Mavic turned on its axis by itself, no control input.

[jyyym]

Hello all,

After a few months of waiting I finally received my Mavic and so far I have had a few flights on it, on the first flight I noticed a slight drift while flying forward and while hovering (+75ft) so yesterday I performed a cold IMU calibration.

While testing it today the drift while hovering above 75 feet (no opti) seemed to be gone but the drift while moving is still there with very little observable wind.

The part that worries me the most is that after climbing to 150 ft, I got a Weak Signal message (even though I was only 45 ft away and around 160ft up, no obstructions, antennas placed correctly), video seemed to lag a bit and a few seconds later once it came back normally I noticed the Mavic had turned around 10 degrees on its axis by itself, I have replayed the flight in the app and there are no stick inputs at the time of the movement.

A couple of questions:
I saw no RTH message in the replay that could account for the movement, does the RTH procedure (when being closer than 60ft from T.O. point) include rotating the AC on it's axis to point to the Take off Point? I know that when it is that close it is supposed to lower itself only. In any case, there should be a message in the replay if that was the case even if the connection was actually cut and restored immediately, right? There is none.

In general it seems to me that the hovering overall is quite more unstable (horizontally and vertically) that my P4 Pro, does this sound right?

I am actually thinking about returning this Mavic to Amazon and waiting for the production line to “mature” a bit more and maybe try again on March or so…

Thanks!

JyYyM

 

[AlanTheBeast]

By antenna placed correctly you do mean the tips of the antenna were NOT pointing up towards the a/c, right? See p.35 of the manual (V1.2)

 

[f3honda4me]

So you had your antennas pointed straight away from you correct? Since the drone was directly above you, the anntenas should be parallel with the ground.

Also sounds like you may need to do a compass calibration and IMU calibration.

 

[jyyym]

Forgot to mention, this happened with the latest firmware on both AC and RC.

 

[jyyym]

So you had your antennas pointed straight away from you correct? Since the drone was directly above you, the anntenas should be parallel with the ground.

Also sounds like you may need to do a compass calibration and IMU calibration.

I do think the antennas were in the correct position, the Mavic was around 45 or 50 ft in front of me and 150 ft up, antennas were in vertical position and I was holding the remote at an angle so the antennas were in the position suggested by the manual.

Tonight I will try a compass and IMU calibration agin although this does not inspire much confidence in the Mavic to be honest, I had nothing near the Mavic to crash into but had it not been an axial rotation and maybe an altitude change or any other movement, could have been worse I guess..

 

[jyyym]

By antenna placed correctly you do mean the tips of the antenna were NOT pointing up towards the a/c, right? See p.35 of the manual (V1.2)

That is correct, antenna tips were NOTpointing at the aircraft.

 

[jyyym]

The area I flew it when the issue showed up is in the city (over my property) so inteference could be a factor regarding loosing the connection but what I can't explain (and what makes me nervous) is why did it turn by itself...

 

[f3honda4me]

I do think the antennas were in the correct position, the Mavic was around 45 or 50 ft in front of me and 150 ft up, antennas were in vertical position and I was holding the remote at an angle so the antennas were in the position suggested by the manual.

Tonight I will try a compass and IMU calibration agin although this does not inspire much confidence in the Mavic to be honest, I had nothing near the Mavic to crash into but had it not been an axial rotation and maybe an altitude change or any other movement, could have been worse I guess..

Not sure why you would not have confidence in this. The behavior you describe sounds exactly like a compass/IMU cal are needed. You may need to do a few of them depending on how it takes during flight.

 

[jyyym]

Thanks, what I mean is that after quite a few flights with my P4 Pro I never saw anything like this so after expiriencing it with the Mavic, my confidence in it so far is not that great.

 

[PropPilot]

Try to turn off (airplane mode) any mobile devices around you and be wary of 'wearables' like the Apple watch. The tips of the antennas pointing at the aircraft would not be an issue especially that close. Get out to some nice clear flat land and get a number of flights in to become comfortable with the baseline behaviour of your Mavvie. Sounds like compass error. The Mavic should be in a rock solid hover upon liftoff.

 

[jyyym]

Try to turn off (airplane mode) any mobile devices around you and be wary of 'wearables' like the Apple watch. The tips of the antennas pointing at the aircraft would not be an issue especially that close. Get out to some nice clear flat land and get a number of flights in to become comfortable with the baseline behaviour of your Mavvie. Sounds like compass error. The Mavic should be in a rock solid hover upon liftoff.

Thanks, I'll re calibrate and try to get more flights in. I did turn Airplane mode on, always do.

 

[younumpty]

Return. It should be rock solid. Did you angle to to rest on back legs when doing the imu. If you sat it on the rear chassis it will be unstable.


Fly safe...

 

[jyyym]

Return. It should be rock solid. Did you angle to to rest on back legs when doing the imu. If you sat it on the rear chassis it will be unstable.


Fly safe...

Thankns younumpty, could you elaborate on your comment please? when calibrating IMU the Mavic had all legs closed and I just placed it on a table "standing" on the legs and chasis and left in alone until prompted by the app (during de "upright" part of the calibration process). What do you mean by "angle "it" to res on back legs"?

 

[jyyym]

Return. It should be rock solid. Did you angle to to rest on back legs when doing the imu. If you sat it on the rear chassis it will be unstable.


Fly safe...

Nevermind, I just saw DJI's video on YouTube on how to calibrate, I did it exactly as shown. I guess I will try re calibrating everything again anyway.

 

[f3honda4me]

Also could try a firmware refresh via assistant 2.

 

[younumpty]

Thankns younumpty, could you elaborate on your comment please? when calibrating IMU the Mavic had all legs closed and I just placed it on a table "standing" on the legs and chasis and left in alone until prompted by the app (during de "upright" part of the calibration process). What do you mean by "angle "it" to res on back legs"?

Jyym look closely at the video. You'll see it resting at an angle with the legs flat to the table. Just wondered as I made that mistake and it didn't like it but the app said it had calibrated normally. Just a thought.


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