Problems with DJI Go4 disappear in Litchi

[Keith Mitchell]

I fly a P4P and use a 32GB iPad Air (about 3 years old). I'm Part 107 certified but only fly about twice a month. Still, I stay up-to-date with the latest firmware before I fly.

Lately, my iPad screen has been turning green on and off while flying, regardless of which frequency I use. This makes it very difficult to judge if my subject is centered in the frame when I'm trying to pan and tilt at the same time. I stand pretty close to the P4P, usually just flying around a house to capture real estate video. The aircraft is usually between 20-40 feet AGL.

Second, and worse, I was on a job last week recording video of a property, and the camera switched out of video and went to photo mode right in the middle of filming. I put it back in video mode and a few seconds later it dropped back to photo mode again. I thought maybe I'm too close to the house, so I turned off obstacle avoidance and still the same result. After I got home I checked all my settings and tried again in my back yard with the same result.

I usually only use Litchi for waypoint missions, but I decided to try a manual flight in Litchi's FPV mode and it worked great! No green screen. No dropping out of video mode.

I researched for an hour or two on this and other websites to see who else has these problems. I couldn't find anyone else dropping out of video mode, but the green screen was pretty common. Usually the consensus was along the lines of saying that DJI's latest firmware and database updates are taxing the cpu's of the older iPads and they just can't keep up. Some folks also recommended changing freq's or channels, but I've already tried that.

There are a lot of folks on this forum with a lot more knowledge and experience than me, so I'm tossing this question out there for comments:

Do you agree that the problem is probably related to my older iPad, or is something else possibly going on?

As long as Litchi works I'm at least operational, but it is very frustrating and embarrassing having to return to a job site to re-shoot (I flew a short test flight at home before I went out there and did not have the video problem).

 

[tevek]

My experience and that of many others with similar problems to yours was to select a custom channel, drop the transmission rate to 4 Mbps, clear your video cache and turn it off. I also deleted any unwanted apps and freed up a bunch of space on my device and the green screen, drop outs disappeared. There were also some glitches with the iOS 11.2 (?) update but this has been resolved with subsequent updates. As you've pointed out, Litchi runs just fine, appears to be less taxing on my device and is my preferred app.

 

[Keith Mitchell]

That sounds like good advice. Thank you for taking the time to post, tevek. I'll try those remedies you listed. I did not notice that my iPad's memory was getting full, so that could be a factor. I'll stick with Litchi but will test out Go 4 after I go through this list just to see if it resolves the problems.

 

[JJErrico]

I've experienced screen flashes and temporary blackouts while in flight using an iPad air that was 2-3 years old. I switched to an iPhone 7+ and has been rock solid for 20-30 flights now. No other changes. Added benefit is the screen is more visible in sunlight. Downside is the smaller size. Turn off cellular to avoid getting calls while in flight.

Have used a Samsung S8 as well with stable performance.

I vote for the theory that DJI GO 4 taxes the older iPad performance.

 

[Meta4]

I did not notice that my iPad's memory was getting full, so that could be a factor. I'll stick with Litchi but will test out Go 4 after I go through this list just to see if it resolves the problems.

The problem is that you are using an old iPad that was released in 2013.
Its A7 processor just isn't up to the task of running the current version of DJI Go 4.

 

[ETC]

I only use the go app for configuration and all my normal fights are done in litchi as the quads just perform better with litchi. Plus i don't get the daily update nag. I've said before I am not a fan of IOS but have 3 ipad mini 2 units that I use only on the drones and they work flawlessly. I had to give up on androids as most will not run litchi and the go app if they are both installed. I would have to remove the go app so litchi would connect. I occasionally get the cpu max error in djigo but never in litchi so I do think a lot of the reason litchi works better is it puts less strain on the cpu.

 

[skiptv]

FYI if you run Litchi and you crash your drone and have DJI care refresh they will not cover or replace your drone.

 

[BigAl07]

FYI if you run Litchi and you crash your drone and have DJI care refresh they will not cover or replace your drone.

That's not true matter-of-factly. Search the forums and you'll find where people have been able to get repairs/replacement when flying Litchi. The problem is Litchi does not produce the same detailed logs as DJI GO does and if they need these logs for verification etc then they can deny warranty/replacement.

If you can't prove DJI was at fault they will not replace the aircraft period.

 

[Russ43Phantom]

By keeping both my hardware and software up to date, I have found no issues with DJI's Go 4 app when using my drones for still image and video photography. I have not used my drones (P4P, Mavic Air, Mavic 2 Pro) for mapping assignments.