Mavic drifting, then system errors, drifted away and luckily recovered

[sar104]

Unfortunately, there isn't one. Here is what it looks like.

Okay - unfortunately since that is clearly only a partial set of DAT files, it is possible that FLY012.DAT was stored in a different location that is not accessible from DJI Assistant 2 - that was a problem with some FW versions if I recall correctly. @BudWalker?

 

[sar104]

But please, I don't want you to go through a hassle. I think AirdataUVA and the DJI app provided enough information to suggest the unit needs to go back to DJI. There were hundreds of Yaw errors and compass errors, etc. I will contact them.

One more test before doing that might be worthwhile. Power up the aircraft away from any magnetic interference or ferrous metals, and once it has acquired position and set the home point, pick it up and manually rotate it through a couple of revolutions - then grab the mobile device DAT file and post it.

 

[BudWalker]

Okay - unfortunately since that is clearly only a partial set of DAT files, it is possible that FLY012.DAT was stored in a different location that is not accessible from DJI Assistant 2 - that was a problem with some FW versions if I recall correctly. @BudWalker?

There was a problem where the .DAT wasn't recorded at all. So, wouldn't help here.

 

[StinkiePants]

@sar104
I put it in the air and hovered, spun it around and flew around a little. I didn't see any warnings. It was drifting left or right at times. BTW, it seems to do that even when drone is sitting still. There was a red light blinking, then at one point it shifted to an obvious blinking pattern. Being color-blind, I'm having a hard time identifying the pattern from the horrible video i took. I think enclosed is one of the dat files. I also think that once I synced with the Go app cloud and UAV, the desired dat file went away.

FLY029.DAT

drive.google.com

 

[Meta4]

You can see your data much better here: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

But please, I don't want you to go through a hassle. I think AirdataUVA and the DJI app provided enough information to suggest the unit needs to go back to DJI. There were hundreds of Yaw errors and compass errors, etc. I will contact them.

Yaw errors aren't a cause to return the drone.
They are caused by launching from a magnetically dirty area, not by a problem in the drone.
You were very lucky that yours was only a small one, with very little difference between actual direction and the initialisation of your gyros.
Most yaw errors end badly, with uncontrollable high speed flight and a severe crash.

Take more care in future to avoid launching from reinforced concrete or close to steel items.

 

[sar104]

You can see your data much better here: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Yaw errors aren't a cause to return the drone.
They are caused by launching from a magnetically dirty area, not by a problem in the drone.
You were very lucky that yours was only a small one, with very little difference between actual direction and the initialisation of your gyros.
Most yaw errors end badly, with uncontrollable high speed flight and a severe crash.

Take more care in future to avoid launching from reinforced concrete or close to steel items.

Actually the position mismatch was severe but didn't arise until quite late when the first significant lateral corrections occurred. That could be a magnetically distorted power-up location but it's not conclusive:



The DAT file above tells a different story though - this aircraft has magnetic issues on compass 1, which was the active compass:





I would start by trying a compass calibration and then, if that doesn't work, demagnetizing around compass 1.

 

[StinkiePants]

You can see your data much better here: DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Yaw errors aren't a cause to return the drone.
They are caused by launching from a magnetically dirty area, not by a problem in the drone.
You were very lucky that yours was only a small one, with very little difference between actual direction and the initialisation of your gyros.
Most yaw errors end badly, with uncontrollable high speed flight and a severe crash.

Take more care in future to avoid launching from reinforced concrete or close to steel items.

I had very recently calibrated compass, IMU, and gimbal. I launched from a location on my deck, which I do often. However, there was a storm north of here, which I have to think may be big factor in this incident. But during that flight, I had the following alerts (according to AirdataUAV).
239 Compass Errors
1359 Yaw Errors
3 Weak GPS Signal
3 IMU Heading Errors
20.6 seconds Downlink Data Connection lost
42 Speed Errors
12 Mode changes

It flew away around 1,000 feet, but I was lucky to find where it was and fight to get it back to the ground because it was fighting me hard, going hard right, backwards - all over it seemed. I have since re-calibrated things and have now burned through 4 uneventful batteries - all launching from same spot on my deck. It still drifts more than previous Mavics I've had, but I'm not getting errors and will take it up for more risky adventures.

 

[StinkiePants]

Actually the position mismatch was severe but didn't arise until quite late when the first significant lateral corrections occurred. That could be a magnetically distorted power-up location but it's not conclusive:

View attachment 106836

The DAT file above tells a different story though - this aircraft has magnetic issues on compass 1, which was the active compass:

View attachment 106837

View attachment 106838

I would start by trying a compass calibration and then, if that doesn't work, demagnetizing around compass 1.

@sar104 Thanks again! Would a nearby storm cause this? There was a storm north of here, I was actually up trying to photograph it. I have since re-calibrated, and will research demagnetizing today. It still drifts a bit, but then seems to stabilize in position. It looks like it is fighting more wind than there is at times, but I will see how she flies this week.

 

[sar104]

@sar104 Thanks again! Would a nearby storm cause this? There was a storm north of here, I was actually up trying to photograph it. I have since re-calibrated, and will research demagnetizing today. It still drifts a bit, but then seems to stabilize in position. It looks like it is fighting more wind than there is at times, but I will see how she flies this week.

No - a storm is not going to cause that. Storing the aircraft near something with a strong magnetic field or adding/removing components are the most likely causes.

 

[lookout]

I had very recently calibrated compass, IMU, and gimbal. I launched from a location on my deck, which I do often. However, there was a storm north of here, which I have to think may be big factor in this incident. But during that flight, I had the following alerts (according to AirdataUAV).
239 Compass Errors
1359 Yaw Errors
3 Weak GPS Signal
3 IMU Heading Errors
20.6 seconds Downlink Data Connection lost
42 Speed Errors
12 Mode changes

It flew away around 1,000 feet, but I was lucky to find where it was and fight to get it back to the ground because it was fighting me hard, going hard right, backwards - all over it seemed. I have since re-calibrated things and have now burned through 4 uneventful batteries - all launching from same spot on my deck. It still drifts more than previous Mavics I've had, but I'm not getting errors and will take it up for more risky adventures.

Does it tell you that on the free plan or do you have to have the paid plans? Trying to figure out what's causing yaw drift, but I guess I could just read through the csv. Might take a while though.

 

[StinkiePants]

Does it tell you that on the free plan or do you have to have the paid plans? Trying to figure out what's causing yaw drift, but I guess I could just read through the csv. Might take a while though.

All my info is from the free plan.

 

[StinkiePants]

We have no answers here since inadequate data files. We can close this thread, I started a new thread from another similar event. Tons of errors, disconnections, crazy fly away 1,000 feet, able to get back for scary/ugly landing - 2nd event

 

[StinkiePants]

Update:
DJI repaired for free under warranty. They replaced:
1. Gimbal Axis Arm Module
2. Core Board

Working fine so far! Thanks to all for the suggestions and assistance!