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Best help finding MM lost

Moixixon

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Joined
Feb 20, 2020
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Age
49
Location
Spain
I’m new in flying and I’ve already had my first incident. As I was flying over an estuary, the wind pushed my MM until it crashed into a tall tree in the middle of a leafy vegetation area. Even using both the find my drone and make light and noise functions, it was really difficult to find it. After half an hour of serious scratching and a dangerous climbing, I was able to recover my drone.
After that I decided to increase visibility and make it more audible, in case of accident. I bought a Cvery drone flash strobe lamp and a Vifly Beacon. The are almost the same weight and size, so I installed them on the front arms. Holding them with Velcro and an elastic band that allow me to put them on and take them off quickly. When I go flying, I take them charged and after attaching them, I turn them on. The strobe lights intermittently and it’s visible from many meters away. The Beacon activates it’s flash and siren if there’s an accident. The siren is really loud.
I have not noticed that both devices affect flight stability, since both together weigh 10 grams...
Photos show the easy installation.


.D3A9B038-7A90-4389-B594-67343E719F6D.jpeg
E5843F7D-3A65-4CF3-91FE-BA0573A493DF.jpeg82B0DC5C-3DF2-4E71-A5B0-C6957DCB0F3F.jpeg09C7BC9C-106E-4179-A0D4-E6CAA2E758A5.jpeg5E70E1AB-C8A8-46F3-AB51-6DC1EF3D612B.jpeg
 
I’m new in flying and I’ve already had my first incident. As I was flying over an estuary, the wind pushed my MM until it crashed into a tall tree in the middle of a leafy vegetation area. Even using both the find my drone and make light and noise functions, it was really difficult to find it. After half an hour of serious scratching and a dangerous climbing, I was able to recover my drone.
After that I decided to increase visibility and make it more audible, in case of accident. I bought a Cvery drone flash strobe lamp and a Vifly Beacon. The are almost the same weight and size, so I installed them on the front arms. Holding them with Velcro and an elastic band that allow me to put them on and take them off quickly. When I go flying, I take them charged and after attaching them, I turn them on. The strobe lights intermittently and it’s visible from many meters away. The Beacon activates it’s flash and siren if there’s an accident. The siren is really loud.
I have not noticed that both devices affect flight stability, since both together weigh 10 grams...
Photos show the easy installation.


.View attachment 94844
View attachment 94845View attachment 94846View attachment 94847View attachment 94848
nice idea just be careful putting them on and taking them off that you don't cause any damage to the legs as that is where the antennas are ,have you noticed any issues with signal transmission with them on
 
I have not noticed any loss of signal after having put them, but I have not made enough distance flights either. In the next few days I will test and comment on the results here
 
Should make it easier next time, but obviously it’s lucky in such a loss / crash that damage is not done.
So best to avoid the wind in the first place.
There is a much more compact, single unit now that has strobe and 90db alarm to find a drone, the Firehouse Technology ARC XL.
Search the forum here and it will come up in various threads.
 
Should make it easier next time, but obviously it’s lucky in such a loss / crash that damage is not done.
So best to avoid the wind in the first place.
There is a much more compact, single unit now that has strobe and 90db alarm to find a drone, the Firehouse Technology ARC XL.
Search the forum here and it will come up in various threads.

I didn’t knew the Firehouse ARC XL, but it seems to be a little big for the Mavic mini. I was looking for the lightest and smaller tracking device and the Vifly Beacon is a reliable and proven device with half the weight and size that the firehouse.This allowed me to add another light to the other side, which makes the drone in flight more visible.
I will make a video of ni MM flying so you can see how visible the light is in daylight.
To control the state of the wind, I just bought an anemometer, since the predictions of wind applications are really unreliable ... Thanks for the help
 
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I didn’t knew the Firehouse ARC XL, but it seems to be a little big for the Mavic mini. I was looking for the lightest and smaller tracking device and the Vifly Beacon is a reliable and proven device with half the weight and size that the firehouse.This allowed me to add another light to the other side, which makes the drone in flight more visible.
I will make a video of ni MM flying so you can see how visible the light is in daylight.
To control the state of the wind, I just bought an anemometer, since the predictions of wind applications are really unreliable ... Thanks for the help
i must just give you some advice on the use of an anemometer please remember that the reading you get will only be at close to ground level
i used to use one when i first started flying but soon realised that it was not really much use when i went up to a higher altitude ,in fact it can give you a false sense of what the wind is actually doing
if you find that the reading is good at ground level then what you can do is go up in 20 ft increments let it hover for a few seconds and see how it is coping with the wind
do that till you reach at least a 100 ft and then if you are happy fly into the wind on the outwards leg so you have the benefit of the wind helping to bring it home on the way back
 
Taking into account the advice received in this thread, I have modified the way in which the two devices are attached to the MM. With the help of thin velcro strips, I made a harness to fix both devices on the top of the drone's body. In this way, I prevent them from interfering with the signal of the antennas and at the same time, the harness prevents the battery cover from opening in case of an accident. Velcro straps are easy to put on and take off and add very little weight to the set. The two devices are permanently sewn to the harness.AD1FBA59-986E-443C-8999-E9E32F791CB3.jpegB791C69B-8717-4E44-93CD-9176BFD9742B.jpeg9B9C50F7-3A52-46C7-92CA-0AA3C3C5C9DA.jpeg08CB28AF-3415-406D-A16C-CE252A003BB5.jpeg
 
Taking into account the advice received in this thread, I have modified the way in which the two devices are attached to the MM. With the help of thin velcro strips, I made a harness to fix both devices on the top of the drone's body. In this way, I prevent them from interfering with the signal of the antennas and at the same time, the harness prevents the battery cover from opening in case of an accident. Velcro straps are easy to put on and take off and add very little weight to the set. The two devices are permanently sewn to the harness.
Nice looking rig. Any effect on GPS reception?
 
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Nice looking rig. Any effect on GPS reception?

It does affect a lot! Today I tried to fly that configuration and it’s totally impossible. Drone becomes unstable, I don’t know if it’s the gps signal or the weight increased backwards, but it’s a bad design.
I will try to attach them to the front arms near the body, trying not to block antennas signal.
Conclusion: don’t use my design...

65A8FAD2-7D71-40BF-B1F3-DB4D650F21F6.jpegFF0D71AB-7E36-441B-B532-D63B0559C3C7.jpeg
 
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