zoom has intermitten GPS and altitude restrictions

[Pzilly]

Good evening gang,

So I thought I posted this in general discussion area but I don't see it, so posted under zoom as well if it is in the other area and I didn't see it I apologize for the double post.



So got my new M2Z today, but I am having some issues with it and before I go through CS I was wondering if perhaps I can do something better, different,etc



So got everything out and charged up, did firmware updates on the M2Z and the controller, did a compass calibration and took the M2Z out side and put it on my helo pad and let it sit on and running while I made some adjustments to my phone and controller, about 5-7 minutes went by and I was ready to go. I hit launch and craft went up, I flew around the yard a bit to get a feel for her, then I noticed I had 11 GPS satellites sometimes 12 but no GPS and no RTH options. I took the M2Z up higher around 150-200' and I was getting intermittent GPS lock so I brought it back down, then did another launch and went down to where I can see down the road about a mile and took it down along the road at aprox 150', I was getting a distance from the ground telemetry but no distance away info, I flew it further down the road watching it and then suddenly I got notification the RTH point had been set??? I also now was getting a distance away number along with the altitude but I knew it had to be off so I flew it out to where I normally fly my Anafi too which is .6 miles away, however my remote was saying it was only aprox 1000' away. At this point I also started to loss signal for video and then control, which has to be weird because this same place I fly my Anafi quite often and the M2Z is suppose to smoke it in range??? So I hit RTH and sure enough it flew back to the point where it got GPS which was about 900' from me where it took off, in fact after I cancelled RTH I flew it back to me and the control said I was 900 ish' away from home??? I understand it picked the home location where it first got GPS but why did it just get GPS?



took the drone inside and did some investigating and looked at the settings, etc and didn't find much I thought would help so I switched batteries and went back out, turned on the M2Z and placed it on the helipad and waited, and waited, and waited, battery was down to 83% and still no GPS lock, so I took off to see what would happen, well this time it got more interesting, the drone went 10-12' off the ground and stopped and controller said drone had reached maximum altitude to change that go into "MC setting", I had not changed anything in there but went into settings and found that max altitude was set at 120M and RTH I had at 60M so this was not the issue, tried to take off again and once again it stopped at 10-12', landed and tried again and same thing??? So I turned everything off then on and I still had no GPS lock but drone took off and went up to 150' no problem??



At this point I fired up the Anafi, it locked Gps in about a minute and flew around and did RTH like normal???



Half hour later my kids bus was coming so I went to get some footage, again sat there for a few minutes no GPS lock but again said ready to fly altti mode so I flew it around line of sight only, got some footage of them and showed them the new toy, then I went in and switched batteries and came back out and once again no GPS lock and once again it stopped 10-12' up and said change MC settings I once again went and looked and it was still 120M max and 60M RTH??? I landed and took off 3 times and 3rd time drone gave me the max altitude warning but 3rd time it keep going and then the max altitude warning went away and it seemed to fly around normal but still I was getting intermittent GPS lock . At this point my daughter asked what I was doing and told her I was just flying around the yard trying to find out why the drone was having a hard time finding itself, I then flew around another minute then I went into the controller again to see if there was a setting or something, 30-40 seconds later I looked up and the M2Z had drifted quite a bit and close to a tree so I went to move it away and it hit the branch and then took a dive, not sure if my input did this or drone was drfting or perhaps it turned 180 idk??? I broke a rotor (propeller) and it was time to go to dinner so I popped on a spare rotor, did a power cycle and everything cycled as normal, but I didn't have time to try it again and now that dinner is over its dark, plus it was really unnerving me with these intermittent GPS, altitude restriction and the signal loss so figured I would call it a day and post on here to see if anyone had any ideas before I contact CS and possibly return it?



I am new to DJI but I am well versed with my Anafi in fact I just flew it all over the Rockies last weekend w no issues, and some smaller toy drones, and have had zero issues with those, so not sure if I have a lemon, or some Noob to DJI issue? Any help is appreciated. Thanks gang!

 

[Meta4]

no GPS lock, so I took off to see what would happen, well this time it got more interesting, the drone went 10-12' off the ground and stopped and controller said drone had reached maximum altitude to change that go into "MC setting", I had not changed anything in there but went into settings and found that max altitude was set at 120M and RTH I had at 60M so this was not the issue, tried to take off again and once again it stopped at 10-12', landed and tried again and same thing??? So I turned everything off then on and I still had no GPS lock but drone took off and went up to 150' no problem??
I then flew around another minute then I went into the controller again to see if there was a setting or something, 30-40 seconds later I looked up and the M2Z had drifted quite a bit and close to a tree so I went to move it away and it hit the branch and then took a dive, not sure if my input did this or drone was drfting or perhaps it turned 180 idk???

Page 57 of your manual explains this:
Height is restricted to 16 ft (5 m) when the GPS signal is weak and Downward Vision System is activated. Height is restricted to 98 ft (30 m) when the GPS signal is weak and Downward Vision System is inactivated

Without GPS, you can't record a home point.
Without a home point, you can't see a distance from the home point.
Are you doing this out in the open with a good clear view of most of the sky, or is the skyview blocked by trees, buildings etc?

Without GPS, you have no position holding ability and the drone will drift.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

You need to do the compass cal outside away from all metal. Calibrate the IMU also.

 

[Pzilly]

Page 57 of your manual explains this:
Height is restricted to 16 ft (5 m) when the GPS signal is weak and Downward Vision System is activated. Height is restricted to 98 ft (30 m) when the GPS signal is weak and Downward Vision System is inactivated

Without GPS, you can't record a home point.
Without a home point, you can't see a distance from the home point.
Are you doing this out in the open with a good clear view of most of the sky, or is the skyview blocked by trees, buildings etc?

Without GPS, you have no position holding ability and the drone will drift.

Thanks for the reply,

I am in a clear space that I fly my anafi in all the time w no issues, actually flew it in between all this to make sure it was a chang in conditions. So thanks for the insight on the GPS vs height, but that adds to my concerns. So if your drone is in atti mode which mine was then you can only fly it up to 16'? I flew it several short flights above 16' wo GPS in atti mode and if that lack of GPS is why it was height restricted I am wondering why it kept saying "adjust height in MC settings"? Perhaps the intermittent GPS signal was getting it caught temporarily confussed/ stuck trying to limit height???

I hate to send it back for many reasons, including wanting to use it to film the kids this weekend, but i think that's what's where this is heading cause i just don't trust it, luckily i have the trusty (so far) snafu as a back up.....

Thanks again!!!

 

[Pzilly]

You need to do the compass cal outside away from all metal. Calibrate the IMU also.

I did the compass calibration twice, once in the house, second one in the field, did not get any different results, I am seriously thinking I have a hardware or antenna issue at this point, just trying to rule out user error first.

Thanks a ton!

 

[apeel]

You said you calibrated compass twice but did not say if you calibrated the IMU as suggested. Also, try going somewhere else in an open field to see if GPS lock can be achieved. if neither works you may have an issue with you GPS receiver.

 

[The Editor]

@dirkclod - believe this is the double post.

mavic 2 zoom GPS and signal issues?

Good evening gang, So got my new M2Z today, but I am having some issues with it and before I go through CS I was wondering if perhaps I can do something better, different,etc So got everything out and charged up, did firmware updates on the M2Z and the controller, did a compass calibration and...

mavicpilots.com

 

[sar104]

Post some logs. This thread is all guesswork so far.

 

[dirkclod]

@dirkclod - believe this is the double post.

mavic 2 zoom GPS and signal issues?

Good evening gang, So got my new M2Z today, but I am having some issues with it and before I go through CS I was wondering if perhaps I can do something better, different,etc So got everything out and charged up, did firmware updates on the M2Z and the controller, did a compass calibration and...

mavicpilots.com

It was but is fixed now please just report such, thanks

 

[Pzilly]

It was but is fixed now please just report such, thanks

Thanks, thought i screwed up when I couldn't find it later appreciate the fix!

 

[Pzilly]

Post some logs. This thread is all guesswork so far.

Thanks for the link I will investigate that link in a bit. I do have these 2 screen shots I took today, one is my anafi showing 27 sats and one of the M2Z showing only 12 from the same location at the same time,,as you can see in the M2Z shot I flew it for quite awhile and still had 12 at most, while the Anafi had 27 in just a minute.

Today was a bit better, it still lost GPS on occasion but most were so brief I couldn't get a screen shot, except for one time it went out for about a minute, during that time the M2Z started to drift forward fairly quick, then I pushed back on the stick and it would keep going backwards, same for any direction. I know wo GPs it may drift but this was excessive IMO. I can fire the Anafi up in my garage it stay in a 2' area, I understand different machines just seems the M2Z will keep going at about 2-3 MpH in whatever direction I last pushed the sticks on the RC??? Also I kept getting error for front and rear sensors, but iit was brighter today then yesterday? As always thanks for any intel

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for the link I will investigate that link in a bit. I do have these 2 screen shots I took today, one is my anafi showing 27 sats and one of the M2Z showing only 12 from the same location at the same time,,as you can see in the M2Z shot I flew it for quite awhile and still had 12 at most, while the Anafi had 27 in just a minute.

Today was a bit better, it still lost GPS on occasion but most were so brief I couldn't get a screen shot, except for one time it went out for about a minute, during that time the M2Z started to drift forward fairly quick, then I pushed back on the stick and it would keep going backwards, same for any direction. I know wo GPs it may drift but this was excessive IMO. I can fire the Anafi up in my garage it stay in a 2' area, I understand different machines just seems the M2Z will keep going at about 2-3 MpH in whatever direction I last pushed the sticks on the RC??? Also I kept getting error for front and rear sensors, but iit was brighter today then yesterday? As always thanks for any intel

View attachment 93800

Without position holding, it doesn't just drift.
It doesn't have any "brakes" either.
It's like driving on ice.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Without position holding, it doesn't just drift.
It doesn't have any "brakes" either.
It's like driving on ice.

Or like riding a jet ski! You have to coast to stop!

 

[Pzilly]

Or like riding a jet ski! You have to coast to stop!

Well my jet ski has brakes and neutral lol but I have been on several that don't LOL

What I don't get is why I can fly my anafi inside jobs in our house (wasn't expecting or even ever going to to that with the M2Z) and its drift is minimal, I mean it stays within a 2' circle, this mavic seems like it would go on until the battery runs out in whatever direction the stick was in last, even my old AR2 drone stays within a 4'circle indoors. Plus the anafi does this w no obstacle sensors or GPS. Today I was giving it one more try, it again said ready to fly, took off and went up 10-12 foot and stopped and said preset altitude reached to change go to MC settings, I looked and it was sent at 120M.
I literally said well I have had enough I need to send this in and have it checked or replaced, on it's short way down from 10-12' about 6' off the ground it just started flying forward again and was not quick to take input and when it did it was erratic, so much so it flew right into my shop garage door, about 6-8' from me and the one rotor blew apart and struck me in the eyebrow and I now have 3 stitches.....
Not a good time but made for interesting drone strike banter at the ER LOL.

So lessons learned today, when something doesn't feel right return it and I'll never fly wo glasses ever again.

I truly appreciate everyone's help, sending this bird back, will try and update if they give me any insight. While I am new to DJi I have tons of RC car, truck helicopter and boat time along with a bunch of time w my anafi and some smaller drones, but at this point I have to find out if there is a technical issue or not, my buddy who has been flying phantoms for about 5 years told me none of what I told him sounds normal.

Thanks again gang!!!

 

[Pzilly]

Post some logs. This thread is all guesswork so far.

I tried to do this last night, read the tutorial but even signed up for air data but I could not get my phone to let my PC get to the files, it showed my phone on the PC though???

I'm sending bird back for a check, I'll keep messing with this though and appreciate the .read. thanks