Mavic pro stick error

lmel2005 · May 18, 2018

Hello,

I am reading this forum for months now, and I can say it's a great community, and a lot of help to me, as a beginner.

I bought a Mavic pro last November, and have made about 20 flights until now, without issues. Last one was yesterday.

Mavic and accessories are in a case from the first moment, and all my stuff is in excellent condition (I think).

Today I turned on my RC, and a stick error occurred, beeping. I noticed that it stops, if I open the right clamp. Is there anyone with the same problem? Should I do a calibration? If yes, with the clamp open, or closed?

I use an iPad mini 4 with my controller.

Mad Mavic · May 18, 2018

lmel2005 said:
Hello,

I am reading this forum for months now, and I can say it's a great community, and a lot of help to me, as a beginner.

I bought a Mavic pro last November, and have made about 20 flights until now, without issues. Last one was yesterday.

Mavic and accessories are in a case from the first moment, and all my stuff is in excellent condition (I think).

Today I turned on my RC, and a stick error occurred, beeping. I noticed that it stops, if I open the right clamp. Is there anyone with the same problem? Should I do a calibration? If yes, with the clamp open, or closed?

I use an iPad mini 4 with my controller.

Mad Mavic · May 18, 2018

By “clamp” are you referring to the clamps holding your iPad? It shouldn’t affect the stick as there are no wires leasing to the clamps.

What could be happening is the housing of the remote could possibly have become distorted due to the ipads size, thus slightly moving the relationship between the magnet at the end of the stick to the chip which that same magnets swings over.

It seems a long shot but calibrating the stick with the iPad in place is best since that’s when it occurs . If stick calibration fails, try with the iPad unclamped with enough wire that to connect the two units together but separated. In other words, isolate the possibility of the mini causing magnetic interference.

I’ve had my controllers apart several times and on a couple of occasions the sticks needed calibrating. Something in the way I was separating the units seemed to cause it to lose the memory associated with the previous stick setting.

I suggest moving both sticks at the same time to avoid a time out during calibration. Also, move both sticks very slowly, keeping pass with the fill color indicating progress.

Sorry I wasn’t more help but someone on here should be able to pinpoint your problem.

waylander · May 18, 2018

Hi Imel2005

Umm if I understand you correctly, are saying that the Go 4 app is telling you that a stick error has occurred, or is the error message generated on the RC display.
It sounds to me me as thought there could be some mechanical distortion present in the RC frame which impinges on the mechanism of the stick in question.
Does opening just 1 clamp relieve the problem or must you open both..?
Does slackening all of the Case fixing screws stop the problem..?
What happens when you do an RC stick calibration..?

Good Luck
Waylander

lmel2005 · May 18, 2018

Thank you both for your response.

The error occurs when I turn on RC, without anything clamped in, without cable or AC connected. The message "Stick error Re-cntr' pops up on RC's LCD, and RC is beeping.

Error disappears and beeping stops, when the right clamp is opened slightly.

Everything on RC is tight and with no visual damage.

I'm afraid that if I calibrate with clamp closed, it will have problem with the clamp opened.

waylander · May 18, 2018

Hi
Yes you may have a problem calibrating with the stick error present, I assume you have visually inspected the RC and the sticks appear centred right ..?
If so then do as I suggest, loosen the RC case fixing screws and then turn of the RC to see if that helps.
When you shake the RC, does it Rattle inside, if so you may need to open it and have a look.
here is a video to help do that
also look at this:-
and this:-
Stick Error / Re-CTR Stick?

Hope this helps
Waylander

Mad Mavic · May 18, 2018

If you’re up to it, why not try calibrating then post your results after.

If it passes with the iPad mini clamped, then power it down, remove the iPad and see if it returns.

I would be interested in your findings

lmel2005 · May 18, 2018

Thanks for the info and the links.

It's a little difficult for me to decide what to do.

RC with tablet or phone is functioning perfectly, without any alarm. I connected it to Dgi go 4 app, and looks it is calibrated with all positions in zero state. When I move the sticks, I can go smoothly to 100. The RC seems to be calibrated, even when it beeps with error.

Nothing rambles in it, every piece of it seems in place.

If I disassemble it, propably I will lose warranty, but I don't know what kind of warranty I have, because living in Greece (EU), bought my Mavic from a Chinese eshop. If I must send it to China,vI will be without drone for over a month, and I will have to deal with customs office.

If calibration fails, I will have brick a working RC.

What a mess...

waylander · May 18, 2018

Hi my suggestion that you open the RC case was a last resort in case you heard something rattling around inside when you shake it.

Otherwise I would do a re-calibration and that way all should be OK..

Waylander

lmel2005 · May 18, 2018

The obvious cause must be some slight distortion of the case due to stress of the iPad, as you said guys.

I will leave it as is, as long as I can fly, and re-calibrate when it gets worse (I think it will).

Mad Mavic and Waylander, thanks a lot for your time and effort.

Chips · Jun 10, 2018

Case distortion is an interesting possibility. I attached a new tablet holder which clamps onto the case rather tightly and I had the problem of stick error. Then when I came home and tried again with the tablet just lying on the table and connected by cable, there didn't seem to be a problem. I have another tablet holder which uses the clamps so I will see if that causes problems.

lmel2005 · Jun 11, 2018

Chips said:
Case distortion is an interesting possibility. I attached a new tablet holder which clamps onto the case rather tightly and I had the problem of stick error. Then when I came home and tried again with the tablet just lying on the table and connected by cable, there didn't seem to be a problem. I have another tablet holder which uses the clamps so I will see if that causes problems.

It's strange, but stick problem appears with the RC folded, and disappears with iPad clamped in.

Chips · Jun 11, 2018

I think case distortion is quite a possible cause, especially if magnets are used for the joysticks. They must be quite sensitive to positioning and even a slight change in their positions could create problems. I guess DJI must be making the RC to very tight tolerances that even squeezing the case can change things. I haven't had time to see whether my theory in my own case is correct but I will keep you folks posted.

Chips · Jul 21, 2018

I still get the stick error problem on and off but I found that if you switch the RC off and on a few times, it can go away. The first time I encountered it, I was so frustrated as I was at the beach the first time with my drone and just packed up and went home. But now when I get the problem, I switch the RC on and off many times (today it was 8 times) and it seems to go away. I think the magnets are just too sensitive and when the RC is stored for a while, they may set in a position that triggers an error message. Then you just need to move the sticks around which perhaps gets them in the right position.

I have to say that, so far, for every problem I have had and thought I would have to send the hardware back to the shop, it has eventually resolved itself and I have still never had to go back to the shop (touch wood). It's frustrating and it takes a while to get things right.

FieldResearcher · May 12, 2020

here's a new one - on a test power-up I started getting the same error, and after a few restarts I realized it was due to my new USB cable, the kind that has a magnetic break-away detachment capability (recommended to protect the weak controller USB port). Removing the magnetic head for a second fixed the problem.