DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Drifting to the left

Bruce Lythe

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2019
Messages
140
Reactions
70
Age
67
Location
Lymington UK
Actually rotating (yaw is it?) to the left. Had it yesterday when about to try my first hyperlapse. Slow rotation to the left. As though the stick had not centred properly. Touched right stick and brought it back and no problems thereafter. Since it was only yaw I didn't rth and continued with mission. Any clues? Which prop / motor needs checking??
 
The remote controller can be calibrated from this section of DJI GO:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Let us know if that does not resolve your issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thomas B and Porky
Might also be worth noting that the sticks on the Mavic controller are sensitive to 'magnetic' influence ... Are you putting anything metal / magnetic next to the controller (e.g. are you wearing a big hefty watch or something), when you fly the Mavic???
 
  • Like
Reactions: Thomas B
I am getting the same issue but yaw to the right..

Currently I have my RC in with DJI to assess/confirm if it's what I have observed to be phantom stick input.
My MA will hover in place via GPS but yaw to the right all on it's own with zero physical stick input.

Have done several calibrations of the RC, varying results but ultimately after a while the issue returns.
I've also replaced the props and no change to AC behavior. Running OEM props.

The reason I concluded an RC problem was watching back the flight log in Go4, you can see yaw stick input of 20% or so to the right, but I physically was not touching the sticks to see if it would eventually stop of it's own accord, which it didn't.
It got to the point in the last flight where it would constantly pull right, and I was having to constantly yaw as equally as I could to the left in attempt to keep it "still."

DJI have first came back to me with no fault found in the RC, I sent them the log of the last flight waiting to hear back now.

While my RC has been away I've been researching/reading - potentially issues such as this could be resolved by adjusting the gain settings for pitch/roll/yaw etc.Gradually lowering the values until a positive change is hopefully observed..
This may be a different issue completely, there have been earlier version Phantom operators experiencing more lateral drift while yawing, as it the AC would slide off to one side by several feet when attempting to simply yaw on axis.
 
Might also be worth noting that the sticks on the Mavic controller are sensitive to 'magnetic' influence ... Are you putting anything metal / magnetic next to the controller (e.g. are you wearing a big hefty watch or something), when you fly the Mavic???
Would a wedding ring be enough to influence the magnetism of the controller?
I can see a correlation of left stick issue when wedding ring is typically under the left side of the controller when holding it via thumb method vs pinching the sticks.

Strange that the RC of all things would be influenced by magnets when it has no GPS/compass in it..?
 
Would a wedding ring be enough to influence the magnetism of the controller?
I can see a correlation of left stick issue when wedding ring is typically under the left side of the controller when holding it via thumb method vs pinching the sticks.

Strange that the RC of all things would be influenced by magnets when it has no GPS/compass in it..?
I'm struggling to find the reference, but I did see somewhere, that the sticks on the DJI RC Controller are using 'Hall Effect' to generate the control signals (not the old type variable resistors that RC controllers used to have). Hall Effect [Hall effect - Wikipedia] is a way of using a magnetic field to sense & translate mechanical change - and therefore, if you introduce an external/additional magnetic source, it can 'bias' the magnetic influence that the controllers are relying on ...

Found something here ... Potentiometer Joystick, Hall Effect Joystick, Inductive Joystick & Optical Joystick from CTI Electronics
 
Interesting read.
My RC is due back from DJI today, they replaced the left stick. Will see how it behaves at next chance I can get out for 30mins or so..

Has OP (@Bruce Lythe) had any success with further troubleshooting/testing?

Tried swapping props around accordingly front to rear?
 
Mine drifts left but inconsistently.
But I found out with vision protect disabled while flying with no gps (basement underground parking lot) & no illumination & no wind, the mavic air stick control is dead on correct.
So on the perfect windless night with zero illumination using full satellites21, the mavic air still drifts left on only ahead stick command as witnessed on the map mode screen display(zero illumination obstructs line of sight).
Hallmark advised recal'ing compass & sticks, others include IMU additionally.
So it does not cure drift under 21 satellites the obvious cure may be IMU cal, gimbal centering 3 planes, but look, blind atti windless conditions flight has already been proved Rc & drone behave as commanded.
Then another forum post advised careful observation for any instability during a locked hover (hands off sticks).
Well, again the gps way is not as hover locked as the atti windless zero illumination condition.
This thread specified plus minus gps accuracy, one and one half meter.
Seems to me the drift using gps referencing exceeds that accuracy.
Reflashing firmware is considered condoning chip corruption of loaded firmware, but when it resolves code200 lockdown you know corruption is real and recurrable.
Unsat yes, the condone to cure code200.
So why do we have warranty for?
Is it to live with drift?
The more pivotal question is this, "All that safe flying rhetoric professed by this giant is in contradiction when the keyword for corruption by firmware is "REFRESH".
Don't you think you deserve a firmware chip that doesn't ever have to be "REFRESHED"?
The corruption is not an insignificant matter. And the choice of wording, "REFRESH" masks truth of failed preservation of uncontaminated code.
Nomenclature should relabel "REFRESH" as "Overwrite Contaminated Code"
This would speed chip improvement quickly because owners would realize their product has an Achilles impair.
 
\
Mine drifts left but inconsistently.
But I found out with vision protect disabled while flying with no gps (basement underground parking lot) & no illumination & no wind, the mavic air stick control is dead on correct.
So on the perfect windless night with zero illumination using full satellites21, the mavic air still drifts left on only ahead stick command as witnessed on the map mode screen display(zero illumination obstructs line of sight).
Hallmark advised recal'ing compass & sticks, others include IMU additionally.
So it does not cure drift under 21 satellites the obvious cure may be IMU cal, gimbal centering 3 planes, but look, blind atti windless conditions flight has already been proved Rc & drone behave as commanded.
Then another forum post advised careful observation for any instability during a locked hover (hands off sticks).
Well, again the gps way is not as hover locked as the atti windless zero illumination condition.
This thread specified plus minus gps accuracy, one and one half meter.
Seems to me the drift using gps referencing exceeds that accuracy.
Reflashing firmware is considered condoning chip corruption of loaded firmware, but when it resolves code200 lockdown you know corruption is real and recurrable.
Unsat yes, the condone to cure code200.
So why do we have warranty for?
Is it to live with drift?
The more pivotal question is this, "All that safe flying rhetoric professed by this giant is in contradiction when the keyword for corruption by firmware is "REFRESH".
Don't you think you deserve a firmware chip that doesn't ever have to be "REFRESHED"?
The corruption is not an insignificant matter. And the choice of wording, "REFRESH" masks truth of failed preservation of uncontaminated code.
Nomenclature should relabel "REFRESH" as "Overwrite Contaminated Code"
This would speed chip improvement quickly because owners would realize their product has an Achilles impair.


It has nothing to do with calibration, GPS or IMU module (I replaced both but still drifted), or the stick not screwed on properly, or swapping props mumbo jumbo. The drifting or abrupt 10 degrees yaw to the left is caused by a defective mainboard. If you take off at full throttle, it's when the abrupt yaw tends to happen.
 
... is caused by a defective mainboard. If you take off at full throttle, it's when the abrupt yaw tends to happen.

Can you elaborate a bit more around that ... from where have you this information, & why at full throttle?
 

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
134,491
Messages
1,595,600
Members
163,017
Latest member
al3597
Want to Remove this Ad? Simply login or create a free account