Wouldn't return to home - even though it said it was doing that

[4wd]

Droneless newbie here, but is the consensus that, for the second flight, you should have turned on sports mode (to disable collision avoidance) and then flown back manually, or would RTH work ok then?

Switching to sport mode even briefly is a useful trick if any automated functions, including the follow modes, aren't quite working as expected.

 

[Jaycee]

Newbie here with a basic question. Can someone explain failsfe in the context of RTH? I understand I have to set the RTH altitude based in surroundings and I can do that. Is that failsafe, or something else?

 

[Meta4]

Newbie here with a basic question. Can someone explain failsfe in the context of RTH? I understand I have to set the RTH altitude based in surroundings and I can do that. Is that failsafe, or something else?

No
Read from p18 here: https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/Mavic_2/Mavic 2 Pro Zoom User Manual V1.4.pdf
There are 4.5 pages on RTH and they are possibly the most important section of the manual to understand.
I'd recommend reading them all and doing some testing and experimenting so you know how it works and how to activate it and cancel it.

 

[Jaycee]

That’s great many thanks for your help.

 

[Randy]

I flew two flights.
On the first, my phone lost communication, which happens occasionally.. and I hit RTH on the controller and my drone returned to home.

I then took off for a second flight. I flew for about 10 minutes and hit RTH on the phone and the drone said it was returning.. but it didn't move..it may have gone to the return height.. but otherwise wouldn't return. I got a low battery warning and started to panic a big because I was over a bridge with traffic and water. I invoked RTH multiple times with the phone and the controller and it kept saying it was doing it.... cancelled.. tried again. I then believe I tried to fly manually (although I was panicking because it said it only had enough battery to return..and I can't exactly remember what was happening..)

Finally I tried to get it to land where it was manually... it responded to that and came down. I could control the camera so I pointed it down. I saw that I would miss the bridge... and it would miss the water by about 2 feet. THis was the most incredible luck. Down it came and it hit a tree or town and finally landed. I was able to find it using the video as a guide. It was on it's side wrapped around some vines, undamaged. I am now afraid to fly it because I can't trust it to return. I am attaching the flight log and would appreciate any help. I am not a novice although I wouldn't consider myself a pro either. I have never had issues except the occasional loss of connection which unnerves me.

Here are both flight logsView attachment 52253View attachment 52254

If it won’t return to home even though it says it is, immediately suspect that it’s either the wind or the sun that’s the cause, if it’s the wind or the sun, I put it in sport mode (which turns off the forward sensors allowing it to fly into the sun), and if the wind is the culprit, sport mode we allow enough power to overcome the wind.

 

[Flynz]

Thank you for posting. Great lesson on the impact of a low sun on the avoidance system. I have flown late in the afternoon a few times. Not struck this. More good luck than management. I guess the lesson is to flick to sports mode and see if the drone starts motoring back.

 

[Cheech Wizard]

Thank you for posting. Great lesson on the impact of a low sun on the avoidance system. I have flown late in the afternoon a few times. Not struck this. More good luck than management. I guess the lesson is to flick to sports mode and see if the drone starts motoring back.

No sir, when you switch to sports mode you are flying manually with NO obstacle avoidance, thats when you check your altitude and direction on the Map/Radar. Make sure you are high enough and just bring it back until you can hear or see it. Especially if you are beyond LOS. (Which is bad).

 

[Cheech Wizard]

That’s great many thanks for your help.

And just remember.. there is NO fail safe. (Murphy''s Law).

Murphy's laws origin. Murphy's Law ("If anything can go wrong, it will") was born at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 at North Base. It was named after Capt. Edward A.Murphy, an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981, (a project) designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash.

 

[DanMan32]

I don't think you'd necessarily see sun blotting your vision from the main camera for it to affect front obstacle avoidance.

 

[MadMaqx]

If I am not mistaken dynamic home point be ing checked changes home point as you fly, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Meta4]

If I am not mistaken dynamic home point be ing checked changes home point as you fly, correct me if I'm wrong.

There is no dynamic home point in the DJI Go 4 app.
What you have is a choice to reset the home point to either:

• The current location of the drone .. or
• The current location of the controller (if the phone or tablet has GPS enabled and isn't under cover).

 

[MadMaqx]

This is what I was talking about, always questioned it till I had done research on it.

 

[Meta4]

This is what I was talking about, always questioned it till I had done research on it.

That certainly says it has a dynamic home point so maybe it does now.
It should be very easy to check.
Set the dynamic home point in a large, open area.
Leave the drone hovering and walk away.
See if the indicated distance to home changes as you move.

What drone are you using?

 

[MadMaqx]

This was very well explained, I have mp it still uses dji go 4 latest up date, I kept getting a beep and that infamous "homepoint updated " lady as I was flying, knew I'd checked something wrong[emoji41]

 

[sar104]

That certainly says it has a dynamic home point so maybe it does now.
It should be very easy to check.
Set the dynamic home point in a large, open area.
Leave the drone hovering and walk away.
See if the indicated distance to home changes as you move.

What drone are you using?

That only applies to ActiveTrack.

 

[MadMaqx]

I dont know, I was not in any of the active track setting and rarely use rth unless I get disoriented with little time to figure which direction heading. The beeping stopped when not checked.

 

[Mad Mavic]

Interesting, both flights ended in near disaster, yet came out unscathed...that my friend is favor.

I noticed one home point noting a 60% battery charge at takeoff. It's better to just make it a habit to start each mission with a full battery if possible. It squawked several times that it had just enough power for RTH. I'm not sure where your vector was in relation to home but if it was bucking a head wind or using power to slow itself down in a tail wind, crossing the water seemed out of the question.

I've tried to make it a habit of landing remotely, and also flying without the aid of my phone or Goggles; just comes in handy when things go wrong.

My first remote landing was bucking a head wind and I lost too much power to make it back. Luckily I had the time to descend and make a scraping run to the edge of a road and land. That gave me enough power to follow the blue dot to the red triangle.

glad you recovered

fly high and fly often