DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-6 07:49
wow .. you must really get around if you know most of the millions of DJI users....

personally I don't think 80% of the people flying sparks or mavics for that matter even understand the topics we are discussing and would not even realize its happening... unless it gets bad enough that it goes into atti...

Again try reading before you keep putting your foot in your mouth, you give the users of spark very little credit, but proof is that they are flying happily while you spend your time whinging, now sling your hook and go bother someone else.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-6 08:48
Again try reading before you keep putting your foot in your mouth, you give the users of spark very little credit, but proof is that they are flying happily while you spend your time whinging, now sling your hook and go bother someone else.

this is a board for expressing opinions and to get DJIs attention to issues..

I have valid issues and observations..

you have added your 2 cents to my issue and you have yet to get my subtle now direct.. I don't need or want YOUR input... I have read it and I have dismissed it..

so you sir.. are the one that needs to hang it up on my issue.... thank you

hallmark007 Posted at 11-6 09:26
Nobody said you didn’t have a valid issue, and you have a thread already posted so stick to that this thread has been here since July 2017, if you don’t agree with it then comment and move on, 22,000 people have mostly agreed with it, I’m sure you will get dji’s attention with your thread. And as long as I’ve been on this forum which is from the beginning it has not only been here to get dji’s attention.

man you really have a problem...

I never said it was just for getting DJIs attention... I clearly state its for expressing opinions...

you are clearly insecure and very conceited in that you can't fathom that others have valuable information to add to a conversation .. go play with yourself...

HT has been warned for trolling, I will continue to report him and not get involved in his silly Antics

hallmark007 Posted at 11-7 03:22
HT has been warned for trolling, I will continue to report him and not get involved in his silly Antics

you sir.. are the troll...

you are the one that follows people around on the board just to start an argument

you are the one that has to keep pushing an agenda or point...

I can go on but I am not wasting my time..

I will be ignoring you from now on..

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-7 04:29
you sir.. are the troll...

you are the one that follows people around on the board just to start an argument

I don’t need to follow anyone around, read above it was you with your ridiculous notions about how Compass works that came on this thread.

EdisonW1979 Posted at 11-14 12:54
Hey there Deuce,

Take it from someone who has proven hallmark007 to be nothing but a fraud (he's NOT a professional UAV pilot), and have proven publicly he's full of crap, don't bother with this loser any more. He's nothing but a pent up troll who always claims pilot error, always defends DJI, and never knows when to STFU.

now it that doesn't just make me hit the floor....

My start up
turn on drone
turn on remote
connect phone
wait for home point location update
take off and fly up 22 feet and let hover for 15 seconds so downward camera can get image of landing area for accurate RTH landing
zooooom around like a bat out of hell

Never a problem

Strobing_NYC Posted at 11-14 16:43
My start up
turn on drone
turn on remote

Perfectly stated,
The main thought is...give it a minute to get oriented before zooming off!
The compass on this drone seems especially sensitive and will "give up" with a relatively minor interference event.  Always best to wait a minute for it to get it's best possible fix.
But, I have to agree that the DJI app tries to be all things to ALL the drones and it has gotten "less friendly" to the Spark as it gets more models introduced! Not to mention the resources/computing power the app requires!

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-6 07:49
wow .. you must really get around if you know most of the millions of DJI users....

personally I don't think 80% of the people flying sparks or mavics for that matter even understand the topics we are discussing and would not even realize its happening... unless it gets bad enough that it goes into atti...

wow .. you must really get around if you know 80% of the people flying sparks or mavics....and that 90% are not even on any of these forums...

I heard it straight from a DJI rep at a drone convention that frequent compass calibration can reduce flyaways.

flygirl72 Posted at 12-26 00:44
I heard it straight from a DJI rep at a drone convention that frequent compass calibration can reduce flyaways.

Reps at shows usually sales reps, if you take advice from your manual it will tell you a different story.

Hi.
New as a member of the fourum, has been here quite a long time and only read.
I am a click away from ordering me a Spark because it fulfills what I want from a drone. But now I have begun to hesitate after reading all the posts about fly aways and youtube overflows with all these fly-away movies.

The question then becomes .. Do I dare to buy a Spark (fly more combo) or should you wait?
Is it supposed to come in an updated version with maybe new transmitter / receiver?
Have the problems become smaller with the latest firmware?

Maybe I am in the wrong forum part but the questions seemed to fit here ..

Smajly Posted at 1-3 17:14
Hi.
New as a member of the fourum, has been here quite a long time and only read.
I am a click away from ordering me a Spark because it fulfills what I want from a drone. But now I have begun to hesitate after reading all the posts about fly aways and youtube overflows with all these fly-away movies.

Hi Smajly,

The Spark is IMHO a very good product for beginners, and the Flymore combo is definitely worth a buy.
Yes there are flyaways, but many many Spark users don't experience that problem. And satisfied users usually don't post here :-)
If you are new to drone flying, check around your friend for help for the first few flights.
Find a nice open field with no obstacles (trees, masts, buildings) and no people for practicing.
Make yourself familiar with the drone flying rules in your country.
Check that your Spark does not show the takeoff hopping problem, drops to ATTI often, shows errors frequenty or has jittery video. In that case, have the bird replaced.
Get an OTG cable to connect the remote controller to your phone.
Practice ATTI mode flying (there is a thread here aboout that) to be prepared if it happens.
My recommendation: Use the MOD 2.0 app instead of the official Go 4 app to enjoy FCC mode.

Cheers,
Wolferl

Wolferl Posted at 1-4 01:42
Hi Smajly,

The Spark is IMHO a very good product for beginners, and the Flymore combo is definitely worth a buy.

Hello..

Thanks for the great response.
I am not new to drones, I have built all my own before.
Now I was going to test a "ready to fly" and then Spark should be optimal considering its size and how easy it is to transport in a backpack. I can probably live with the fact that flight time is poor, there is extra battery to buy.

Question:
- What is the difference between flying without or with OTG cable? What does the cable help with?

-What is the advantage of the MOD 2.0 app instead of the Go 4 app?

Smajly Posted at 1-4 02:30
Hello..

Thanks for the great response.

Hi Smajly,

The OTG cable makes the often unstable and slow Wifi network between the remote and your phone unnecessary. When I used my phone (with the stock DJI Go 4 app) connected via Wifi, I had a video lag of several seconds, which is terrible. With the OTG cable, there is no noticable lag anymore. It depends also on the phone you want to use.
The MOD 2.0 app is based on an older version of DJI Go4 app, which is good enough for the Spark, since newer version only have improvement for other drone models like the Mavics.
Additionally, it puts your bird to FCC mode so you get much more range and, even more important, more reliability. In CE mode (the standard in Europe) you get a range of 100 to 300m, FCC gives you km!
And yes, its not really legal to do that :-)

Cheers,
Wolferl

Wolferl Posted at 1-4 04:39
Hi Smajly,

The OTG cable makes the often unstable and slow Wifi network between the remote and your phone unnecessary. When I used my phone (with the stock DJI Go 4 app) connected via Wifi, I had a video lag of several seconds, which is terrible. With the OTG cable, there is no noticable lag anymore. It depends also on the phone you want to use.

Thanks Wolferl.

Nice with answers that everyone can understand. Well and simply described.

Have a last question then .. (I think) ..
Does the MOD2.0 app automatically put it in the FCC mode or do you have to do a lot of settings too? Which is the best and easiest video on youtube to describe how?

... and Whats the full name of the MOD 2.0 app o I can find it to my android?
I am using a LG G4.

Smajly Posted at 1-4 04:52
Thanks Wolferl.

Nice with answers that everyone can understand. Well and simply described.

Hi Smajly,

There's no need to do a lot of settings.
To download and install see this thread.

There's only one thing to take care of after installing you need to connect your phone to the R/C via Wifi once to enable FCC mode (no need to actually fly). After that you can directly start with an OTG cable.

Enjoy!
Wolferl

Wolferl Posted at 1-4 11:00
Hi Smajly,

There's no need to do a lot of settings.

Sweeeeet

Thanks Wolferl

Smajly Posted at 1-4 11:48
Sweeeeet

Thanks Wolferl

u could use Fake GPS to Switch if u dont want Mod 2.0

Thanks for the tip

SAADHERO Posted at 1-4 12:05
u could use Fake GPS to Switch if u dont want Mod 2.0

Yes I saw something about this earlier.
May look a little more at that option as well.

Thanks

Thanks for the tips! I'll make sure to check these things prior to my next flight.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-11 13:40
Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.

Great advice.  I did all that and still had a compass error during flight.  Would you be interested in looking at my flight log?

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-22 20:57
Great advice.  I did all that and still had a compass error during flight.  Would you be interested in looking at my flight log?

Yeah if you want to look at your logs that’s fine.


http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-11 13:40
Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.

After flying my Spark over 200 times with no problems at all my Spark went haywire last night.  On takeoff everything went fine.  I waited until I had 13 satellites and got the green okay to go light on my iPad.  After I got up to 50 feet or so I got several warnings and my Spark went crazy.  One of the warnings was weak gps signal, another was calibrate IMU, another was calibrate compass.  When I tried to control the Spark it went away.  It was almost like I was overcontrolling it.  Eventually I hit a tree and came down.  When I found the Spark one of the propellers was missing.  Can anyone please shred some light on what happened?

https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/O2F8LWNTJE9XKL8K5BWC/

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-11 13:40
Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.

After flying my Spark over 200 times with no problems at all my Spark went haywire last night.  On takeoff everything went fine.  I waited until I had 13 satellites and got the green okay to go light on my iPad.  After I got up to 50 feet or so I got several warnings and my Spark went crazy.  One of the warnings was weak gps signal, another was calibrate IMU, another was calibrate compass.  When I tried to control the Spark it went away.  It was almost like I was overcontrolling it.  Eventually I hit a tree and came down.  When I found the Spark one of the propellers was missing.  Can anyone please shred some light on what happened?
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/O2F8LWNTJE9XKL8K5BWC/

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-11 13:40
Tip To Help Avoid compass interference and crash.

Thank you for the information, I have tried to calibrate the compass a few times but it keeps telling me it failed. I spin it around or it’s horizontal axis and then tilt it to its side and spin it around again like the pictures show but alas it fails again. Any ideas what I may be doing wrong? I will try and find a you tube video and see if I may be doing something wrong. Just thought I would ask, thanks.

Texas Tornado Posted at 1-26 20:11
After flying my Spark over 200 times with no problems at all my Spark went haywire last night.  On takeoff everything went fine.  I waited until I had 13 satellites and got the green okay to go light on my iPad.  After I got up to 50 feet or so I got several warnings and my Spark went crazy.  One of the warnings was weak gps signal, another was calibrate IMU, another was calibrate compass.  When I tried to control the Spark it went away.  It was almost like I was overcontrolling it.  Eventually I hit a tree and came down.  When I found the Spark one of the propellers was missing.  Can anyone please shred some light on what happened?
https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/O2F8LWNTJE9XKL8K5BWC/

Hi,

You were flying quite low so it is very likely you hit a tree, and you got the dreaded ATTI drop.
After the bird goes into ATTI mode, you did not fly it, you just left the sticks alone.
Look at this thread to get some ATTI mode flying skills.
Oh and please, do not fly your drone over residential areas. People may be offended by that, eventually resulting in stricter rules. Find yourself a nice open spot to enjoy flying.

Cheers,
Wolferl

Gator Don Posted at 2-7 02:19
Thank you for the information, I have tried to calibrate the compass a few times but it keeps telling me it failed. I spin it around or it’s horizontal axis and then tilt it to its side and spin it around again like the pictures show but alas it fails again. Any ideas what I may be doing wrong? I will try and find a you tube video and see if I may be doing something wrong. Just thought I would ask, thanks.

If you hold your drone out arms length while holding the drone,just move yourself in a 360 with drone held out in front of you clockwise.
Turning it on it’s side gimbal facing sky or ground, again move yourself 360 clockwise this is an easies way to calibrate.

hallmark007 Posted at 2-7 03:09
If you hold your drone out arms length while holding the drone,just move yourself in a 360 with drone held out in front of you clockwise.
Turning it on it’s side gimbal facing sky or ground, again move yourself 360 clockwise this is an easies way to calibrate.

Thank you, will try again.

Hi,
Here is my video on what happens when you got interference.

Honestly, I'm still unsure of exact reasons: Drone was fully established on GPS, compass calibration warnings didn't appear, I started it in "beginners" mode to avoid any errorneous sudden moves since the there were other people on the pier and I just wanted to make a few simple photos from outside the pier and it went totally crazy after take off. Only after turning off beginners mode I returned some of control on drone (still forward/back movements were a mere of balance). I got my spark back to my posession, but learned a hard lesson on that. I suspect something was wrong with compass interference.

fans5848fa4f Posted at 3-6 08:54
Hi,
Here is my video on what happens when you got interference.

First off great you were able to manage to get it back, straight away looking at your video and from what you are saying, it looks very much like you had a compass problem, this could have occurred at take off, I will try to explain below, how and why it occurs.

You could also put up flight log to check what may have happened.

http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/4DRP16ZBZOLF0VK1LL8T


The best way I can explain this is. If you put your Aircraft on the ground in normal circumstances, start it up, then lift it up and turn it 90 degrees to the right both your compass heading and IMU will both move together 90 degrees and no problems.
If you put your Aircraft on the ground and there is magnetic interference only the heading of your compass will change, your aircraft will still take off. But when it clears magnetic interference compass will then move to correct heading which you would think was great. But No, what happens is IMU is then conflicted and confused because of this sudden movement by compass, so you receive IMU exceptional heading warning, your aircraft cannot deal with data conflict so decides to switch to Atti mode dropping gps in favour of compass simply because aircraft can fly without gps but not compass.

While I can’t be certain you picked up interference from the ground or surrounding area it is the most common cause.
I have seen many cases where people start their aircraft in or on their car in their house and then bring it outside so damage is already done and we will see exact same warnings and and reaction from aircraft.

We all should check our compass when we start our aircraft and maybe more of this could be avoided, you can do this by checking the small red triangle in the lower left corner of your telemetry.

One last thing I will say is we must always try to land aircraft immediately when this occurs.

fans5848fa4f Posted at 3-6 08:54
Hi,
Here is my video on what happens when you got interference.

Some guides.

Compass distances.

Natural and Artificial Magnetic Anomalies Warning
Note
The following information has not been objectively tested to determine it’s impact on a Drones compass accuracy in flight.
        1        Many things can distort the earth’s magnetic field in the area you are flying:
        •        Steel framed or reinforced concrete buildings, bridges and roadways, iron pipes and culverts, high power electric lines, heavy equipment, trucks and automobiles, steel tanks, electric motors and even computers.
        •        Flying between steel framed or reinforced high rise buildings will distort the magnetic field in addition to causing GPS multi-pathing.
        2        Safe distances for compass calibration
        •        6” (15 cm) minimum: Metal rim glasses, pen/pencil, metal watch band, pocket knife, metal zipper/buttons, belt buckle, batteries, binoculars, cell phone, keys, camera, camcorder, survey nails, metal tape measure.
        •        18” (50 cm) minimum: Clipboard, data collector, computer, GPS antenna, 2-way radio, hand gun, hatchet, cell phone case with magnetic closure.
        •        6 ft (2 m) minimum: Bicycle, fire hydrant, road signs, sewer cap or drain, steel pole, ATV, guy wire, magnets, chain-link fence, bar-wire fence, data collectors
that use a magnet to hold the stylus.
        •        15 ft (5 m) minimum: Electrical box, small car/truck, powerline, building with concrete & steel.
        •        30 ft (10 m) minimum: Large truck, metal building, heavy machinery.

hallmark007 Posted at 3-6 09:10
First off great you were able to manage to get it back, straight away looking at your video and from what you are saying, it looks very much like you had a compass problem, this could have occurred at take off, I will try to explain below, how and why it occurs.

You could also put up flight log to check what may have happened.

Wow! Thank you very much sir! That sounds like a very cridible explanation that explains a few other cases I've got (but UAV didn't have that bad behaviour that time).
This time I guess it was the concrete / metal construction of pier that could have given the issues you've described.
And, like I said - also it exaplains why each time I was trying to launch AC from the top of my car (not from inside of it) - I also was facing the compas calibration warning right away once I put AC on top of it, so I gave up on that idea (though it sounded to be good idea before, due to legal reasons - car is basically my property, so it could be a bit simpler to discuss some complications with people around - but that's a different story).

denkrep Posted at 3-6 09:28
Wow! Thank you very much sir! That sounds like a very cridible explanation that explains a few other cases I've got (but UAV didn't have that bad behaviour that time).
This time I guess it was the concrete / metal construction of pier that could have given the issues you've described.
And, like I said - also it exaplains why each time I was trying to launch AC from the top of my car (not from inside of it) - I also was facing the compas calibration warning right away once I put AC on top of it, so I gave up on that idea (though it sounded to be good idea before, due to legal reasons - car is basically my property, so it could be a bit simpler to discuss some complications with people around - but that's a different story).

Something you can try when it comes to launching from top of car or area with ferrous metal below ground (aka concrete with rebar / mesh).

Use a stable non-ferrous platform for your landing (launch) pad.  Could be a wood crate, plastic box, etc.
Platform needs to raise your drone up at least 6-inches when metal is at or near surface.  Depends upon amount of ferrous metal.

In case of top of car, if it has a large sunroof, you may be able to set your drone in center of glass.  (Worked on my Jeep.)

All of this assumes your compass is properly calibrated to start with.  If you compass isn't, and is trying to compensate for magnetic deviation that does not exist.  When drone is placed near ferrous metal it is possible compass will get a false positive.  Meaning compass will indicate everything is good, but really is not.

denkrep Posted at 3-6 09:28
Wow! Thank you very much sir! That sounds like a very cridible explanation that explains a few other cases I've got (but UAV didn't have that bad behaviour that time).
This time I guess it was the concrete / metal construction of pier that could have given the issues you've described.
And, like I said - also it exaplains why each time I was trying to launch AC from the top of my car (not from inside of it) - I also was facing the compas calibration warning right away once I put AC on top of it, so I gave up on that idea (though it sounded to be good idea before, due to legal reasons - car is basically my property, so it could be a bit simpler to discuss some complications with people around - but that's a different story).

In case of above ground ferrous metal, such as steel railing along a pier, starting around 1-meter away from railing your drone's compass will likely be effected for flight.  Closer you get, stronger ferrous metal's effects are on you drone's compass(es).  

When it comes to compass calibration, you want to be at least 10-meters away from ferrous metal.  Along with staying away from power lines.  Suggest doing compass calibrations in open field and doing the drone dance with minimal amount of ferrous metal on you.

Have any doubts about hidden ferrous metal or sources of magnetic interference, you can use GO-4 App's compass field strength meter(s).  If the bar(s) are red or yellow, there is a source of magnetic interference nearby.  You can also download free (or nearly free) Apps for iOS or Android SmartDevices that will show you deviations (sources of magnetic interference) from Earth's magnetic field.  

If you find there is a source of magnetic interference, move 10-meters in any direction and check again.   Once clear, do compass calibration.