Mp or p4p

[GadgetGuy]

If there's a Mavic distance thread in the Mavic forum, you might peruse it for confirmation. From what I hear, it's a known issue with Mavic pilots who push the envelope...

Why would the drone become unstable when the battery gets below the arbitrary 10% selected by DJI? It either has battery power or it doesn't. When the battery is shut off by the Smart Battery algorithm, when a single cell drops below 3.0V, in the air, the drone drops from the sky. Before then, it is simply using up the remaining battery percentage and the flight time at an accelerated rate. If such instability existed, it could easily be fixed with a FW and battery update to raise the 10% remaining by another 10% to the old 20% to prevent it from occurring.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Well, I don't even have a Mavic. But we know that if it's in Auto-land, it's obviously flying differently than a normal flight. You're fighting the auto-land while flying by pushing up on the left stick. Apparently the Mavic doesn't like this and wants to go sideways. The Phantom is significantly more stable. That's the word around the campfire. I'm just sitting there toasting marshmallows and listening.

The 3.0v drop from the sky is unrelated. The 3.0 v drop could happen at any time regardless of the AC. But the instability while forcing the AC to fly in auto land is with the Mavic.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Well, I don't even have a Mavic. But we know that if it's in Auto-land, it's obviously flying differently than a normal flight. You're fighting the auto-land while flying by pushing up on the left stick. Apparently the Mavic doesn't like this and wants to go sideways. The Phantom is significantly more stable. That's the word around the campfire. I'm just sitting there toasting marshmallows and listening.

The 3.0v drop from the sky is unrelated. The 3.0 v drop could happen at any time regardless of the AC. But the instability while forcing the AC to fly in auto land is with the Mavic.

Interesting. I deal with Auto-land all the time on the P4P, and it is very predictable. I want to hear more of these campfire stories about the Mavic. I only bring up the 3.0V because that is really the only true drone killer during Auto-land. At any voltages above that, you still have the ability to maneuver even an unstable aircraft to a safe spot, to grab it out of the air, or maneuver it over a soft landing area away from water. You can actually still increase altitude during Auto-land, contrary to what most believe. Uncontrolled sideways flying is quite common in ATTI mode, so most experienced pilots should still be able to control the aircraft with that problem. However, when trying to make it back to your Home Point from 1,500 feet away, while fighting Auto-land, it does make it more challenging, especially if it's all salt water between you and the aircraft!

 

[Mark The Droner]

Okay... I'm pretty sure the particular guy telling the campfire story wasn't in ATTI because he's learned from harsh and brutal experience that ATTI is dangerous on the latter part of a flight due to the individual cell power-stresses due to abrupt course changes on the very low battery. He prefers the normal smooth GPS flying - especially at the very end. But I could double check with him...

 

[GadgetGuy]

Okay... I'm pretty sure the particular guy telling the campfire story wasn't in ATTI because he's learned from harsh and brutal experience that ATTI is dangerous on the latter part of a flight due to the individual cell power-stresses due to abrupt course changes on the very low battery. He prefers the normal smooth GPS flying - especially at the very end. But I could double check with him...

I didn't mean that I thought he was in ATTI. Only that the sideways flying described is similar to ATTI, and should be able to be handled by an experienced pilot. I should know! One of my first pilot experiences was trying to land a P3P in high winds in ATTI mode on a narrow 8 foot wide 1000 foot long pier. It flew as you are describing, unpredictably, but by maneuvering it around, I luckily managed to get it in between the railings about 200 feet away from me, when it finally auto-landed, instead of over the railings into the ocean. At the time, I didn't realize Auto-land descension could be prevented, nor did I know you could ascend during it. I also fogot I was in ATTI mode, which I had switched to for faster downwind flight on the return, when battery level got critical. Aircraft seemed completely out of control. I'm a better pilot now, and make sure to land in P mode with the extra stability of the downward OA, which is disabled during Autoland! The biggest mistake you can make during Autoland is to have the aircraft too far above you, where it is harder to see with your head straight up, and takes too long to descend, before the battery shuts off. Ideal is 25 feet or less above you and 10 feet out, so you can see it and walk to it, or bring it in at eyelevel for a handgrab from underneath.

Eager to hear more, after you double check with him.

 

[OOO]

Thanks GadgetGuy and John Locke! Today I tested my P4P. The range and signal strength improved significantly with 2.4 GHz and closed wifi (RC and my iPhone). Now I can clearly say that P4P is better than Mavic in every aspect except portability.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thanks GadgetGuy and John Locke! Today I tested my P4P. The range and signal strength improved significantly with 2.4 GHz and closed wifi (RC and my iPhone). Now I can clearly say that P4P is better than Mavic in every aspect except portability.

Terrific! If you still want/need the 5+ mile range of FCC, you can look around for an FCC mod through parameters on older FW versions, or add an amped 2.4Ghz antenna booster, same as all the P4 pilots had to add to get the advertised range! The latter requires modifying the transmitter to accept external antennas, usually done by the sellers of the more powerful external 2.4GHz antennas for a labor charge.