Altitude Control Problem

[danman999]

I have had my Mavic for three weeks now, and have only been able to fly it as many times. The first time was in beginner mode, for about 10 minutes. Everything seemed to work fine.
The second time I flew it, the altitude control did not seem to respond well. Afraid of losing the drone in a wilderness area, I terminated the flight.
Today I took it out to an open area specifically test ascents and descents.
About a third of the time the Mavic works fine. I take off and it hovers steadily a few feet off the ground, it responds to ascent and descent controls properly.
The other 66% of the time I take off and it keeps ascending without any input. It will just keep ascending, gaining altitude. When I push the joystick down to descend, nothing happens unless I push it down all the way, which initiates an auto landing.
I have calibrated the joysticks and IMU.
I am still within my return window at Best Buy and have DJI Care, but of course I am hoping it is something I can remdy with somebody's help here.
Any ideas?

 

[Egika]

How do you take off?

 

[msinger]

It sounds like you have Landing Protection enabled and your downward sensors are detecting the ground is near. If you upload your TXT flight log here, you can confirm this by checking the "VPS Altitude" column. If you see a value other than 0 when your Mavic is not close to the ground, something is most likely hanging beneath your Mavic (e.g. a GPS tracker antenna) or something from the ground is triggering the downward sensors (e.g. light reflected from water).

 

[danman999]

I start the motors by pushing the joysticks down toward each other and then push the joystick up for altitude.
Is that what you are referring to?

 

[danman999]

It sounds like you have Landing Protection enabled and your downward sensors are detecting the ground is near. If you upload your TXT flight log here, you can confirm this by checking the "VPS Altitude" column. If you see a value other than 0 when your Mavic is not close to the ground, something is most likely hanging beneath your Mavic (e.g. a GPS tracker antenna) or something from the ground is triggering the downward sensors (e.g. light reflected from water).

I am not flying over water. I do have a landing riser I bought from Amazon but it does not obstruct the sensors.

 

[msinger]

I do have a landing riser I bought from Amazon but it does not obstruct the sensors.

How can you tell it's not obstructing the sensors? Does this problem persist after removing it?

 

[danman999]

How can you tell it's not obstructing the sensors? Does this problem persist after removing it?

I did not have it on during the second flight when I first noticed the altitude problem. It is strange that sometimes it works perfectly.

 

[msinger]

Check out your flight log and see what you find in the "VPS Altitude" column.

 

[Egika]

I start the motors by pushing the joysticks down toward each other and then push the joystick up for altitude.
Is that what you are referring to?

Yes.
Because if you use the start button in the app it is supposed to automatically rise to a certain height.

In this case Msinger should be right. Something is telling your sensors the ground is too close...

 

[Pathogen]

I am still within my return window at Best Buy and have DJI Care, but of course I am hoping it is something I can remdy with somebody's help here.
Any ideas?

Lucky Yankee, up here in Canada bestbuy will do nothing once you open the packaging. Thankfully I got a good one, but it does sound like yours is defective, unless as mentioned something is messing your ground sensor. Did you calibrate the vision system in the windows assistant app (honestly I don't even know if that's appropriate).

Honestly though if you have the option to do an exchange I'd say go for it. I've read as many posts as I could in the last few weeks and never one like yours.

 

[msinger]

Honestly though if you have the option to do an exchange I'd say go for it. I've read as many posts as I could in the last few weeks and never one like yours.

This is a very common occurrence with the Mavic. In most cases, it can be explained after a bit of investigation.

 

[danman999]

I exchanged my Mavic at Best Buy this morning, no questions asked though I did tell them why. Hopefully the new Mavic won't feel the need to either ascend or land with nothing in between.

 

[danman999]

Tested the new Mavic today. None of the descent/landing issues like the first Mavic I had. Hopefully I have a keeper, because when this things works right it is AWESOME! Thanks to BestBuy for not hassling me on exchanging for a new one. I was in and out of the store in about five minutes.

 

[Pathogen]

Great news buddy!

 

[danman999]

By the way, the batttery latch mechanism on the new Mavic seems more solid then my first Mavic. It readily clicks into place whereas the first Mavic would require pressure from above and the heat sink below to get that "click".

 

[Qoncussion]

By the way, the batttery latch mechanism on the new Mavic seems more solid then my first Mavic. It readily clicks into place whereas the first Mavic would require pressure from above and the heat sink below to get that "click".

Hmmmm... Makes me wonder if you didn't inadvertently smudge a fingerprint onto the forward bottom vision sensor while seating the battery. Just a wild guess. Glad to see that your issues were resolved with a replacement. Happy flying!