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Loses signal to RC when flying off a boat
1182 7 2017-10-5
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fans24ed4c19
lvl.1

United States
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I have a Mavic Pro that I purchased new in May. The first few months I owned it, I was able to fly it off my boat without any issues. During the last two months, my RC has lost signal everytime I attempt to fly it off my boat. Sometimes, I am able to take off, but I then lose signal in less than 1 minute. Other times, I lose signal before I even take (after it has connected and acquired signal). GPS signal is good in my area (18+), and I have installed all the updates. I have also attempted to fly off the boat when the boat is not running and attempted to fly it off other boats. The same issue continues to occur. Is anyone else experienceing this problem or have a solution? I am having similar issues when flying it off my dock, but only when I reach about 2,000 feet from the RC.

I spoke to someone the other day that had similar issues and he had to send his back to DJI for repairs.

-Adam
2017-10-5
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DJI-Mark
lvl.4

United States
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Are you losing signal when you fly the aircraft on land? When flying over water, there are different types of challenges then when flying over land. Also check the number of satellites. Metal objects can cause interference.
2017-10-5
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fans24ed4c19
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United States
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DJI-Mark Posted at 2017-10-5 08:10
Are you losing signal when you fly the aircraft on land? When flying over water, there are different types of challenges then when flying over land. Also check the number of satellites. Metal objects can cause interference.

I'm usually connected to 18 or more satellites. I'm having similar issues when flying from my house over the lake and from my dock, but it usually occurs around 2,000 feet away in those instances and it is completely out of sight.  There are a lot of trees when flying from my dock and the house, so I assumed that is the issue there. However, there are no obstacles on the boat except for the tower and some docks along the shore line. My boat does have GPS, but I have turned it off and tried other boats that do not have GPS.
2017-10-5
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DroneFlying
lvl.4
Flight distance : 10774613 ft
United States
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fans24ed4c19 Posted at 2017-10-5 08:34
I'm usually connected to 18 or more satellites. I'm having similar issues when flying from my house over the lake and from my dock, but it usually occurs around 2,000 feet away in those instances and it is completely out of sight.  There are a lot of trees when flying from my dock and the house, so I assumed that is the issue there. However, there are no obstacles on the boat except for the tower and some docks along the shore line. My boat does have GPS, but I have turned it off and tried other boats that do not have GPS.

If you upload the flight log (DAT file stored on the Mavic) for one of these flights I'll take a look and may be able to shed some light on what's happening. The instructions for retrieving a DAT file are here and the correct one will have a timestamp that corresponds to when the flight occurred and will be tens or hundreds of megabytes in size. Once you've retrieved it then you'll need to upload it to DropBox and provide a link to it here so that I can look at it.
2017-10-5
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DJI-Mark
lvl.4

United States
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fans24ed4c19 Posted at 2017-10-5 08:34
I'm usually connected to 18 or more satellites. I'm having similar issues when flying from my house over the lake and from my dock, but it usually occurs around 2,000 feet away in those instances and it is completely out of sight.  There are a lot of trees when flying from my dock and the house, so I assumed that is the issue there. However, there are no obstacles on the boat except for the tower and some docks along the shore line. My boat does have GPS, but I have turned it off and tried other boats that do not have GPS.

Sensors can also be an issue over water. Please read the manual on what it says about flying over water with respect to water.
2017-10-5
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QuadKid
Second Officer
Flight distance : 482349 ft
United States
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Ha! The answer lies within the question  "and I have installed all the updates", many different issues with each update.
2017-10-5
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AG0N-Gary
Second Officer
Flight distance : 700846 ft
United States
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Really tired of hearing about bad updates!  I'm sure some people have problems, but I have never had an update caused problem.

Yes, trees will cause all kinds of loss of signal.  Any vegetation that has moisture in it (leaves, limbs, branches, trunk are all "pipes" carrying life giving moisture, etc.) will greatly reduce signal.  Winter flying is usually a lot better due to the leaves falling off, reducing the signal attenuation.  Of course, evergreen type trees are different.

You didn't mention what altitude you had during signal loss, only the 2000 foot distance.

I'm sure you covered this in your testing, but you didn't mention it so I will - just in case.  Did you pay attention to your controller antenna orientation with regard to the Mavic?

2017-10-5
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QuadKid
Second Officer
Flight distance : 482349 ft
United States
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"Really tired of hearing about bad updates!  I'm sure some people have problems, but I have never had an update caused problem."
You are truly one of the lucky ones.
2017-10-5
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