My drone went crazy and I don't know why

[F3honda4me]

Yes power lines can cause this. You would not be the first.

 

[Landrum]

Power utility providers don't intentionally send bursts of additional power down the lines to "purge" or "clear" them. There is nothing to be purged or cleared. Voltage spikes and fluctuations are possible, but they are neither desirable or intentional.
As far as power lines creating magnetic disturbances, they definitely do. Any electrical current delivered through a current tends to do this...it's one of the reasons behind how electric motors work.

 

[danielamann]

So you say it's silly but agree... The transformers and fuses keep high electrical currents from damaging your home electronics. Also this is a forum for us to figure things out and learn from others mistakes. He mentioned power lines being worked on and workers were present obviously for they saved his drone. Positive feed back would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Sent from my XT1585 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Wait, what? There were no workers, no work being done, and I saved my own drone by going and picking it up. Not sure where you got that part because that isn't true. There are lines that run through the area but that is all

 

[danielamann]

Yes power lines can cause this. You would not be the first.

Interesting. I have flown closer to them than I was on this flight with no issues before, so I consider myself lucky I hadn't encountered this already. Glad to hear about this now and know for future flights

 

[danielamann]

As far as power lines creating magnetic disturbances, they definitely do. Any electrical current delivered through a current tends to do this...it's one of the reasons behind how electric motors work.

Interesting. So how big of a disturbance could a standard neighborhood electrical line really cause? 50 feet? 100 feet? My drone was quite a ways off from the lines when it started losing control. I'm glad to know about this now and not later down the road.

 

[Rankmonkey]

Wait, what? There were no workers, no work being done, and I saved my own drone by going and picking it up. Not sure where you got that part because that isn't true. There are lines that run through the area but that is all

My bad, I got your recovery mixed up with another tread..

 

[tevek]

Interesting. So how big of a disturbance could a standard neighborhood electrical line really cause? 50 feet? 100 feet? My drone was quite a ways off from the lines when it started losing control. I'm glad to know about this now and not later down the road.

My local supply is 440v 50hz and I regularly fly over the aerials with no issues. A clearance of 10 mtrs is more than enough as the threat of entanglement is more of a risk than any emf issues. The higher transmission lines 132kv demand more respect and I cross over them at 50mtrs with no issues. The comments regarding intentional electrical burst and whatever are misplaced as every manual and automatic recloser would be tripping and if not, the tip would be full of tvs, fridges and computers despite local surge diverters being fitted.

 

[danielamann]

My local supply is 440v 50hz and I regularly fly over the aerials with no issues. A clearance of 10 mtrs is more than enough as the threat of entanglement is more of a risk than any emf issues. The higher transmission lines 132kv demand more respect and I cross over them at 50mtrs with no issues. The comments regarding intentional electrical burst and whatever are misplaced as every manual and automatic recloser would be tripping and if not, the tip would be full of tvs, fridges and computers despite local surge diverters being fitted.

That is more what I was thinking. I was well away from the power lines at the time of the malfunction. Several times I have flown off the road as a starting point as it is the only level place to take off, proceeded under or over the lines, and then on with a regular flight without ever having any issues. Whatever caused interference that day, I am just happy my drone is still healthy and happy