly I got ambient light to weak error. Then straight after I got obstacle avoided with nothing in my way. Thought it might be the sun flares creating those problems. Because each time I turned the aircraft towards the sun it happened again. Readjusted my flight path so this would not happen. Then I got a lots of compass error. Those errors did come and go. Then I was thinking I might be returning home. Suddenly a speed error did show up. The drone was a absolutely mess steering. Tried to head to my direction but the drone went almost 90degrees in sideways motion when I set the yaw forward direction. Then I got Yaw Error.
As I can see in the flight log there was at this point compass error. Exit P-GPS mode; Yaw error.
Now I did start to loose hope. Then also the IMU heading error. Please restart aircraft also did show up. Did shortly after get weak gps signal. With 19 satellites?!?
Did some hard work trying to get the bird home, and at last I got it safe on the hoodman.
Anyone experienced this before??
I did try to fly after calibrating the compass and it went almost great.
Did have some RTH problems. The craft positioned itself over the point but started ascending even it was 10m over the RTH altitude. Tried once more with my last battery, then it all did work well.
This scared me. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Log: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I think you might have answered the equation , as the battery might not have been updated or compromised. Retest a simple hover flight with the old battery , that may solve it.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your mavic
Coal

 

[Meta4]

I think you might have answered the equation , as the battery might not have been updated or compromised. Retest a simple hover flight with the old battery , that may solve it.

The battery would not even be on a list of possible causes of the incident as described.

 

[Meta4]

I was flying towards the sun as suddenly I got ambient light to weak error. Then straight after I got obstacle avoided with nothing in my way. Thought it might be the sun flares creating those problems. Because each time I turned the aircraft towards the sun it happened again. Readjusted my flight path so this would not happen.

It's common for the obstacle avoidance sensors to identify the sun as an obstacle.
Switching off the OA sensors is another way to prevent this issue.

Then I got a lots of compass error. Those errors did come and go. Then I was thinking I might be returning home. Suddenly a speed error did show up. The drone was a absolutely mess steering. Tried to head to my direction but the drone went almost 90degrees in sideways motion when I set the yaw forward direction. Then I got Yaw Error.
As I can see in the flight log there was at this point compass error. Exit P-GPS mode; Yaw error.
Now I did start to loose hope. Then also the IMU heading error. Please restart aircraft also did show up. Did shortly after get weak gps signal. With 19 satellites?!?

Anyone experienced this before??

Every week there are similar reports.
The usual cause is launching from very close to something steel and launching from reinforced concrete is a very common reason.
You were lucky to get the drone back, if the yaw error is larger, you can't control the drone at all.
The weak GPS message was the flight controller complaining that it had no GPS data.
Although the Mavic was receiving signals from 19 sats, the drone had switched to atti mode and was ignoring GPS data.

I did try to fly after calibrating the compass and it went almost great.
Did have some RTH problems. The craft positioned itself over the point but started ascending even it was 10m over the RTH altitude. Tried once more with my last battery, then it all did work well.

There was nothing wrong with the compass and it did not need to be recalibrated.
RTH was never initiated during this flight.

 

[Knudar]

It's common for the obstacle avoidance sensors to identify the sun as an obstacle.
Switching off the OA sensors is another way to prevent this issue.

Every week there are similar reports.
The usual cause is launching from very close to something steel and launching from reinforced concrete is a very common reason.
You were lucky to get the drone back, if the yaw error is larger, you can't control the drone at all.
The weak GPS message was the flight controller complaining that it had no GPS data.
Although the Mavic was receiving signals from 19 sats, the drone had switched to atti mode and was ignoring GPS data.

There was nothing wrong with the compass and it did not need to be recalibrated.
RTH was never initiated during this flight.

Hi.
Thank you for your answer.
The RTH was initiated at the next flight and was a bit erratic.
I was launching from a field with no concrete or steel. I don’t know if there is anything below the field. Did try from exact the same point. With both remaining battery’s without this error.
Phantom rain suggested battery error. The battery I was using this time was another than the one I was describing in my previous post.
The batteries are charged about 30 times each. How many charges does the batteries take?
I also was thinking if there could possible be a problem that I was taking the craft from inside the house, and out into 2 degrees?
Yes, the yaw error was terrible. I did have to bee very smooth at the controls. If I did release the stick to fast, it seemed like the MP would flip over.

 

[Meta4]

Phantom rain suggested battery error.

And he was flat out wrong. Batteries don't cause compass and yaw errors.

The batteries are charged about 30 times each. How many charges does the batteries take?

Many more charges than that ... but your battery was not at all responsible for the yaw errors.
That's simply impossible.

I also was thinking if there could possible be a problem that I was taking the craft from inside the house, and out into 2 degrees?
Yes, the yaw error was terrible. I did have to bee very smooth at the controls. If I did release the stick to fast, it seemed like the MP would flip over.

Did you by any chance power up the drone inside and then take it outside?
If you moved the drone after powering it up, that can also cause yaw errors.

The RTH was initiated at the next flight and was a bit erratic.

We'd have to see data for that flight to work out what happened there.

 

[Knudar]

And he was flat out wrong. Batteries don't cause compass and yaw errors.

Many more charges than that ... but your battery was not at all responsible for the yaw errors.
That's simply impossible.

Did you by any chance power up the drone inside and then take it outside?
If you moved the drone after powering it up, that can also cause yaw errors.

Hi.
The drone was powered up at the field. All of the errors seems to take place just after I got those obstacle warnings.

 

[Meta4]

The drone was powered up at the field. All of the errors seems to take place just after I got those obstacle warnings.

Obstacle warnings are unrelated to the compass/yaw errors.
Yaw errors are caused by powering up the drone in a magnetically compromised area.

 

[Knudar]

Obstacle warnings are unrelated to the compass/yaw errors.
Yaw errors are caused by powering up the drone in a magnetically compromised area.

Ok. I don’t know what might be wrong.
But is there a possibility that this scenario could be a clue:
I’ve got a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and did transport the drone in the trunk of the car. The car is a hybrid and have a big battery under the trunk. Could this be a part of the solution? The drone was in the trunk for 7 hours.

 

[Meta4]

Ok. I don’t know what might be wrong.
But is there a possibility that this scenario could be a clue:
I’ve got a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and did transport the drone in the trunk of the car. The car is a hybrid and have a big battery under the trunk. Could this be a part of the solution? The drone was in the trunk for 7 hours.

You say that it flew normally after so that doesn't sound like it had any effect.
Yaw errors are well known, they get reported here probably every week and the cause it almost always having the IMU initialise in a magnetically compromised location.

 

[Knudar]

You say that it flew normally after so that doesn't sound like it had any effect.
Yaw errors are well known, they get reported here probably every week and the cause it almost always having the IMU initialise in a magnetically compromised location.

Ok.
Maybe there is power cables or something straight underneath where I located the drone.
I don’t know.

 

[BossBob]

Use a compass or compass app on your phone to check that the proposed takeoff point isn’t magnetically compromised. If the needle starts to move away from North as you move the compass away from the takeoff point there is something near containing iron/steel or power cables.
In Go4 always check that the app pointers for drone and remote are correctly oriented.
There are often hidden pieces of iron/steel. Even a wooden table may have steel screws and brackets. You really need to do these checks before you calibrate the compass. If you calibrate the compass, no watch, no steel belt buckle, no change in your pocket, move away from the car, fence, table, don’t calibrate indoors. A bad calibration can lose you your drone and for that reason ANY calibration should only take place if it is NEEDED. Go4 will tell you when it thinks calibration is required but you should move first and see if that corrects things.
I’ve got a 30 month old MP1 that has had the IMU calibrated once, the visual sensors have been calibrated twice and the compass twice. The drone is often moved over 100 miles between flights.

 

[DanMan32]

I can vouch for that. I demonstrated powering on my P3 at a class, having the AC on those plastic folding tables. Got compass errors. Didn't consider the metal table legs and braces underneath.

 

[Dave Maine]

Also remember that the compass on most Phantoms is in the footnote one of the legs, so it is very close to the surface you take off from, and whatever is under it.

 

[RuudF]

I've found that iron deposites in the ground can also disrupt the compass calibration.
Your idea about your PHEV vehicle is not bad but seems to me not the culprit because it won't be the first time you transported your MP like this before flying, right?

Ruud

 

[Knudar]

Hi.
Tried to fly yesterday with no errors. I did take off from another location. The only thing that struck me was a sudden sideways motion that took place with much more force than anticipated. The drone responded with a motion like full sideways in sport. But I was in P-GPS. It might be wind. I don’t know. The flight log does not show any error.
I have not transported the drone in that side and in that hole in the trunk before. But if there is a compass error. Shouldn’t that happen from the start of flight?

 

[RuudF]

Hi,
Very possibly but I've never experienced this before. One could imagine that due to climbing elevation the earths magnetic field changes and if you compass is off this might have an effect. But I don't know this for sure.
If your MP keeps on showing this odd behaviour, why don't you consult an expert about this.
Seems to me there are some active on this forum, but DJI should be able to shed light on your problem.
Anyway I would be reluctant to fly, not being able to fully trust and understand tha MP

Ruud

 

[Meta4]

Tried to fly yesterday with no errors. I did take off from another location. The only thing that struck me was a sudden sideways motion that took place with much more force than anticipated. The drone responded with a motion like full sideways in sport. But I was in P-GPS. It might be wind. I don’t know. The flight log does not show any error.
I have not transported the drone in that side and in that hole in the trunk before. But if there is a compass error. Shouldn’t that happen from the start of flight?

Can you explain what you mean by "sudden sideways motion"?
The term Compass Error is confusing.
A better name would be Compass Warning.
It's not a problem with the compass that requires fixing.
It's a perfectly good compass warning you of magnetic problems in the local environment.
If your drone is flying straight (rather than big curves) and hovers without slowly spiraling, it's fine.
Stop worrying about your compass.