Geomagnetic Storm Watch

[Meta4]

These amazing light shows are cause by geomagnetic storms. Which as in its name, they are magnetic in nature and thus would it not act as if you were next to a big magnet.

I attempted to fly 2 drones last night and both had compass issues and I have over 1000 hours of flight time launching the same way. Air2s and Mini4Pro… It was definitely something specific to last night.

Or you just encountered DJI's stupid fake compass warning that several flyers have experienced when launching in the dark.
It's happened to me six times in places I've flown from several times before without issue.
You could be excused for thinking this indicates magnetic interference close to the drone:

You could do the usual fix for this and switch off the drone and move to somewhere else even though you know there is no magnetic interference.
The first time I experienced this, I moved the drone five times and even recalibrated the compass, even though I knew that couldn't possibly do anything.
It was only when I encountered this again another day in a different location that I tapped the red warning to get more details.

There it is in DJI's poorly worded "warning", which also includes their ridiculous "calibrate compass".
Unable to take off in low light environment !!!
That has nothing at all to do with the compass.

I used a bright LED light to illuminate the launch spot and the drone launched normally.
I've run into this stupid "warning" a few times since and now launch from in front of my car with the headlights providing the "fix".

If I didn't understand how drones work and hadn't encountered this a few times, I might have believed it was some unexplained mystery force too.
But as I found out, it's DJI's poor programming.

 

[Meta4]

"Navigation by compass is especially difficult during either of these magnetic storms because compass bearings can change by 10 degrees or more during the course of a few hours.

Changes to the direction of the earth's magnetic field aren't enough to cause compass warnings.
It requires a significant change in the magnetic field strength to set off a compass warning.

As anyone familiar with using a map and compass can tell you, without knowing the ‘magnetic deviation’, it is impossible to use a compass to determine where geographic north is located"

That's fine for navigating with a map and compass, but it shouldn't have much effect on drone flying.

 

[Mark_Y]

Solar activity won't ever cause a compass warning.
The compass warning you got was either related to magnetic interference in the area you placed the drone or it was a common false alarm that DJI inflicts on drone users launching in the dark.
Whichever it was, calibrating the compass wouldn't have been needed and wouldn't have changed a thing.

There's not enough information in your description to tell what the issue might have been (or if there really was an issue).

I am attaching the flight logs from the Mini 3 pro. The one on the May 10 is the one where i had the issue. The one on the May 11 is where I took off from the same position with no issues. To note people were reporting great pictures of light in the sky from there cell phones within 5 miles of my launch point.

 

[Redulus]

If anyone is interested in what DroneU has to say about geomagnetic storms, the link below links to their podcast about this topic. According to them this CAN have serious effects on your drone.

BONUS:Halloween Special - How Can the Upcoming Solar Storm Impact Your Drone Operations?

Before you set flight today, check out today's show. Learn how the upcoming solar storm can impact you as a drone pilot.

www.thedroneu.com

 

[Meta4]

I am attaching the flight logs from the Mini 3 pro. The one on the May 10 is the one where i had the issue. The one on the May 11 is where I took off from the same position with no issues. To note people were reporting great pictures of light in the sky from there cell phones within 5 miles of my launch point.

You didn't attach anything, but I'm looking forward to seeing it when you post it.

 

[Meta4]

If anyone is interested in what DroneU has to say about geomagnetic storms, the link below links to their podcast about this topic.

This is just one more example of the kind of empty warnings that contribute to the hysteria surrounding this topic.

According to them this CAN have serious effects on your drone.

There is no shortage of people who will tell you that solar storm activity CAN or MIGHT affect your drone flying.
What is missing is any evidence that it has ever had any actual effect on drone flights.
Given that hundreds of thousands of drones are out there flying and we see this the-sky-is-falling hysteria almost every year, you'd think we'd have actual evidence and would see hundreds of drone flyers who had been affected each time.
But that's the problem.
Despite all the dire warnings, there has not been a single incident that can be attributed to solar activity.
But there have been plenty of flyers mistakenly blame disorientation, minor normal glitches and operator error an solar activity,

 

[anotherlab]

The geomagnetic storm may not have affected drone operations, but it's causing problems for farmers. They use GPS to get cm level accuracy for planting crops. A chain of John Deere dealerships posted online for customers to turn off the GPS equipment this weekend.

Source: Geomagnetic Storm Affecting GPS Signals - May 2024 - Landmark Implement

 

[Mark_Y]

You didn't attach anything, but I'm looking forward to seeing it when you post it.

 

[Mark_Y]

Let's try again. I selected the files to upload after transferring from DJI RC. One file is 350K and the other is 380K, they are both .txt files.

 

[Meta4]

Let's try again. I selected the files to upload after transferring from DJI RC. One file is 350K and the other is 380K, they are both .txt files.

Upload the .txt files to Dropbox, Google Drive or similar and post a link here.

 

[Mark_Y]

Let's try again. I selected the files to upload after transferring from DJI RC. One file is 350K and the other is 380K, they are both .txt files.

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

This is the flight log where the min1 3 pro behaved as in ATTI mode. If I did not state before the drone called for a compass calibration which I performed before launching. Attached to the bottom of the drone I had firehouse strobe mini on steady while during the flight.

 

[Mark_Y]

Upload the .txt files to Dropbox, Google Drive or similar and post a link here.

DJIFlightRecord_2024-05-10_[23-22-37].txt

drive.google.com

 

[Mark_Y]

DJIFlightRecord_2024-05-10_[23-22-37].txt

drive.google.com

DJIFlightRecord_2024-05-11_[08-34-39].txt, DJIFlightRecord_2024-05-10_[23-22-37].txt

I hope this works.

 

[Meta4]

DJIFlightRecord_2024-05-11_[08-34-39].txt, DJIFlightRecord_2024-05-10_[23-22-37].txt

I hope this works.

You had 17-25 sats during the flight with the flight controller rating GPS reliability at 5/5 for the whole flight.
You flew no higher than 32 feet during the flight and stayed within VPS range for height measurement.
The flight lasted 2:13 and you were giving joystick input almost all of the time.

I'm trying to find something in the flight data that might have made you say "the drone behaved as if it was in ATTI mode" and there's not much to work with.

At 44 seconds you attained 4mph (which was the fastest you flew) and released the sticks.
The drone behaved quite normally and came to a stop within half a second.
If the drone was acting like it would in atti mode, it would have continued to drift.

With you continually making small joystick inputs, it's hard to find somewhere with unusual drone movement.
Since the flight was done with low lighting and you were within VPS range the whole time, perhaps there was some minor drifting with the drone trying and failing to "lock on" to the ground texture?

I explained what looked like a request for compass calibration in post #21.
That's not unusual.
Sorry, but I can't find anything else unusual about this flight.

Can you give some details of what made you think the drone behaved as if it was in ATTI mode?
Have you actually flown in atti mode before?

 

[nsmith022]

Anyone get any good images?

 

[msinger]

This is the flight log where the min1 3 pro behaved as in ATTI mode

Which part of the flight are you referring to?

FWIW, you were moving the sticks the entire flight. If you were expecting your drone to hover in place, then that would explain why it didn't.

 

[Mark_Y]

You had 17-25 sats during the flight with the flight controller rating GPS reliability at 5/5 for the whole flight.
You flew no higher than 32 feet during the flight and stayed within VPS range for height measurement.
The flight lasted 2:13 and you were giving joystick input almost all of the time.

I'm trying to find something in the flight data that might have made you say "the drone behaved as if it was in ATTI mode" and there's not much to work with.

At 44 seconds you attained 4mph (which was the fastest you flew) and released the sticks.
The drone behaved quite normally and came to a stop within half a second.
If the drone was acting like it would in atti mode, it would have continued to drift.

With you continually making small joystick inputs, it's hard to find somewhere with unusual drone movement.
Since the flight was done with low lighting and you were within VPS range the whole time, perhaps there was some minor drifting with the drone trying and failing to "lock on" to the ground texture?

I explained what looked like a request for compass calibration in post #21.
That's not unusual.
Sorry, but I can't find anything else unusual about this flight.

Can you give some details of what made you think the drone behaved as if it was in ATTI mode?
Have you actually flown in atti mode before?

The continuous stick movements were to keep the drone out of the trees and from hitting the house. It was a unstable flight with the drone moving in various directions thus the control connections to get the drone back on the ground. There was no more than a small breeze at the time of the flight. Once I got the drone down close to the ground with the attached light on the bottom of the drone it was stable again as long as kept the drone within 5 feet of the ground. When I got it back to the launch point, I hand caught it and shut down and did not try again. I have flown drones before GPS stabilization that drifted all over the sky. I have flown this drone many times day and night at my waterfall with min satellites both day and night over moving water and never experienced drifting like I did on this flight.

 

[msinger]

There was no more than a small breeze at the time of the flight

Your flight log shows a max wind speed of 5.14 MPH. That should have been no problem for the Mini 3 Pro.

It was a unstable flight with the drone moving in various directions thus the control connections to get the drone back on the ground

Just playing your flight log back, it appears it was following your stick movements pretty closely.

 

[Meta4]

The continuous stick movements were to keep the drone out of the trees and from hitting the house. It was a unstable flight with the drone moving in various directions thus the control connections to get the drone back on the ground.

There's nothing in your data that suggests that it was drifting around because you were continually making small joystick inputs that moved the drone around.
The only time when you briefly released the sticks, the drone came to a stop just as it should.
If you run into a situation like this again where you aren't sure, put the drone up out of VPS range and let it hover.
Then it would be a simple matter to tell what's going on.

I have to wonder if the barrage of helpful "warnings" made you expect that the drone would be affected and that possibly affected your perception of the flight.