Today I lost my Drone. I'm not sure what happend. I changed 1 setting and that's the return to home.

[Logger]

You sir, don't seem to grasp the meaning of Smart RTH.

Pot - Kettle & patronising to boot. Nice.

Smart RTH means that the drone is deciding for itself when it is time to come home, based on the battery status and the distance to the homepoint. NOT when you press RTH yourself. If Smart RTH kicks in, it means you as a pilot did not take the precautions for a safe return. The copter itself determines it should head home straight away. If there's a strong headwind on the home leg it will have to land before it reaches home.

You are describing Low Battery RTH and not Smart RTH

Now not everybody has 40 years of RC flying fixed wing and CP heli's behind the belt. I have, and you make it sound like you are also extremely experienced. But for anyone not having any experience or flight school training I would strongly suggest not to follow your advice..

Lots of people have many years of experience doing all sort of things & you would never know! As you have aptly demonstrated, experienced people are not immune from mistakes or hubris.

See my reply to your other statement about RTH and smart RTH. What your stating here is not true at all. You don't understand Smart RTH at all. Read the manual.
.......

Pot - Kettle, again?

Can I suggest you review the manual your self @Lake_Flyer
Start on page 14 and once you have grasped what Low Battery RTH is, then take a look at Smart RTH (user initiated) and Failsafe RTH (signal loss) variants. Also lake a look at page 45 for in-app user initiated Smart RTH.

Personally, I often fly beyond Low Battery RTH having cancelled it and then fly home manually. I also manually use Smart RTH from time to time when it suits. For me they are all tools to be used in an informed manner.

 

[geigy]

Best option if you're on a moving boat would to use homelock instead of return to home. Just put it into Homelock and pull the right stick back and whatever direction it's pointing it'll come back to you. You'd still have to land it manually of course.

This works only if you do not move the home point. The drone will not continuously change the home position as you move. You must do that manually which, on a boat, is not going to be what you need.

The safest option on a boat whose course you control is to hover, and avoid using rth at all. If you loose signal, have the boat move toward your drone.

It would be sweet if the mavic would ascend to the rth altitude and hover there, because that might recover signal. . Anyone know whether it does this?

If you don't have control over the boat's heading, don't fly.

Btw, In any situation involving lost signal, it does not hurt to punch the throttle to try and gain altitude Ithis could recover the rc downlink If the mavic can hear you, but you cannot hear it.

 

[motopokep]

The unit has a GPS map, with a flight trail. I always just bring up the GPS screen and follow the path home.

How do I do that in DJI go app with the Mavic?


EDIT: ignore the question, I went out flying today, tapped on the smaller map screen at the bottom left, and it showed a green flight path, which I used to return manually from over 2,000 feet away. I'm glad you brought it up.

 

[TCRay]

The Mavic pro has both a follow me mode and a dynamic home point mode. They are both based on the gps signal of your flight device. You can find these settings under the main controller app in the DJI GO4 app. I was never able to achieve a good enough signal on either of my flight devices, iPad mini4 and a 7plus. I just ended up buying an external GPS dongle that transmits an excellent gps signal via bluetooth, no need to download any apps just simply pair it with you device and you're ready to go.
Amazon.com: Garmin GLO Portable GPS and GLONASS Receiver with Vehicle Power Cable: Cell Phones & Accessories


Here is a vid that explains the the 2 different home point settings.

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Hope this helps you guys and happy flying!

JoKhool, with this Garmin GPS/GLONASS, how does it work with the Mavic controller?

I'm wondering, since I use a Nexis 7 with GPS as my controller screen, would that suffice to update my position as my RTH if I move from my original RTH position? Thoughts?

 

[msinger]

with this Garmin GPS/GLONASS, how does it work with the Mavic controller?

You can connect a Bluetooth GPS receiver (like the any of these) to your mobile device to share GPS data if your mobile device does not contain a GPS receiver.

since I use a Nexis 7 with GPS as my controller screen, would that suffice to update my position as my RTH if I move from my original RTH position?

Yes -- since it contains a GPS receiver.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

Pot - Kettle & patronising to boot. Nice.

You are describing Low Battery RTH and not Smart RTH


Lots of people have many years of experience doing all sort of things & you would never know! As you have aptly demonstrated, experienced people are not immune from mistakes or hubris.

Pot - Kettle, again?

Can I suggest you review the manual your self @Lake_Flyer
Start on page 14 and once you have grasped what Low Battery RTH is, then take a look at Smart RTH (user initiated) and Failsafe RTH (signal loss) variants. Also lake a look at page 45 for in-app user initiated Smart RTH.

Personally, I often fly beyond Low Battery RTH having cancelled it and then fly home manually. I also manually use Smart RTH from time to time when it suits. For me they are all tools to be used in an informed manner.

Although a bit late here's my response:

You have read the manual correctly. Pressing the RTH button is indeed worded like 'Smart Return To Home' in the manual.
However, DJI themselves admit that the wording in the manual is not correct.

From DJI Ken:
Look at my previous post, Smart RTH basically enables/disables the low battery RTH.
With Smart RTH enabled, the aircraft knows roughly how much battery you need to come home and it will not let you fly further than the battery needed to come home.
With Smart RTH disabled, you can hover a mile away and you may look down and you only have a little battery left and not enough to get home so it will land and not come home.

What would otherwise be the point of being able to switch it on or off in the Go App? With the switch you can always trigger RTH, nothing smart about that. Unless you think YOU are smart because YOU triggered it yourself (which is always smarter than waiting for the drone to decide to RTH)?
Understandable reasoning sure. But the reality is that Smart RTH = Low Battery RTH,
DJI admits it.

Reading the manual is a good thing. Taking Chinese text, converted to English by Chinese, 100% literally, not. We should always be aware of that and keep thinking logically.

 

[msinger]

From DJI Ken:
Look at my previous post, Smart RTH basically enables/disables the low battery RTH.

He is saying that enabling the "Smart Return-to-Home" feature in DJI GO (see the screenshot below) will trigger "Low Battery RTH" (as documented in the "Return-to-Home (RTH)" section of the Mavic manual).




However, the "Smart Return-to-Home" feature is not the same thing as "Smart RTH" (as documented in the "Return-to-Home (RTH)" section of the Mavic manual). In fact, the "Smart Return-to-Home" feature is not mentioned anywhere in the Mavic manual. The manual is written in such a way that would make a user think Low Battery RTH is always enabled (and cannot be disabled).

 

[Lake_Flyer]

He is saying that enabling the "Smart Return-to-Home" feature in DJI GO (see the screenshot below) will trigger "Low Battery RTH" (as documented in the "Return-to-Home (RTH)" section of the Mavic manual).

View attachment 30734


However, the "Smart Return-to-Home" feature is not the same thing as "Smart RTH" (as documented in the "Return-to-Home (RTH)" section of the Mavic manual). In fact, the "Smart Return-to-Home" feature is not mentioned anywhere in the Mavic manual. The manual is written in such a way that would make a user think Low Battery RTH is always enabled (and cannot be disabled).

It is very confusing for many users at least.

 

[msinger]

Yes, it's certainly not the easiest section of the manual to understand.

 

[JoKhool]

JoKhool, with this Garmin GPS/GLONASS, how does it work with the Mavic controller?

I'm wondering, since I use a Nexis 7 with GPS as my controller screen, would that suffice to update my position as my RTH if I move from my original RTH position? Thoughts?

The receiver connects directly to your device, not the remote. I was using an iPhone 7plus with active service and was never able to get a strong GPS lock while flying, never did figure out the issue. Bought the Garmin GPs dongle a while ago and never looked back. Works like a dream, just pair with your device and you're god to go, no additional apps or software needed. I switched over to a mini4 a while back (wifi only), haven't had an issue using it with this device either. Hope this helps.

 

[Brojon]

Pays to do a trial run somewhere safe before using the automated features. When they work it's great but if not set up right will more often than not bite you.
Sorry for your loss.

Exactly - not to be snarky but why on earth do folks experiment when flying in questionable places?
I go to a nearby field and practice and play there so I have a chance at recovery. Over water is not the best way to learn IMHO.

 

[dvarapala]

Yes, it's certainly not the easiest section of the manual to understand.

Perhaps written by a bunch of Chinese guys whose first language is not English?

 

[msinger]

Perhaps written by a bunch of Chinese guys whose first language is not English?

Perhaps. Maybe they should hire me to proofread it

 

[wxperson]

this is why I never use RTH. Murphy's law.

 

[motopokep]

Exactly - not to be snarky but why on earth do folks experiment when flying in questionable places?
I go to a nearby field and practice and play there so I have a chance at recovery. Over water is not the best way to learn IMHO.

Because it gets boring to fly over same patch of grass all of the time.

 

[dvarapala]

Because it gets boring to fly over same patch of grass all of the time.

The wife and I practice flying every day. To avoid boredom, we go to a different flying field every day. There are enough schools, parks, playing fields, and just plain open space to keep us from getting tired of any one place.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

this is why I never use RTH. Murphy's law.

Exactly.
99 times out 100 it will work fine. You never know when it is your turn to suffer, any next RTH can be that moment. It is meant to be a fail safe, for those moments when it's the only thing left to resort to.

 

[Brojon]

Because it gets boring to fly over same patch of grass all of the time.

So crashing or losing your drone is fun? Exciting? Enlightening?
Probably enlightening...
Seriously - boring is good when learning. Drone OJT should happen in safe spaces.

 

[kakao]

Although a bit late here's my response:

You have read the manual correctly. Pressing the RTH button is indeed worded like 'Smart Return To Home' in the manual.
However, DJI themselves admit that the wording in the manual is not correct.

From DJI Ken:
Look at my previous post, Smart RTH basically enables/disables the low battery RTH.
With Smart RTH enabled, the aircraft knows roughly how much battery you need to come home and it will not let you fly further than the battery needed to come home.
With Smart RTH disabled, you can hover a mile away and you may look down and you only have a little battery left and not enough to get home so it will land and not come home.

What would otherwise be the point of being able to switch it on or off in the Go App? With the switch you can always trigger RTH, nothing smart about that. Unless you think YOU are smart because YOU triggered it yourself (which is always smarter than waiting for the drone to decide to RTH)?
Understandable reasoning sure. But the reality is that Smart RTH = Low Battery RTH,
DJI admits it.

Reading the manual is a good thing. Taking Chinese text, converted to English by Chinese, 100% literally, not. We should always be aware of that and keep thinking logically.

Thank you for this, how do you set your RTH (both battery low and the other one)?

 

[ac0j]

View attachment 15837

Sorry guys, but back to the OP's log.
Was there any indication of why the mavic gained so much altitude in the final minute? Was it stick input or something else?