My Mavic has suddenly gotten “weak GPS signal” while flying this week. Is this normal? Flight log pics included.

[Ejp1288]

Hi all! Glad to find this place.

I got my Mavic last week and have flown it 4 days now. 2 of those days while I’m in the air, I’ve gotten “weak gps signal” completely out of no where and it goes until ALTI mode causing me to nearly crash. This has happened at the park and in a neighborhood.

Like I said, I have full bars and 17 satellites usually and then boom the bars go away and the weak gps signal happens.

Is this common? Or is something wrong with the drone? I have done a lot of calibrations btw.

Attached are flight log info with tons of error messages. I got Yaw error for a while along with other errors. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[Greerr]

Hi all! Glad to find this place.

I got my Mavic last week and have flown it 4 days now. 2 of those days while I’m in the air, I’ve gotten “weak gps signal” completely out of no where and it goes until ALTI mode causing me to nearly crash. This has happened at the park and in a neighborhood.

Like I said, I have full bars and 17 satellites usually and then boom the bars go away and the weak gps signal happens.

Is this common? Or is something wrong with the drone? I have done a lot of calibrations btw.

Thanks!

Exact same thing!!! Crashed!!mavic gone today... been flying 3 years with it never an issue... I need to call DJI tomorrow..

 

[JDawg]

Exact same thing!!! Crashed!!mavic gone today... been flying 3 years with it never an issue... I need to call DJI tomorrow..

Or you could post your flight log and know what is going on sooner DJI Flight Log Viewer - Phantom Help

 

[Ejp1288]

Or you could post your flight log and know what is going on sooner DJI Flight Log Viewer - Phantom Help

I uploaded my flight log pics to the first post in case you wanted to look at the errors and give any thoughts? I wonder if it’s broken. Thanks!

 

[JDawg]

I uploaded my flight log pics to the first post in case you wanted to look at the errors and give any thoughts? I wonder if it’s broken. Thanks!

Don't confuse me with one of the brains, I just like to watch them do their magic. Did you have a compass error when you took off? There is no screen shot for the 1st 2 minutes. Also were there no warnings going off right away?

 

[Ejp1288]

Don't confuse me with one of the brains, I just like to watch them do their magic. Did you have a compass error when you took off? There is no screen shot for the 1st 2 minutes. Also were there no warnings going off right away?

Haha sorry! I sent this to DJI also.

No errors the first 2 minutes at all. Makes no sense.

 

[Meta4]

Is this common? Or is something wrong with the drone? I have done a lot of calibrations btw.

Calibrating isn't going to fix anything. That's not what compass calibrating is for.

Attached are flight log info with tons of error messages. I got Yaw error for a while along with other errors. Any ideas?

It's always much more useful to post a link to the Phantomhelp report for your incident.
But your case looks pretty clear even from just what you posted.
It's almost certain that you launched from a magnetically bad location, most commonly reinforced concrete.
That's given you a yaw error and caused the other issues.
NEVER launch from steel or reinforced concrete surfaces.

 

[Ejp1288]

Calibrating isn't going to fix anything. That's not what compass calibrating is for.


It's always much more useful to post a link to the Phantomhelp report for your incident.
But your case looks pretty clear even from just what you posted.
It's almost certain that you launched from a magnetically bad location, most commonly reinforced concrete.
That's given you a yaw error and caused the other issues.
NEVER launch from steel or reinforced concrete surfaces.

Thanks!

Both times this happened I launched from a sidewalk. Are sidewalks reinforced concrete?

 

[Meta4]

Thanks!
Both times this happened I launched from a sidewalk. Are sidewalks reinforced concrete?

Yes

 

[Ejp1288]

Yes

Very interesting!

I’ll test this tomorrow. If I can’t launch on a sidewalk. Where do you suggest I launch? Grass seems to be too high usually to launch. Where do you like to launch from?

 

[JDawg]

Thanks!

Both times this happened I launched from a sidewalk. Are sidewalks reinforced concrete?

And neither time there was a warning when you took off...?

 

[Ejp1288]

And neither time there was a warning when you took off...?

There was once. It told me weak gps signal. I always commonly get told at the beginning that I am near an airport which isn’t true. That error goes away.

Where do you suggest I launch the drone from? Grass is usually too high. Any suggestions?

 

[Meta4]

Where do you suggest I launch the drone from? Grass is usually too high. Any suggestions?

Anywhere except steel and reinforced concrete surfaces.
To deal with long grass, you can make a simple launch pad from cardboard or those large plastic saucers they make for putting under plant pots.

 

[Marko9219]

Thanks!

Both times this happened I launched from a sidewalk. Are sidewalks reinforced concrete?

I've never seen a neighborhood sidewalk reinforced! Why would you reinforce a sidewalk? Even my driveway, where trucks and cars are parked, is not reinforced. I launch from my driveway and sidewalk constantly.

 

[Meta4]

I've never seen a neighborhood sidewalk reinforced! Why would you reinforce a sidewalk?

Maybe because they didn't want it to crack or break up easily?
In my part of the world, any concrete driveway is always going to be reinforced.

 

[benny01]

Weak...mine had none crashed but before that 16 .two different flights one min apart. Second one said 10.ya now I have a broken left back arm plus rotar blades 4.

 

[benny01]

I've never seen a neighborhood sidewalk reinforced! Why would you reinforce a sidewalk? Even my driveway, where trucks and cars are parked, is not reinforced. I launch from my driveway and sidewalk constantly.

No

 

[SYC12]

To OP

META4 is right. Do not launch from concrete sidewalk. Why take risk? You won’t believe that on grass lawn with sprinkles system sometimes will cause calibration errors. Any DIY launch pad works good. I use a 3x4 plywood

 

[Ejp1288]

To OP

META4 is right. Do not launch from concrete sidewalk. Why take risk? You won’t believe that on grass lawn with sprinkles system sometimes will cause calibration errors. Any DIY launch pad works good. I use a 3x4 plywood

Interesting! It seems very weird to me that most normal surfaces can cause you to lose gps and crash. That doesn’t sound right to me. I assume 95% of drone users launch from sidewalks or other concrete. I wish there was a way to confirm if it was causing the magnetic interference or if I should exchange for a new one.

I am also pretty positive that my sidewalk leading up to my house is not reinforced. Maybe it can be interference from my house being a few feet away on launch? Idk it’s very frustrating.

 

[Meta4]

Interesting! It seems very weird to me that most normal surfaces can cause you to lose gps and crash.

That's not most "normal" surfaces.
That's just steel and reinforced concrete (because it's half steel) surfaces.
They don't cause you to lose GPS.
They can cause a yaw error which can end up badly.

That doesn’t sound right to me.

But you haven't been moderating drone forums for the last few years.
I see similar cases every week

I assume 95% of drone users launch from sidewalks or other concrete.

If they did, there would be a lot more crashes.

I wish there was a way to confirm if it was causing the magnetic interference or if I should exchange for a new one.

You could try passing a magnetic compass over the launch spot and observing it.
It's not an issue with your drone. It will be an issue with where you launched it.
No need to exchange it.

I am also pretty positive that my sidewalk leading up to my house is not reinforced.

And how can you tell that?

Maybe it can be interference from my house being a few feet away on launch? Idk it’s very frustrating.

Chances are that it was something within inches of your compass (like in the concrete).
It would have to be a much larger magnetic source if it was several feet away.