Does the camera affect straight flying of the P4?

[cabsandy]

Hi
Been lurking for a while, trying to figure out a problem I've had for a few months-basically at the end of my tether so here goes-the problem is quite simple:

My P4 wont fly straight.

If I push the right stick forward, the P4 will fly straight-and then start to drift to the right-every time-after about 100ft. Fly for about 300 ft, and I can be easy 50ft to the right. Not good on a golf fairway! Actually, for those drone flyers who also play golf, think of a slice off the 1st tee, heading for those 100 foot pines...that's my P4.
I have done:

• IMU recalibration (with a "bullseye" spirit level)
• Compass calibration (every time before a flight)
• Changed the propellors AND the prop mounts
• Gimbal and camera recalibration
• Controller recalibration
• Firmware reset
• Checked flight logs to make sure I'm not touching the left stick at the same time pushing the right stick

When I watch the P4 at eye level in a hover, it seems slightly tilted to the right (so left landing leg is slightly higher than the right-the camera also seems a bit "cocked". When I watch it coming back to me, backwards, it appears that the P4 is coming back at an angle, as if something is compensating internally to keep it online. One other thing-if the P4 is about 400ft away,100ft up, facing back to me, the crosshair on the GO app will start in the middle-and then start to drift right-so if that is to be believed, the P4 is constantly moving to the right-so I have no chance of going straight!

I have read that if the camera is not perfectly straight, this can affect it-is this true?. I notice also I need to have the Gimbal Roll adjust at -1.0. if not, and I look at the P4 from behind, on my desk, the Gimbal mimics the "offset" when in the air in a hover..

P4 is on the latest FW, as is the controller and the GO App-I also have the Litchi app-and its the same in there.

Open to suggestions from you guys on what else I could do to try and troubleshoot this further

Cheers

Cabs

 

[WV. Rootman]

Still seems like calibration. Did you switch the level around to see if it reads the same? Make sure you are not placing the level on an offset. I don't own a p4. So you know where this advice is coming from.

 

[Erised]

Your P4 will tilt to compensate for any wind to maintain a straight flight. Your craft should only drift if you are in atti mode, there is no GPS positioning in this mode. Do you have a GPS lock before you take off? If you don't the craft will auto switch to atti mode even if your switch is in P or S. When you do a IMU calibration your craft has to be on a perfectly level surface, after that is done do not move your craft and do a gimbal calibration. After that go in a field that is away from all magnetic interference and do a compass calibration, you do not have to calibrate the compass before every flight. I go over 200 miles from my calibration location and all is good. Your craft tilt is normal and your gimbal if set in follow mode will follow the horizon, when the bird is tilted your gimbal will look off but it's perfectly (most of the time) horizontal. When your gimbal is set to FPV it will follow the craft.

 

[alokbhargava]

1. How do you know it's not flying straight?

2. Cam has no direct relation to its movement

3. If there is a problem, focus on stick calibration

4. AC may tilt based on the wind direction and pressure. It should be ok if it doesn't drift during hovering

 

[cabsandy]

Thanks for all the replies-I'll try to answer as best as I can

The IMU calibration is on a flat and level surface-my granite worktop-although the flat and level surface now seems to be mute, as the latest firmware/software update now asks you to move the P4 onto different positions-so no need for a compass as far as I can see?
On the IMU, I do see a IMU needs calibrating message on the GO app, when the P4 is booting/warming up-but it then disappears after a few seconds, all is good to go. Whether this real, or bogus, i'm not sure. I have done an IMU cal after this, but it still flys to the right. One of the posters asked how did I know I was flying straight-well, I'm pointing it forward-so even if it was flying off at an angle I'd expect it to be a straight angle-again, when reviewing the flight records, the actual flight is like a slice-the yellow trace shows it be moving away in a banana like arc.

I have re-calibrated the controller quite a few times now, I have also use the Tap To Fly function-which means, if I read it right, there is no pilot involvement with the sticks? When I review the flight records, it shows no inadvertent movement of the other stick.

On GPS, normally locks to about 19 Sats, and no message to suggest it has gone into atti mode-but I will keep a careful eye on it in future

# Update-I had one last try, up the golf club this morning-I had the gimbal tilt corrected to about -2.0-and it flew straight! Few more holes it was fine, I then changed the battery-and off it went on its right hand slew again. So not really sure what is happening-but its getting quite disheartening, with the amount of effort trying to work out what is going on.Are there any in-depth logs I could pull, to see what is happening on a second by second basis?
#Update 2-I managed to pull the logs, see attached pic of the slew I see, on multiple "straight" try's



Thanks for the help so far

Cabs