What if iPad battery goes flat during flight?

Astro · Oct 24, 2019

Hi guys, I had an unexpected scare when flying my MA, my iPad battery's charge dropped dangerously low. While I still had power I thought I'd experiment and hit the return to home button on the hand controller and nothing happened?
Was this because the iPad was still in control? I didn't have the nerve to shut the iPad down to test it.

Mossiback · Oct 24, 2019

Astro said:
..I thought I'd experiment and hit the return to home button on the hand controller and nothing happened?...

You need to press and hold for a few seconds to initiate RTH. Whether the iPad is attached or on/off will make no difference.

nafisgal · Oct 24, 2019

Use the power bank mode of the RC controller ... if your tablet does not allow you to charge ... Little will you be able to do ... RTH immediately.
It never hurts a check prior to any flight ...
Mandatory for every pilot ...

old man mavic · Oct 24, 2019

ideally you should start every flying session with fully charged batteries in all your stuff ,ie drone controller display,that way you have the best chance of a good days flying

zenfly2 · Oct 24, 2019

old man mavic said:
ideally you should start every flying session with fully charged batteries in all your stuff ,ie drone controller display,that way you have the best chance of a good days flying

Ditto this but I would think as long as your controller is still up and running you can fly home but I hope I never have to test it.

Meta4 · Oct 24, 2019

Astro said:
Hi guys, I had an unexpected scare when flying my MA, my iPad battery's charge dropped dangerously low. While I still had power I thought I'd experiment and hit the return to home button on the hand controller and nothing happened?

You need ti get some practical experience with RTH so you know how to initiate it when you need it.

Astro said:
Was this because the iPad was still in control? I didn't have the nerve to shut the iPad down to test it.

The iPad gives you a great display of what the camera is seeing as well as your telemetry and important information ...
But it does not control the flight.
Here's a little exercise to try:
Fly out 20-30 feet, hover and pull cable from your iPad.
Now use the controller to fly left and right, up and down etc.
You still have full control.

Astro · Oct 25, 2019

Thanks for all your advice and I normally ensure the Mavic batteries are fully charged and the controller at least over 50%. The annoying problem I have is the iPad has a habit of discharging slowly during the day (I have no idea why). I might think I have 100% and if I forget to check on site it could have dropped to 25%!

old man mavic · Oct 25, 2019

is your ipad dedicated to your drone or do you use it for other things ,it sounds like there are things running in the background that are draining your battery, if it is only for the drone then stop any apps not required for flying, the go4 app is very power hungry and uses a lot of the ipads operating system

JoelP · Oct 25, 2019

It seems that you have no confidence that your MA will RTH if you lose your iPAd. As Astro said, you need to practice this when you can see your MA to fly it hime either the the RTH button in the controller by sticks alone.

Let me make one more point based upon a mistake I once made. On your Go4 app there are two buttons: RTH and Land. It is way too easy to accidentally press the Land button in Go4 when you intended to hit RTH. I did this once and almost lost my MA. It is better to develop the habit of pressing the physical RTH button on your controller where there is no Land button. As was said above, it must be pressed and held until you hear a tone. Learning this habit will not only avoid the mistake of landing elsewhere, but will instill confidence in flying with controller alone.

Lastly, it is key to know where your drone is located relative to where you are. We are supposed to keep VLOS, but it is easy to lose it in the sky from time to time. Strobes help, but an awareness of position will also reduce stress in the event that you lose contact and await the initiation of the automated RTH.

Most of us have experienced that fear of a fly-away or a lost drone at one time or another. The best way to trust this is to put the MA where you can see it and turn everything off, including controller, and experience the automated RTH. You know that you can turn the controller back on, if you have to, in time to fly home, but you won’t have to.

Galopin · Oct 25, 2019

This happened to me twice. My iPad screen turned all of a sudden black. As I had programmed my DJI Go 4 app to start a automatic RTH when there is a shortage of communication, the MA always came back home with neither no iPad or no RC.

DanMan32 · Oct 25, 2019

Just be sure you're past 60' when doing RTH tests. RTH behavior is different when you're closer.

zenfly2 · Oct 25, 2019

Galopin said:
This happened to me twice. My iPad screen turned all of a sudden black. As I had programmed my DJI Go 4 app to start a automatic RTH when there is a shortage of communication, the MA always came back home with neither no iPad or no RC.

Wow thanks...Where is that Auto return setting..

Galopin · Oct 25, 2019

Read carefully pages 13 to 15 from the User Manual. It is all in there.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic%20Air/Mavic%20Air%20User%20Manual%20v1.0.pdf

Meta4 · Oct 25, 2019

zenfly 2 said:
Wow thanks...Where is that Auto return setting..

There is no "auto-return setting".
What he's referring to is the options for Loss of Signal behavious.
There are three options: RTH, Hover and Land.
The default is RTH and that will be what your drone is set to unless you have changed it (and almost no-one changes it).

Astro · Oct 26, 2019

Meta4 said:
There is no "auto-return setting".
What he's referring to is the options for Loss of Signal behavious.
There are three options: RTH, Hover and Land.
The default is RTH and that will be what your drone is set to unless you have changed it (and almost no-one changes it).

I reset to hoover only once. Even though it was only around 200m away, I was flying under a bridge and didn't want an unexpected loss of signal followed by a sudden ascent to 60m!
I think it's worthwhile to always consider your planned flight path and wonder if anywhere along it I could get into trouble with a sudden RTH!

silverdragon · Oct 29, 2019

old man mavic said:
ideally you should start every flying session with fully charged batteries in all your stuff ,ie drone controller display,that way you have the best chance of a good days flying

You couldn't get better than this... it's so simple to do..... as stated get into a habit of doing so... a FULLY CHARGED KIT is one of your best friend. This is on the S&R kit....its a mess when I go out to fly. But it gets back into nice and neat order for the next round of events. Any hoot, I charge all the drone batteries 100% and the #1 marked Crystal Sky battery you see in there 100%. So after an event I charge all depleted batteries. I check the controller bat. Level and the CS Bat. Level.

If the CS batt. Level is 79% or lower I change it out to 100%. If the controller batt. Level is 40 % or lower I put it on charge. If the controller batt. Level is between 41% to 80% I connect a 10,000 maH Power Bank. So as you notice I have a scheme going on here to make sure the energy that is needed to operate this equipment is satisfied. Theres one other area that I have to be 100% sure of..... the PROPELLER. The propellers are scrutinized, they have to be in Tip Top shape AT ALL TIME. They are removed and inspected under a high powered magnifying device once a week if the drones are flown more than 3 times in a week. Batteries and Propellers.....2 highest priorities.