Mavic Mini Flying over water help

[CaptLou]

I am new to the drone game so forgive the stupid questions. I recently purchased a mavic mini to record footage while fishing. Moving at 2.5 mph I launched my drone off the boat and at first was working well. I was only apprx 8 ft above the water and apprx 10 ft away from the boat. Then I got a notice saying the max distance was reached. The drone hovered and I could not fly it. I had to turn and grab it out of the air. I also tried this on land while driving very slowly. It says I have reached 160 ft and it no longer will control. Any help or tricks I can do to get this drone to do what I am asking for is appreciated. My goal is to basically manually fly the drone around the boat at low altitude and close proximity to the boat. Thank you

 

[VLL]

I'm new to this stuff too, and I'm sure others will have experienced-based advice that I can't offer (yet). But just to give it a go on my limited understanding, is your boat moving/drifting far enough from the take off point to trigger the distance limitation? Your home point is likely set at take off. Even if the Mini is still in close proximity to you, if you are not in close proximity to where you started, seems like you could hit the limitation.

On the DJI Fly app, can you reset the home point to where you and the controller are? If so, once you drift too far, seems like you could solve it that way. My two-cents worth based on what I am learning about how everything works, not experience or practice.

 

[CaptLou]

You may be right. I think there is a way to update my home point I may have to do this frequently to keep the drone flying. Hopefully others can provide some advice. Thank you.

 

[m80116]

Can I add a little safety tip very useful for MM first timers: don't stand anywhere near the water with it, especially when high wind (didn't I mention strong?) is present, or when maneuvering in Sport mode. I am not sure you wanna know why... but a sudden height drop can be expected for what I consider design limitation of the MM.

 

[CaptLou]

Thank you. Do you know if there is a way to turn off the VPS? If so, will that help over water?

 

[m80116]

Some tape the VPS for other purposes, but a blocked VPS I don't believe is any safer over water than a fooled one.

The best strategy to fly over water is to do when there's absolutely no wind and in P mode (and possibly several tens of feet above it)... as sudden changes in air-speed around the body cause uncommanded drops w/ the Mini.

 

[Fun Flyer]

Hi CaptLou. If I may suggest. Being you are a new drone flyer, I would suggest that before attempting what you are describing, that you become very familiar with the Mavic Mini manual and all of the menus and features in the DJI Fly app. That will answer many of your questions and concerns. There is a lot of good information in both of those.
Happy flying and enjoy the learning. Keep that baby out of the drink!

 

[CaptLou]

Thanks for those who responded. I am practicing everyday and you are right, I need more experience, I will take this out over the water but well after I master all the features, etc.

 

[Capt KO]

In past posts you will read that the mini has a tendency to descend toward the water uncommanded. Usually from flying too close to the surface. Personal experience has shown 20 feet will stop this for me.
The New Fly update adds RTH options that include hover and land. Over water, never choose HOME as that will land it in the water, choose hover and update homepoint Often. That’s the only way you can retrieve it in case of a problem. Good luck.

Make sure you’re not in beginner mode!

 

[RogerDH]

I am new to the drone game so forgive the stupid questions. I recently purchased a mavic mini to record footage while fishing. Moving at 2.5 mph I launched my drone off the boat and at first was working well. I was only apprx 8 ft above the water and apprx 10 ft away from the boat. Then I got a notice saying the max distance was reached. The drone hovered and I could not fly it. I had to turn and grab it out of the air. I also tried this on land while driving very slowly. It says I have reached 160 ft and it no longer will control. Any help or tricks I can do to get this drone to do what I am asking for is appreciated. My goal is to basically manually fly the drone around the boat at low altitude and close proximity to the boat. Thank you

Under the settings for Safety, what do you have set for the Max Distance and Max Altitude?

 

[roaddawg]

I recently had the same issue (16 Oct 2020). Max distance of 160'. I returned to home, landed, checked that the max height and distance were far beyond that and relaunched...only to reach a max distance of 160'. Finally on youtube, I discovered a video about it. Apparently under the safety, where you input your distance and such, is a selection for PAYLOAD. Payload is located below all the initial distance settings. Just scroll down until you get to it and make sure it is switched "off". According to the video, if you attach the prop guards and fly with them, the drone somehow senses that and automatically activates the payload switch. Sometimes, once landed it will switch off automatically. After watching the video I checked to make sure the payload switch was off. I then launched and once again it stopped at 160'. I went into the safety settings and sure enough, the payload switch had self activated. I turned it off, while in flight, and have not had any issues since.

 

[karlblessing]

In past posts you will read that the mini has a tendency to descend toward the water uncommanded. Usually from flying too close to the surface. Personal experience has shown 20 feet will stop this for me.
The New Fly update adds RTH options that include hover and land. Over water, never choose HOME as that will land it in the water, choose hover and update homepoint Often. That’s the only way you can retrieve it in case of a problem. Good luck.

Make sure you’re not in beginner mode!

It's funny that you mentioned that, as I've actually experienced that earlier today and thought it a bit odd that it would drop that much by the end of its destination that I was like woah... pull up. Basically just a straight shot ahead at full speed in sports mode, and to the best of my knowledge water doesn't have an incline on a lake.

Based on Video Subtitles, height above detected surface before I accelerate forward is 0.9m (2.9ft), immediately after acceleration it goes to 0.7m (2.2ft), halfway thru around 1.0m~1.3m (3.2~4.2ft), 1.3m (3.2ft) at the banking, 1.6m (5.2ft) to 1.4m (4.6ft) as it slows down, then when it stops an immediate drop to 0.4m (1.3ft) until I quickly pull up to 0.8m (2.6ft).

I was watching it visually as it was on the water and it seemed like it was getting too close when all I was doing was forward on the right joystick, and nothing on the left except to turn (unless I turned at a diagonal pull).

Far as RTH etc, I was positioned between two bodies of water (a 12 foot wide walking path that was paved), and I intentionally positioned my homepoint to be down wind of where I planned on flying/observing so that if any gust caught, it would at the very least be easier to zig zag it back to the home point keeping it within radio range. I'm new to drones, but that's the way my brain was thinking of it.

 

[Thomas B]

It's funny that you mentioned that, as I've actually experienced that earlier today and thought it a bit odd that it would drop that much by the end of its destination that I was like woah... pull up. Basically just a straight shot ahead at full speed in sports mode, and to the best of my knowledge water doesn't have an incline on a lake.

Based on Video Subtitles, height above detected surface before I accelerate forward is 0.9m (2.9ft), immediately after acceleration it goes to 0.7m (2.2ft), halfway thru around 1.0m~1.3m (3.2~4.2ft), 1.3m (3.2ft) at the banking, 1.6m (5.2ft) to 1.4m (4.6ft) as it slows down, then when it stops an immediate drop to 0.4m (1.3ft) until I quickly pull up to 0.8m (2.6ft).

I was watching it visually as it was on the water and it seemed like it was getting too close when all I was doing was forward on the right joystick, and nothing on the left except to turn (unless I turned at a diagonal pull).

Far as RTH etc, I was positioned between two bodies of water (a 12 foot wide walking path that was paved), and I intentionally positioned my homepoint to be down wind of where I planned on flying/observing so that if any gust caught, it would at the very least be easier to zig zag it back to the home point keeping it within radio range. I'm new to drones, but that's the way my brain was thinking of it.

Just FYI, if I understand the last paragraph, zig-zagging into the wind will not result in any forward progress if you can’t make progress by going straight ahead. The drone doesn’t act like a sailboat. There’s a couple of discussions about it somewhere here on the forum.
Just don’t want to se you or anyone lose their drone unnecessarily.

 

[karlblessing]

Just FYI, if I understand the last paragraph, zig-zagging into the wind will not result in any forward progress if you can’t make progress by going straight ahead. The drone doesn’t act like a sailboat.

Noted ,but least being downwind helps a lot in those cases.

 

[new2mavic]

Based on Video Subtitles, height above detected surface before I accelerate forward is 0.9m (2.9ft), immediately after acceleration it goes to 0.7m (2.2ft).....

Can you show the video subtitile ?

 

[karlblessing]

Can you show the video subtitile ?

Will try to see if I can burn it in to a video export when I get home.

 

[Carlos56]

I suspect that if the vertical sensor is confused by being over water, the MM will rely on GPS for its height control. Not sure what the accuracy of GPS is with respect to height, but I would be surprised if it is better than 3 feet. So flying under 10 feet above water is perhaps taking a chance...?

 

[maelstrom]

I suspect that if the vertical sensor is confused by being over water, the MM will rely on GPS for its height control.

I thought the Mini only used a barometric sensor for normal height control. GPS height control would be very inaccurate.

 

[karlblessing]

I thought the Mini only used a barometric sensor for normal height control. GPS height control would be very inaccurate.

To best of my knowledge it only has two types of sensors ,one being gps and the other being the vision sensors on the bottom which only really work within a few feet. When it's too dark it unavailable,plus low gps signals, it's basically in Atti mode. Saw nothing regarding barometric sensors etc.

 

[new2mavic]

..... the vision sensors on the bottom which only really work within a few feet. When it's too dark it unavailable....

The infrared sensor at the bottom is used for detecting the height above water surface. It can work in total darkness as the infrared light comes from the transmitter side of the sensor.