options when battery flat

[Mel 08]

mulled through loads of posts since joining what i must admit is the best forum ive been on,
no bitching at all just a few light hearted remarks.
anyway, my question is

when my battery gets to 20% ish my ma2 returns to home automaticly,
which in my opinion is brilliant.
have noticed when researching on here, others just hover.
and some land

correct me if im wrong the 3rd option is dangerous and again in my opinion shouldn,t be a option,
the 2nd option would be ok if following los ruling,
but the 1st option is by far the safest and best,

me being a technical wizzard have not in any way shape or form set the drone up to do this, dont even no if it can be changed,

would appreciate any and all views on this please

cheers mel

 

[Air_Deo]

First option ... I didn't know you could set the MA2 to hover or land at a certain battery percentage, I thought those options were only for if you lose signal/transmission from the drone to the RC.

 

[brett8883]

First option ... I didn't know you could set the MA2 to hover or land at a certain battery percentage, I thought those options were only for if you lose signal/transmission from the drone to the RC.

Yea this is true.

It’s also not at a certain percentage either actually it’s when the drone calculates it must start heading back to get back home before the battery gets below a certain threshold (it was 20%of the mavic pro idk what it is on the MA2)

It does the same thing when it calculates there’s only enough power to land and still have x% remain of battery. this can’t be turned off

 

[Mel 08]

I've flown mine on 4 separate days now.
I have 3 batteries all fully charged when I go out
The drone has not flown more than 400 meters away at any time
Every time the automatic rth has activated there's been between 17 and 20 % left.
Almost every time its been within spitting distance from me. Still the same %
My original question was raised because I've read on this forum about the latter 2 options.
Just trying to gather as much information as possible

Cheers Mel

 

[brett8883]

I've flown mine on 4 separate days now.
I have 3 batteries all fully charged when I go out
The drone has not flown more than 400 meters away at any time
Every time the automatic rth has activated there's been between 17 and 20 % left.
Almost every time its been within spitting distance from me. Still the same %
My original question was raised because I've read on this forum about the latter 2 options.
Just trying to gather as much information as possible

Cheers Mel

The other options are for when you lose radio connection not low battery.

The percentage it starts RTH will change depending on how far away it is. When it’s real close to you the amount of time it takes to get home and land is low so the percentage it Starts RTH will be about the same. Go further and it will be different

 

[Mel 08]

So if you loose signal you can program it to hover or land?

 

[brett8883]

So if you loose signal you can program it to hover or land?

Yes or Return to home. Return to home is the best option

 

[Mel 08]

The posts I've read one in particular is a mixture of battery status and signal strength
I think people were talking about the 2 of them at the same time
Getting confused.
Certainly had me confused lol.
But better be safe than sorry.
Thanks very much for your input
Much appreciated
Cheers Mel

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yea this is true.

It’s also not at a certain percentage either actually it’s when the drone calculates it must start heading back to get back home before the battery gets below a certain threshold (it was 20%of the mavic pro idk what it is on the MA2)

It does the same thing when it calculates there’s only enough power to land and still have x% remain of battery. this can’t be turned off

It may not be able to be turned off, but it can be ignored on the MA2. If you don't let off the sticks, it is automatically overriden in my experience, and you still have full control, to fly even farther away, and certainly to delay the landing.

 

[Mel 08]

It may not be able to be turned off, but it can be ignored on the MA2. If you don't let off the sticks, it is automatically overriden in my experience, and you still have full control, to fly even farther away, and certainly to delay the landing.

Will that not damage battery running it below what I assume is the safe level dji has deemed to be the lowest threshold for longevity of the battery life

Wow longevity
That's a big word for me.
Especially after just getting home from a 12 hr night shift after 2 weeks off lol

Cheers Mel

 

[GadgetGuy]

Will that not damage battery running it below what I assume is the safe level dji has deemed to be the lowest threshold for longevity of the battery life

Wow longevity
That's a big word for me.
Especially after just getting home from a 12 hr night shift after 2 weeks off lol

Cheers Mel

Not at all! 0% remaining is still well above 3.5V per cell. Only risk is not making it back, if you dawdle too long. If within half a mile, you'll be fine!

 

[TerryToast]

It may not be able to be turned off, but it can be ignored on the MA2. If you don't let off the sticks, it is automatically overriden in my experience, and you still have full control, to fly even farther away, and certainly to delay the landing.

I can confirm this. Yesterday I was flying over water and was struggling to get home. I started at 1km away with 25%. In sport mode heading home, when the 10% hit, I was still 300 metres away (over water). So I didn’t release the sticks, pushed fill up to stop it from landing. I managed to get home and land safely.

I learned a valuable lesson re how fast the last 25% of the battery can evaporate. It was crazy.

 

[InvisibleName]

I can confirm this. Yesterday I was flying over water and was struggling to get home. I started at 1km away with 25%. In sport mode heading home, when the 10% hit, I was still 300 metres away (over water). So I didn’t release the sticks, pushed fill up to stop it from landing. I managed to get home and land safely.

I learned a valuable lesson re how fast the last 25% of the battery can evaporate. It was crazy.

Phew! Bet your pulse was racing!

 

[DavidT_ NZ]

So if you loose signal you can program it to hover or land?

Have a look online for the Mavic Air 2 Manual, now issued in pdf format. There is a section detailing with how to set the RTH options. I think you will find a link in here, also, posted a few weeks ago. Safe flying.

* I just found it:

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic_Air_2/20200511/Mavic_Air_2_User_Manual_v1.0_en.pdf

 

[Air_Deo]

Yea this is true.

It’s also not at a certain percentage either actually it’s when the drone calculates it must start heading back to get back home before the battery gets below a certain threshold (it was 20%of the mavic pro idk what it is on the MA2)

It does the same thing when it calculates there’s only enough power to land and still have x% remain of battery. this can’t be turned off

Well then I definitely don't want it just to hover or land at that point, want it coming back. But yeah at 20% you probably should be trying to make it back already, especially if you are some distance away from your home point.

At which point does the drone do an automatic descent and you have to start pressing up on the sticks to avoid it from landing? I think its when the battery has 10% left. Knowing that the drone behalves this way, I've always trained myself if flying far away to return or turn back with 60% battery in case of flying into wind ... if I have 20%+ left and I'm in my vicinity, I'll usually fly around some more but maybe only a few hundred feet away. I usually like to land drone anywhere with 10-25% left.

I'd rather land the drone on my terms, then let the auto descent mechanism kick in and force me to make more difficult decisions as to where to 'ditch' land the it.

 

[hiflyer201]

My original question was raised because I've read on this forum about the latter 2 options.
Just trying to gather as much information as possible

Cheers Mel

when hiking with active track if you set it to hover you don't have too much concern with overhead tree's or worse...going back to where you started hiking..yikes!
I used to worry about re- setting it back to return to home for the next sortie but I think RTH is the default setting.....I think..

 

[TerryToast]

Phew! Bet your pulse was racing!

Majorly! Watching the battery percentage rocket down was horrifying.

Thankfully I’d read on this forum a few days earlier that to stop the auto landing, you go “full up and forward” on the sticks. And it worked! Saved by Mavic Pilots!

 

[Pappy]

when hiking with active track if you set it to hover you don't have too much concern with overhead tree's or worse...going back to where you started hiking..yikes!
I used to worry about re- setting it back to return to home for the next sortie but I think RTH is the default setting.....I think..

It does default to RTH for "Signal Lost" on next power up. I was flying along a tree covered dirt road and set "Signal Lost" to "Hover". On next power up it was set back to RTH.