M2P 'crabs' sideways

[simonr23]

most of my videos- especially outward legs, have the video feed crabbing left. its as though the camera is pointing to the right about 30 degrees. i've tried re-calibrating the gimbal sever ltimes. no change.

strangely, quite often on the homeward leg, it'll be either perfect, or at least better than it was. ive tried doing zig-zags in my flights, to see if it's a sensor issue, but that has no effect. it seems to be when i give the RTH command, that something just gets fixed.

i always take off on level ground (as in leveled cement/tarmac) and dont turn on the machine until it is on this surface.

i'm aware of the swipe left/right on the screen to make camera point left/right, but i don't use that feature.

i cant find any other reports via goggling, so am asking here, to see if there's a solution, or DIY process to perform.

thanks.

 

[sar104]

That question is going to need a flight log to answer definitively.

DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help

Post the flight log link back here.

 

[Eagledrone]

I would suggest recalibrating the IMU. I had odd drifting a month back and while not exactly like your it won't hurt anything by trying.

 

[simonr23]

Cheers, I’ll give it a try.

SAR, the recent flights that I know the data for, are all from a location I’d rather keep private.

I’ll report back once I’ve been able to test after the calibration.

 

[ottodawg]

I had this problem,. Would love to say it was some highly technical issue but, it ended being that I was actually giving it left stick when flying forward at full speed. Didn't realize I was doing it until I played back my flight with the sticks on the screen. I guess cold thumbs will do that...

 

[old man mavic]

I had this problem,. Would love to say it was some highly technical issue but, it ended being that I was actually giving it left stick when flying forward at full speed. Didn't realize I was doing it until I played back my flight with the sticks on the screen. I guess cold thumbs will do that...

good point in the camera settings you can enable a mode where the gimbal will start to move when you yaw i believe it is called gimbal smoothing this feature can be enabled or off you can test it by yawing with the stick while the drone is on the ground and if enabled you will see the gimbal move slightly left or right

 

[simonr23]

Otto, I checked my flight records, just to be sure. There isn’t any side inputs measured

Old man, I’ll look into that setting. To see if enabling/disabling makes a difference.

Cheers.

 

[kilomikebravo]

I was actually giving it left stick when flying forward

Otto: My guess is, everyone has done that at least once, I know I have, and it doesn't take much side pressure at all to make it happen. I sure would like a pistol-grip controller but it would be tough to hold and fly.

 

[ottodawg]

Otto: My guess is, everyone has done that at least once, I know I have, and it doesn't take much side pressure at all to make it happen. I sure would like a pistol-grip controller but it would be tough to hold and fly.

Yeah, it'd be nice it they'd at least let you adjust the stick tension like the old Futaba RC's. They're a little light for my taste.

 

[kilomikebravo]

I too wouldn't mind a bit more resistance.

 

[simonr23]

After a bit more analysis, it seems wind direction related.

The drone is facing the correct direction, with its tilt into the wind, but it seems That the camera does some strange ‘compensation’ and ‘yaws’(correct term?) away from the wind direction, causing the effect this topic is about. The horizon is still level.

I can sort of replicate it in my lounge room, by holding the drone level and walking forwards. If I tilt it left or right slightly(well within the gimbals range of movement) the gimbal slowly creeps outwards(left or right depending on which way I tilt), while maintaining horizontal accuracy.

 

[kilomikebravo]

If there were no wind on the Earth we'd probably be in for some serious weather phenomena but oh it would make flying drones easier!

Unlike vehicles that are firmly planted on the ground and rarely have problems going in a straight line with a crosswind, the same is most certainly not true of a flying object that is not tethered to the ground. In order to fly in a desired straight line (magnetic course,) the pilot has to "crab" into the direction of the crosswind to avoid being blown off course. So the aircraft maintains a "crab heading" but the aircraft itself moves along the straight line of the magnetic course or in our case, the direction we steer her.

 

[simonr23]

I might have explained it poorly. The wind wasn’t strong, and normally the drone does its thing and still is oriented in the direction I am aiming for(with the slant due to adjusting for the wind)

These affected videos have the actual camera pointing in the wrong direction.

This is something ‘wrong’ rather than ‘characteristic’ of the conditions I was flying in, or of the drone.

It’s been too windy these last few days to try again. One day...