*Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from idle

[bretschwartz]

I just got the phantom 2 vision. I spent the entire day reading the manual and getting it ready to fly. I charged the lipo, put fresh new batts in radio and charged the wifi booster all per the manual. I watched the dopy videos on line to make sure I was doing everything correctly.

I even download the mac software and connected both the copter and the handheld radio to make sure I was running the most recent firmware. (I was).

So to be clear, I have not made any physical or software adjustments. It is completely stock setup out of the box. (sorry, I did put on prop protectors....and glad I did)

I have flown a few helicopters before. mostly the little indoor copters without any problems. My goal today was to become comfortable getting all the systems operational and to hover 3 or 4 feet off the ground.

So i'm outside now. I got the Radio powered on (check)....I got the copter powered up (check).. I got the camera switched to wifi (check). I got my iphone dji vision app open and mounted to radio (check). Everything is now connected, powered on and communicating as per the manual.

the copter is sitting on a table and i'm reading the manual trying to figure out how to calibrate the compass. I did all the voodoo steps. switch the switch a dozen times, spit over your shoulder, hop on one foot, rotate the copter clockwise, throw some more switches, say a prayer, turn the copter sideways, repeat said prayer, rotate the copter again... Did it work? WHO THE HELL KNOWS! The lights were flashing green to orange.....green to orange.....green to orange.... (you get the idea)... so I looked at the low tech card that was dangling by a string from my controller and guess what?????....... can you believe that every color combination known to man was on that card except the one I was experiencing. How is that possible??

Ok, since my color combination wasn't on low tech dangling card, I must be good to go......right?

So now the copter is on the grass in my back yard, as per the manual, I hold the sticks down and sure enough the copter blades start to spin (idle). with the copter on the ground, i looked at the iphone but couldn't tell if there was gps lock. i'm assuming there wasn't because the altimeter said my bird was 4 ft in the air and the speed was 5mph all while idling on the ground in front of me.

Of course the bird is still flashing green to orange....green to orange just sitting there, so i add some throttle and the bird takes off. I was able to keep it hovering at 2 to 4 feet but had to provide constant adjustments to keep it still. Next thing I know I hear the throttle going up and the bird starts to climb all on its own. I did not move the stick forward, I had to fight it to get it back on the ground. so now the bird is on the ground sitting at idle, i'm just looking to make sure every thing was working. the iphone was connected, FPV was operational.....all of the sudden the ****** throttles up and takes off!!! (my hand wasn't anywhere near the sticks!) again, I had to fight it to the ground. Rough Landing

At that point, I powered everything down and did the system wide REBOOT. As before, still flashing Green to Orange...Green to Orange. I was able to hover again at 3 feet, but after a minute the bird took off and climbed to ten feet... at least it wasn't sitting on the ground this time.... see progress I had to fight it back to the ground. It was at this point, I turned everything off and came in to type this ridiculously long winded message.

HELP!! WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!

 

[RamDez]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

if its blinking green orange green orange you should NOT take off as its still Warming Up as per the user manual, page 27. you have to wait till its blinking slow green.

 

[RamDez]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

and it also shows that on the "low tech" card

 

[bretschwartz]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

if its blinking green orange green orange you should NOT take off as its still Warming Up as per the user manual, page 27. you have to wait till its blinking slow green.

Warm Up? it was 58 degrees out. It never changed to solid green. I hovered for a good ten minutes and still it was flashing green...orange. I did a battery change after I did a full system reboot and still the same light show.

 

[BALDYIAN]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

I"m not up with the best of them but sounds like as you didn"t calibrate the compass correctly, ie from the position you were actually flying it from, for some reason it appears to be trying top return to home i would suggest ? which is not the same position you tried to fly it from ie you did the compass dance in the other location if that makes sense ?

You need to ensure full Satellite pick-up if you"re flying in GPS mode, and from the actual flight loction.In the P2 it"s a regular flashing green indication on the Quads lights. If it does not attain this repeat the procedure until it does. Or change location or fly in Atti ?

Only had similar when trying to calibrate inside a building and it turned out it had intermittent satellite pick-ups and it had a mind of its own in GPS mode fluctuating in and out of GPS lock, i switched to ATTI and landed it, then went outside and re-did the compass calibration, full satellites received and away we flew 100%

I dare say other issues maybe present include incorrect sequence of calibration, as that tends to catch most people out, me included even when no updates have happened it sometimes screws it up it seems, and everything needs to be checked in the assistant.

Ian

 

[jimdenburg]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

I would go back and read the manual again. You'll see that you shouldn't take off until you have a steady green blinking light--not the really quick ones. You'll also notice that in the upper right corner of your app, when properly connected to the Phantom, will provide you with the number of Satellites acquired, and that you won't have a steady green light until you have 6+. You may not have properly calibrated the compass either, hard to say.

 

[bretschwartz]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

I would go back and read the manual again. You'll see that you shouldn't take off until you have a steady green blinking light--not the really quick ones. You'll also notice that in the upper right corner of your app, when properly connected to the Phantom, will provide you with the number of Satellites acquired, and that you won't have a steady green light until you have 6+. You may not have properly calibrated the compass either, hard to say.

From the three or four times I checked the FLV, the GPS was grayed out and didn't seem to obtain GPS lock at all. I was flying in my back yard with a clear shot of the open sky in suburban philly.

On the warm up procedure, should the bird be idling on the ground until it "warms up"? If thats the case, how do i know its "warmed" up, the lights are in the grass. I have a feeling that not right, it was a warm day, their use of the word "warm up" probably means boot up sequence. I find it hard to believe the copter needs to physically warm up.

Also, After I do the Compass Calibration Dance (i'm trademarking that) how do I know if that worked? .....Because it didn't fly away

 

[bretschwartz]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

I"m not up with the best of them but sounds like as you didn"t calibrate the compass correctly, ie from the position you were actually flying it from, for some reason it appears to be trying top return to home i would suggest ? which is not the same position you tried to fly it from ie you did the compass dance in the other location if that makes sense ?

You need to ensure full Satellite pick-up if you"re flying in GPS mode, and from the actual flight loction.In the P2 it"s a regular flashing green indication on the Quads lights. If it does not attain this repeat the procedure until it does. Or change location or fly in Atti ?

Only had similar when trying to calibrate inside a building and it turned out it had intermittent satellite pick-ups and it had a mind of its own in GPS mode fluctuating in and out of GPS lock, i switched to ATTI and landed it, then went outside and re-did the compass calibration, full satellites received and away we flew 100%

I dare say other issues maybe present include incorrect sequence of calibration, as that tends to catch most people out, me included even when no updates have happened it sometimes screws it up it seems, and everything needs to be checked in the assistant.

Ian

That sounds EXACTLY what I experienced today. Pardon my ignorance but how do I switch to ATTI mode? Does ATTI mode remove the GPS functionality? I haven't looked into any software changes yet, I wanted to run it "stock" first. thanks Bret

 

[Pull_Up]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

Right, where shall we start?

As per the user manual, a compass calibration before first flight is very important. You said you did it "on the table"? This doesn't sound like the recommended open area, clear of buildings, metal things (like cars, railings, table legs, rebar concrete, etc, etc). A nice open field or park is ideal. If you're not in the clear you will not necessarily get a good calibration.

Once you power up the aircraft you should not start up the motors using the sticks command until you have a good sat lock as signified by the green led signal (per the manual). If you don't get that, and your GPS symbol on the app is greyed out it means you aren't getting sat lock, but should still get a yellow flash to say you are good to go but not in full GPS mode (per the manual). If you are in a suburban area surrounded by buildings then you may not get satellite lock at ground level.

Anything other than a green or yellow flashing LED signal means it's not a good idea to take off (per the manual). And by warm up we mean boot up sequence, not get to temperature.

These quads aren't really designed for flying in a back yard. You're better off going to a large park or field, preferably away from people and metal things and trees and stuff to crash into and going through the process there. Have another read of the manual first. Then go and calibrate your compass in the clear somewhere and see if you can get things things moving from there.

 

[BALDYIAN]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

I use the Futaba T8J and the right hand 3 position switch is allocated to GPS in top, Atti middle and Manual in btm position. As you suggest it does away with the GPS a ( as i understand it in this mode in flight it drifts about and you have to input correction for drift etc as against GPS mode where it will basically sit in position within a few feet all day long and constantly adjusting itself for variations in wind etc.

Some have reported issues as i mentioned by not upgrading or checking for upgrades etc in the correct sequence, sometimes checking one disables another or alters default settings so the switch actuations etc have to be checked via the assistant as IOC etc have to be enabled as they"re not set up by default.

Every time i"ve read about similar issues or so called fly aways it mostly seems to be a set up issue in Assistant or lack of correct compass calibration. It"s amazing how much the compass is affected by local interference the video below caused me issues as i was too close to the Forklift , i moved away 6 feet and all was well again. Which if you notice the largs amount of Steel in our racks i"m quite surprised TBH

I tend to do the Compass dance now at chest/head level now after allowing in to acclimatise for a few minutes on it"s own before any input from myself. Always got the Sat"s on the horizontal rotation but it"s always the Vertical rotation where it"s not completed. This way any change/keys etc are at a further distance from the Quad and i can also see the LED"s square in my face

Repeat as many times as required, which has never been more than 3 attempts so far.

I don"t know where you are apart from somewhere warm There was a mention about magnetic effects of the Earth on the Compass but i"d put it down to one of the above before going down that line of thought.

IE User error, we"ve all done it, and i suggest anyone who won"t admit it is a liar or Bloody lucky and should get a Lottery ticket :lol:

Hope that helps? you need the experts that will be along in the morning UK time

Just remembered on one of my Crap test Vid"s, i was obviously too near to some Boat Wreck debris and moved away for calibration and alls well.....except the Video flying blind :roll:

Ian

Work http://youtu.be/WqGDBMpdb2I


Wreck http://youtu.be/1CRZ3YDLQ4U

 

[rnrnrn]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

Hey,

It does look like your Phantom was still warming up (as in - booting up - don't confuse it with temperature, it has nothing to do with that) when you took off. That can lead to any possible outcome, in most cases not the one you'd wish for.

Do try to power it up in clear surroundings and wait for a steadily blinking green light and a good connection with the app. If it does not work take it back to the dealer to have it serviced a/p warranty - otherwise you're risking a nasty crash and related consequences.

Hope it works out well for you, cheers ;-)

 

[bretschwartz]

Re: *Please Help* Phantom 2 vision took off on its own from

I use the Futaba T8J and the right hand 3 position switch is allocated to GPS in top, Atti middle and Manual in btm position. As you suggest it does away with the GPS a ( as i understand it in this mode in flight it drifts about and you have to input correction for drift etc as against GPS mode where it will basically sit in position within a few feet all day long and constantly adjusting itself for variations in wind etc.

Some have reported issues as i mentioned by not upgrading or checking for upgrades etc in the correct sequence, sometimes checking one disables another or alters default settings so the switch actuations etc have to be checked via the assistant as IOC etc have to be enabled as they"re not set up by default.

Every time i"ve read about similar issues or so called fly aways it mostly seems to be a set up issue in Assistant or lack of correct compass calibration. It"s amazing how much the compass is affected by local interference the video below caused me issues as i was too close to the Forklift , i moved away 6 feet and all was well again. Which if you notice the largs amount of Steel in our racks i"m quite surprised TBH

I tend to do the Compass dance now at chest/head level now after allowing in to acclimatise for a few minutes on it"s own before any input from myself. Always got the Sat"s on the horizontal rotation but it"s always the Vertical rotation where it"s not completed. This way any change/keys etc are at a further distance from the Quad and i can also see the LED"s square in my face

Repeat as many times as required, which has never been more than 3 attempts so far.

I don"t know where you are apart from somewhere warm There was a mention about magnetic effects of the Earth on the Compass but i"d put it down to one of the above before going down that line of thought.

IE User error, we"ve all done it, and i suggest anyone who won"t admit it is a liar or Bloody lucky and should get a Lottery ticket :lol:

Hope that helps? you need the experts that will be along in the morning UK time

Just remembered on one of my Crap test Vid"s, i was obviously too near to some Boat Wreck debris and moved away for calibration and alls well.....except the Video flying blind :roll:

Ian

Work http://youtu.be/WqGDBMpdb2I


Wreck http://youtu.be/1CRZ3YDLQ4U

Ian,

thanks so much for info. I'm going to def re read the manual and take her to an open field today. I knew I was doing something wrong and suspected it was related to the compass/gps functionality. cheers Bret

 

[pomonabill220]

One comment about your first video.... Yes, there is ALOT of steel around your bird.
From what I saw, if possible I would move over to where the stacks of pallets are, rather than so close to the lift/forklift and the racks of steel. WOW there is alot of metal round you!
Other than that, I didn't see any problems as your flights look good to me. I must have not seen the problem.

When you say... "Always got the Sat"s on the horizontal rotation but it"s always the Vertical rotation where it"s not completed." are you referring to your compass dance? Sats are not being "counted" during the compass dance... that is only for the compass. Your FPV monitor will show how many sats you are getting, and should NOT be greyed out, and MUST be at LEAST as steady 6 or more.

I don't know what the P2 does when the sat count bounces around between, say 5-6 sats. I would imagine it would switch out of GPS and go to ATTI, which requires ALOT more input/control from you.

It also looked like it was rather cloudy, which would affect GPS reception.
Go to www.uavforecast.com website (excellent!) and see how many sats. you should expect to get.

I found out about the website from Simon (onthekitchentable). He has MANY excellent videos on the DJI line too!

Good luck!

 

[pomonabill220]

Another thing I found.... IF while calibrating the compass, I have my remote tethered to my harness (Bestem zero G harness... VERY nice), the metal "bail" on the top of the remote and my FPV monitor will mess up the compass cal., and I will get a flashing red led after the cal.
So don't wear your remote while calibrating.

Also, I think the direction you rotate in the "dance" makes a difference.
Clockwise (when viewed from above) will not cal., and CounterCW will pass...
Don't know if this is true but I tried several times and it seemed to make a difference.

You MUST pass the compass cal. before flying!!!!

 

[N017RW]

Also, I think the direction you rotate in the "dance" makes a difference.

Not true.

 

[pomonabill220]

hhmmm... I didn't think so either, but I remember that it wouldn't cal if I didn't rotate in the correct direction.
I will have to try it again.

Thanks!

 

[crash1sttime]

Once you throttle up and land the quad will power up and can take off. Once you land you should shut off the motors.

The reason is the cheap barometer, the quad believes it is changing altitude when it is on the ground (the app will show the altitude changing) so the quad will vary its motor speed to compensate