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New Mavic Pro with low satellite counts - strong GPS signal

nismoz

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Hi everyone,

I am new to Mavic but I have been flying phantom for a couple months. I bought this Mavic Pro from an authorized DJI seller. It is New - Open box condition so it is still very new. I had to link the RC to the drone at first but everything went without issues and it has been flying well. I first updated the drone to v01.03.0900 and then now v01.03.1000.

The thing that I am most concerned is that the drone has been getting very low satellite counts since the beginning. It usually starts at 2 then slowly climbs up to 8-9. The highest count that I have been is 11 satellites. I had 3 phantom 4s and 2 phantom 3 pro. All my phantom 3 professional got up to 18 satellites at the same spot while all my phantom 4s and this Mavic got up to 11 satellites at max. Seriously, I have never seen them got 12+ satellites. I am in Orange County, Calif. Despite the fact that my Mavic is only getting 11 sats max, the signal bars is still high at maximum strength and I tested RTH from roughly 2.5km a couple times and the drone had no issues return to home. Sometimes, the LED flashes yellow light 3 times very fast and it continues for around 5 secs then it goes back to green as normal. I still have full control of the drone when the LED is yellow and the app does not show any warning. Sat count is still the same.

I am concerned since some people reported their drones also have 7-8 sats and then the drone suddenly lost all sat signal and it went to ATTI mode and crashed. DJI Go 4 app reports IMU and Compass are good so I have never calibrated IMU and Compass. Is that the reason why I am getting low sat count? and is it common for Phantom 3 pro to have more satellites than P4's and Mavic?

Thanks guys.
 
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Hi everyone,

I am new to Mavic but I have been flying phantom for a couple months. I bought this Mavic Pro from an authorized DJI seller. It is New - Open box condition so it is still very new. I had to link the RC to the drone at first but everything went without issues and it has been flying well. I first updated the drone to v01.03.0900 and then now v01.03.1000.

The thing that I am most concerned is that the drone has been getting very low satellite counts since the beginning. It usually starts at 2 then slowly climbs up to 8-9. The highest count that I have been is 11 satellites. I had 3 phantom 4s and 2 phantom 3 pro. All my phantom 3 professional got up to 18 satellites at the same spot while all my phantom 4s and this Mavic got up to 11 satellites at max. Seriously, I have never seen them got 12+ satellites. I am in Orange County, Calif. Despite the fact that my Mavic is only getting 11 sats max, the signal bars is still high at maximum strength and I tested RTH from roughly 2.5km a couple times and the drone had no issues return to home. Sometimes, the LED flashes yellow light 3 times very fast and it continues for around 5 secs then it goes back to green as normal. I still have full control of the drone when the LED is yellow and the app does not show any warning. Sat count is still the same.

I am concerned since some people reported their drones also have 7-8 sats and then the drone suddenly lost all sat signal and it went to ATTI mode and crashed. DJI Go 4 app reports IMU and Compass are good so I have never calibrated IMU and Compass. Is that the reason why I am getting low sat count? and is it common for Phantom 3 pro to have more satellites than P4's and Mavic?

Thanks guys.
Typically I get 15 to 20 when above the trees. I won't take off until I have ten.

The dropping of GPS Health as shown by the number of bars isn't necessary related to the satellite count. Maybe download one of the apps that shows the number of Satellites you should see for your location and time.

I would think if you have a clear view of the sky to the horizon that you should be picking up more satellites, even on a bad day. Maybe try another location, or higher altitude. Weather can also make a difference.
 

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Thank you for your input. It leads me to the right direction.

According to UAVForecast website, if I uncheck the box "Include GLONASS Sats" then the number will drop down from 8-12 depends on time and condition of the day. If I check that box, number of sats will go up to from 14-20 in my area.

Now, I come to a conclusion that all of my P4s and Mavic only show US Sats for some reasons.

Is there an option in DJI App to show all sats? I went over it and I don't think it has such option.
 
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No, I don't recall anything in the software or flight data files that would differentiate between the 2 satellite systems used for GPS. Maybe hook up with others in your area to see if their experiences are similar flying together at the same location. This should give glues as to whether it's a problem with your units, or something else.
 
I found another surprising but good thing today. All of my flight records in DJI GO 4 app show they (all of my P4s and Mavic) all have very high sat counts range from 15-21 the whole time and GPS signal is always good. This means US Sat and GLONASS are connected. During flight, they show a much lower number which represents only US Sats.

Whereas my P3 pro show all satellites during flight and in flight records.

I assume this is a bug in the app rather than an issue with the drones. I am sure other pilots have experienced this as well but surprisingly, no one has ever brought it up.
 
Hi All. Im having the same problem. 8 sats max.no matter what I do. I was about to replace the GPS module but I would like to be sure that's the problem. Im pretty sure now that this is a software problem. If it was broken, it would show 0 sats or "gps error". I dont know if its the app or the mavic firmware. I have a few devices that I can check once the weather gets better. Has anyone had this problem and found a fix for it? Any additional help is much appreciated.

Thank You
 
Try to delete/uninstall the app, and delete all the cache files and reinstall the app.
You could also try an earlier version of the app, just search for the .apk file of the version you want.
I am still with 1.0.4 of the Go4 app....
 
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