Lost connection

[JasonHB]

Hi all,

Complete noob here, had my very first drone arrive on Saturday (Mavic Air) and flew it for the first time on Sunday.

Did 5 small flights in a field in the middle of nowhere and on one flight, had an error message saying that it had lost connection to the remote. It was about 25 metres away at the time, RTH kicked in and it landed. Turned off the RC and back on again and it reconnected and was ok after that.

I am very nervous about flying the next time and was wondering if anyone had any advice. I have looked on Airdata and there is no mention of any issues, but perhaps I am not looking in the right place.

Should I be concerned and can anyone offer any advice or help.

I am using an iPhone X if that helps and the only other relevant thing I can think of is that a few seconds before it occurred, I received a text message. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, although I don’t know why that would cause the RC to lose connection.

Thanks in advance

Jason

 

[Stimmy]

Get drone insurance if you are nervous about flying.

 

[Travisimo]

Did it reconnect on its way back home, or did you need to power it off/on for it to reconnect? Did you notice your signal strength at the time it disconnected?

A text message should not cause a controller disconnect. Even if the app or your phone crashes, the controller should stay connected. So either 1) the signal strength was poor due to interference, or 2) there was another issue that caused a disconnect. You were pretty close to the aircraft, so poor signal is unlikely but possible if there was some interference.

 

[JasonHB]

Did it reconnect on its way back home, or did you need to power it off/on for it to reconnect? Did you notice your signal strength at the time it disconnected?

A text message should not cause a controller disconnect. Even if the app or your phone crashes, the controller should stay connected. So either 1) the signal strength was poor due to interference, or 2) there was another issue that caused a disconnect. You were pretty close to the aircraft, so poor signal is unlikely but possible if there was some interference.

It did not reconnect, I had to power the controller off and on to reconnect. Didn’t notice the signal strength, but as I say, I was so close to the AC, I wasn’t checking that.

It just dropped instantly, I was flying then the first I realised something was wrong was that the AC just started climbing on its own, I looked at the phone and it said connection lost and that was it.

Jason

 

[Kevjones777]

It is possible that the phone disconnected when the message came through. I have had DJI Go disconnect on incoming call. I now fly with a dedicated TAB with no SIM

 

[JasonHB]

It is possible that the phone disconnected when the message came through. I have had DJI Go disconnect on incoming call. I now fly with a dedicated TAB with no SIM

It was just the RC that disconnected, still had all of the telemetry and video and everything else, just a red light on the RC and no control.

I was in a really secluded spot as well, so hard to believe that there was any interference at all out there

 

[Travisimo]

It was just the RC that disconnected, still had all of the telemetry and video and everything else, just a red light on the RC and no control.

I was in a really secluded spot as well, so hard to believe that there was any interference at all out there

I'm confused... my understanding is that the controller connects to the aircraft via Wifi for uplink (controlling the drone) and downlink (for video and telemetry). Your mobile device connects to the controller via Micro USB cable, which allows the controller to communicate to the DJI Go app. If your controller lost connection to the aircraft, you would not have control over the aircraft and you wouldn't have a video signal either. If you say you were still seeing a live video feed and updated telemetry in the app, then I don't think your controller lost connection.

I'm guessing that you 1) lost signal and the aircraft initiated a Failsafe Return to Home, 2) after starting the return to home, it reconnected and you were able to see video signal, and 3) you let it return home and assumed that it just never reconnected. More than likely, it reconnected and you could have stopped the Return to Home either by pressing the RTH button on the controller, pressing the Pause button on the controller, or by cancelling it from within the app. After doing that, you could have taken control of the drone again and flew home yourself or continued your flight.

On the other hand, I could be totally wrong and I'm just missing something.

 

[JasonHB]

I'm confused... my understanding is that the controller connects to the aircraft via Wifi for uplink (controlling the drone) and downlink (for video and telemetry). Your mobile device connects to the controller via Micro USB cable, which allows the controller to communicate to the DJI Go app. If your controller lost connection to the aircraft, you would not have control over the aircraft and you wouldn't have a video signal either. If you say you were still seeing a live video feed and updated telemetry in the app, then I don't think your controller lost connection.

I'm guessing that you 1) lost signal and the aircraft initiated a Failsafe Return to Home, 2) after starting the return to home, it reconnected and you were able to see video signal, and 3) you let it return home and assumed that it just never reconnected. More than likely, it reconnected and you could have stopped the Return to Home either by pressing the RTH button on the controller, pressing the Pause button on the controller, or by cancelling it from within the app. After doing that, you could have taken control of the drone again and flew home yourself or continued your flight.

On the other hand, I could be totally wrong and I'm just missing something.

Thank you for the detailed response. I am prepared to accept that, given that it was my first time out with the Air and the first time ever flying a drone, there might have been a degree of panic and a more experienced pilot would have been more aware of what to do and how to correct this.

However, the light on the RC stayed red for the duration of the RTH procedure and I did have video. Admittedly, I did not press pause and as you say, during the RTH the controls are neutralised and that may have given the appearance of a lack of control.

I will try it again over the weekend and see if I have any issues.

As I mentioned before, there was no evidence in Airdata of anything being wrong with any of the 5 flights, no warnings, nothing.

Maybe I just chalk it up to "one of those things", ignore it and move on lol

Jason

 

[Kevjones777]

Thank you for the detailed response. I am prepared to accept that, given that it was my first time out with the Air and the first time ever flying a drone, there might have been a degree of panic and a more experienced pilot would have been more aware of what to do and how to correct this.

However, the light on the RC stayed red for the duration of the RTH procedure and I did have video. Admittedly, I did not press pause and as you say, during the RTH the controls are neutralised and that may have given the appearance of a lack of control.

I will try it again over the weekend and see if I have any issues.

As I mentioned before, there was no evidence in Airdata of anything being wrong with any of the 5 flights, no warnings, nothing.

Maybe I just chalk it up to "one of those things", ignore it and move on lol

Jason

Jason its an interesting scenario. If you had the logs the guys here could probably identify the settings and issue straight away. My understanding is when the red light is on on the controller the aircraft is "offline " to the controller namely not connected. As the other OP says, the controller is connected via USB to the phone. What is really strange is that I understood if the red light is on on the controller you are no longer connected to the aircraft and therefor you should not have a video feed either. I have not heard of the uplink disconnecting while retaining the downlink.

 

[William Ball]

I'm confused... my understanding is that the controller connects to the aircraft via Wifi for uplink (controlling the drone) and downlink (for video and telemetry). Your mobile device connects to the controller via Micro USB cable, which allows the controller to communicate to the DJI Go app. If your controller lost connection to the aircraft, you would not have control over the aircraft and you wouldn't have a video signal either. If you say you were still seeing a live video feed and updated telemetry in the app, then I don't think your controller lost connection.

I'm guessing that you 1) lost signal and the aircraft initiated a Failsafe Return to Home, 2) after starting the return to home, it reconnected and you were able to see video signal, and 3) you let it return home and assumed that it just never reconnected. More than likely, it reconnected and you could have stopped the Return to Home either by pressing the RTH button on the controller, pressing the Pause button on the controller, or by cancelling it from within the app. After doing that, you could have taken control of the drone again and flew home yourself or continued your flight.

On the other hand, I could be totally wrong and I'm just missing something.

Don't be confused about what this guy experienced. The mavic Air that I own will do the same thing. It simply looses the connection to the controller. It is not the phone or device. It is not the app. It is not the firmware versions. It just looses the connection. I have been flying DJI products for over 8 years now and the Air is the biggest disappointment I've had. I live in the middle of nowhere in Western NY where there is little WiFi interference. Never had a disconnect with my P3A or Mavic Pro. When my Air disconnects I have tried to quit the app and restart. I have turned off the controller and restarted it while it is returning to home. I have tried to just let it reconnect by itself during RTH. All do nothing to reestablish the connection. Only when you power everything down and re-start does it connect. The green light on the controller is "red" when this is happening. Which means it is disconnected. You can push all the buttons you wish on the controller and it will have no effect. My procedure for starting a flight is as follows. Start controller first. Launch DJI GO second, Start aircraft third. Allow the craft to connect and verify all updates are good. Allow aircraft to sit and gather as many sats as possible. I like to see 12 or more. Allow aircraft to announce that is has "home point updated, please check it on the map" Then I do a command stick start and apply throttle to take off. 60 feet away and 20 feet up in the air. The controller disconnects and it RTH. I have updated all the firmware and refreshed all the firmware through DJI ASSistant 2 several times. No go. That is what is going on and I'm hoping update will correct it or it is going back to DJI under warranty. This is where one of the DJI reps, like susan or diana or thor will pipe in " thanks for your support of Dji products, We'll send this to our engineers for further evaluation". Horse Hockey!

 

[Darmar]

I’ve seen multiple reports DJI sending replacement units under warranty, not fixing existing unit with disconnect issues. Must be quite a few lemons in initial run sold, part of rc hardware overheating or something.

 

[JasonHB]

Don't be confused about what this guy experienced. The mavic Air that I own will do the same thing. It simply looses the connection to the controller. It is not the phone or device. It is not the app. It is not the firmware versions. It just looses the connection. I have been flying DJI products for over 8 years now and the Air is the biggest disappointment I've had. I live in the middle of nowhere in Western NY where there is little WiFi interference. Never had a disconnect with my P3A or Mavic Pro. When my Air disconnects I have tried to quit the app and restart. I have turned off the controller and restarted it while it is returning to home. I have tried to just let it reconnect by itself during RTH. All do nothing to reestablish the connection. Only when you power everything down and re-start does it connect. The green light on the controller is "red" when this is happening. Which means it is disconnected. You can push all the buttons you wish on the controller and it will have no effect. My procedure for starting a flight is as follows. Start controller first. Launch DJI GO second, Start aircraft third. Allow the craft to connect and verify all updates are good. Allow aircraft to sit and gather as many sats as possible. I like to see 12 or more. Allow aircraft to announce that is has "home point updated, please check it on the map" Then I do a command stick start and apply throttle to take off. 60 feet away and 20 feet up in the air. The controller disconnects and it RTH. I have updated all the firmware and refreshed all the firmware through DJI ASSistant 2 several times. No go. That is what is going on and I'm hoping update will correct it or it is going back to DJI under warranty. This is where one of the DJI reps, like susan or diana or thor will pipe in " thanks for your support of Dji products, We'll send this to our engineers for further evaluation". Horse Hockey!

Glad I’m not the only one then. Thought I was going mad for a while and imagining what happened. I’ve only had it for a week and flown it once so hope it was a total one off but will keep a close eye on this

 

[Travisimo]

Don't be confused about what this guy experienced. The mavic Air that I own will do the same thing. It simply looses the connection to the controller. It is not the phone or device. It is not the app. It is not the firmware versions. It just looses the connection. I have been flying DJI products for over 8 years now and the Air is the biggest disappointment I've had. I live in the middle of nowhere in Western NY where there is little WiFi interference. Never had a disconnect with my P3A or Mavic Pro. When my Air disconnects I have tried to quit the app and restart. I have turned off the controller and restarted it while it is returning to home. I have tried to just let it reconnect by itself during RTH. All do nothing to reestablish the connection. Only when you power everything down and re-start does it connect. The green light on the controller is "red" when this is happening. Which means it is disconnected. You can push all the buttons you wish on the controller and it will have no effect. My procedure for starting a flight is as follows. Start controller first. Launch DJI GO second, Start aircraft third. Allow the craft to connect and verify all updates are good. Allow aircraft to sit and gather as many sats as possible. I like to see 12 or more. Allow aircraft to announce that is has "home point updated, please check it on the map" Then I do a command stick start and apply throttle to take off. 60 feet away and 20 feet up in the air. The controller disconnects and it RTH. I have updated all the firmware and refreshed all the firmware through DJI ASSistant 2 several times. No go. That is what is going on and I'm hoping update will correct it or it is going back to DJI under warranty. This is where one of the DJI reps, like susan or diana or thor will pipe in " thanks for your support of Dji products, We'll send this to our engineers for further evaluation". Horse Hockey!

That was a big explanation of your issue, but does not explain why the OP would still be receiving video feed and telemetry data if the remote was disconnected from the aircraft. The mobile device and DJI Go app receive the video feed and data from the controller, so if the controller is disconnected, then not only would the aircraft RTH, you'd also not be receiving a video feed or telemetry. That is the mystery here, and yes, some flight logs would be the only way to investigate this issue further.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

 

[JasonHB]

That was a big explanation of your issue, but does not explain why the OP would still be receiving video feed and telemetry data if the remote was disconnected from the aircraft. The mobile device and DJI Go app receive the video feed and data from the controller, so if the controller is disconnected, then not only would the aircraft RTH, you'd also not be receiving a video feed or telemetry. That is the mystery here, and yes, some flight logs would be the only way to investigate this issue further.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

I’ll get them as soon as I can and post them up. I’d love to know whether I’m right or going mad lol

 

[Travisimo]

I’ll get them as soon as I can and post them up. I’d love to know whether I’m right or going mad lol

Certainly. I am by no means doubting that you had a problem with the aircraft. I'm just very curious as to how you could have video feed with a disconnect. As another poster stated, it's hard to believe that downlink was working but uplink was not since they are both transmitted via the controller. It could be that my assumption that the controller it either entirely connected or entirely disconnected is fallacious.

The good news is that you didn't have a crash, you didn't lose the aircraft, and RTH did its job. Having a disconnect is not uncommon as you reach the range limit of the transmission in a given location, but the disconnect you experienced may be something else entirely. Have you flown anymore since you posted?

I can say that I have flown over three dozen flights, and I too have an iPhone X that I use with the Air. I know I have received a text message or notification during flight before at least once, but typically I just put my phone in Do Not Disturb mode so I'm not interrupted. And like I said, even if a text did interrupted the app or cause your app/phone to crash, that would not cause the controller to also disconnect (you would still have control of the aircraft).

 

[William Ball]

That was a big explanation of your issue, but does not explain why the OP would still be receiving video feed and telemetry data if the remote was disconnected from the aircraft. The mobile device and DJI Go app receive the video feed and data from the controller, so if the controller is disconnected, then not only would the aircraft RTH, you'd also not be receiving a video feed or telemetry. That is the mystery here, and yes, some flight logs would be the only way to investigate this issue further.

DJI Flight Log Viewer

In allof my disconnect issues, there is no feed from the camera. Nor is there any telemetry. There is a notice on the phone that the controller is disconnected, red LED, and the quad is in Rth.

 

[Travisimo]

In allof my disconnect issues, there is no feed from the camera. Nor is there any telemetry. There is a notice on the phone that the controller is disconnected, red LED, and the quad is in Rth.

Right, but Jason said in post #6 that he had both video feed and telemetry, which means either 1) his controller really wasn't disconnected, or 2) downlink was working but uplink was not. I'm not sure if the latter is even possible (are they two separate connections), and if #the former was true, then he should still have been able to stop the RTH and take control of the aircraft with the controller (which is normal behavior during RTH). The red light on the controller would seem to indicate disconnect, in which case there shouldn't be a video feed or telemetry either.

 

[William Ball]

Right, but Jason said in post #6 that he had both video feed and telemetry, which means either 1) his controller really wasn't disconnected, or 2) downlink was working but uplink was not. I'm not sure if the latter is even possible (are they two separate connections), and if #the former was true, then he should still have been able to stop the RTH and take control of the aircraft with the controller (which is normal behavior during RTH). The red light on the controller would seem to indicate disconnect, in which case there shouldn't be a video feed or telemetry either.

Agreed, the fact he had a red LED, and feed, but no control, is odd. In my cases this was not happening. Zero interface, zero feed of any kind, wait for the RTH to play out and reboot everything. A mystery for sure. I should video and post what it's is happ with mine sometime. However, the weather is horrible, the masters is on, and I'm quite frankly, losing interest.

 

[Travisimo]

Agreed, the fact he had a red LED, and feed, but no control, is odd. In my cases this was not happening. Zero interface, zero feed of any kind, wait for the RTH to play out and reboot everything. A mystery for sure. I should video and post what it's is happ with mine sometime. However, the weather is horrible, the masters is on, and I'm quite frankly, losing interest.

What you described in your post sounds like a defect of some sort. I've never had that happen in any of the flights (over three dozen now) with my Air. Certainly, I have lost connection when going out of range, but never where the controller just disconnects and requires a power cycle to work correctly again. I would definitely be submitting a ticket with DJI if that's happening. Until we know for sure exactly what happened with the OP's experience, I can't really advise what to do other than trying a few more flights or post the logs for analysis.

 

[ryanolivas]

Best case is to attach a gps drone tracking device into the mavic so you won't be afraid on losing it whenever it encounters fly aways.