Loss of RC connection and compass errors

[mkmatthew]

HI all. Let me start by saying I'm VERY new to drones. I bought my Mini in March as a very high dollar splurge for myself. I mostly play around the house to learn and teach myself some skill. That plan hasn't really worked out yet. I still don't trust it or myself yet. The answer to my question may be answered by my biggest mistake.
The question- why do I lose RC connection just about EVERY time I fly? It's VERY unnerving considering my lack of experience. I do have AirdataUAV, but don't know how to get it to you guys. I also have to re calibrate the compass just about every fresh startup. I missed some important action once when It would not even accept the multiple re cal's I did that day. I was asked to capture some racing, and missed the first few people qualifying. That sucked, but it sucks more to lose connection.
So my probable(?) answer- My drone went swimming. Back in April.
I hit a branch over a pond and it dropped into the 55 degree water. Thankfully it was clear water and I found it about 4 ft under. I dried it out and it actually worked. ( I guess?) I'm guessing everything wrong could be attributed to water damage, but was wondering if anyone had other opinions. I have the Insurance, but it works- sort of. Not sure they will replace it yet.
Open for ideas
Thanks for listening

 

[lannes]

Where are you flying there seems to be a lot of magnetic interference if you need to calibrate each time ?
Try and find a spot free from possible magnetic interference to calibrate the compass e.g not inside the house

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For the disconnection have you got the antennas correctly orientated ?


To help the signal, you could try some cheap yagi antennas

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[ff22]

Water is never a good mix with any electronics. So if things remain problematic, you might want to use that insurance.

But find a wide open field, soccer, baseball/football and no nearby metal and give it a try. You might need to calibrate the compass due to the move.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

Flying inside anywhere can be problematic. Loss of GPS, Electromagnetic Interference (EMF) from house wiring, TVs WIFI devices etc can create havoc.

When you say "Loses RC Connection" do ALL the lights on the controller start blinking during flight, or is it just loss of control of the drone. One can look like the other.

Inside a house, the Mini utilizes video positioning data it senses from the floor to counter lack of GPS. If you have a solid, or near solid colour floor covering,or dark areas this can and does confuse the sensors, and creates loss of control (but the connection remains with no controller lights flashing except for power level indication) and cause flyaways into your wall, or on one occasion, a gash in my all too enticing forehead! This can be overcome by laying a path with some old DVD cases or other different coloured items onto the floor where you are flying. This last advice was given to me by the guys at the local DJI store who overcome the problem by using plain old electrical tape to create odd shapes on the store floor. They say this problem affects everything from the Tello all the way up to the Inspire and beyond. I used some DVD cases recently on a small commercial shoot inside a GYM and it worked beautifully.

The same goes for outdoors (ie sports fields grass, all one colour) in poor light mixed with low GPS sats pickup. Lay a path, or put down some coloured items, rugs, bags etc.

Finally, and this sounds weird but appeared to fix an issue I reported in these forums a few days ago, try switching your recording resolution to 1080p and see if the issues goes away. If it works switch back to 2.7k. I did this with mine after trying everything else and it worked. Sometimes drones just defy even the laws of physics!.

Stick with it. Drones are like small children, a wonderful frustration.