Rookie Question #1......"Charge required to return to Home Point"

[JAW]

The below graphic is from the manual and depicts the battery usage scale. Under the "circle H" it says "Charge required to return to Home Point" What exactly does it mean and what are the implications for the flight?
TIA!

 

[old man mavic]

The below graphic is from the manual and depicts the battery usage scale. Under the "circle H" it says "Charge required to return to Home Point" What exactly does it mean and what are the implications for the flight?
View attachment 60803

that is the amount of remaining charge in the battery to allow the UAV to get back to the home point before the low battery warning comes on it is calculated by the IMU based on flight time ,distance from home and speed as you fly the (H) moves towards the left of the screen and when it reaches a certain point it will trigger RTH and the UAV will return to home point this is a safety feature of the UAV the graphic needs to be taken into consideration during your flight so as not to get in to trouble with a lack of battery power to fly it is only a guide and it is up to the operator to keep an eye on it while airborne

 

[Former Member]

Sometimes a message will pop up saying, “warning, the remaining Battery is only enough for RTH. Return home now” Its a good idea to heed that message.

 

[JAW]

Got it! Thank you.

 

[old man mavic]

i would also like to add that the wind direction will make a difference to the UAVs ability to get home as we have seen in another thread always try to fly into the wind on the outwards journey if possible as it needs less battery to get back if it is not fighting the wind and also altitude is a big factor higher usually means stronger wind

 

[Former Member]

i would also like to add that the wind direction will make a difference to the UAVs ability to get home as we have seen in another thread always try to fly into the wind on the outwards journey if possible as it needs less battery to get back if it is not fighting the wind and also altitude is a big factor higher usually means stronger wind

100% true. In the title, the OP refers to himself as a "newbie" and thats one thing a newbie has to keep in mind. Always start upwind, and fly home downwind. The last thing you want when you have a low battery is to be far away and fighting a headwind.

 

[msinger]

Under the "circle H" it says "Charge required to return to Home Point" What exactly does it mean and what are the implications for the flight?

That's the point where the battery will reach the low level. If you have the "Smart Return-to-Home" setting enabled in DJI GO, you'll see a message pop up to alert you that the drone will start auto returning back to the home point in 10 seconds. If you don't want the drone to return home for some reason, you can tap that message to cancel that action.

 

[JAW]

Thanks again

i would also like to add that the wind direction will make a difference to the UAVs ability to get home as we have seen in another thread always try to fly into the wind on the outwards journey if possible as it needs less battery to get back if it is not fighting the wind and also altitude is a big factor higher usually means stronger wind

Thanks to everybody again.
While I am a "newbie' to DJI products, I have a lot of stick time with Blade's 350QX and a GoPro camera. One thing I learned was when possible, fly the outbound leg against the wind. Sometimes that would mean relocating my take-off point. With a battery time of about 12 minutes on my loaded down QX350, it was critical to consider the wind direction. Thanks for re-emphasizing that.

 

[Jackcutrone]

The low battery RTH is a safety feature but it is a calculation by the IMU but that calculation is based on assumptions that may or may not be accurate. I don’t ever fly until it reaches that low a battery level but start back well before it. People have mentioned that you should be outbound against the wind which is true. But you won’t always be able to do that. your RTH height might be set high enough that the winds at that altitude are too strong to allow the drone to make it all the way back home on a low batteryRTH so you need to fly lower