Missing drone, DJI service is hopeless

[Photo Booth]

This is generally considered one of the better options for tracking a drone:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...4df-15aac5223b10&pf_rd_r=GT8Z7R1DGCMFQ9HQZ0QZ

Mark

 

[Oconnb910]

As far as a Tracker goes I would highly recommend Trackimo. It is small and light and has saved me on 2 occasions. Uses 4 different technologies to locate.
Trackimo® 3G GPS Tracker + 1 Year GSM + Free US Shipping

 

[Photo Booth]

Trackimo requires cellular service. The Marco Polo (my link above) does not. Plus, Trackimo requires a $60/year subscription.

Mark

 

[Mark C58]

As I understand it, it you were flying it manually, it would raise or lower to the RTH elevation and return to the home position in a straight line. If its flying a programmed mission, it just continues flying it until it either returns home, or runs into something. There is no automatic RTH when flying a programmed mission and communications is lost with the controller.

 

[tgjmtaylor]

How would such a tracker communicate its location to you?

You would need to travel the set mission and when you are within range it would direct you to where the drone is located. That's assuming the drone hit a tree as we all suspect and either remains in the tree or has fallen to the ground. They have a purpose but seem unnecessary for those skilled and educated pilots that remain in VLOS.

 

[sar104]

You would need to travel the set mission and when you are within range it would direct you to where the drone is located. That's assuming the drone hit a tree as we all suspect and either remains in the tree or has fallen to the ground. They have a purpose but seem unnecessary for those skilled and educated pilots that remain in VLOS.

Sorry - the question was a followup to determine whether the OP was expecting coordinates, such as from a cellular based GPS device, or a homing signal, such as from a Marco Polo.

It's unlikely that it hit a tree - it's an M2 with full obstacle avoidance. My guess is that it became trapped in the trees in the sense of being unable to continue the mission and unable to find a way home after smart RTH kicked in.

 

[sar104]

As I understand it, it you were flying it manually, it would raise or lower to the RTH elevation and return to the home position in a straight line. If its flying a programmed mission, it just continues flying it until it either returns home, or runs into something. There is no automatic RTH when flying a programmed mission and communications is lost with the controller.

That's correct, but it will RTH when the battery level falls below the smart battery RTH level.

 

[ddigital]

I've heard good things about trackimo gps tracker. Think i will put this on my new mavic 2 pro drone. Will save all the hassle and save money. Best 3G GPS Drone Trackers to Find Lost Drones - Trackimo

 

[Horace G Hill Sr]

It really sounds like you where to low in Altitude 100ft is morethen likely not high enough. Before you fly any missions you should Physically walk thru it to be sure then come back home and think it thru waypoints are good but .the risk is there if you dont Plan your fight .I hate you lost it but go to your last transmission and start looking for it before someone else finds it .Its your investment go look for it its out there waiting. When you find it you should use Trackimo its great.I use it on all my drones .I wish you luck i think if you find it all will be well .keeps us posted.and keep flying bro...

 

[DanMan32]

That's correct, but it will RTH when the battery level falls below the smart battery RTH level.

Does OA still apply during a Litchi M2 WP mission?
I qualify this question by adding M2, as it is possible things are handled differently on M2 than other Mavics, even with Litchi.
Litchi uses the Go SDK, so couldn't the SDK create the Go logs?

 

[RayOZ]

Getting a separate GPS tracker might be handy. But I prefer not to crash and lose my drone in the first place. Prevention is better than cure.
How well does one of this GPS tracker do if the drone crashes in the forest and ends up in thick foliage?

 

[sar104]

Does OA still apply during a Litchi M2 WP mission?
I qualify this question by adding M2, as it is possible things are handled differently on M2 than other Mavics, even with Litchi.
Litchi uses the Go SDK, so couldn't the SDK create the Go logs?

Yes - OA still works on a regular Litchi mission.

Well apparently it does create SDK logs as well. I just looked on my phone, and inside Apps/Litchi/Documents, as well as the flightlogs directory containing the usual Litchi csv logs there is a SDK_logs directory containing encrypted txt logs. I never knew that. Mystery solved.

 

[Aussie Oldtimer]

When I first started flying I was in the Northern Territory of Aust and due to the smaller trees, I set the rth height at 30m.

I'm travelling full time around Oz and now in SE Queensland where the trees are much higher. I had to alter the rth height to 60m just in case. If I go to West Aust, I will have to set the rth to the max of 120m.

Most areas I fly don't have mobile ph service so if I go for the option of 'find my drone' system, I will need one that just relies on GPS and not ph service. any suggestions are welcome

 

[DanMan32]

GPS is passive. It isn't like the GPS sats are going to signal back to some receiver where another receiver is.
You need some means of transmission between the tracker and it's receiver.

Cell doesn't usually need much power, and is wide-spread, but you do have to rely and pay for external services.

Wi-Fi has pretty good distance, and if you are using point to point Wi-Fi, you don't need to rely on external services.
However you were already using Wi-Fi (or Wi-Fi band) and lost it so a separate tracker might not be any better.

BT doesn't cost anything to operate, but it is short distance. It's worse than Wi-Fi, which you already had with the AC itself and lost.

The Wi-Fi and BT could be better in that they may still operate when the AC isn't, and you'll pick up their signal once you get in range with your receiver, if you manage to do so.
Wi-Fi could do both, find an open Wi-Fi with internet so your receiver or app can get the location via internet connection, and it can connect directly to your receiver when in range if internet connection was not available.

 

[ScubaBob]

You are almost 4000 feet away at 100 feet in altitude. Heavy trees. I would expect to lose connection. maybe a bird strike or battery disconnect. The copter should be down near the last location if that is the case. Stop whining about it not having a tracker on it. You should have put one on if you wanted one. People will help you here but not if you sound like a sore loser.

4,000 feet away. Beyond Line of Sight so I have little empathy for him. He seems to simply want to blame DJI or anyone else for his user error.

 

[camson]

I keep hearing about user error, can you explain what I did wrong?

I'm just chiming in after reading the posts so far... but if you are flying the drone almost 4000 feet away (3833.7 feet) at an altitude of 100.7 feet, the controller and drone are having to transmit through almost 4000 feet of solid trees. IMHO, I would have thought that would have completely blocked or seriously degraded the signal between the controller and drone. I'm sorry to hear you lost the drone though. No one wants to have that experience. BTW, is it possible to walk to the location point at end of the green line on the log to see if the drone can be found?

 

[Size13]

Have you walked your flight path as others have suggested?

Certainly you were out of VLOS... but somewhere in the trees of your flight path is probably where you will find your Mavic.

 

[msenjur]

yeah, its weird to me also... all that talking, and owner didnt go to look after it. if i would lost my drone and would know where it could be, i would go looking for it next morning. it only 1km long path... i would also get few extra pairs of eyes for shure...

owner has obivoisly say goodbye to his drone... but it just might hang on some branch with only emptied battery.

weird.

 

[CAG]

4,000 feet away. Beyond Line of Sight so I have little empathy for him. He seems to simply want to blame DJI or anyone else for his user error.

Another really unhelpful post. I think after three pages of trying to locate the drone and hearing about his faults, this type of post is not necessary.

 

[Canuk]

I think when someone posts they lost there drone only helpful posts should be on the OP’s thread . Does anyone think he wants to hear 50 times that he screwed up . Or quit flying because he messed up on a litchi mission .
Should only be guys helping posting .
That’s it