Mavic air turns on itself

[Clemham]

Hi everyone, I'm posting on this forum cause i have an issue with my mavic air. The title is pretty clear, when in the air no matter the altitude the drone turns on itself when he is hovering (meaning I dont touch the controller when hovering) and sometimes when i control it in the air, but it's mostly when he is hovering. I dont use it that much so i dont think it's because i overuse it, it's in brand new condition no shock or anything, the last time i used it was this summer and everything worked fine. Since yesterday i have this weird issue. I was thinking maybe it's the joystick controller who maybe is defective but i'm not sure. If anyone have or had this issue and find out whats the problem and solution that would be very helpful. Thanks for your help, hope to hear from you ASAP ! Regards, C.H

 

[Mavic Mac]

When you say the drone turns itself on when in the air - do you mean it starts to fly away ?

 

[Clemham]

When you say the drone turns itself on when in the air - do you mean it starts to fly away ?

Not fly away it just turn on itself like doing a 360° on a fixed point, the drone is not moving he is stationary. I have to push on the opposite direction a little bit on the left controller to stop him turning on himself.

 

[DRM001]

When you say the drone turns itself on when in the air - do you mean it starts to fly away ?

He said it turns on itself meaning it turns by itself without any command being sent from the controller.

To the OP, how did you store the drone? Maybe the blades are warped slightly?

Failing this, maybe try calibrating the IMU and compass while on a flat surface free of interference.

 

[Starz]

Would it not be reasonable to determine what the problem is first, before we apply the calibration cure all?

 

[DoomMeister]

I suspect the problem lies with the controller, and assuming Mode 2 control setup, the left stick is not coming back to center in the left/right axis which controls yaw.

Does the aircraft always spin in one direction? Does moving the left stick stop the rotation?

 

[DRM001]

Would it not be reasonable to determine what the problem is first, before we apply the calibration cure all?

Personally I’d cover the basics first [emoji6]

 

[Clemham]

He said it turns on itself meaning it turns by itself without any command being sent from the controller.

To the OP, how did you store the drone? Maybe the blades are warped slightly?

Failing this, maybe try calibrating the IMU and compass while on a flat surface free of interference.

I store it in the case given by DJI, stock in my photography bag. I take very good care of my photography stuff, the drone is in brand new condition, no crash, no scratch or anything like this.
I always calibrate the compass before any flight, I have no error message about the compass during the flight. so to avoid the drone to turn on itself I have to push on the left controller in the opposite direction.
Yesterday I was trying to take a picture from above of a road so I had to put the drone in stationary mode but the drone was still doing 360° turn on himself.

 

[Clemham]

I suspect the problem lies with the controller, and assuming Mode 2 control setup, the left stick is not coming back to center in the left/right axis which controls yaw.

Does the aircraft always spin in one direction? Does moving the left stick stop the rotation?

What do you mean by "mode 2 control setup" ?
The left stick is fine, it come back to the center point. Its the drone that turns alone, I dont touch anything and sometimes like 70%. of the time, the drone turn on himself by himself, im not doing anything.
I only try to stop this by using the left controller in the opposite direction which stop the spinning.
And yes it mostly turns in one direction.

 

[DoomMeister]

What do you mean by "mode 2 control setup" ?
The left stick is fine, it come back to the center point. Its the drone that turns alone, I dont touch anything and sometimes like 70%. of the time, the drone turn on himself by himself, im not doing anything.
I only try to stop this by using the left controller in the opposite direction which stop the spinning.
And yes it mostly turns in one direction.

I am quite sure the problem is with the controller. The left stick physically may be returning to center, but electrically it is not.

A call out to the DJI experts here! Is there an option in the software that allows you to check the controller outputs? And possibly calibrate the sticks?

@msinger @djidroneservice etc.

Mode 2:
Left stick up/down = throttle
Left stick right/left = yaw
Right stick up/down = pitch (forward/back)
Right stick left/right = roll (left/right)

The mode is an RC terminology and there are four altogether. The default mode is 2.

 

[Manty]

I had the same problem. Re- calbrated the IMU and it cured it

 

[Aerial-Pixel]

Hi everyone, I'm posting on this forum cause i have an issue with my mavic air. The title is pretty clear, when in the air no matter the altitude the drone turns on itself when he is hovering (meaning I dont touch the controller when hovering) and sometimes when i control it in the air, but it's mostly when he is hovering. I dont use it that much so i dont think it's because i overuse it, it's in brand new condition no shock or anything, the last time i used it was this summer and everything worked fine. Since yesterday i have this weird issue. I was thinking maybe it's the joystick controller who maybe is defective but i'm not sure. If anyone have or had this issue and find out whats the problem and solution that would be very helpful. Thanks for your help, hope to hear from you ASAP ! Regards, C.H

Sounds like you need to calibrate the sticks of your remote controller. The video below is for the original Mavic Pro, but it is similar on the Mavic Air.

 

[Starz]

If the stick centers are off, it is visible in the screen view when in the stick calibration section.

 

[sar104]

I am quite sure the problem is with the controller. The left stick physically may be returning to center, but electrically it is not.

A call out to the DJI experts here! Is there an option in the software that allows you to check the controller outputs? And possibly calibrate the sticks?

@msinger @djidroneservice etc.

Mode 2:
Left stick up/down = throttle
Left stick right/left = yaw
Right stick up/down = pitch (forward/back)
Right stick left/right = roll (left/right)

The mode is an RC terminology and there are four altogether. The default mode is 2.

It could be the controller calibration, but it could also be the IMU. The flight logs will show whether the aircraft is receiving non-zero inputs from the rudder.

 

[Clemham]

Ok so I tried the calibration of the controller but it seems to have a problem with the left one.
As you can see on the picture there is a small % on the left controller, its not a fix number cause it change even if I dont touch it. Maybe the problem is here ?

 

[sar104]

Ok so I tried the calibration of the controller but it seems to have a problem with the left one.
As you can see on the picture there is a small % on the left controller, its not a fix number cause it change even if I dont touch it. Maybe the problem is here ?

Yes - that's a problem with the rudder stick sensor or the sensor calibration. If you calibrated the sticks and the problem remains then it's a hardware problem - you will need to replace the controller.

 

[Thomas B]

Contact DJI if calibration does not fix your issue. The unit may be defective.

 

[Clemham]

I had the same problem. Re- calbrated the IMU and it cured it

I tried it and yes before I calibrate it again there was some gyroscope deviation (it was yellow for the 2 gyro)
Now as you can see from the picture it's all green so I think its good !
i will try it tomorrow morning since it's dark outside.

I will keep you in touch if there is more issue but otherwise I think it's good, thanks for your quick help guys !!

 

[sar104]

I tried it and yes before I calibrate it again there was some gyroscope deviation (it was yellow for the 2 gyro)
Now as you can see from the picture it's all green so I think its good !
i will try it tomorrow morning since it's dark outside.

I will keep you in touch if there is more issue but otherwise I think it's good, thanks for your quick help guys !!

The IMU calibration is unrelated to the spurious stick input, and won't fix that problem.

 

[Clemham]

The IMU calibration is unrelated to the spurious stick input, and won't fix that problem.

you think ? I just recalibrate it again (the RC) now it's at 0% for both stick and just did a small flight outside its dark and rainy so I will try again tomorrow, but during this small flight I didn't have the problem of the drone spinning so I think it's good. but tomorrow will give me a final answer. I will keep you in touch !