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Mavic loses height

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Ive noticed that my mavic loses height when it is hovering. mIf i take off and park it a few metres off the ground where you would expect its sensors and gps to be able to maintain position it will gradually lose height until it starts providing obstacle avoidance warnings when close to the ground. has anyone else had this and is there some recalibration necessary or is this a return to factory solution?
 
The altitude is set primarily by the barometer on board and will be affected as the Mavic gradually warms up.
You might note it's more stable in different temperatures.
I see you are in Dubai so cold starts usually less common than many places though!
Calibrating the IMU must be worth trying.
 
Ive noticed that my mavic loses height when it is hovering. mIf i take off and park it a few metres off the ground where you would expect its sensors and gps to be able to maintain position it will gradually lose height until it starts providing obstacle avoidance warnings when close to the ground. has anyone else had this and is there some recalibration necessary or is this a return to factory solution?

Hi Barry is the vps turned on and are you waiting for the home point update befor you take off ?

If you have updated the firmware recently remember to check all of the setting vis the go app once connected to the drone as the firmware update does reset a number of these settings.
 
I've noticed mine doing this as well. I've been meaning to do a solid test with some cameras to document it but haven't had a chance. Mostly it isn't super troubling when in an open area but its still gotten my attention when it drops several feet for no reason. To me the bigger issue is it drops, say down to 3 feet or less but still reads an altitude of 6 feet. If flying a fair distance away and relying on "instrument data", this could be way off.
 
I first noticed when in Germany flying low through a forest and was hovering over a lake and it didn't hold - gps connected firmware updated so from that perspective everything it seemed I could do had been done. Now I'm back in Dubai where its warmer :) and still doing it. doesn't drop fast but at low altitude you would expect to be more stable as there was no wind. I even recalibrate the joysticks in case there was an issue there.
 
I first noticed when in Germany flying low through a forest and was hovering over a lake and it didn't hold - gps connected firmware updated so from that perspective everything it seemed I could do had been done. Now I'm back in Dubai where its warmer :) and still doing it. doesn't drop fast but at low altitude you would expect to be more stable as there was no wind. I even recalibrate the joysticks in case there was an issue there.
Hey Barrie, I will be traveling to Germany in May and was wondering about flying restrictions in Germany. Do I need special permission to fly in neighborhoods? what about landmarks like castles, etc?

sent from my Galaxy Note4
 
I flew mine for first time in back garden.. and I have a similar issue, I did'nt use the VPS on my phantom 4 and it was rock steady...
But the mavic does drop 2 feet or more when hoovering, also notice a much lower satilite count on the mavic as well
 
I think I've noticed this a little bit too. At least it's not falling fast. Same with you guys right? Maybe this is something that will be fixed in a software update.. anyone else see this happen?


iPhone 6S
 
Hey Barrie, I will be traveling to Germany in May and was wondering about flying restrictions in Germany. Do I need special permission to fly in neighborhoods? what about landmarks like castles, etc?

sent from my Galaxy Note4
I was in Hamburg and I had a look for the regulations there and its not very clear. Generally flying over industrial areas not allowed and or anywhere near airports and central buildup areas. There was a reference to an area shaped like a cross which is a no fly zone because of the airport and a wider circular area that pretty much covers the city - again an area related to the civil aviation restrictions. As I had only just received my Mavic I was nervous about where I was flying - didn't want any mishaps so i limited flying to open areas outside the city and in forests. Germany it seems doesn't have much regulations formulated re drones at present but they are planning more. It does seem that having insurance is a requirement, as a tourist I didn't have that. I wanted to film along the Elbe river ...reckoned it was not over people or industrial area etc around their iconic opera house (someone else - a media company posted a nice drone film there that I wanted to emulate) and was on the waterside considering launching and a police boat went past so I decided I better not. Best to search for the city/ area you are visiting and see what pops up, you may wish to consider insurance and maybe that could be arranged through a german drone club / organisation.
 
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The altitude is set primarily by the barometer on board and will be affected as the Mavic gradually warms up.
You might note it's more stable in different temperatures.
I see you are in Dubai so cold starts usually less common than many places though!
Calibrating the IMU must be worth trying.
Below 30 feet the ultrasonic sensors are the primary system used to maintain height.

If the drone is not maintaining height you may have a hardware issue. Or is there dust or dirt in the bottom sensors?
 
I was in Hamburg and I had a look for the regulations there and its not very clear. Generally flying over industrial areas not allowed and or anywhere near airports and central buildup areas. There was a reference to an area shaped like a cross which is a no fly zone because of the airport and a wider circular area that pretty much covers the city - again an area related to the civil aviation restrictions. As I had only just received my Mavic I was nervous about where I was flying - didn't want any mishaps so i limited flying to open areas outside the city and in forests. Germany it seems doesn't have much regulations formulated re drones at present but they are planning more. It does seem that having insurance is a requirement, as a tourist I didn't have that. I wanted to film along the Elbe river ...reckoned it was not over people or industrial area etc around their iconic opera house (someone else - a media company posted a nice drone film there that I wanted to emulate) and was on the waterside considering launching and a police boat went past so I decided I better not. Best to search for the city/ area you are visiting and see what pops up, you may wish to consider insurance and maybe that could be arranged through a german drone club / organisation.
Thanks, Barrie

sent from my Galaxy Note4
 
Ive noticed that my mavic loses height when it is hovering. mIf i take off and park it a few metres off the ground where you would expect its sensors and gps to be able to maintain position it will gradually lose height until it starts providing obstacle avoidance warnings when close to the ground. has anyone else had this and is there some recalibration necessary or is this a return to factory solution?
Mine does this too when I use auto takeoff which I've stopped doing given all of the bad press. It's a very slow drop which is easy to counter with the stick.
 
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I'm starting to wonder if the problem is taking off too fast... I've been launching pretty much right away after the status bar turns green and it says it has GPS, but maybe if I wait a little longer it will connect to a few more satellites and have more than the minimum required GPS signal.. just an idea. I'm going to try this on the next few flights and see if it makes a difference.


iPhone 6S
 
Tried waiting longer this morning.. didn't seem like it was getting more satellites so I took off, and it still dropped a bit. Slowly, but it's kind of annoying since it's 'supposed' to be rock solid, and it's not very helpful when trying to film. No wind at all this time. Anyone figure this out yet?


iPhone 6S
 
It also seemed to be much more stable when I brought it back in after the flight.. that is it wasn't dropping on its own when I landed it, though I didn't spend much time hovering... I find this most noticeable at the beginning of a flight when I'm trying to hover around 10 meters so it can take the precision landing photos


iPhone 6S
 
I'm starting to wonder if the problem is taking off too fast... I've been launching pretty much right away after the status bar turns green and it says it has GPS, but maybe if I wait a little longer it will connect to a few more satellites and have more than the minimum required GPS signal.. just an idea. I'm going to try this on the next few flights and see if it makes a difference.


iPhone 6S
Not for me. Mine does it indoor. It's an issue with the sonic ranging or the already suggested barometric pressure. It's fairly minimal for me and doesn't always do it. I'll test the "warm vs. Cold" hypothesis and report back. Not til tomorrow.
 
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It's weird that the vision sensors don't help it stay totally stable


iPhone 6S
 
This is my second Mavic - crashed the first one and refreshed, and I feel like the first one didn't do this, though I only had it for a couple of days before the crash. But flying inside and outside it appeared to hold its position perfectly. The latest firmware came out while I was waiting for my Refresh, so I'm wondering if this is a hardware issue with a few drones, or something that needs calibrating, or something that isn't quite right in the latest firmware


iPhone 6S
 
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