Return to home at night

[redserv]

Unless your are specially trained and HAVE A WAIVER FROM THE FAA, you are not allowed to fly and night. However, to answer your question, the drone finds home by GPS and not sight, so it should return.

Thank you for your information. I am.not in u.s so no waver needed.

 

[Coco 60]

RTH uses GPS to return at the exact home point. GPS satellites work 24/7.

 

[JayTea26]

Unless your are specially trained and HAVE A WAIVER FROM THE FAA, you are not allowed to fly and night. However, to answer your question, the drone finds home by GPS and not sight, so it should return.

Is it true that I can not fly at night even with a strobe if flying only for recreation?

 

[JayTea26]

I velcroed a white Arc-II just behind the camera on the bottom. I've got red/green on a clip that snaps over the battery for side strobes and on the rear landing gear I have another white one pointing straight back.

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I’m waiting for shipment of the firehouse strobe For my MA2. Are you recommending I put it on the bottom just rear of the camera and a red on the side near the battery and a green on other side? Can I then fly at night for recreation only?

 

[Mel 08]

my ma2 wassnt landing exacttly where i took off from, some times being 4 ft away.
i picked it up and danced with it for a while,.
its fine now.

otherwise known as a compass calebration

cheers mel

 

[SkyeHigh]

Is it true that I can not fly at night even with a strobe if flying only for recreation?

Check this link for more on Precision Landing and RTH. Definitely don’t recommend at night.

 

[DanaMc]

Give a plenty room for landing area, and keep an eye on it, it can land 10 - 20 foots away from place you took off, maybe you need to do small ujustment but be careful, I find out when it lands on RTH even small ujustment it very sensitive and drone jumps quite fast and can easy crash I have couple near misses

If it’s landing more than 2’ +/- from exact take off spot, you probably need to recalibrate the GPS. 10’+ off the mark is totally unreasonable.

 

[Coco 60]

Unless your are specially trained and HAVE A WAIVER FROM THE FAA, you are not allowed to fly and night. However, to answer your question, the drone finds home by GPS and not sight, so it should return.

I think if you have position lights on your drone then you're allowed

 

[Steve L Reid]

Hi guys I am trying to find out what will happen if I am flying at night and intiate return to home

I always turn the lights on so it can see me!

 

[JayTea26]

Unless your are specially trained and HAVE A WAIVER FROM THE FAA, you are not allowed to fly and night. However, to answer your question, the drone finds home by GPS and not sight, so it should return.

So, if I just want to fly around at night for my own enjoyment getting specially trained and trying to get a waiver from the FAA is probably pointless.

 

[Meta4]

The drone uses gps and compass information prior to take off, it doesn’t use a camera to establish anything!

Read the section of your manual regarding Precision Landing
It uses optical technology and uses a camera to record an image of the launch point.

my ma2 wassnt landing exacttly where i took off from, some times being 4 ft away.

That is completely normal because that's how GPS works.
It is not pinpoint accurate.

i picked it up and danced with it for a while,.
its fine now.
otherwise known as a compass calebration

If it’s landing more than 2’ +/- from exact take off spot, you probably need to recalibrate the GPS. 10’+ off the mark is totally unreasonable.

Recalibrating the compass makes no difference to GPS accuracy.

 

[ICHOTT]

For goodness sake, like a lot to do with drones go out and try it!!!,

as for the ‘regulations’ of course don’t try this for the first time over houses, people, distance etc etc. Do it as an experiment.
First have a plan for a short test flight, perhaps a couple of variations, I’m talking about 30/50 meters, not 300!
Get confidence as to what RTH does and check any obstacles and try different RTH heights.
Then try it at dusk, then once ‘you’ know it works, because it does, do it in the dark.

Great advice re strobes etc but not necessary, your monitor (ipad?) will show you where it is, personally I use RTH and once about 10/15 metres above me, take manual control and land straight down, it doesn’t just use cameras for landing, the ultrasonic sensors are there for ground sensing.

BTW, re the comment “Recalibrating the compass makes no difference to GPS accuracy” is not strictly true! It does not indeed make ‘the GPS satellites themselves” more accurate but compass calibration DOES make an item like a drone react more positionally accurately, what else is it for?

give it a go and let us know

 

[Meta4]

BTW, re the comment “Recalibrating the compass makes no difference to GPS accuracy” is not strictly true! It does not indeed make ‘the GPS satellites themselves” more accurate but compass calibration DOES make an item like a drone react more positionally accurately

The compass is completely separate from the GPS receiver, they are completely independent.
What you say suggests that you believe that compass calibration somehow makes the compass more accurate, when it does nothing like that.
If your drone flies straight and hovers without slowly rotating, the compass is calibrated.
Your compass is either calibrated or it isn't.

what else is it for?

The only thing that compass calibration is for is identifying and measuring the magnetic fields that are part of the drone so they can be subtracted from compass data to give an accurate reading of magnetic north.
That's the one and only purpose of compass calibration.

 

[Ron Caballero CAP]

So, if I just want to fly around at night for my own enjoyment getting specially trained and trying to get a waiver from the FAA is probably pointless.

Only if you want to break the law!
Of course, if you restrict you bird to flying ONLY within your property, perhaps to take photos of the surrounding lights at night, or fireworks nearby, you are not likely to get caught. -30-

 

[dronerdave]

So, if I just want to fly around at night for my own enjoyment getting specially trained and trying to get a waiver from the FAA is probably pointless.

Yeah it might be difficult to get a waiver to do 107 work. But just because you have a 107 certificate, you can still fly at night for recreational purposes. The current FAA rule for night flight is on their site:
6. Do not fly at night unless your drone has lighting that allows you to know its location and orientation at all times.

 

[DanMan32]

The built in lights on the M2 are useless for landing even manually. They don't have enough throw to illuminate the ground.

Before DJI added PL to the M2 six months after M2 release, many of us experienced being off target from takeoff position by as much as 5 feet. I experienced this and was surprised since my P3 was more accurate.

Precision landing is optically based and is an enhancement to fine tune the landing position after the regular GPS based RTH has reached the home point coordinates.
Since PL is optically based, it can't work in darkness any more than collision avoidance. I would think a strobe solely illuminating the landing site would confuse it for use with PL.

 

[Ron Caballero CAP]

Yeah it might be difficult to get a waiver to do 107 work. But just because you have a 107 certificate, you can still fly at night for recreational purposes. The current FAA rule for night flight is on their site:
6. Do not fly at night unless your drone has lighting that allows you to know its location and orientation at all times.

Soon, my MA2 will have red and green on the front and white on one rear leg. I do not plan, for the moment, to fly at night, but at dusk to get sunsets. I just want my drone well lighted any time of day.

 

[Meta4]

Before DJI added PL to the M2 six months after M2 release, many of us experienced being off target from takeoff position by as much as 5 feet.
I experienced this and was surprised since my P3 was more accurate.

Your P3 was no more accurate.
It used the same consumer GPS and variable inaccuracy is a feature of consumer GPS.
Using GPS your M2's performance would have been the same as the P3.

GPS.gov: GPS Accuracy

Information about GPS accuracy

www.gps.gov

 

[1bad]

I velcroed a white Arc-II just behind the camera on the bottom. I've got red/green on a clip that snaps over the battery for side strobes and on the rear landing gear I have another white one pointing straight back.

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Do those strobes effect the video quality on it, in lower light conditions?

 

[dronerdave]

Do those strobes effect the video quality on it, in lower light conditions?

Not really, except when pointing the camera down the strobes really light up the ground when about 30 feet agl or lower. I don't have front strobes but others say it doesn't bother the video (with strobes mounted on the front rotor arms). When I did mount on the front, the bugs made some unique effects and if close into some kind of structure like trees, the strobe is like a camera flash. I generally shoot forward for sunset pics and what not, so I mounted a white strobe on the bottom of my MP instead of a forward position. Air quality might also make a difference. Usually I'll grab a photo during dusk and return after dark. More back on topic, my quad seems to be able to hit the landing pad which makes me think the strobes are helping it hit the target when dark. I could be wrong.