Limited to 50m/30m, logged in; maybe due to split data in DJI Go?

[Jollino]

Hello all,
I've suddenly been affected by the new firmware limitations despite having used my P3A just fine a couple of weeks ago.

I wanted to try flying with my father's iPad onto which I had installed the app a while ago, so I tried the link at home and saw I couldn't get any maps despite being on wifi. I uninstalled and reinstalled, and I was NOT asked to log in, but I appeared to be already logged in just after the reinstall (no idea how it managed to do that on iOS). I went outside to fly, and I was hit by the limitation. I landed, and since I was within range of a wifi network I logged out, logged in again, tried flying again, same problem.

I replaced the iPad with my iPhone, which I've been using to fly as recently as two weeks ago. Same problem. I even enabled and disabled beginner's mode just to be sure, but the problem persists.

I read up and tried pretty much anything I've read, and I have no idea what else to try.
One peculiar thing that I did notice specific to my case however is this: a month ago or so I tried installing the DJI Go app onto a couple of Android devices I have, and for some reason my logs got "split", as if I have two drones. I detailed this here: DJI Go showing two different drones

What I noticed now is that all 3 flights tonight (2 on the iPad an 1 on the iPhone) appear on the "main" drone entry again, so I wonder if for some reason it's thinking it's not "registered".

What's most annoying is that there's no mention of this while on the ground, you only discover it when you're in flight *and* hit the limit.

Any advice would be very welcome. This was just a test but I'd hate to be 200 km away from home for a flight and discover I'm limited for no reason.

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Numone]

There will be a reason why you're limited - FW isn't sentient and then makes a decision to annoy you by restricting your distance and altitude. Go back and review what you have, or haven't done..... I have "spit data" , as you put it, with three sets of data. I followed the FW instructions to the letter and have no problems. Just saying....

 

[Jollino]

Had I not tried everything that I could reasonably think of and that I had found online first, I wouldn't have asked for further suggestions in case I missed something. I'm aware of my limits as a newbie pilot so I posted hoping that someone more experienced may have an "a-ha" moment that I might not have due to my lack of experience.

The only thing that I said is annoying, and I stand by it, is that the app could say "You are limited because you do not appear to be logged in" when still on the ground, just like the flight area warnings, instead of hitting a virtual wall once you're in flight. It would make debugging easier.

Perhaps it wasn't clear in my original post (if so, I apologize) but I DID update the firmware successfully when it came out in early July, and as stated I DID fly just fine a couple of weeks ago with the new firmware. This is happening completely out of the blue, as I haven't touched the aircraft at all since then: we've had a series of 38-degree heatwaves and it was the last thing on my mind.

I mentioned the "split data" — for lack of a better term — simply because that's the only thing that I noticed being different since that last, post-firmware update, successful flight. Considering that the limit is enforced when the user isn't logged in, I thought that *perhaps* it may be related to the issue.

Anyway after my original post I tried logging out, uninstalling the app, reinstalling it and logging in again (surprisingly for iOS, uninstalling and reinstalling does not result in a logout, and as I said a simple logout and login didn't work).
It's illegal to fly at night here so I won't be able to test until tomorrow morning, weather permitting. I shall report if anyone's interested, in case it happens to someone else in the future.

 

[JePe]

There will be a reason why you're limited - FW isn't sentient and then makes a decision to annoy you by restricting your distance and altitude. Go back and review what you have, or haven't done..... I have "spit data" , as you put it, with three sets of data. I followed the FW instructions to the letter and have no problems. Just saying....

If there is a 'reason' for malfunction or limitation... somewhere in firmware something 'checks' something... They can get you informed about anything, seeing the enormous amount of warnings you get every time you go into the air, why can't they make a warning, about this restriction??
I uploaded firmware, i'm up to date with every single part of the aircraft, and... still I'm limited to 30 meters height, and 50 meters distance. Sure there is a reason for it, but it would be pretty darn helpfull if the app would tell met that!!! Instead of first go into the air, and... find out in the air that the craft is 'restricted' ... Why can't I find ANY data on this restriction either with my account, either in the app BEFORE i go fly??? The app does check something, otherwise, why is it limited then??

It's not the customers fault... it's DJI's. Not that restriction, but the way they 'handle' that. It's a programming bug, bad programming, plain and simple.

DJI makes this restriction... they should make it work, every time. If I have to 'comply', fine, but... MAKE IT WORK THEN. Rightnow, I have a 1600 euro craft, which is limited without any 'visible' reason.. It tells me the wind is to strong, it warns me about every 2 seconds about 'something', but... not about the fact that my craft is limited rightnow.
And... the fact that it works 'for most people' isn't a good argument... It worked for me too in the beginning, and suddenly, it didn't work anymore... did I change anything? Perhaps, but it's totally not clear what and why this is now restricted.

 

[GeeDee]

I have seen various posts about new distance restrictions with the new firmware eg "DJI to restrict non-compliant drones at next software update" , https://www.suasnews.com/2017/05/dji-restrict-non-compliant-drones-next-update/... which states "If this activation process is not performed, the aircraft will not have access to the correct geospatial information and flight functions for that region, and its operations will be restricted if you update the upcoming firmware: Live camera streaming will be disabled, and flight will be limited to a 50-meter (164-foot) radius up to 30 meters (98 feet) high."

It happened to me... see file Airdata screen shot attached,, and resolved when I switched to Litchi and back. I am looking to buy a CrystalSky with no option to use Litchi.. should I be concerned?????? DJI what is going on???

 

[Jollino]

"If this activation process is not performed, the aircraft will not have access to the correct geospatial information and flight functions for that region, and its operations will be restricted if you update the upcoming firmware: Live camera streaming will be disabled, and flight will be limited to a 50-meter (164-foot) radius up to 30 meters (98 feet) high."
View attachment 87029

Live streaming also being disabled is interesting— I wonder if that is disabled from the beginning: this would allow us to test whether the issue is taking place before taking off. Has anyone tried starting it before take off?

It's not the customers fault... it's DJI's. Not that restriction, but the way they 'handle' that. It's a programming bug, bad programming, plain and simple. DJI makes this restriction... they should make it work, every time. If I have to 'comply', fine, but... MAKE IT WORK THEN.

I wholeheartedly agree, it's definitely a bug and it's a common problem as well. There are several threads about this on this very forum, and all "solutions" are very empirical: what works for someone doesn't work for someone else, and even the issue itself shows up randomly. Not to mention having to waste battery power to get up in the air and come back to try some voodoo mumbo-jumbo when the bug hits out of the blue...

 

[JePe]

that's weird indeed... livestream is NOT disabled, at least not with mine,... and... there is no sign what so ever that the craft is restricted ...

 

[Jollino]

that's weird indeed... livestream is NOT disabled, at least not with mine,... and... there is no sign what so ever that the craft is restricted ...

Did you check the livestream before finding out you were restricted? Thing is, we don't even know when the limit is triggered (upon connection to the remote, upon connection to the app, upon takeoff...) so it may not work as an indicator. DJI should just show a warning like they do for class D areas and so on, in my humble opinion.

 

[JePe]

Yeah, I start the drone... have image... I go fly, all normal... Limitation in the settings are on full or on 'no limits', no beginners mode.... all well...
I'm in the air, and then... after 50 meter, 'your maximum flying distance has been reached'...

PS I fly mostly near the sea in the Netherlands... outside the range of Schiphol Amsterdam. There is a small heliplatform which, I get a 'warning' for, (class F I though).. but nothing more then that...

PS2 I just got some extra downloads about flying zones, seems all ok now, but ... still have to find out if that limit has been removed (I live near Schiphol, so I have to drive pretty far to get out of the 'no fly zone'... the drone will not go up her in my backyard...
This map shows, that in a sense I'm not allowed to fly there.. but DJI has no restriction this big
Drone no-fly zones | ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu -> I fly mostly at Wijk aan Zee and yesterday also IJmuiden (the Heli platform is a unmanned station for 'loodswezen'... not used much). DJI does not 'see' that... so the drone will go up there normally.

Only problems I could get there are SARS heli's (resque) but you can hear them loooong before they arrive, and... there are some small airplanes flying along the coastline, but they are restricted till 300 meter... and... I almost never fly 'high', only perhaps just to get an overview short,.. but I follow mostly windsurfers, which I want to track as low as possible

Yesterday, the 30 meter limit was an obstacle, since I was taking photo's of a 'downwinder' for kites... and kitelines, ehm... let say, 30 meter, is in range almost...

 

[Numone]

I wholeheartedly agree, it's definitely a bug and it's a common problem as well.

Nope, if it were a "bug" (a script error) it'd affect all P3's - it doesn't so I suspect that UE is a significant factor with many of these.... ahem..."bugs".

 

[JePe]

don't know... P4 has totally different software/firmware ofcourse...different hardware so...

 

[Numone]

don't know... P4 has totally different software/firmware ofcourse...different hardware so...

Principal is the same....

 

[Jollino]

Nope, if it were a "bug" (a script error) it'd affect all P3's - it doesn't so I suspect that UE is a significant factor with many of these.... ahem..."bugs".

There are many threads with people complaining of the same thing and I'm not sure we're all in the EU. It's an issue that comes up completely randomly, sometimes all it takes to make it happen (or go away, depending) is to land and take off again from the same spot, or just replace the drone's battery, or power-cycle the RC and/or the drone, or uninstall and reinstall the app.
This has really nothing to do with geo restrictions or with the drone itself, P3 or otherwise; it's simply the DJI Go app "not realizing" — for lack of a better term — that you are indeed logged in to your DJI account, as required by the latest update, and enforces the limitation. The fact that it fails to acknowledge your logged in status is, by definition, a software bug (in the app, not in the drone's firmware!).
Just because not everyone is affected doesn't mean that it's not an issue.

 

[GeeDee]

I noticed my livestream not working too.. whatever is going on DJI need to explain

 

[JePe]

My drone is flying normally again.... I reinstalled the DJI app ... and also re-installed the firmware. So, I'm happy..

Less happy about the fact that half of the Netherlands already is seen as a 'enhanced warning zone', which if ridiculouse... Ok, you can still fly after 'selecting' the approval checks, but.... you start to think that it will not take long before you can't fly anywhere anymore (at least, not with the DJI app.... sometimes make me think to rebuild my F550 again, since... there are no restrictions what so ever with that... less 'convinient' media options, but... at least you don't get those weird locks/blocks/restrictions )