Max altitude warning at 13 ft

[Drewbacca]

Hi, I'm in Costa Rica and was trying to fly the Mavic at a waterfall where there was no GPS signal. I had the max altitude set at 500m, and was flying in ATTI mode, but the Mavic refused to go any higher. Has anyone else experienced this? I flew it again today where I had GPS with no issues.

Thanks in advance,
Drew

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[Intrglctcrevfnk]

I believe since there is no 'dedicated' ATTI mode the Mavic relies on the ultrasonic sensors on the bottom to determine altitude when there is no GPS.

I think the max usable distance on those is around 13ft or so... perhaps that is what going on there.

 

[Drewbacca]

That sounds about right, the lower the terrain went, the lower the Magic would sink, and it was about 13 feet. I hope there's a way to work around this, as disabling the ground sensors didn't seem to help.

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[enigmamdw]

Go wifi? how close can you get to the waterfall? I don't know if that would fix the problem.

 

[Drewbacca]

There's always a wifi connection between the controller and the Mavic. I'm not sure I understand the suggestion.

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[Intrglctcrevfnk]

There's always a wifi connection between the controller and the Mavic. I'm not sure I understand the suggestion.

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I think he meant so suggest going without the controller and just using the app and moving the remote/wifi switch on the Mavic to 'WiFi'.

I doubt that would help though, it's the no GPS altitude limit that is stopping you. Thought I read that with VPS off the max altitude should be around 90ft.

Hmm... maybe the barometer onboard is givinf bad info?Perhaps and IMU calibration would help.

 

[Drewbacca]

I think he meant so suggest going without the controller and just using the app and moving the remote/wifi switch on the Mavic to 'WiFi'.

I doubt that would help though, it's the no GPS altitude limit that is stopping you. Thought I read that with VPS off the max altitude should be around 90ft.

Hmm... maybe the barometer onboard is givinf bad info?Perhaps and IMU calibration would help.

Thanks, I had tried calibrating the IMU but it didn't help. I'll have to find another place with no signal to test anything else out.

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[Intrglctcrevfnk]

Thanks, I had tried calibrating the IMU but it didn't help. I'll have to find another place with no signal to test anything else out.

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Bummer. So I Found this quote on the DJI forums, haven't gone into the manual to confirm;

"From the current manual on page 49:
Height is restricted to 16 feet (5 meters) when the GPS signal is weak and Downward Vision System is activated. Height is restricted to 98 feet (30 meters) when the GPS signal is weak and Downward Vision System is inactivated."

So it looks like you could switch off the sensors and that would get you the height you need, but you would be in Atti mode and subject to drift. Would be dangerous to do that next to a waterfall IMO unless you are experienced with Atti. Which the Mavic won't let you manually switch to in order to practice.

 

[Drewbacca]

Thank you, I had missed that. I ended up switching off all the downward sensors, but I guess I did it after the fact.

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