Height stability over water

carlb60 · Oct 8, 2018

Mine has the two big screens on the bottom as well as two other smaller sensors - probably IFR. Something causes it to crash when hovering low with satellite and normal flight mode over water or smooth surface. I think it is those sensors. I will post more after I try some other things. It's starting to get kinda beat up. I just wanna fly not figure out how to build a drone.

GeraldV · Oct 8, 2018

After playing with the drone for several days I now notice the height isnt stable over any surface. Uploaded a video of the drone in flight here, note was not pressing anything on the controls and the wind was very light where I was flying:

kilomikebravo · Oct 8, 2018

SteveCA said:
Also, I’ve learned not to trust the height info with my Mavic Pro as it was often wrong by as much as 60 feet. I haven’t tested the accuracy of the height info on the mp 2 yet.

Steve: I flew airplanes for a living, now retired, but I can tell you that it takes a very sophisticated pneumatic + processing system to get barometric altitude +/- 50'. And this equipment is not small by any means so imagine how accurate the electronic barometer in a drone might be. (BTW, if this is something you already know, my apologies.)

I live near the coast and while I do like to get down (sorta) into the surf, I give it plenty of room and respect.

Stay Dry, Dude!

KB

SoCalDude · Oct 8, 2018

GeraldV said:
After playing with the drone for several days I now notice the height isnt stable over any surface. Uploaded a video of the drone in flight here, note was not pressing anything on the controls and the wind was very light where I was flying:

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The wind in the video has a velocity of about 22 km/h (14 MPH, 12 knots). Never mind the flags, look at the windsock.

For reference...

Goof · Oct 8, 2018

It definitely shouldn't be rising like that. Not sure wind is the problem either, I had mine flying around in constant 45+ KM/H winds the other day and it was rock solid. Even gusts of 55-60 weren't enough to move it....

kilomikebravo · Oct 8, 2018

For the record, the manual does say the visual positioning system may not work over water or snow.

noosaguy · Oct 8, 2018

I have a number of Hyperlapses that provide absolute proof the M2P isn't stable over water. I can't even stabilise the movement with Mercalli stabilising software? I find that is the first real bummer with the M2P. Shooting low over water is a Hero shot in my opinion.

OndaEyes · Oct 9, 2018

GeraldV said:
After playing with the drone for several days I now notice the height isnt stable over any surface. Uploaded a video of the drone in flight here, note was not pressing anything on the controls and the wind was very light where I was flying:

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Are those flashing lights yellow? If so, that means No GPS or Vision Positioning. Could also be red, though (Low Battery).

GeraldV · Oct 9, 2018

SoCalDude said:
The wind in the video has a velocity of about 22 km/h (14 MPH, 12 knots). Never mind the flags, look at the windsock.

For reference...

Ignore the wond sock. Its a superbock advert and has a metal wire running through it. :=). You can see by the end of it dropping.

GeraldV · Oct 9, 2018

kilomikebravo said:
For the record, the manual does say the visual positioning system may not work over water or snow.

Am having the same results over any ground. The video is taken over sand..

GeraldV · Oct 9, 2018

OndaEyes said:
Are those flashing lights yellow? If so, that means No GPS or Vision Positioning. Could also be red, though (Low Battery).

Was low battery - decided to t q ke the video at the end of the flight. Battery was around 15%.

digiteye · Oct 9, 2018

Mike_Flys said:
Living in Lake County FL, I have tons of time flying my Mavics (Pro, Air, 2 Pro) over water. For launching from my Kayak or low flying I use my float kit which has saved my Mavics 3 times in the past couple of years including my Mavic 2 Pro a couple weeks ago.

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Have you made the kit yourself?

SoCalDude · Oct 9, 2018

Mike_Flys said:
Living in Lake County FL, I have tons of time flying my Mavics (Pro, Air, 2 Pro) over water. For launching from my Kayak or low flying I use my float kit which has saved my Mavics 3 times in the past couple of years including my Mavic 2 Pro a couple weeks ago.

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Are those four inflated condoms on your Mavic?

LOL!

Practice safe droning!

noosaguy · Oct 9, 2018

This is the biggest problem for me because one of the reasons I bought the M2P was that my friend, who has the original MP, told me his was rock solid most of the time. I bought mine for photography primarily and my thoughts were that after learning to fly the thing correctly, i was going to try and get some (close to the ground) long exposure images on the coast of rocks with the sea breaking over them. Some in places quite difficult to access (especially for an old bloke

. I was hoping to use exposures as long as up to 5 seconds but with the instability that seems a remote possibility. It has also impacted on my desire to shoot some nice (low level) Hyperlapse sequences.

Does anyone know if this is this a hardware problem of the m2P or is it something that could be rectified by a future firmware update?

This image below is a much longer exposure but gives you an idea of what I mean.

Mike_Flys · Oct 9, 2018

digiteye said:
Have you made the kit yourself?

Yes I designed and made the kit myself.

Mike_Flys · Oct 9, 2018

SoCalDude said:
Are those four inflated condoms on your Mavic? LOL!

Practice safe droning!

Nope.

3d Printed floats

kilomikebravo · Oct 9, 2018

Mike_Flys said:
3d Printed floats

That’s some pretty impressive 3-D printing my friend. Is the material soft enough to just slide up on the legs and then grip them? I’m also wondering if you notice any wobble from the wind and the floats flipping around while filming? TIA

KB

Mike_Flys · Oct 9, 2018

kilomikebravo said:
That’s some pretty impressive 3-D printing my friend. Is the material soft enough to just slide up on the legs and then grip them? I’m also wondering if you notice any wobble from the wind and the floats flipping around while filming? TIA

KB

Thanks,
The floats are printed with Thermoplastic polyurethane which is like a rubber. They are hollow and you can squish them almost flat. I designed and print the floats with threads in them and they screw onto the brackets that I print from a hard plastic.

I put a ton of work into all of this for my Mavic Pro 18 months ago. I have a lot of work put into my new brackets that fit my Mavic 2.
Luckily the 2 doesn't weigh much more than the Pro so I have been using floats I printed for the Mavic. If you want more info on how it all fits together you can view my assembly instructions here:
http://mikeflys.com/Mavic 2 Float Kit Instructions.pdf