how to handle a disconnection midflight?

[motopokep]

was doing some close LOS flying, then switched to sport mode and aircraft got disconnected from the DJI app in a bit. Luckily I was within LOS, so I just brought it back to me and landed it, and without turning off the AC and the RC, I restarted the app, but still disconnected, so I rebooted the tablet and launched the app, having never turned off the AC and RC, and it connected just fine.

So my question is, if this happened out of LOS, hitting RTH should do the trick, right? When it says "aircraft disconnected" it really means that the DJI app disconnected from the aircraft (or the RC), and that shouldn't affect the home point setting?

Also, since rebooting the tablet worked when the AC was on the ground idling, that should also work when the AC would be somewhere in the air? I was thinking if I didn't want to RTH it when out of LOS, would it be a bad idea to reboot the tablet to restart the app and connect to the AC? Would it throw off some parameters, like the home point?

(using Nexus 7 2nd gen, cable through big usb port underneath)

Oh, and lastly, does this problem go away with Litchi? Seems to be a common problem with DJI app

 

[JRodko]

I had this happen to me the other day, my Galaxy S2 Tab crashed the app and I couldn't see. A quick glance of the status on the actual controller unit will tell you the state of things, and you should be able to decide what to do from there. If everything looks OK on the controller display, you can either let go of the sticks and put the aircraft in a hover while you reset the tablet/app, or you can hit the RTH button like you said.

It seems the controller will over-ride the tablet when flying in RC mode. If the tablet crashes the controller will maintain connection. You should double check your Mavic's settings so that it does what you want if it loses connection with the actual controller. Most people set it to RTH however you can also select hover or land immediately.

 

[motopokep]

if it loses connection with the actual controller. Most people set it to RTH however you can also select hover or land immediately.

From a newbie perspective, I think land immediately is the worst option, as you could be flying over a tree, water, building, any other area not suitable for landing. Hover in place is also not the best option if you're out of line of sight, as you've just lost your drone somewhere, that will hover in place and land who knows where. But again, I'm a newb and don't know some things others know. Why would anyone not set RTH (at a good 30-40 meter height) if loses control with the RC? Isn't that one of the main reasons we buy these expensive birds over a $100 camera LOS drone?

The only reason I can guess someone would want it to hover is if it's possible to re-establish connection from RC to drone by restarting the RC, but would that establish a connection if the drone is like a mile away? And if it does, could it mess up the home point setting by setting it to the location where the drone lost connection with the rc?

 

[Marko9219]

Train yourself, then you'll know how to react and more importantly, you won't have a heart attack!
A “Just get it back home!” training flight today

 

[Drakenn]

A couple things I’ve found
1) The side port and DJI supplied cord are crap. I run off a shielded cord coming out of the USB port on the back/bottom. It’s reduced my disconnects by 90%
2) I usually only have to unplug the device and then plug it back in. On the rare occasion I have to restart the app, but I’ve never had to reboot my device to get it to work

 

[4wd]

Don't panic, as above often you do still have control but it's the app.
Choices are:
Pull the cable and re-insert
Stop the app and restart.
Restart device - seems to take a long time but will almost surely work

You still have RTH.
It will come back if you turn the controller off at last resort.

Chances of it happening are minimised by using a quality cable in the bottom port, and restarting the device just before connecting.

 

[JRodko]

From a newbie perspective, I think land immediately is the worst option, as you could be flying over a tree, water, building, any other area not suitable for landing. Hover in place is also not the best option if you're out of line of sight, as you've just lost your drone somewhere, that will hover in place and land who knows where. But again, I'm a newb and don't know some things others know. Why would anyone not set RTH (at a good 30-40 meter height) if loses control with the RC? Isn't that one of the main reasons we buy these expensive birds over a $100 camera LOS drone?

The only reason I can guess someone would want it to hover is if it's possible to re-establish connection from RC to drone by restarting the RC, but would that establish a connection if the drone is like a mile away? And if it does, could it mess up the home point setting by setting it to the location where the drone lost connection with the rc?

You're correct that RTH is by far the most common. I would say people would only select hover if they were sure they could re-establish connection. I would guess that land immediately gets used the least often. Perhaps it is used by people who are permits to fly close to commercial airspace, and don't want the drone doing anything unpredictable other than going straight to the ground.

 

[Vadar007]

You also have to consider how much battery you have left when you the app loses connection. If you have a fair amount left, you can go through the series of steps others have mentioned, disconnect USB reconnect, restart app, etc. However, if you are close to the Return to Home point, I would RTH while you do the other steps. Once you re-establish app connectivity you can assess what you want to do next but hovering while the battery is getting low may lead to an unintended landing. Your RC is the primary communication device for the AC. As long as it is showing connectivity and providing data you could navigate back using it alone. There are multiple threads on how to do it. Would suggest trying it a couple times under controlled conditions so if you need to fallback to that, you know how. My suggestion, if in doubt and as long as RC is showing a good connection, RTH while you try to troubleshoot. Just make sure your RTH altitude will provide the clearance you need for the flight back.

 

[motopokep]

A couple things I’ve found
1) The side port and DJI supplied cord are crap. I run off a shielded cord coming out of the USB port on the back/bottom. It’s reduced my disconnects by 90%
2) I usually only have to unplug the device and then plug it back in. On the rare occasion I have to restart the app, but I’ve never had to reboot my device to get it to work

I only use the bottom USB port. I'm using the USB cable that came with my tablet, but I'm looking to buy a 6 inch one with an angle connection. What's the advantage of having a shielded cord? Just to prevent bending and internal breakage? I'm not worried about that part, mine never bend.

 

[motopokep]

As long as it is showing connectivity and providing data you could navigate back using it alone. There are multiple threads on how to do it.

Assuming it is within line of sight, which is what I did yesterday, or assuming it's out of LOS, and you only flew it in one direction in a straight line, and the wind is minimal that it has not drifted to the side. I'm talking when the mavic is out of los, I don't imagine how you would navigate it back manually without having a FPV, so RTH would be much first choice, while I reboot and try to reestablish FPV. My RTH is set to 30 meters (98 feet), that's taller than anything in the area where I'm learning how to fly. I'll try searching for those threads you mentioned, there's probably something I don't know about manually navigating back to LOS.

 

[motopokep]

Train yourself, then you'll know how to react and more importantly, you won't have a heart attack!
A “Just get it back home!” training flight today

Thanks Mark, this was useful.

 

[kiwi flyer]

Chances of it happening are minimised by using a quality cable in the bottom port, and restarting the device just before connecting.

So you're saying, restarting the device before starting to fly is a good practice to do?

 

[BossBob]

You can fly your Mavic without an app running on another device. It will be more difficult without the fpv given by the camera and app but you’ll still get height, distance, speed, battery level and rpm. That is way more information than we used to get even a few years ago. However, I suggest you buy a quality usb cable that fits between the bottom port of the RC and your chosen device as the DJI supplied cables have been involved in way too many app disconnects.

 

[WilliamG]

So you're saying, restarting the device before starting to fly is a good practice to do?

Sounds like paranoia to me. I do feel like there's a tendency in the DJI Go software to favor the iOS devices, based solely on reading these forums. iOS users tend to have far fewer issues that I can tell.

Either way, I'm glad I have both DJI Go and Litchi on my iPhone X, so there's a redundancy app.

 

[Cut.Aussie]

I really don’t understand all this app disconnecting stuff. I’ve had my Mavic exactly a year now and never had a disconnect. I use 3 different control devices, mostly iPad mini followed by iPad Pro then iPhone8 and was using a 6.

The only change is I use either a 6” cable from bottom use or a 2 meter long one for the iPad Pro.

 

[WilliamG]

I really don’t understand all this app disconnecting stuff. I’ve had my Mavic exactly a year now and never had a disconnect. I use 3 different control devices, mostly iPad mini followed by iPad Pro then iPhone8 and was using a 6.

The only change is I use either a 6” cable from bottom use or a 2 meter long one for the iPad Pro.

I mentioned above, that most of the issues seem to stem from the bazillion different Android devices out there, and they tend to have the most issues from what I read.

 

[Vadar007]

Any recommendation on a good USB cable, preferably short.

 

[WilliamG]

Any recommendation on a good USB cable, preferably short.

The one it comes with?

I bought this one on Amazon for use with my iPad Pro + Mav Mount:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074PMMSQR/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[FuzLogix]

I had this happen to me the other day, my Galaxy S2 Tab crashed the app and I couldn't see. A quick glance of the status on the actual controller unit will tell you the state of things, and you should be able to decide what to do from there. If everything looks OK on the controller display, you can either let go of the sticks and put the aircraft in a hover while you reset the tablet/app, or you can hit the RTH button like you said.

It seems the controller will over-ride the tablet when flying in RC mode. If the tablet crashes the controller will maintain connection. You should double check your Mavic's settings so that it does what you want if it loses connection with the actual controller. Most people set it to RTH however you can also select hover or land immediately.

Some really good advice here^^

Also when this happens it important to stay calm, app crashing on Android is quite common.

 

[Turn11]

Most people set it to RTH however you can also select hover or land immediately.

I am a newbie and I know how to change the settings, presently I have the setting to RTH. What are some of the circumstances that would cause you to use one of the other options