New Mavic Air

[Deleted member 119987]

Couple of questions if I may. I just bought a Mavic Air fly more kit. I also have a Mavic Mini. The Mavic Mini drifted into a wall when it apparently lost GPS. I have it sent in to DJI for repair at the moment.
I have noticed that the Air takes forever to get GPS signal. I took it out to a field and hovered it for a few min. after it got enough GPS to take off in beginner mode. I am assuming it is downloading some gps maps, but how long should that take?

Also, does anyone know what DJI charges for a checkup? I would like sending in my drones once a year or so to see if everything is still functioning properly. If that is even necessary.

 

[old man mavic]

Couple of questions if I may. I just bought a Mavic Air fly more kit. I also have a Mavic Mini. The Mavic Mini drifted into a wall when it apparently lost GPS. I have it sent in to DJI for repair at the moment.
I have noticed that the Air takes forever to get GPS signal. I took it out to a field and hovered it for a few min. after it got enough GPS to take off in beginner mode. I am assuming it is downloading some gps maps, but how long should that take?

Also, does anyone know what DJI charges for a checkup? I would like sending in my drones once a year or so to see if everything is still functioning properly. If that is even necessary.

just a point why would you even take off till you had a satisfactory GPS lock thats not really the way to do it

 

[Deleted member 119987]

just a point why would you even take off till you had a satisfactory GPS lock thats not really the way to do it

I didn't. I waited on the ground until it gave me a gps lock. It took about 15 min. In beginner mode it won't let you take off until you have GPS lock.

 

[slup]

...It took about 15 min. ... until you have GPS lock.

Was this the first time you powered on the MA outside (where satellites is available) ... or does it take that amount of time every time you power on outside?

 

[Deleted member 119987]

Was this the first time you powered on the MA outside (where satellites is available) ... or does it take that amount of time every time you power on outside?

It was the second time powering on... but now it seems to lock on quicker when launching from the same area.
Question, if I were to travel to a new area, will I expect long times to lock on again?

 

[slup]

It was the second time powering on... but now it seems to lock on quicker when launching from the same area.
Question, if I were to travel to a new area, will I expect long times to lock on again?

The GPS receiver saves information regarding satellite info from the last time it had a lock to make it lock on quicker there after ... so if that was the first time you powered on the last area for GPS lock probably was China? So pretty far from Oregon US ... which meant that a lot more communication had to be done with each & every available satellite, that can take some time. If you move the drone again ... let´s say to another continent, it will again take time before lock.

 

[Deleted member 119987]

The GPS receiver saves information regarding satellite info from the last time it had a lock to make it lock on quicker there after ... so if that was the first time you powered on the last area for GPS lock probably was China? So pretty far from Oregon US ... which meant that a lot more communication had to be done with each & every available satellite, that can take some time. If you move the drone again ... let´s say to another continent, it will again take time before lock.

Thanks for the good explanation. That makes sense.

 

[Starz]

Sending a DJI product in for a checkup may not be necessary. Anything that needs to be checked can be done by yourself. Information available in the app is useful along with some visual inspection by you should be adequate.

 

[Deleted member 119987]

Sending a DJI product in for a checkup may not be necessary. Anything that needs to be checked can be done by yourself. Information available in the app is useful along with some visual inspection by you should be adequate.

Sounds good. I know for my Nikon cameras, I always send them in for cleaning and a checkup once in a while. I guess as long as all the app information is looking good, and it still behaves I flight I shouldn't have to send it in to anyone. Thanks

 

[old man mavic]

I didn't. I waited on the ground until it gave me a gps lock. It took about 15 min. In beginner mode it won't let you take off until you have GPS lock.

my bad misread you post,thought you had took off, and then hovered till you had enough sats,sorry

 

[Scooped]

Weird. My Air once turned on takes literally less than a minute to sync up satellites. Do you do a compass calibration before hand?

 

[Deleted member 119987]

Weird. My Air once turned on takes literally less than a minute to sync up satellites. Do you do a compass calibration before hand?

I did a compass and IMU calibration. Last night I took it out to a clear field. I was watching the satellite count. It showed 3 -4 to start. then 7, then back to 4 or 5, then 10-13. Once it locked to 12 satellites it was good to go. Took a few min. though. It could be that I was having some wifi or cellular interference though. There are a couple cell towers within a mile radius of me.
Thats ok though.... I am not flying until I get at least over 10 sats

 

[old man mavic]

could just be you have a faulty GPS receiver in your drone, if you could find someone local to yourself, with a similar model to compare yours with, at the same spot then you will know if it is just yours ,or something normal for the MA

 

[Scooped]

You could also try the UAV forecast app. It wil tell you if you have enough satellites to fly and if the weather is on your side. I use everytime I go to fly. I fly regularly around power lines and cell towers. I make sure my phone is off and I use an iPad that is wifi only and use the OTG cable. Never had issues with my Mavic Air. Try to upload any flights to the DJI site in your app. If there is issues they can access your info. There is also a site called Airdata that you can sync your info to see if you have any errors or hints on the flight. Good luck

 

[Starz]

WiFi and cell towers won’t have any effect on the GPS receiver in the aircraft.

 

[Dave Maine]

My MA can take 30 sec or so to switch to gps, and record hp. It can be sped up by taking off and hovering at 10 feet or so until lock happens. It may be location specific, as there is quite a bit of tree cover around, and I can make the case to myself that the increased height allows for less obstruction between the drone and clear sky.

 

[Deleted member 119987]

My MA can take 30 sec or so to switch to gps, and record hp. It can be sped up by taking off and hovering at 10 feet or so until lock happens. It may be location specific, as there is quite a bit of tree cover around, and I can make the case to myself that the increased height allows for less obstruction between the drone and clear sky.

I may try hovering in a safe area and see if that helps.

 

[old man mavic]

I may try hovering in a safe area and see if that helps.

i personally would not take off until i have got a GPS lock main reason without GPS the MM is in atti mode and at the mercy of any wind and will not have a GPS home point to return to

 

[Deleted member 119987]

Took it out again today in the same field. Locked on to satellites right away. Signal strength was strong the whole time. Flew a full battery with it.

i personally would not take off until i have got a GPS lock main reason without GPS the MM is in atti mode and at the mercy of any wind and will not have a GPS home point to return to

Like I said before, I don't take off until I have a good lock on things.... but I think I may hover it after I get a lock and watch the sats increase or decrease before I send it back to DJI..
On a new note... I took it out to the same field today and it locked right away. Could be it wasn't completely downloaded yet.

 

[Frustrated]

I fly a couple different places and I never had GPS lock take that amount of time.