Locating drone not working

[360 Guy]

On the screen of "find my drone" the blue arrow indicates the controller.
When testing, I find that the blue arrow doesn't rotate when I turn the controller around, nor when I move.
The "find my drone" feature apparently is not working.
What is the fix to get "find my drone" program up and running?

Would I have to remove the DJI Fly As You Are app and reboot the whole program again.
I haven't done that as yet waiting for help here from the masters.

All else is working fine with the Mini, just need some guidance with this situation.

TIA,
360

 

[MA2 317]

The "find my drone" feature apparently is not working.
What is the fix to get "find my drone" program up and running?

Does your device have GPS?

I used to fly with a WiFi only Apple mini 4 iPad without a GPS chip and the find my drone never worked.

Just a thought.

.

 

[360 Guy]

Yes, of course ......18 sats.
I tried both the Ipad and Iphone......same results.....nada.

 

[LoudThunder]

Your drone had the 18 satellites, and the Fly App was reporting what your drone was receiving... does your device also receive GPS data? If you have UAV Forecast on your device, check to see if it indicates any satellites without the Fly App running or the drone on…

In order for the App to properly indicate your orientation, you must be pointing your antenna towards the drone. Some folk hold the controller in such a way that the antenna is pointing straight up… And the orientation is not high on the telemetry list, so you can turn around and it may take a minute for it to indicate a change…

The Mini 2 cannot receive all GPS signals and you may need to configure the UAVForecast to match your GPS reception. And does your device receive all the Signals. UAVForcast can receive the American GPS, the Russian Glonass, the Europe's Galileo, and the China's Beidou signals… but the Mini 2 cannot receive Beidou, don't that beat all considering it ws built in China? So diaable that in UAVForecast.

Below is the link to all of the downloads offered by DJI for the Mini 2, including the User Manual.

DJI Mini 2 - Download Center - DJI

Learn and download DJI Mini 2 related apps, software, and manuals at the DJI Download Center

www.dji.com

I say, go test it again. Out in the open away at least 20-meters away and even if it's working, you probably cannot see the flashing light on the drone, nor hear the buzz of the squeaker "speaker…"

By the way, have you tested the RTH under all conditions, pressing the button, turning off the controller (this one is scarey…) and running the battery down? DO it in an open field, set the height, and what you want it to do, RTH, Hover, or Land…

Also, turn off your device and fly your drone only by b visual sight using the controller, a lot of pilots cannot do this…

Good Luck

 

[Meta4]

The Mini 2 cannot receive all GPS signals and you may need to configure the UAVForecast to match your GPS reception. And does your device receive all the Signals. UAVForcast can receive the American GPS, the Russian Glonass, the Europe's Galileo, and the China's Beidou signals… but the Mini 2 cannot receive Beidou, don't that beat all considering it ws built in China? So disable that in UAVForecast.

None of that matters.
You can completely ignore the GPS satellites section of UAV forecast as it's irrelevant nowdays.
No matter where or when you fly, your drone will always have many more sats than it needs to give good location data.

 

[LoudThunder]

None of that matters.

I know that and that is the very first thing I wrote was, "Your drone had the 18 satellites, and the Fly App was reporting what your drone was receiving..."

What I was trying to find out was to determine if the device (smartphone, tablet, etc…) was GPS capable. For Find My Drone to work fully, the controller/App needs to know where it is GPS-wise. So the comment to check UAVForecast as a standalone App was to determine if the device could receive GPS signal.

The OP's posting (#3) was ever so confusing, did they receive GPS on the Iphone and Ipad or Not… (they wrote "Nada"…)

If the Device cannot process the GPS signal, then the Find My Drone feature would only show the Home Point as that information was sent from the drone when it took off and reported that to the App and if the Drone is still operational, it will report its position, if the Drone is not operational, the App would show the last recorded position of the Drone, where ever that might have been, even if it was still airborne and flying and in this case, the drone is nowhere near its last position…

However, if the Device cannot receive GPS signals, then as you (with the controller in hand) move about looking for the drone, it will not report you new position as you leave the Home Point. You will not know your relative position to the home point or the drone…

This might also explain the OP posting that "I find that the blue arrow doesn't rotate when I turn the controller around, nor when I move."

I have never experimented with even attempting to turn off my devices GPS so I do not know if it's even possible…

Hey, I'm brain storming here… The OP only stated that they were testing the Find My Drone but never gave any specifics. Was the drone at their feet, did they fly it a distance, the condition of the battery, etc… Which is why I forwarded the OP the link to the User manual.

As a "Well Known Member" with "a gazzion" pastings, I know you have seen lots of postings when someone wrote in and said Return to Home will not, when the drone was still parked on the landing pad, or they flew it to the end of the driveway and it was only 20-feet of so away and after we told them to set the RTH altitude, do not take off from inside the garage or under a tree, and fly at least 20-meters away it all "magically worked,,,"