Going Home

[SteveMouzon]

I flew my M3 for the first time yesterday, and love the intuitiveness. One thing concerned me, however: When I first connected the M3 & controller, I was at home, then walked over to a large field to try to launch, only to find I was in an authorization zone. So I drove a couple miles to get out of the zone. When it came time to land, it occurred to me that the M3 couldn't go back home because of the zone, so I landed it manually. But what, for the purposes of the M3, is "home?" Surely it's not my home in my contact file, right? Traveling to fly would mean it would never make it home if flying more than just a few miles away. Before I hit the "go home" button, I want to be absolutely certain I know what it's going to do.

 

[Paint Rock Drones]

Home is the "home point" that is set shortly after takeoff (once it locks enough GPS satellites). Ideally when you first launch you should hover a couple of meters above wherever the you want it to return when you use RTH, until the app tells you that the home point is set.

 

[Starz]

May be some information here. Some helpful, some not.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_Mavic_3/DJI_Mavic_3_User_Manual_v1.2_en.pdf

 

[Etdronehome]

Home is the "home point" that is set shortly after takeoff (once it locks enough GPS satellites). Ideally when you first launch you should hover a couple of meters above wherever the you want it to return when you use RTH, until the app tells you that the home point is set.

So — interesting perspective, completely logical from a new drone pilots view

DJI “home point” is the location that the equipment or pilot determines as the coordinates that the drone will automatically return to.

Commonly the point where the drone is “launched” from after power on. This location can be updated via the app once the drone is in flight.

 

[Etdronehome]

@Paint Rock Drones

I’m not sure quite what I did but my post was supposed to be directed to the OP. Sorry

Your hover over the launch point is good advice. There is a “precision landing” feature on the M3 that’s enabled by ascending 7m directly above the launch point.

I try to land under my control as it’s great practice for getting minor movements down. However it’s fun to see the drone autonomously “nail” a landing!

 

[Meta4]

But what, for the purposes of the M3, is "home?" Surely it's not my home in my contact file, right? Traveling to fly would mean it would never make it home if flying more than just a few miles away. Before I hit the "go home" button, I want to be absolutely certain I know what it's going to do.

It's the drone's home point - not your home.
Your drone records a new home point when it first gets good GPS location data, after powering up.
You should always wait for the home point to be established before you launch the drone.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Yes wait for ‘home point recorded’ then always ‘please check it on the map’.
Sure if it does this straight after launch above the HP, that’s ok, but get used to waiting while on the ground at launch point, then you can be sure the drone / map icon orientation is correct too.

Edit - PS. the recording of the home point should not take long.
In fact, I don't recall ever having this not happen while on the launch spot just doing final setting up, ie less than 30 seconds.
Of course it may vary ion some locations due to satellite position, but in general the World is covered pretty well for GPS sats.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

But what, for the purposes of the M3, is "home?"

Not meaning to be offensive but your asking such a question makes me think you need to spend some time reading the manual. Misunderstanding or not knowing about RTH behaviour can be fatal for your drone and the M3 introduces a new RTH behaviour that, even just reading about, puts the wind up my sails.

 

[JohnC]

When using the RTH feature and if you are flying close to AZs be cautious. RTH will, in most cases, return directly too you, if you have flown in an arc so effectively the AZ is now between you and the drone, it won’t be able to fly straight back. In which case it may just land!

The RTH is a very useful aid, but, it operates differently depending on the circumstances of it being activated. They are all explained in the manual, make sure you download the latest version, they change with updates.

It’s a personal thing, I tend to hand fly and I always land manually. If I do use RTH I will always pause it and take over for the landing. Spot landings take practice so it’s a good skill to master.

 

[Starz]

For those(me)not as proficient….. what is AZ an abbreviation for?
I’ve not seen that one before.
(not counting the one for Arizona)

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Authorisation Zone ?

 

[JohnC]

For those(me)not as proficient….. what is AZ an abbreviation for?
I’ve not seen that one before.
(not counting the one for Arizona)

Authorisation Zone, apologies.

 

[Starz]

Got it.
Thanks. Understandable now.

 

[SteveMouzon]

Not meaning to be offensive but your asking such a question makes me think you need to spend some time reading the manual. Misunderstanding or not knowing about RTH behaviour can be fatal for your drone and the M3 introduces a new RTH behaviour that, even just reading about, puts the wind up my sails.

No offense taken. But Mavic made such a big deal about the M3 being intuitive that I decided to take them at their word, as I typically do with new hardware or software that makes such claims. And to date, I've been delighted... when I've said to myself "it ought to do this..." and tried something, that's what it does. With that said, I obviously am quite cautious, otherwise I would have just hit the Home button to see what happens. Instead, I landed manually.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

No offense taken. But Mavic ma......

for clarity, have you read the manuall, if not do you intend to read the manual?

 

[SteveMouzon]

for clarity, have you read the manuall, if not do you intend to read the manual?

I have not yet read the manual. As a matter of fact, I have never read the full manual of any hardware or software I've ever owned because it is my express intent to use stuff that is intuitive. When the inevitable question comes up that doesn't have an intuitive answer, I look up what I need. This means there will forever be many features I'll never know anything about, but so long as I can do what I need to do with the tool, I'm happy and consider it a good investment.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Ah, good luck.
A hypothetical situation and question. The drone, for unknown reasons, is not responding sensibly to stick commands (as has happened with other drones) and is flying at head height towards a group of unaware by-standers.
How would you stop it, or attempt to stop it, from hitting them?

 

[Meta4]

When the inevitable question comes up that doesn't have an intuitive answer, I look up what I need. This means there will forever be many features I'll never know anything about

While that might work with a rechargeable drill at home, that sounds like a strategy guaranteed to end badly with an expensive and sophisticated flying machine.
That you imagined that RTH might magically take the drone to your house, indicates that your intuition shouldn't be relied on to guide you.
When you are flying and encounter an issue beyond your rudimentary understanding, looking it up to find a solution isn't going to be very helpful.

Ah, good luck.
A hypothetical situation and question. The drone, for unknown reasons, is not responding sensibly to stick commands (as has happened with other drones) and is flying at head height towards a group of unaware by-standers.
How would you stop it, or attempt to stop it, from hitting them?

In that contrived scenario, if the drone isn't responding to joystick input, why would you imagine that it would respond to CSC?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

All right Meta4, knowing the way you are I specifically wrote "responding sensibly to stick commands" NOT " isn't responding to joystick input" but let's rephrase it to.
Given a set of circumstances where there is a need to shut down the motors with the drone in mid air, it does not matter what those circumstances are, would SteveMouzon know how to do that? Or would he fall in to the quite common trap of thinking the CSC will stop the motors, at solely his command, with the response set to the default.
Beside which you seem to agree with the point I was trying to make which is, reading the manual after a catastrophic event is a bit late, akin to "bolting the gate after the horse has bolted".

 

[Meta4]

All right Meta4, knowing the way you are I, thinking of you, specifically wrote "responding sensibly to stick commands" NOT " isn't responding to joystick input" but let's rephrase it to.
Given a set of circumstances where there is a need to shut down the motors with the drone in mid air would SteveMouzon know how to do that?

I doubt he'd ever be in a situation where he would need to shut down the motors in the air.
But there are many scenarios where he could find himself not knowing what to do to bring his drone home safely.