Power up Controller or drone first

[BigAl07]

Rx and Tx? I am a newbie so forgive innocence!

Power up Controller or drone first

In the RC Car world it is very taboo to power up your car first. Controller always first. Does the same hold true for drones?

mavicpilots.com

 

[Meta4]

In the RC Car world it is very taboo to power up your car first. Controller always first. Does the same hold true for drones?

It makes no difference.
Powering up the drone first gives it time to acquire satellite signals while you are powering the controller and checking settings.

 

[sar104]

It makes no difference.
Powering up the drone first gives it time to acquire satellite signals while you are powering the controller and checking settings.

Except that powering up the controller first avoids missing recording of the first part of the mobile device DAT file, which may contain data that you need later.

 

[Meta4]

And that would be very, very rarely

 

[sar104]

And that would be very, very rarely

Agreed - in fact you rarely need the TXT logs or DAT files at all, but when you do (all cases of magnetic errors at startup, for example), that's when you need the full DAT file, not a partial.

 

[spudster]

And that would be very, very rarely

Like for compass errors?

 

[IntoTheSun]

Ok I’m a new UAV pilot, but here’s my thoughts:

I power up the RC and app (aka the Tx I believe) and make sure they are waiting on the UAV, then when they are (a very quick process), power up the UAV.

That way if the UAV does something crazy - say like spin up or (gasp) take off - on it’s own I have the controls at the ready.

I hope it never happens, but if it does I want a more active role than as a spectator to mayhem.

Besides, it’s more difficult to appear as a kool & suave pilot while panicking & scrambling to get the RC & app going…

My 2c.

 

[umanbean]

Ok I’m a new UAV pilot, but here’s my thoughts:

I power up the RC and app (aka the Tx I believe) and make sure they are waiting on the UAV, then when they are (a very quick process), power up the UAV.

That way if the UAV does something crazy - say like spin up or (gasp) take off - on it’s own I have the controls at the ready.

I hope it never happens, but if it does I want a more active role than as a spectator to mayhem.

Besides, it’s more difficult to appear as a kool & suave pilot while panicking & scrambling to get the RC & app going…

My 2c.

Well said, my thoughts exactly.

 

[Emanáku]

I switch on the drone last. Main reason: I live at nearly 10,000 feet altitude, and here batteries only last 18-20 minutes. So I try to "save" battery, and may it even be 30 seconds of the drone resting on the ground

 

[LA 2020]

In the RC Car world it is very taboo to power up your car first. Controller always first. Does the same hold true for drones?

I always power up the controller and ipad app first, drone last

 

[sharkface]

In the RC Car world it is very taboo to power up your car first. Controller always first. Does the same hold true for drones?

Power on connect the remote, and tablet first . That is more important I found..

 

[joeruby]

the added benefit of the Bind/Link protocol.

Would you please provide a link (or any information) so I can better understand the Bind/Link protocol used in our DJI drones?

PS:
I am from back in the early 1950 with a 27.255 MHz Babcock transmitter and a home built Lorenz gas tube receiver built into a free flight airplane with a rubber band driven escapement. This escapement drove the rudder control (no elevator or ailerons). I had a partial choke on the Fox 35 glow engine with a on-off modulated 900 Hz frequency. Single push button control - push once and hold for right rudder. Push twice and hold for left rudder. Push three times and hold for choke (run very rich for low power). Only one comtrol at a time. We used 67.5 volt batteries. Many years later my transmitter "close-pin" clip was purple - I forgot my 72 Mhz frequency. What fun back then too.
Joe
KC7GHT
Today P3P and M2P

 

[smashse]

I find it doesn't matter much, old school RC did because of interference, but these are drones. They actually control themselves based on your input and their sensors. Old school, the receiver got a signal to move the throttle, and it moved the throttle no matter where the signal came from. Part of the reason to turn the Remote on first was to make sure you were the strongest signal near the RC Vehicle.

Also, now remotes have ID's and the UAV will only listen to signals from that one, made through pairing. So unless the signal is being spoofed, there is a lot less chance of a rogue signal taking control. The controls are a data signal to the UAV, where before it was an analog signal telling a servo how far to move. Now it is all computer driven, interpreted, and then acted on. Analog is a sine wave with modulation (Amplitude..AM or Frequency..FM), and now it is 1's and 0's being sent really fast.

Having said that, I always power my tablet first, then remote, then UAV. Partially just to make sure I am even going to fly, because if something is wrong with either of those, I am not taking off. That's the order of importance.

 

[Jamesz]

Logically, drone on first gives it longer time to update its location for rth and initialise IMU etc, but app first, and then controller and drone still seems more reliable to me.

 

[SkiProiii]

In the RC Car world it is very taboo to power up your car first. Controller always first. Does the same hold true for drones?

Official DJI videos show:

1 - Controller
2 - Drone
3 - App

My experience is 2 and 3 can be interchangeable and haven’t had issues with either, but I always have the controller on first (app is not required to for basic drone flight control).

I start the motors and let hover at eye level for 30 seconds whenever possible. Generally if all is good in that time, I’ve had no issues. I have had issues when I started flying without strong satellite lock so the hover is a learned suggestion that allows satellite locks, homepoint update and any connection/ drone error messages.

 

[Drbobk]

Sorry for the bad spelling I have got to stop using it The Voice Mic, and manually type every word sorry I haven’t had enough coffee yet

Did you know that when you’re dictating you can (and should) say the puctuation. It wasn’t the spelling, it was the lack of punctuation that made that so hard to read. Just say “period” when you need one.

 

[briano216]

I used to always start the RC first and then drone, but now that the DJI Smart Controller can be used for multiple types of drones, I find I have to turn the drone on first. Turning the RC on first means I have to go through the whole process of selecting the type of drone and then relinking every time, unless I'm missing something.

 

[Meta4]

Like for compass errors?

Not sure what you mean by that.
The usual time that the dat file is desired is to confirm that a yaw error situation was caused by outside magnetic influences, or the very rare times that there's a magnetic issue affecting the drone itself.
Most of those can be prevented by not launching from reinforced concrete or checking the drone's orientation vs the orientation of the drone icon on the map in the app, before launching.

In several thousand flights, I've never had an incident that needed to have the .dat file looked at.
In analysing flight data from many flight incidents for other flyers, it's quite rare that the .dat file is needed.

 

[lissforester]

RX & T-Rex dinosaurs

 

[Barbara]

From what I've read, here and elsewhere, there doesn't seem to be any technical reason for any particular order in powering up. I prefer a particular order personally (App/Remote/Drone) and stick to it for consistency.

By starting the drone last, the App connects immediately and I can scan for errors and set any parameters I wish to change while the drone acquires satellites. By the time I'm ready to launch, so is the drone.

Just my 2 cents worth...