Mavic Air 1 Lost Connection Does Not Land

[BrianL74]

Hello!
I have a Mavic Air 1, which I have had since about six months before the Mavic Air 2 came out. Everything has always worked fine until now.

I’ve tried several times to fly. But each time I get it in the air, it loses connection just after I get it to altitude and does NOT return home OR land. I have to wait for the battery to drain and then it returns to its take off point.

I’ve tried downgrading firmware and even reinstalling firmware upgrade. I’ve also tried flying in different areas. Nothing changes.

All batteries and RC confirm full charge. The drone does eventually return to home. But only after it reaches 10% battery. It just hovers in place.

Restarting RC/iPhone or changing batteries does not help.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Do you have flight logs from the affected flight? If so you would be best served by position it for analysis, see
upload
for instruction on how to access the logs
Have you tried your controller on another drone or another drone with your controller?
How is the connection and drone response prior to disconnection?
Is the height and or distance of disconnection always the same?

 

[BrianL74]

Sorry. Can’t give flight logs as I deleted the app in an attempt to correct the issue. Haven’t gone up since.

But the disconnect happens at different altitudes. Yesterday it was at 300ft. I was able to fly half way around a building and then got disconnected. Today, my first flight made it 60ft i to the air at the same location. There is a 400ft. Flight limit at this location. But no other restrictions.



I drove 20 miles home (outside of the limited flight zones) and tested again with new batteries, resets, etc. got 60ft. into the air and disconnected again.

All had the same result: stuck in the air until the battery drained to 10%. App and RC appear as through they are not connected to the drone at all.

I can tell you flight time shows as 1 minute long. But the drone stays in the air for an out 20-25 minutes til the battery drains.

I feel like it has to be either a problem with my phone or with the app.

 

[slup]

The log will only confirm what failsafe mode you have set (which can be RTH, Land or Hover) so you can check that setting in the GO4 app, the log will not show the reason for a possible disconnect... and you're sure it's a RC-AC disconnect (the led on the RC is red)? If it's green your RC is still connected to the AC and no failsafe will be triggered. If that's the case I would check everything from the RC USB connector through the cable & to the mobile device.

 

[BrianL74]

I can confirm red light and I have checked the cable by trying different ones. Since it consistently returns to take off point, the RC is definitely disconnecting.

But as I understand it, the drone should land within minutes of losing connection. Not wait until the battery runs low.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

The logs may still exist. An uninstall normally leaves the App's file structure behind, at least that's the way they behave with me.
I would hook the phone up to a computer and have a look in the dji.go.v4 folder for the folder FlightRecord.

 

[BrianL74]

My flight logs only show logs from April 2020. Nothing more recent. I think that’s because I have not been syncing them.

I should also mention: Find My Drine does not show the drone while it is in flight and has lost connection to the RC.

 

[slup]

I can confirm red light and I have checked the cable by trying different ones. Since it consistently returns to take off point, the RC is definitely disconnecting.

But as I understand it, the drone should land within minutes of losing connection. Not wait until the battery runs low.

The red LED on the RC is a clear sign that you have a RC to AC disconnect ... but that the AC returns once the battery runs lower than the "low battery RTH" threshold isn't, that will happen due to that the battery is low & isn't connected to what failsafe setting you have, or if you have RC to AC connection or not.

Have you checked what failsafe setting you have in GO4? You find it here ...

 

[Meta4]

But as I understand it, the drone should land within minutes of losing connection. Not wait until the battery runs low.

On loss of signal, the drone will do whatever is set as the Loss of Signal action.
There are three options:
RTH (the default setting), Land and Hover.
What you describe would be what you would observe if the Loss of Signal action had been set to Hover.
If you post the flight data from your recent flight, that will show what you have set for the LoS action.

 

[wardtom084]

Take it up again, turn off the controller, (reasonable altitude). Try turning on the controller again , see what happens... post log on AirData

 

[BrianL74]

On loss of signal, the drone will do whatever is set as the Loss of Signal action.
There are three options:
RTH (the default setting), Land and Hover.
What you describe would be what you would observe if the Loss of Signal action had been set to Hover.
If you post the flight data from your recent flight, that will show what you have set for the LoS action.

I think you’re all getting the issue confused. Everyone just keeps repeating the info I already know.

Yes, the RC loses connection. Yes, the red light and the message in the Fly app confirm this. Yes, I know it hovers.

The problem isn’t that it hovers. The problem is that the connection is lost in the first place. I need to know WHY the drone is losing connection to the RC.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Have you tried your controller on another drone or another drone with your controller?

 

[BrianL74]

I have not. I do not have access to another drone or controller. I can try it on another device , like an iPad.

 

[Meta4]

I have not. I do not have access to another drone or controller. I can try it on another device , like an iPad.

It's not the phone or tablet that matters.
It's the connection between the drone and controller.

 

[Meta4]

The problem isn’t that it hovers.

From what you said in the initial post, it seemed that was part of the problem.
>>> But each time I get it in the air, it loses connection just after I get it to altitude and does NOT return home OR land. I have to wait for the battery to drain and then it returns to its take off point.

 

[Michael Ainsworth]

I think you’re all getting the issue confused. Everyone just keeps repeating the info I already know.

Yes, the RC loses connection. Yes, the red light and the message in the Fly app confirm this. Yes, I know it hovers.

The problem isn’t that it hovers. The problem is that the connection is lost in the first place. I need to know WHY the drone is losing connection to the RC.

You State you are using the Fly app, but doesn’t the Air 1 use the Go 4 app. Totally different apps.

 

[BrianL74]

It is the DJI Go 4 App

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Are there any repair shops or model shops near you that might flight test a known to be working contoller on your drone, possibly for a small fee.
Failing that I think you cheapest option is to look for another controller that is advertised as working. Next might be buying a sold as working drone.
The problem with both of these is that you do not know which bit or bits of your equipment is/are not working properly, so, if the replacement item does not cure the problem you still do not know whether it is the original item or the replacemnet that is at fault.
That said I have bought several controllers, as backups, via ebay and all that have been sold as working were and are working.
Working outfits, drone & controller, have sold for from £210 including carriage and working combos for £250 ish inclkuding carriage.

 

[BrianL74]

So, I just did another test flight after reconnecting the RC to the drone. It seems I can reconnect one time, but not again. Holding the button on the back of the drone does not beep when trying a second time.

The flight: drone went up just fine. A few seconds into the flight I lost connection.

But this time, the drone continued to flight forward until it crashed. My first crash ever. Straight into a brick wall.

Other than your suggestion of trying another controller, the best option seems to be taking it in to a drone shop.