Help! Multiple Errors, No Crash

Wolverine750 · Feb 14, 2016

Factors first - wind was heavy - maybe 18mph. Sunny day, mix of city, water, traffic.

Had one great flight at New Smyrna, Fl. Moved drone to a spot under a tall bridge (still had great GPS) and put in the second battery (DJI Battery). Then, problems.

Home point spontaneously resets itself to over the water
While over the water, I lost GPS and go to P-OPTI
Noticing that it is drifting (remember the wind?) heavily, I circle back, and it goes to P-ATTI
Flight now is really wild in the wind, so bringing back and I get 'Motor Obstruction' error.
White knuckle, but safe landing.

Photos show progression of all except motor obstruction (at the end).

Any thoughts? Scared stuff!

MrMcfly · Feb 14, 2016

"Under a Bridge" probably says it all. The amount of concrete steel, rebar and other bad joo-joo was probably
interfering with the communication between the drone and the controller, not to mention messing with
the compass... Without looking at the actual error reports, it's my best guess. Remember the GPS in your
mobile device (under the bridge) was effected as well as the controller.

If I sit in my house and turn on my P3, my location bounces all over the place (blue dot on map).
As I don't have GPS lock for the UAV a home point never locks in... I think similar issues were
responsible for your issues.

Rasit · Feb 14, 2016

Under a bridge is a terrible place for a homepoint....

eaglegoaltender · Feb 14, 2016

Wolverine750 said:
Had one great flight at New Smyrna, Fl. Moved drone to a spot under a tall bridge

Agreed - under bridge very poor choice - the answer to your question - is in your post!

Did you turn off the VPS flying over water?

Good to read all you got was "white knuckles". Safe future flying!

Wolverine750 · Feb 14, 2016

I want to be made seeing as all of you are piling on, but most likely you are right on all, or nearly all of the errors.

I am an engineer by trade, so my "logic" was that if it got a good GPS signal, then the signal was fine. If it initially had distortion while under the bridge, well, I wouldn't fly it.

In hindsight, I was only thinking of the drone itself, and not the controller. So the drone is probably flying fat, dump, and happy. But the signal coming from the controller, and to the controller? Maybe not so much. In other words, there was not good communication back and forth.

Now - the motor obstruction - hopefully that was another signal error, or possibly wind gusts that knocked it hard.

Thanks to all who replied.

Post Script - I flew the drone today in 9mph winds in a nearby park and it flew like a champ.

Wolverine750 · Feb 14, 2016

eaglegoaltender said:
Agreed - under bridge very poor choice - the answer to your question - is in your post!

Did you turn off the VPS flying over water?

Good to read all you got was "white knuckles". Safe future flying!

Question - what is VPS? I am not brand new, but fairly new to flying.

And yes - having it in 20mph winds in ATTI mode...wow. I turned it onto ATTI mode today with 9mph winds and even there...it was like it was skating on ice.

Wolverine750 · Feb 14, 2016

MrMcfly said:
"Under a Bridge" probably says it all. The amount of concrete steel, rebar and other bad joo-joo was probably
interfering with the communication between the drone and the controller, not to mention messing with
the compass... Without looking at the actual error reports, it's my best guess. Remember the GPS in your
mobile device (under the bridge) was effected as well as the controller.

If I sit in my house and turn on my P3, my location bounces all over the place (blue dot on map).
As I don't have GPS lock for the UAV a home point never locks in... I think similar issues were
responsible for your issues.

How do I bring up the error reports? I did the DAT file but all I got was the graph of altitude and speed - and I was digging all over the place because I wanted to see those reports as well.

eaglegoaltender · Feb 14, 2016

Wolverine750 said:
Question - what is VPS? I am not brand new, but fairly new to flying.

"VPS - Visual Positioning System" - it accurately (well sort off) measures the distance from the Phantom underside to the ground to enable hovering when no GPS is available (i.e. between 0.3 - 3.0m). Some use it for indoor flying - don't think I would trust it for anything more than hovering - mine is turned off prior to any flights.

Wolverine750 · Feb 14, 2016

Thank you! I may have to try that. I made myself a landing pad for when I am on the beach, but the drone 'dances' sometimes when it passes over it - I knew it had something to do with the visual system.

The thought of indoor flying with a Phantom is not a positive thought.

MrMcfly · Feb 14, 2016

Wolverine750 said:
How do I bring up the error reports? I did the DAT file but all I got was the graph of altitude and speed - and I was digging all over the place because I wanted to see those reports as well.

Go to: www.healthydrones.com and upload your flight data (from your tablet/pad) and you'll get a fairly thorough
review of your flight, including reported errors.

Here's a look at a "Litchi" lap of my neighborhood... and warnings/tips reported.

Wolverine750 · Feb 14, 2016

MrMcfly said:
Go to: www.healthydrones.com and upload your flight data (from your tablet/pad) and you'll get a fairly thorough
review of your flight, including reported errors.

Here's a look at a "Litchi" lap of my neighborhood... and warnings/tips reported.

Thank you so much! Oddly I am not finding the 'motor obstruction' error on that log - although interestingly, the GPS vs. ATTI mode was hitting me literally every single second. There is a massive log of those going back and forth. The drone was definitely freaked out. I consider myself lucky to have it.

Below you will see something amusing - I am assuming an error - I was flying it over the straights of Mackinac (Michigan) and got the windspeed below. Other readings had windspeed at 26mph, so we can go with that.

And now seriously - you gave me some great help and showed me something useful - so my promise to you - I will name my next drone "Beaker" after you for your help. Totally serious.

Screen Shot 2016-02-14 at 6.00.56 PM.png

MrMcfly · Feb 14, 2016

Windspeeds are calculated based on certain flight characteristics. They're rarely accurate. There's
no anemometer built into the P3....

Best info you get is battery report, sensor info, and Notifications. Nice thing is you get to see
where on your flight path things happen.

Happy to help!

I chose Beaker because that's pretty much the look on your face when a P3 almost hits something.

Fly Safe!!!!

Wolverine750 · May 5, 2017

MrMcfly said:
Windspeeds are calculated based on certain flight characteristics. They're rarely accurate. There's
no anemometer built into the P3....

Best info you get is battery report, sensor info, and Notifications. Nice thing is you get to see
where on your flight path things happen.

Happy to help!

I chose Beaker because that's pretty much the look on your face when a P3 almost hits something.

Fly Safe!!!!

Not sure if you are still on the forum, but wanted to let you know that I got myself a Mavic, since I travel a lot.

It is officially named, 'Beaker.'

Promise kept!

MrMcfly · May 24, 2017

Wolverine750 said:
Not sure if you are still on the forum, but wanted to let you know that I got myself a Mavic, since I travel a lot.

It is officially named, 'Beaker.'

Promise kept!