Obstacle Avoidance bug????

Donnie Frank · Oct 3, 2017

Hey doods!

So flying last night about 7:00 over a wilderness area about 900' AGL, while on it's way home, my Mavic stops in its tracks and utters the "Obstacle Avoidance reset" warning. Hmmm.... So I push the stick forward, and about 100' later, she does it again. So I tried to turn off Obstacle Avoidance and it won't disable....hmmmm... I eventually got the bird home, but lesson learned. I personally think that Obstacle Avoidance just gives us a false sense of security. Call me nuts, but I avoid objects all on my own...LOL....

Has anyone else experienced this bug?

Disclaimer: I launched @ 9,000' elevation within 3,000' of a 10,000' mountain peak. So, technically, I was flying 100' BGL.

Scottd9000 · Oct 3, 2017

Sun low on the horizon? It’s normal at dusk. Turn off avoidance.

Adamcain112 · Oct 3, 2017

I had the same problem last night and it was at dusk I am going to turn off avoidance next time and hope it helps.

htommy · Oct 3, 2017

i keep mine off period

Donnie Frank · Oct 3, 2017

Scottd9000 said:
Sun low on the horizon? It’s normal at dusk. Turn off avoidance.

Interesting. I don't put much faith in that avoidance crap anyway. Shutting it OFF.

lisadoc · Oct 4, 2017

Donnie Frank said:
So I push the stick forward, and about 100' later, she does it again. So I tried to turn off Obstacle Avoidance and it won't disable....hmmmm... I eventually got the bird home, but lesson learned.

You can also switch into Sport mode, as that will disable obstacle avoidance as well.

boone · Oct 4, 2017

lisadoc said:
You can also switch into Sport mode, as that will disable obstacle avoidance as well.

It will also disable RTH

Ranger107 · Oct 4, 2017

Curious thought, but perhaps turning off the obstacle avoidance will spare some battery?
I’d try to just reset the App the RC and the aircraft. Safe Flights.

Carlcox89 · Oct 4, 2017

boone said:
It will also disable RTH

Where did you read that ?

Adamcain112 · Oct 4, 2017

htommy said:
i keep mine off period

Do you shut the ones on the bottom off also?

msinger · Oct 4, 2017

boone said:
It will also disable RTH

Flying in Sport mode will not disable RTH.

Porto · Oct 4, 2017

msinger said:
Flying in Sport mode will not disable RTH.

Probably what he meant was, when we are doing RTH then we switch to Sport mode, it will cancel RTH.

Kestrel · Oct 4, 2017

I usually keep mine off except when trying to get close shots of something or when i'm coming into land.

Duse · Oct 4, 2017

Donnie Frank said:
Interesting. I don't put much faith in that avoidance crap anyway. Shutting it OFF.

I flip mine on and off depending on whats going on.
In this case it saved me.
At the 12 sec mark you can see my van pull up. Then I still couldent find it so I tried taking it up to see where it was,but didn't have enough battery

Donnie Frank · Oct 4, 2017

lisadoc said:
You can also switch into Sport mode, as that will disable obstacle avoidance as well.

That didn't seem to work. That was the first thing I did. In fact, most of that flight was done in sport mode. If I recall, the error message was "Obstacle Avoidance reset." Reset? Hmmmm...

msinger · Oct 4, 2017

Donnie Frank said:
If I recall, the error message was "Obstacle Avoidance reset." Reset? Hmmmm...

If that message was recorded in the flight log, you'll be able to see it if you upload your TXT flight log here (and whether or not your were flying in Sport mode at that time).

Donnie Frank · Oct 4, 2017

Here's the flight video....

htommy · Oct 4, 2017

Adamcain112 said:
Do you shut the ones on the bottom off also?

i do because i feel i dont really need obstacle avoidance,i had an issue last year that spooked me and had read where a RTH obstacle avoidance kept the drone from returning home because it hovered until the battery went dead,i recalibrated on the cpu via DJI assistant because mine were constantly initiating and it seemed to help but i just keep them off,the only time i use them for safety is when in a rotating active track maneuver

htommy · Oct 4, 2017

htommy said:
i do because i feel i dont really need obstacle avoidance,i had an issue last year that spooked me and had read where a RTH obstacle avoidance kept the drone from returning home because it hovered until the battery went dead,i recalibrated on the cpu via DJI assistant because mine were constantly initiating and it seemed to help but i just keep them off,the only time i use them for safety is when in a rotating active track maneuver

but always off when flying manually

Donnie Frank · Oct 4, 2017

msinger said:
If that message was recorded in the flight log, you'll be able to see it if you upload your TXT flight log here (and whether or not your were flying in Sport mode at that time).

Good call. I've downloaded and examined the Flight Records for that flight. Despite an amazing amount of information being recorded every .1 seconds, the "Messages" field doesn't show the error message I received several times. Disappointing.

It DOES show that about half the flight was in Sport mode. But seems the last 2 minutes was flown in P-GPS mode. So, perhaps, a switch to "Sport mode" might have circumvented the problem.