Phantom 3 Advanced Firmware update required ?

[Alan Coleman]

When I bought my Phantom in August, I updated to the latest version of Firmware 1.960. It's been flying fine with no issues. Last night I wanted to film the sunset, but when I started the DJI App I had a message that the firmware required an update.
I decided to ignore the message and took off once the craft had warmed up and GPS was good to fly, controller set to "P", I left it to hover at about 50 mtrs. It was fine until I rotated the drone when I noticed it started drifting away from me. I brought it back, let go of the controls and it started to drift again. There was a light breeze about 15 mph, but I haven't had this happen before in similar conditions. I didn't calibrate the compass, as I was flying from the same location as last time. I checked the firmware version on the drone and it's still 1.960.Could it be the firmware has become corrupted ?. Can I re-install the firmware over the last update ?

I see that they give an average flight time of 23 minutes, but the most I have achieved is about 16 minutes, from startup to 10% battery. I usually start to bring it back when battery is at 30% and land about 15% battery with about 14 mins total flight time. I usually fly at about 15- 20 mph at 300 ft .Maybe the flight time includes the warm up time. I do use blade protectors though, would that account for the 7 min flight time difference ?. What flight time do others achieve with the P3A ?

Thanks
Alan

 

[msinger]

It was fine until I rotated the drone when I noticed it started drifting away from me. I brought it back, let go of the controls and it started to drift again.

It sounds like you were flying in ATTI mode. You can confirm by viewing your flight log.

 

[Richard R]

When I bought my Phantom in August, I updated to the latest version of Firmware 1.960. It's been flying fine with no issues. Last night I wanted to film the sunset, but when I started the DJI App I had a message that the firmware required an update.
I decided to ignore the message and took off once the craft had warmed up and GPS was good to fly, controller set to "P", I left it to hover at about 50 mtrs. It was fine until I rotated the drone when I noticed it started drifting away from me. I brought it back, let go of the controls and it started to drift again. There was a light breeze about 15 mph, but I haven't had this happen before in similar conditions. I didn't calibrate the compass, as I was flying from the same location as last time. I checked the firmware version on the drone and it's still 1.960.Could it be the firmware has become corrupted ?. Can I re-install the firmware over the last update ?

I see that they give an average flight time of 23 minutes, but the most I have achieved is about 16 minutes, from startup to 10% battery. I usually start to bring it back when battery is at 30% and land about 15% battery with about 14 mins total flight time. I usually fly at about 15- 20 mph at 300 ft .Maybe the flight time includes the warm up time. I do use blade protectors though, would that account for the 7 min flight time difference ?. What flight time do others achieve with the P3A ?

Thanks
Alan

All manufacturers state their performance under ideal conditions which we rarely if ever see. Under good conditions, average seem to be more in the 18-20 min range. How you fly can affect that. Doing a lot of climbing can use battery fast.

 

[Richard R]

When I bought my Phantom in August, I updated to the latest version of Firmware 1.960. It's been flying fine with no issues. Last night I wanted to film the sunset, but when I started the DJI App I had a message that the firmware required an update.
I decided to ignore the message and took off once the craft had warmed up and GPS was good to fly, controller set to "P", I left it to hover at about 50 mtrs. It was fine until I rotated the drone when I noticed it started drifting away from me. I brought it back, let go of the controls and it started to drift again. There was a light breeze about 15 mph, but I haven't had this happen before in similar conditions. I didn't calibrate the compass, as I was flying from the same location as last time. I checked the firmware version on the drone and it's still 1.960.Could it be the firmware has become corrupted ?. Can I re-install the firmware over the last update ?

I see that they give an average flight time of 23 minutes, but the most I have achieved is about 16 minutes, from startup to 10% battery. I usually start to bring it back when battery is at 30% and land about 15% battery with about 14 mins total flight time. I usually fly at about 15- 20 mph at 300 ft .Maybe the flight time includes the warm up time. I do use blade protectors though, would that account for the 7 min flight time difference ?. What flight time do others achieve with the P3A ?

Thanks
Alan

You almost never have to update your firmware. You are still new enough that if the bird is working ok, don't worry about it. If an update comes out that really needs to be loaded, you'll hear about it on these forums. Just for info, what versions are you currently running?

 

[msinger]

The OP is running 1.9.6.

 

[Alan Coleman]

You almost never have to update your firmware. You are still new enough that if the bird is working ok, don't worry about it. If an update comes out that really needs to be loaded, you'll hear about it on these forums. Just for info, what versions are you currently running?

I am using App V 3.00 - Aircraft 1.9.60 - Remote Control 1.60

Is there any way of removing the update required message ?

 

[msinger]

Is there any way of removing the update required message ?

No.

 

[Alan Coleman]

It sounds like you were flying in ATTI mode. You can confirm by viewing your flight log.

I had the controller set to "P" on this and all my other flights, I have now checked my flight logs, on each flight it says "Mode changed to GPS_Atti" . Does that mean it's in GPS or Atti mode ?, I am a bit confused as I thought it would say either mode GPS or mode ATTI ?

 

[Alan Coleman]

It means you were flying in ATTI mode. There were most likely not enough satellites or you had some kind of compass error. I'd need to see the log to verify.

Unfortunately most of my flight logs are incomplete, including the one from last night, as once I have taken off and made sure that everything appears ok in the DJI App I switch to the Periscope App for live streaming. So only the start of the flight is recorded.
I checked the Log data on the Healthy Drones site for all my flights from this location and it gives 15+ GPS Satellites at the start of each flight.
The drone has never drifted before despite appearing to be in ATTI mode, which is why I assumed when the controller was set to "P" it was flying in GPS mode.
I will calibrate the compass again on my next flight and fly using just the DJI APP and note the display readings.
Could re-installing the firmware remove the warning message, or would that be a bad idea ?

 

[msinger]

The DAT flight log will contain all of your flight data. You can retrieve it like this and view it using DatCon.

I don't think it would be a good idea to start messing with the firmware or doing other random calibrations before you understand the problem. If you need help, please upload your DAT flight log to a site like Dropbox.com and post a link to it back here.

 

[Alan Coleman]

The DAT flight log will contain all of your flight data. You can retrieve it like this and view it using DatCon.

I don't think it would be a good idea to start messing with the firmware or doing other random calibrations before you understand the problem. If you need help, please upload your DAT flight log to a site like Dropbox.com and post a link to it back here.

Many thanks, I didn't realise that there are two types of flight data files. I will do as you suggest.

 

[Alan Coleman]

I have downloaded the log DAT file from the drone and uploaded it to Dropbox. I would be grateful if you could advise me on what could have caused the drone to possibly change to ATTI and to drift.

Dropbox - FLY097.DAT

 

[msinger]

Here's what your log shows:

• The Phantom was in P mode the entire time (GPS_ATTI = P mode)
• The mode did not switch to ATTI at anytime
• The GPS receiver was connected to sufficient satellites after takeoff

The only odd thing I see is the drifting you described above. All was well until you started yawing the Phantom. At that point, it started to slowly drift away. And, that drifting continued with no stick input after you stopped yawing.

@BudWalker, can you take a look at this one? Per the DatCon CSV output, here are the notable tick marks:

113773: Hovering in place with no stick input
180931: Starts to yaw (with stick input) and drift (without stick input)
187105: Phantom still drifting (without stick input)

 

[BudWalker]

Here's what your log shows:

• The Phantom was in P mode the entire time (GPS_ATTI = P mode)
• The mode did not switch to ATTI at anytime
• The GPS receiver was connected to sufficient satellites after takeoff

The only odd thing I see is the drifting you described above. All was well until you started yawing the Phantom. At that point, it started to slowly drift away. And, that drifting continued with no stick input after you stopped yawing.

@BudWalker, can you take a look at this one? Per the DatCon CSV output, here are the notable tick marks:

113773: Hovering in place with no stick input
180931: Starts to yaw (with stick input) and drift (without stick input)
187105: Phantom still drifting (without stick input)

Sure. But, I'm flying today on a real plane. I'll try to look later. Was gpsHealth > 3 ?

 

[msinger]

gpsHealth was below 5 prior to takeoff. It changed to 5 before the Phantom took off and remained at 5 for the entire flight.

 

[auen1]

Interested of the results.
My P3A is drifting too..
Almost crashed into a parked car while trying to hand catch landing w/ no wind.

 

[Multicoptertec]

No.

Well, maybe. Try this. You need an internet connection for this. Exit the Go app to where you are at the startup screen. Click on the upper left icon, and log in to your account. Go back to the startup screen, and connect to you P3A. See if the firmware upgrade notice is gone, after checking status.

 

[msinger]

Well, maybe. Try this. You need an internet connection for this. Exit the Go app to where you are at the startup screen. Click on the upper left icon, and log in to your account. Go back to the startup screen, and connect to you P3A. See if the firmware upgrade notice is gone, after checking status.

I guess you're referring to a phantom update message? There is no way to hide messages for updates that are not installed. The OP might be seeing that message for the recent RC update.

 

[Multicoptertec]

I guess you're referring to a phantom update message? There is no way to hide messages for updates that are not installed. The OP might be seeing that message for the recent RC update.

I thought the OP was running the latest everything. The P3P I was working on last week had all the latest firmwares, but when I checked status in the GO app, it kept showing the message, "Firmware Update Required". Only after I logged in to my account (I believe I saw a red dot on the icon, which prompted me to click it) did the message go away. Frustrating part was that the message didn't tell me WHAT firmware needed updating.

 

[msinger]

I thought the OP was running the latest everything.

The OP is running old RC firmware. A new update was released on 10/10. See more details here.