Home Location off by a few feet

[Miataguy]

My first 10 or so flights, the home location was perfect. It would land within an inch or two of the takeoff spot. But my last couple of flights, it tried to land about 5 or 6 feet away. (I frequently take off from the same general area.) Now, this may not be a big deal if its just an error of a few feet. But it *could* be a big deal if the MA2 hasn't updated the home location on takeoff.

Is there any way to know for certain when the home location is updated? I know there's an alert, but if I don't notice it, is there a way to check?

 

[dawgpilot]

Your home location is marked on the map that you can enlarge by tapping on the bottom left corner. If the location is incorrect you can update it during flight by accessing the option inside settings.

 

[new2mavic]

Just make sure that you hear the lady in the app says "the home point has been updated, please check it on the map" before blasting off.

 

[Miataguy]

That's the problem - I never hear it. Volume is always too low and I never remember to crank it up before flight.

 

[new2mavic]

That's the problem - I never hear it. Volume is always too low and I never remember to crank it up before flight.

Switching the phone to airplane mode, turning the brightness and volume to max are the routine actions I take after hooking the phone to the controller. If you can forget doing so, you may well forget checking the home point on the map. May be sticking a reminder note on the controller will help ?

 

[Electromen]

Return to Home uses GPS, Compass and Visual Sensors. Do not take off from metal, concrete or pavement, since they interfere with the Compass. It works best to take off/land on grass or dirt. It also helps if the area has details vs smooth like dirt or water. The Visual Sensors store recorded details. That's why I use a landing pad. It keeps debris and dust from entering the gimbal and vents and gives the visual sensors details. I bought THIS ONE and I'm happy with it.

 

[Meta4]

My first 10 or so flights, the home location was perfect. It would land within an inch or two of the takeoff spot. But my last couple of flights, it tried to land about 5 or 6 feet away.

Consumer GPS is not pinpoint accurate and can often be +/- 6 feet (or even more), so that is completely normal.

GPS.gov: GPS Accuracy

Information about GPS accuracy

www.gps.gov

Your drone can use GPS alone to give approximate RTH landing accuracy.
Or it has a Precision Landing feature that uses optical technology to give RTH landing accuracy within inches.
Look for Precision Landing in your manual to learn how that works.

Is there any way to know for certain when the home location is updated? I know there's an alert, but if I don't notice it, is there a way to check?

Next time you power up the drone, watch the distance shown at the bottom of the screen.
Before the drone acquires GPS, there is no distance.
When the drone gets good location data from GPS, it records its home point.
The distance shown on screen is distance from the home point.
No home = no distance.

 

[Lurch003]

That's the problem - I never hear it. Volume is always too low and I never remember to crank it up before flight.

In the nicest possible way, poor excuse. It's your craft, you're the pilot, your responsibility- make that part of your take off checklist!

 

[Miataguy]

In the nicest possible way, poor excuse. It's your craft, you're the pilot, your responsibility- make that part of your take off checklist!

Thank you for your words of wisdom, but I know my responsibilities and that wasn't the question that I asked. I just wanted to know if there was a way to check to see if the home location updated in the event that I didn't catch the one-time alert. Someone else answered it.

 

[Redvers]

Switching the phone to airplane mode, turning the brightness and volume to max are the routine actions I take after hooking the phone to the controller. If you can forget doing so, you may well forget checking the home point on the map. May be sticking a reminder note on the controller will help ?

Am intrigued about switching airplane mode on and having checked what this does find, amongst other things, it turns the phone's GPS off. Do i take it this has nothing to do with the GPS system the drone uses and is therefore safe to do?

 

[B-kane]

Am intrigued about switching airplane mode on and having checked what this does find, amongst other things, it turns the phone's GPS off. Do i take it this has nothing to do with the GPS system the drone uses and is therefore safe to do?

My first 10 or so flights, the home location was perfect. It would land within an inch or two of the takeoff spot. But my last couple of flights, it tried to land about 5 or 6 feet away. (I frequently take off from the same general area.) Now, this may not be a big deal if its just an error of a few feet. But it *could* be a big deal if the MA2 hasn't updated the home location on takeoff.

Is there any way to know for certain when the home location is updated? I know there's an alert, but if I don't notice it, is there a way to check?

I'm no expert but I have found that if there is any wind the home position acquired can be some distance away from the actual take off position. I use a takeoff pad so the drone records the home position relative to it but not necessarily directly above it.

 

[zeusfl]

When you take off go straight up to around 11-14 FT hight and hover for about 8 seconds. The aircraft will take a picture from the take-off position and when is going to land will compare the picture with the actual landing spot. This is call precision landing. If you do not allow the aircraft to do this will won't land with the precision landing. The picture will not be visible or save in your SD card or internal. Is only a temporary picture that the aircraft will use as a reference.

 

[eaglesurfing]

Using your return home should be you last resort for some reasons but it should also be used to check to see if you need check your compass and IMU settings to if you need to do a reset.
It should also be used to check to see if you device settings is correct.
Using a check list should also include doing a test "return home" to see if any of your settings or surrounding area will have an effect on your drone.
You can also update you "Home point" anytime you want to.
Since this is a DJI fail safe in case something goes wrong but they also give you a choice to turn it off.

 

[zeusfl]

Using your return home should be you last resort for some reasons but it should also be used to check to see if you need check your compass and IMU settings to if you need to do a reset.
It should also be used to check to see if you device settings is correct.
Using a check list should also include doing a test "return home" to see if any of your settings or surrounding area will have an effect on your drone.
You can also update you "Home point" anytime you want to.
Since this is a DJI fail safe in case something goes wrong but they also give you a choice to turn it off.

I hate to disagree but I use the RTH all the time for laziness and as long as you follow the rules you will not have any issue.

For me Rules are:

1- Set your return to home altitude correctly making sure you clear any object like antennas, buildings, and trees. (no matters what, check this every time before take-off)
2- Take off from a distinctive ground position like a landing pad that the aircraft can distinct from precision landing. (Low light situation can make this fail)
3- Before take off, wait to have at least 9-11 satellites
4- Make sure you are not in ATTI mode
5- Wait until you hear the home point has been updated. If you are not sure just manually update the home point.
6- Hover for about 8 seconds at 11-15 FT altitude
7- Always fly in Normal mode to maintain the front and back sensors active. Sport mode disables all sensors.

Unless the aircraft lost the satellites in the air this will never fail even if you turn off your controller, lost display.

 

[Piper J3]

I have similar observation as OP. First half-dozen flights had MA2 RTH on landing mat very precisely. Been hit/miss ever since. I've tried all the above recommendations and sometimes works but most of the time it lands several feet from the landing mat.

 

[Miataguy]

When you take off go straight up to around 11-14 FT hight and hover for about 8 seconds. The aircraft will take a picture from the take-off position and when is going to land will compare the picture with the actual landing spot. This is call precision landing. If you do not allow the aircraft to do this will won't land with the precision landing. The picture will not be visible or save in your SD card or internal. Is only a temporary picture that the aircraft will use as a reference.

Thanks for the tip on hovering at 11-14 feet. I’ve been hovering at the initial takeoff altitude of around 4 feet under the assumption that it would take a photo of my landing pad. Didn’t realize it needs to be a bit higher.

By the way, my last 2 flights returned perfectly to my pad even when hovering at 4 feet first.

 

[Blackhawk1964]

My first 10 or so flights, the home location was perfect. It would land within an inch or two of the takeoff spot. But my last couple of flights, it tried to land about 5 or 6 feet away. (I frequently take off from the same general area.) Now, this may not be a big deal if its just an error of a few feet. But it *could* be a big deal if the MA2 hasn't updated the home location on takeoff.

Is there any way to know for certain when the home location is updated? I know there's an alert, but if I don't notice it, is there a way to check?

Try recalibrating all settings. Works for me everytime, especially if flying in various locations

 

[Meta4]

Am intrigued about switching airplane mode on and having checked what this does find, amongst other things, it turns the phone's GPS off. Do i take it this has nothing to do with the GPS system the drone uses and is therefore safe to do?

Airplane mode switches off all transmissions from the phone.
As GPS is passive and transmits nothing, it does not get switched off in Airplane mode.
Your drone has it's own GPS receiver and that's what it uses for all flight functions.
Knowing the GPS location of your phone won't be of any use when it's the location of the drone that's important.

 

[Meta4]

Try recalibrating all settings. Works for me everytime, especially if flying in various locations

There is nothing you can calibrate that wil make any difference to landing precision.

 

[Meta4]

I'm no expert but I have found that if there is any wind the home position acquired can be some distance away from the actual take off position. I use a takeoff pad so the drone records the home position relative to it but not necessarily directly above it.

The recording of a home point is not affected at all by wind.
The home point is recorded where the drone is when it gets good location data.
Unless you are impatient and launch early, that is exactly the spot where you launch from.