Hi everyone,

i had a rather intresting problem, during a paid work with my phantom 4 pro. After taking of, my phantom stopped at 8m, thats 24 feet!!!! and the app said that "the maximum flight altitude reached". I was not in beginner mode, and my altitude limit was 300 meters. I tried resetting the altitude limit, i have restarted the phantom and the transmitter several times, but nothing helped. It was quiet frustrating, considering it was a paid job, and i was unable to fly higher than 8 meters which is joke. Do you have any idea what might be the problem?
I was flying between buildings so the gps was week, but it should not be  a problem. I have to do the job again tomorrow but im a bit frightened, cause im not sure if the phantom will fly higher than i can hold a camera.

Thanks in advance
Károly

Have you tried calibrating the IMUs? Other than that, I have no idea, sorry...

Make a try close to your house, and see what happen

How do I get off the 400 feet restricting  limit?

fansdc5f6a1e Posted at 2017-4-23 13:16
How do I get off the 400 feet restricting  limit?

The go4app the above menu upper right looks like three dots. There is a little quadcopter icon top left, press that, .  There is a set max flight altitude.  It is in Metric, the default is 120m, you press on the box and type in your altitude to a max of 500m.

Is this limit on at any location or just at that particular site?
Do a test flight somewhere else and see what happens.

Perhaps you are close to an airport. The geo-fencing system will limit your altitude if you are close to a designated airport.

There was a massive solar storm hit earth yesterday, and a lot of people were reporting that their drones were doing strange things. this may be due to that messing with the electronics. Although the P4P measure height by barometer, it changes the barometer reading into an electronic signal that can be interpreted by the PCB's on the drone itself. I would fly again today and see how you get on.

Thanks, for all of you! I will try today again, and see what happens.

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-4-24 00:06
There was a massive solar storm hit earth yesterday, and a lot of people were reporting that their drones were doing strange things. this may be due to that messing with the electronics. Although the P4P measure height by barometer, it changes the barometer reading into an electronic signal that can be interpreted by the PCB's on the drone itself. I would fly again today and see how you get on.

A lot of people report odd things with their Phantoms every day of the week.
And there are no more of these reports at times of high solar activity.
I've been looking at incidents for a long time and still haven't found one that can be attributed to solar activity.
If it really did have an effect, you'd see thousands of reports coming in at those times.
If solar activity ever gets high enough to actually cause a flying problem, your Phantom will be the least of your concerns.

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-24 03:55
A lot of people report odd things with their Phantoms every day of the week.
And there are no more of these reports at times of high solar activity.
I've been looking at incidents for a long time and still haven't found one that can be attributed to solar activity.

In your opinion, but not in Nasa's

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-4-24 05:42
In your opinion, but not in Nasa's

It's not opinion.
Can you find any case at all of problems that were caused by the sky-is-falling solar activity?
If you can it will be the first I've ever heard of.
What exactly did  NASA say that you think confirms your tale?

Not a tale at all Labroides, 30 years as an amateur astronomer more than makes me competent to talk about coronal mass ejections shocking the earth magnetic field and causing the field lines to wobble, this will put any magnetic compass off. Where the earths magnetic field is strongest by the poles, there will not be much consequences, if you live near the equator, where the earth magnetic field is weakest the shock can be considerable. Nasa has two sites where it forecasts the strength of incoming storms, and the frequencies it will affect. But Labroides , perhaps as a drone captain the laws of physics break down in your back garden.

Since you probably wont take my word for it, since you obviously know better than everyone about everything , here is an excerpt from the University of Boston about the effect of coronal mass ejections on GPS satellites. If CME's affect GPS they must affect drones.

Space Weather Effects on GPS

Space weather events, such as those described above, can affect the performance of groundand space based technological systems, with effects ranging from minor digital upsets, to severe power grid disruptions that can cause loss of service to millions.

For GPS users, the impact of space weather can usually be characterized by disturbances in the ionosphere.  The ionosphere is that part of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation.  It has practical importance because it influences radio wave propagation between space and earth.  The ionosphere over the CONtiguous United States (CONUS) is normally well ordered with slow and predictable changes in the ionosphere.  During a geomagnetic storm, however, rapid changes and strong gradients over distance can ultimately degrade GPS ranging measurements.


http://www.bc.edu/research/isr/spaceweathereffects.html

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-4-24 06:28
Since you probably wont take my word for it, since you obviously know better than everyone about everything , here is an excerpt from the University of Boston about the effect of coronal mass ejections on GPS satellites. If CME's affect GPS they must affect drones.

Space Weather Effects on GPS

Thanks Spike .... Is that all you've got?

I've read those vague words many times in the last 3 years but still can't see anything more than "can affect".
Nothing about how much it "can affect" or how likely it is to have any effect.
Actual experience shows that it doesn't affect in any measurable way.
In practice, a strong solar event might give you a minor inaccuracy in GPS readings ... in the order of a couple of feet.
But GPS already has a variable error of +/- ~2.5 metres anyway so if your Phantom is 2 feet further to the left due to solar activity you won't be able to tell.

Since you don't like to take my word, perhaps you'd like to see something with actual numbers of actual events rather than "can affect"
Go to: http://www.nstb.tc.faa.gov/reports/PAN86_0714.pdf
Look at P31-32

Despite seeing a hundred or more threads proclaiming GPS/drone disasters due to high K index events, I still haven't seen any confirmation that they have had any measurable effect on anyone's Phantom.

Yep read those statistics before, but even though you are quoting them you are not reading them, the maximum height miscalculation due to solar storms on that page is 29 feet, 9.4 metres. are you claiming that this in inconsequential ? I would argue it is very much so especially if you were doing a litchi mission and were setting altitude measurements for your waypoints. You are also only quoting towns in the USA, as I said the effects from these storms will be worst at the equator where the earths magnetic field is the weakest. If  San Juan has a 29 feet discrepancy in true height and reports GPS height , at the equator it would be another 10% worst , so in the region of 33 feet. That could make the difference between losing 2000 dollars worth of drone or not.

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-4-24 07:19
Yep read those statistics before, but even though you are quoting them you are not reading them, the maximum height miscalculation due to solar storms on that page is 29 feet, 9.4 metres. are you claiming that this in inconsequential ? I would argue it is very much so especially if you were doing a litchi mission and were setting altitude measurements for your waypoints. You are also only quoting towns in the USA, as I said the effects from these storms will be worst at the equator where the earths magnetic field is the weakest. If  San Juan has a 29 feet discrepancy in true height and reports GPS height , at the equator it would be another 10% worst , so in the region of 33 feet. That could make the difference between losing 2000 dollars worth of drone or not.

"the maximum height miscalculation due to solar storms on that page is 29 feet, 9.4 metres. are you claiming that this in inconsequential ?"

Yes, I would claim that is inconsequential.
I'd even say it's irrelevant.
But I understand that the Phantom doesn't use any GPS altitude data at all.
That's because GPS is woefully inaccurate for altitude, solar storms or not.
Your Phantom's altitude data comes exclusively from the barometer in the IMU.

Equator... where the earth magnetic field is weakest....
Think you got it wrong here...
Where do you see the northern light? At equator, or at the poles in North and South?? As you know, northern light is a result of solar storms

But you fail to point out other pages in that article conveniently where in Santiago, Chile, the horizontal inaccuracy was over 30 metres. This report is only for one quarter of 2014 which compared to other years was quiencent in its sunspot cycle with no major CME with geo storms of 4 or above. Given that it was a quiescent year but still has a innacuarcy of over 30 metres horizontal gps , I would say you were cherry picking data to fit your theory that you know better than some of the brightest minds in the world. Now some people here and I expect they are few, may believe that you know better than Nasa, but I certainly don't and the data certainly doesn't support what you say.

hanske Posted at 2017-4-24 11:52
Equator... where the earth magnetic field is weakest....
Think you got it wrong here...
Where do you see the northern light? At equator, or at the poles in North and South?? As you know, northern light is a result of solar storms

In Equator, the magnetic fields are weaker than in the poles. Because in the poles the " Lines of Force in the Geomagnetic field", are closer and converging

A solar storm mainly affects satellite communications, air navigation systems, electric power networks, radio communications networks with momentary blackouts. Among other terrestrial systems.

A question:
Why it is not recommended to fly with a Kp index higher than 4, in any meteorological application that is usually used when we fly ?   For example UAV Forecast

Bullflyer Posted at 2017-4-24 13:11
A question:
Why it is not recommended to fly with a Kp index higher than 4, in any meteorological application that is usually used when we fly ?   For example UAV Forecast

It's only recommended by sky-is-falling people that believe in myths and ignore evidence.
Fly all you like in Kp 4, Kp5, Kp6, Kp7 or Kp8 and it will still have no effect.

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-4-24 12:01
But you fail to point out other pages in that article conveniently where in Santiago, Chile, the horizontal inaccuracy was over 30 metres. This report is only for one quarter of 2014 which compared to other years was quiencent in its sunspot cycle with no major CME with geo storms of 4 or above. Given that it was a quiescent year but still has a innacuarcy of over 30 metres horizontal gps , I would say you were cherry picking data to fit your theory that you know better than some of the brightest minds in the world. Now some people here and I expect they are few, may believe that you know better than Nasa, but I certainly don't and the data certainly doesn't support what you say.

Thankyou Spike ... If solar storm activity actually did cause problems for drone flyers, whenever there was an event, we would see thousands of drone flyers affected in a similar way at the same time.
We have, perhaps a million Phantoms out there gathering evidence now.

Can you point to just one Phantom flying incident where it can be shown that solar storm activity was the cause?

And can you explain how your mysterious solar activity can possibly have had any impact on the OP's case?

SPIKE_151 Posted at 2017-4-24 00:06
There was a massive solar storm hit earth yesterday, and a lot of people were reporting that their drones were doing strange things. this may be due to that messing with the electronics. Although the P4P measure height by barometer, it changes the barometer reading into an electronic signal that can be interpreted by the PCB's on the drone itself. I would fly again today and see how you get on.

Being an amateur astronomer is one thing, but your knowledge of electronics is lacking. This statement:

'There was a massive solar storm hit earth yesterday, and a lot of people were reporting that their drones were doing strange things. this may be due to that messing with the electronics. Although the P4P measure height by barometer, it changes the barometer reading into an electronic signal that can be interpreted by the PCB's on the drone itself.'

is technical mumbo-jumbo. You are suggesting that somehow this is able to be interferred with by solar activity and that is completely untrue, the electronics in the Phantom are not affected by any solar activity.

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-24 07:03
Thanks Spike .... Is that all you've got?

I've read those vague words many times in the last 3 years but still can't see anything more than "can affect".

I have to agree with Labroides, Solar activity CAN affect GPS but its not going to take down a bird, you'll get an uncertainty in position but the compass and IMU should largely take care to avoid a sudden shift in position.  (worst case you can go to ATTI and still fly home). Altitude eval is by barometer and attitude by IMU (also guards against sudden change in altitude I guess).

On this forum there is to much attribution of flight problems to solar flares. If it was so bad, commercial aircraft would be affected too.

The OP probably has a faulty barometer.

Mike-the-cat Posted at 2017-4-24 16:04
I have to agree with Labroides, Solar activity CAN affect GPS but its not going to take down a bird, you'll get an uncertainty in position but the compass and IMU should largely take care to avoid a sudden shift in position.  (worst case you can go to ATTI and still fly home). Altitude eval is by barometer and attitude by IMU (also guards against sudden change in altitude I guess).

On this forum there is to much attribution of flight problems to solar flares. If it was so bad, commercial aircraft would be affected too.

Commercial aircraft have been affected, in real reported incidents. With problems in the communications and navigation systems, having to manually change the satellite selection

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-24 14:42
It's only recommended by sky-is-falling people that believe in myths and ignore evidence.
Fly all you like in Kp 4, Kp5, Kp6, Kp7 or Kp8 and it will still have no effect.

No, no. It's recommended by UAV Forecast and other applications, don't be confused.

Bullflyer Posted at 2017-4-24 22:47
No, no. It's recommended by UAV Forecast and other applications, don't be confused.

that's what I said:  It's only recommended by sky-is-falling people that believe in myths and ignore evidence.

Confused?
Don't be gullible.

If you think UAV forecast is authoritative ... what do they say about cloudy days?
Why?

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-25 00:25
that's what I said:  It's only recommended by sky-is-falling people that believe in myths and ignore evidence.

Confused?

" It's only recommended by sky-is-falling people that believe in myths and ignore evidence."

So, comercial aircraft affected and reporting incidents, having failures in communications and navigation systems, they believe in myths, and not in scientific reports coming from NASA or NOAA, or from specific departments in different universities around the world.
Once again, is your opinion.
On the other hand, it is difficult to diagnose an issue of this type, just like when you have interference in an urban environment, there are no high-tech black boxes here.

Bullflyer Posted at 2017-4-25 04:02
" It's only recommended by sky-is-falling people that believe in myths and ignore evidence."

So, comercial aircraft affected and reporting incidents, having failures in communications and navigation systems, they believe in myths, and not in scientific reports coming from NASA or NOAA, or from specific departments in different universities around the world.

"So, comercial aircraft affected and reporting incidents, having failures in communications and navigation systems, they believe in myths"

Yes, the same people who keep reporting 100s of meter wide drones flying around at 10,000ft altitude and causing a danger to their aircraft!

It is clear that space weather does have a real effect on satellites and radio communications, occasionally it has a real effect on terrestrial power grids and as a result can effect our home computers.  However the effect on everyday flying of our drones is so small that it is not worth worrying about; occasionally the GPS will be noticeably less accurate but we don't depend on our GPS having any particular accuracy anyway so it doesn't matter.

The copter thinks it's flying indoor when you fly in between the tall buildings and get a weak GPS reception. There is a height limit when flying indoor. There has been another case just like your when a person tried to fly in a narrow canyon and can't fly up a waterfall.   

Bullflyer Posted at 2017-4-25 04:02
" It's only recommended by sky-is-falling people that believe in myths and ignore evidence."

So, comercial aircraft affected and reporting incidents, having failures in communications and navigation systems, they believe in myths, and not in scientific reports coming from NASA or NOAA, or from specific departments in different universities around the world.

It's one thing to say commercial aircraft are reporting incidents but a different matter to show some of these incidents.
How many incidents, what effects, how serious, how often and what is the cause?

I hear sky-is-falling people squawking about the dangers of flying when the K index is above lukewarm and claiming all sorts of dire effects ... but I'm a scientist.
I don't accept your hypothesis unless you can show me confirming evidence to suport it.
But I still don't see even small numbers of Phantoms being affected by solar activity.
And if it were true, we'd see large numbers affected.

Maxi3D Posted at 2017-4-25 04:27
The copter thinks its flying indoor when you fly in between the tall buildings and get a weak GPS reception. There is a height limit when flying indoor. There has been another case just like your when a person tried to fly in a narrow canyon and can't fly up a waterfall.

This is getting close to the issue.

From p55 of the manual:
Height is restricted to 26 feet (8 meters) when the GPS signal is weak and Vision Positioning is activated.
Height is restricted to 98 feet (30 meters) when the GPS signal is weak and Vision Positioning is inactivated.
The solution - turn off VPS.

Nigel_ Posted at 2017-4-25 04:13
"So, comercial aircraft affected and reporting incidents, having failures in communications and navigation systems, they believe in myths"

Yes, the same people who keep reporting 100s of meter wide drones flying around at 10,000ft altitude and causing a danger to their aircraft!

"Yes, the same people who keep reporting 100s of meter wide drones flying around at 10,000ft altitude and causing a danger to their aircraft!"

I don't know where did you read that information, but 90% of reports involving drones in incidents with comercial aircrafts, are always in the vicinity of an airport.
These incidents use to occur in that area, because aircraft are flying at a low level, in order to approach,  land or take off in the airports. I have never read an inform about an incident with a dron at ten thousand feet.
Just for couriosity, if you can send me a link of this information, it would be interesting for me.

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-25 04:28
It's one thing to say commercial aircraft are reporting incidents but a different matter to show some of these incidents.
How many incidents, what effects, how serious, how often and what is the cause?

"It's one thing to say commercial aircraft are reporting incidents but a different matter to show some of these incidents."

I'll tell you the most popular reported incident due to a solar storm and confirmed

"AIR FORCE ONE LOST COMUNICATIONS EN ROUTE TO CHINA"

There are more confirmed incidents, in reports coming from Boeing and Airbus

Labroides Posted at 2017-4-25 04:28
It's one thing to say commercial aircraft are reporting incidents but a different matter to show some of these incidents.
How many incidents, what effects, how serious, how often and what is the cause?

"I don't accept your hypothesis unless you can show me confirming evidence to suport it."

Following your theory: Could you show me cofirming evidence that the solar storms doesn't affect drones activity ? ( GPS and Transmisions) Official reports with stadistics, please. Not your opinion, we already know your thinking

Bullflyer Posted at 2017-4-25 07:27
"Yes, the same people who keep reporting 100s of meter wide drones flying around at 10,000ft altitude and causing a danger to their aircraft!"

I don't know where did you read that information, but 90% of reports involving drones in incidents with comercial aircrafts, are always in the vicinity of an airport.

"I don't know where did you read that information, but 90% of reports involving drones in incidents with comercial aircrafts, are always in the vicinity of an airport."

Yes, airliners fly at 30-40 thousand feet, they pass 10,000 as they come in to land, over half the incidents "on approach to an airport" seem to be up around 10,000 feet.

Here is one recent example but there are plenty more, often the press leave out the actual height though since it doesn't make for such great news when you say that it was at 10,000 ft, 30 miles from the airport and the separation distance was 1 mile+!  So you normally need to check the official incident reports to find out...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-39457371

Contrary to what Spike believes, the earth is protected by a strong magnetic field. This field goes from north to south.
Remember from school. We put small pieces of iron on a glass table, and a magnet under. The pices of iron spread out perfectly in a circular form, leaving the north and the south of the magnet open.

The earth workes in the same way.

A solar storm is nothing else then electrons and protons pushed out daily from the nuclair activity from the sun.

These particles can hardly penetrate the magnetic field the earth is surrounded by. If the activity is extreanly strong, yes some activity can be measured.

Does it do any harm?
On ground level? Hardly.
As mentioned earlier, the norths have weak magnetic protection, and are daily bombarded with solar activity. At night time you can see this with your own eyes as the northern light.

However, these particles are dangerous and do destroy electronics, in space. When a strong activity occurres, a satellite will close its protective gates. Also a solar outage can occur, where the radiation is blocking the micro wave signal from the satellite.

So just to get the facts straight.
Yes, a strong solar storm do have a negative effect on communication and GPS coverage.

A strong solar storm can knock out power grids.

A strong solar activity can have an affect of the compass.

Then again, do I believe it will have any consequences flying a phantom? No hardly.

The longer you get from the North Pole the more protected you are.

Solar storm occurs on a regular basis, and the systems are well design to handle them.

And in the event of the sky is falling in our head, knocking out all the system mention above.

Yes, it can happen. But last time was 1859, and I doubt satellites were an issue then. And the sun is well surveillanced since then, so you will know well ahead.

So keep on flying and don't be afraid the sun will break your drone!

hanske Posted at 2017-4-25 11:16
Contrary to what Spike believes, the earth is protected by a strong magnetic field. This field goes from north to south.
Remember from school. We put small pieces of iron on a glass table, and a magnet under. The pices of iron spread out perfectly in a circular form, leaving the north and the south of the magnet open.

Hi Hanske.
Do you think that the transmission between the drone and transmitter could be affected, thinking in low level altitudes ?.  I remember you that here we don't have black boxes (Flight data recorder), so I guess, you guess and he guess......