Hi guys , was flying again today my phantom 4 pro , and this message came up , this has done it now on four different occasions on all different flights . This time I was able to screen shot it and I am asking for any help with this , I searched the forums and didn’t really see anything too much of this , one post where DJI  said to flash the firmware and see what happens and if no improvement send it in .

Prior to all that I and seeing if any fellow P4P owners can help ?

Upon this warning I flew back to home point and noticed when it landed it landed quite hard as opposed to normal , it seemed to hit the landing quite a bit harder than normal , and on exmanintion of th unit no evident damage was seen ...

Was flying in normal conditions and this latest occurnace happened high up over water at approx 118m AGL . Clear day , no wind .   And as mentioned before this would be the fou th time this warning has come up .  Drone only three weeks old and getting a lot of use , no crashes yet .. all in good order minus this .... and the weak signal warning as per my last post .. is this drone doomed or are these occurrences normal ??  Largest updates done , calibration all done and even with dji assistant 2 on laptop .. firmware and unit all up to date . Note .. this warning also  occurred on the previous dji go 4 app prior to the new release the other day ... also had delete app and reinstalled ... all the usual steps ... and now reaching out for any help ... cheers

Have you checked that all the sensors are clean?
Do you have anything extra attached to the drone such as a landing skid?

Jenee 2 Posted at 2018-2-18 22:21
Have you checked that all the sensors are clean?
Do you have anything extra attached to the drone such as a landing skid?

Hi jenee2, no I do not have anything attached to the drone at all , and the sensors were calibrated last night via dji assiant 2 , this is not the only time this has happened but only time I was able to get a screen shot .  I was flying with a polar pro nd16 filter on the camera at the time , but this has also occurred when I was using the standard lens .  Also upon landing I used a clean wipe and wiped the sensors thinking it may have been salt spray , but the wipe came away clean as a whistle , as such the sensor also ..

The downward facing sensors do not function at all when the aircraft is above about 3 Metres, they are part of the Vision Position Sensing system (VPS), so at 118 Metres, they would not have been working anyway. The message asking you to land as soon as possible is rather pointless. This may just be a glitch in the firmware, and you might be able to cure it by re-doing the last firmware upgrade. It also has nothing to do with having a filter on the camera either.

Geebax Posted at 2018-2-18 22:38
The downward facing sensors do not function at all when the aircraft is above about 3 Metres, they are part of the Vision Position Sensing system (VPS), so at 118 Metres, they would not have been working anyway. The message asking you to land as soon as possible is rather pointless. This may just be a glitch in the firmware, and you might be able to cure it by re-doing the last firmware upgrade.

Gday geebax, I thought this may be the case with the height , but when I went to land on this occasion and the other three occurrences, the drone landed hard and not typical of a normal landing . After this landing I switched off the drone and restated it , I took off and landed several time successfully aft wards and the craft landed smoothly . I’m thinking perhaps is it best to hand catch the drone after this warning when it will present again ?

GoneandDroneit Posted at 2018-2-18 22:42
Gday geebax, I thought this may be the case with the height , but when I went to land on this occasion and the other three occurrences, the drone landed hard and not typical of a normal landing . After this landing I switched off the drone and restated it , I took off and landed several time successfully aft wards and the craft landed smoothly . I’m thinking perhaps is it best to hand catch the drone after this warning when it will present again ?

Do you land manually or use autoland? My P3P lands rather hard if you use autoland, so I never use it.

Geebax Posted at 2018-2-18 22:42
Do you land manually or use autoland? My P3P lands rather hard if you use autoland, so I never use it.

Hi geebax , I land manually and after this warning it was a manual landing .   I have on a few occasions landed via auto land and that has never had a issue , but I would rather manual land then as I feel I have more control ,  in saying that though the hard landings have occurred when I have manual landed ..

GoneandDroneit Posted at 2018-2-18 22:52
Hi geebax , I land manually and after this warning it was a manual landing .   I have on a few occasions landed via auto land and that has never had a issue , but I would rather manual land then as I feel I have more control ,  in saying that though the hard landings have occurred when I have manual landed ..

OK, it is possible that you have a fault in the VPS system, but I would think it is more likely to be a firmware glitch.

Geebax Posted at 2018-2-18 22:55
OK, it is possible that you have a fault in the VPS system, but I would think it is more likely to be a firmware glitch.

Hi geebax , I was kinda hoping it may be a glitch as you say , as have flown over forty times the last three weeks and this has only occurred 4 times thus far . I greatly appreciate your messages and the reassurance so far of maybe a glitch is welcoming . I have asked this question of the failure as wondering if any one else has this issue with random flights

My pros for the glitch are .

Random occurances , not consistent , have updated firmware etc and done all the usual.

But then begs to question with my previous post of the same unit ,  have I got a cursed unit ??  
90% of the flight time this unit has been brilliant , I even lost full signal to controller and the drone flew back with RTH and was simply brilliant with this action .  Lost signal was pilot error, and the RTH function was brilliant and even avoided an large obstacle .. I include this in the reply as im leaning to a glitch that is likely as if anything more dire with the sensor failure notice simple functions would also be compromised.  

GoneandDroneit Posted at 2018-2-18 23:03
Hi geebax , I was kinda hoping it may be a glitch as you say , as have flown over forty times the last three weeks and this has only occurred 4 times thus far . I greatly appreciate your messages and the reassurance so far of maybe a glitch is welcoming . I have asked this question of the failure as wondering if any one else has this issue with random flights

My pros for the glitch are .

It's a strange message as there are no downward infra red sensors.
The only infra red sensors are on the sides of the aircraft.

I have gotten this the best thing is to try start the drone then remote and make sure the VPS is accurate before flying. I am kind of throwing ideas out there.

Labroides Posted at 2018-2-19 01:34
It's a strange message as there are no downward infra red sensors.
The only infra red sensors are on the sides of the aircraft.

Can't say about the P4, but I am pretty sure my P3P has downward facing infra-red camera. Maybe the message is a hangover from there.

Labroides Posted at 2018-2-19 01:34
It's a strange message as there are no downward infra red sensors.
The only infra red sensors are on the sides of the aircraft.

Gday labroides ,  upon receiving this warning when I do land it’s always a hard landing .. even today I really tried to control it till the ground but the last 50cmmormsomi5 just dropped and bounced .. I assume this is due to the warning ?   I am not very up on what the type of sensors are where  on the aircraft , sides and down , but I now know then from your reply . It’s been quite intriguing to get the failure message , and I’ve scoured the net for answers but not much luck.  I really appreciate your re-of and welcome any insights to this sensor failure warning .  

BagoDJIoperator84 Posted at 2018-2-19 01:43
I have gotten this the best thing is to try start the drone then remote and make sure the VPS is accurate before flying. I am kind of throwing ideas out there.

Gday bagodjioperator,  prior to flying away I check the sensors are working in relation to objects etc. and always make sure home point Is accurate and updated . I infer the sensors are working correctly when the objects in front and to the side slow and stop the drone . Once I believe this to be right I then fly further ... this downward infrared sensor faulire message has me intrigued and greatly appreciate your message to this thread .  

GoneandDroneit Posted at 2018-2-19 02:28
Gday labroides ,  upon receiving this warning when I do land it’s always a hard landing .. even today I really tried to control it till the ground but the last 50cmmormsomi5 just dropped and bounced .. I assume this is due to the warning ?   I am not very up on what the type of sensors are where  on the aircraft , sides and down , but I now know then from your reply . It’s been quite intriguing to get the failure message , and I’ve scoured the net for answers but not much luck.  I really appreciate your re-of and welcome any insights to this sensor failure warning .

The message is very similar to a common false alarm Ultrasonic Sensor Error - Land as soon as possible.
If you are doing the landing, the sensors should have no effect at all.

Labroides Posted at 2018-2-19 02:51
The message is very similar to a common false alarm Ultrasonic Sensor Error - Land as soon as possible.
If you are doing the landing, the sensors should have no effect at all.

Hi labroides , yes I am doing the landing after the message , and upon this landing and the other three when I’ve encounter this message the landing has always been  a very “hard” landing . But after inspection and restarting the craft subsequent landing are spot on and very smooth . Cause of the small occurrences of this failure message as to successful flights would you say it is something to monitor or to act upon ASAP ?  I have also been having issues with weak transmission image warnings , but this is in another post , could this be a glitch ? In which I hope it may be or could these incidents be something more sinister and ultimately lead to major failure , the unit is only three weeks old.  I’ve scoured my data logs on air data UAV, and see no abnormalities of any kind when this failure message come up .

Post when you figure out a fix

I am having the same issue with my P4P. First time I realized it because using a third-party app I see rear lights solid red, no warning message.
Still hovering I closed that app, opened GO4 and the message came out.
I never land the quad, always catch with my hand.

marciano Posted at 2018-3-16 13:56
I am having the same issue with my P4P. First time I realized it because using a third-party app I see rear lights solid red, no warning message.
Still hovering I closed that app, opened GO4 and the message came out.
I never land the quad, always catch with my hand.

I was recommended to always update firmwares from DJI Assistant as it performs a custom update.  I was able to check that some custom settings were kept in that way while downloading a generic firmware, its installation will remove them to defaults.
I reinstalled the last firmware from Assistant and custom settings were kept BUT camera profiles, they are always LOST.
At this time I could not check if the topic subject has fixed.

GoneandDroneit Posted at 2018-2-19 02:57
Hi labroides , yes I am doing the landing after the message , and upon this landing and the other three when I’ve encounter this message the landing has always been  a very “hard” landing . But after inspection and restarting the craft subsequent landing are spot on and very smooth . Cause of the small occurrences of this failure message as to successful flights would you say it is something to monitor or to act upon ASAP ?  I have also been having issues with weak transmission image warnings , but this is in another post , could this be a glitch ? In which I hope it may be or could these incidents be something more sinister and ultimately lead to major failure , the unit is only three weeks old.  I’ve scoured my data logs on air data UAV, and see no abnormalities of any kind when this failure message come up .

I have had exactly the same message come up on my P4Pro and it has happened on 4 occasions now, sometimes in following flights. This has only occurred on the replacement drone I received when mine had to have another issue fixed. So it would seem to me that it is an issue with some drones and I would really like to have a solution.
The first time I received the message, I pressed OK and hit the RTH button. When it was landing, it was a couple of metres from the landing pad (never had that before as all previous flights on this drone and others were spot on) and it never slowed like it should have and landed harder than normal. It seems that the message is relevant and indicates it can no longer assess the distance to the ground.
The next 3 times I had the message, I cancelled it and kept flying and the landings were normal. I checked the status page and the sensors and there were no problems anywhere.
I am sure that someone at DJI should be able to tell us what this message relates to as the code has been written such that if a specific part fails or malfunctions then it displays this particular message.
The strange thing is that the message does not get recorded anywhere, it is not in the warnings and is not in the log files.

Jenee 2 Posted at 2018-4-1 20:09
I have had exactly the same message come up on my P4Pro and it has happened on 4 occasions now, sometimes in following flights. This has only occurred on the replacement drone I received when mine had to have another issue fixed. So it would seem to me that it is an issue with some drones and I would really like to have a solution.
The first time I received the message, I pressed OK and hit the RTH button. When it was landing, it was a couple of metres from the landing pad (never had that before as all previous flights on this drone and others were spot on) and it never slowed like it should have and landed harder than normal. It seems that the message is relevant and indicates it can no longer assess the distance to the ground.
The next 3 times I had the message, I cancelled it and kept flying and the landings were normal. I checked the status page and the sensors and there were no problems anywhere.

Gday jenee2.  Apologies for slow reply ,

It’s good to hear that others are also experiencing this now . I have been having this fault come up on just about every flight since I first posted this . I have emailed dji but am yet to receive a reply . The phantom 4 pro obsidian I have ha been flawless apart from this warning coming up . I have now come to two conclusions in order to keep flying this drone after the warning .


Firstly it appears to occur after or in the process of taking a panorama 21 photo shoot . It occurs every flight and 9/10 it happens when the pano is working to take the photos .

Secondly if I do happen to land within 5mins of this warning the aircraft does a hard landing and this is with manual control and also with the the RTH initiated .   But after five minutes of flying the landing is uneventful and as if nothing has happened from the warning .   I have timed this on six occasions and each time the five minute mark works . Land at 1-2-3-4 minutes and it will always hard land . That is drop from about a metre above landing and hit the mark hard ..   

I have refreshed the latest firmware from dji assistant2 . Deleted app for djigo4 and reinstalled , and all the basic troubleshooting . Also tried a variety of memory cards all top spec 64gb cards , and also even formatted the card prior to many flights ...

This warning has been coming up through three updates and still appears to this day

Phantom 4 pro obsidian was brand new and running with the iPad pro 10.5

It’s a great aircraft and have been flying it everyday for 1-2 hrs . Done over 400kms of flying and several thousand photos now on the unit ..

Cheers for your message jenee2 and always keen and interested on any further thoughts, developments on this

Jenee 2 Posted at 2018-4-1 20:09
I have had exactly the same message come up on my P4Pro and it has happened on 4 occasions now, sometimes in following flights. This has only occurred on the replacement drone I received when mine had to have another issue fixed. So it would seem to me that it is an issue with some drones and I would really like to have a solution.
The first time I received the message, I pressed OK and hit the RTH button. When it was landing, it was a couple of metres from the landing pad (never had that before as all previous flights on this drone and others were spot on) and it never slowed like it should have and landed harder than normal. It seems that the message is relevant and indicates it can no longer assess the distance to the ground.
The next 3 times I had the message, I cancelled it and kept flying and the landings were normal. I checked the status page and the sensors and there were no problems anywhere.

   

Hi dji Susan .   Is this a known issue or just a glitch with some drones , I ask this as this drone is only 61 days old and this is its only fault . I am sceptical to send it in and be without a drone for some period . I have emailed dji support on numerous occasions but have yet to get a reply .. if this is an known issue any advice would be greatly appreciated as perhaps it may be fixed with a upcoming update ?? . Anyway very hesitant to send it in as it’s flying fine now apart from that fault message . And if you deem it nesecary to send it I would rather take it back to the shop I purchased it from and they would do a refund or a swap out for a new one on the spot .   I am and was writing on this forum to appeal for any help that may be a fault finding error exercise in which it was perhaps something I could fix on my end ..

I just read your post and sorry for the late response. May I know what's the aircraft, controller and APP version? Does the issue appear if changed to another mobile device? Could you export the flight records and flight log when the issue appears? I'd like to forward to our engineers for check the exact status.

Android: Connect the device to the computer, find the flight records stored in …\DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord\, and copy the required flight records to the computer.
iOS devices: Connect the device to the computer, launch the iTunes, find the flight records in the DJI GO app, and copy the FlightRecord folder to the computer.

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-4-3 03:32
I just read your post and sorry for the late response. May I know what's the aircraft, controller and APP version? Does the issue appear if changed to another mobile device? Could you export the flight records and flight log when the issue appears? I'd like to forward to our engineers for check the exact status.

Android: Connect the device to the computer, find the flight records stored in …\DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord\, and copy the required flight records to the computer.

Hi dji Susan , I have done this on three seperate times in emails to dji support .....

I am on here now just to see if there was anyway this could be fixed this end of the line ...

As mentioned before not keen to send it in as only very new unit ... and if it’s deemed it is nesessary then as above I would just take it back to the shop I bought it from ..
dji support has been brilliant through a rep called Ava, but the emails send regarding this phantom have no been replied too......

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-4-3 03:32
I just read your post and sorry for the late response. May I know what's the aircraft, controller and APP version? Does the issue appear if changed to another mobile device? Could you export the flight records and flight log when the issue appears? I'd like to forward to our engineers for check the exact status.

Android: Connect the device to the computer, find the flight records stored in …\DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord\, and copy the required flight records to the computer.

I still have this issue after reinstalling last firmware from Assistant.
iPad Mini 4 with the latest iOS update, also GO4.
Back lights are solid red.  Flight is okay. I do not land, I catch it by hand.
Flight log doesn't display this warning.
I'll send you the .dat file
Edit:  "Server error"  several times...  Another way to send .dat file?

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-4-3 03:32
I just read your post and sorry for the late response. May I know what's the aircraft, controller and APP version? Does the issue appear if changed to another mobile device? Could you export the flight records and flight log when the issue appears? I'd like to forward to our engineers for check the exact status.

Android: Connect the device to the computer, find the flight records stored in …\DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord\, and copy the required flight records to the computer.

Susan, could you ask the engineers what sort of glitch is prompting this message. It is strange to have a message that gives the option to OK or Cancel. What would be cancelled. The other odd thing is that if you do land immediately, the landing is heavy because it does not appear to be able to measure the distance to the ground. Nor it is able to locate the landing spot. By cancelling the message and continuing to fly for a while, the landing is back to normal.
This is happening on a replacement drone that I only recently received so I would really like to know what is malfunctioning to cause the message.

I have the same problem with Phantom 4 pro. Downward infrared sensor failure.

Jenee 2 Posted at 2018-4-3 22:06
Susan, could you ask the engineers what sort of glitch is prompting this message. It is strange to have a message that gives the option to OK or Cancel. What would be cancelled. The other odd thing is that if you do land immediately, the landing is heavy because it does not appear to be able to measure the distance to the ground. Nor it is able to locate the landing spot. By cancelling the message and continuing to fly for a while, the landing is back to normal.
This is happening on a replacement drone that I only recently received so I would really like to know what is malfunctioning to cause the message.

Good point jenee2, what kind of failure gives one and option to cancel .. every flight now this appears . I am taking the unit out in the morning for a flight and if it happens again I am going to take it back to the store and get a replacement in the spot .. I have sent three emails to dji sipport but none have been answered . In the same email I have also asked another question about another drone and this was replied to within an hour of each email !...

GoneandDroneit Posted at 2018-4-4 02:47
[view_image]

This is silly guys, can't we ever get a fix for these type of things.  The problem is simple.  My Phantom 4 Pro is doing the same thing.  It did it from day one out of the box and all firmware updates have been done, imu calibrated, compass calibrated and sensors cleaned.  When the message occurs, the phantom arm lights go all red and when you bring it in for a landing, it lands hard, mine drops from about 6 inches above the ground.  Not enough to damage it.  

This happens once or twice every time I have the bird in the air.  Let's please fix the problem.  I am a commercial pilot and have 3 P4Ps.  This error only happens on the newest one.  Never seen it once with the other two.

fans50af1ad7 Posted at 2018-4-4 11:53
This is silly guys, can't we ever get a fix for these type of things.  The problem is simple.  My Phantom 4 Pro is doing the same thing.  It did it from day one out of the box and all firmware updates have been done, imu calibrated, compass calibrated and sensors cleaned.  When the message occurs, the phantom arm lights go all red and when you bring it in for a landing, it lands hard, mine drops from about 6 inches above the ground.  Not enough to damage it.  

This happens once or twice every time I have the bird in the air.  Let's please fix the problem.  I am a commercial pilot and have 3 P4Ps.  This error only happens on the newest one.  Never seen it once with the other two.

I should say the problem is simple to explain and all of my birds are flying on the identical firmware and apps.

And yet again after 80mins of flying this morning , as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west , this failure message appeared yet again !!! .   I am taking the unit back to the shop tomorrow now and will receive a replacement on the spot

fans50af1ad7 Posted at 2018-4-4 11:59
I should say the problem is simple to explain and all of my birds are flying on the identical firmware and apps.

I find it annoying that no one is giving us an answer. Whoever wrote the code must know what it is that is giving the fault otherwise, why include the message.
I can't just continue to ignore it because there is a fault that is affecting the landing and I want to know if there is something I can do to fix the issue or else I will have to send it back again.

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-4-3 03:32
I just read your post and sorry for the late response. May I know what's the aircraft, controller and APP version? Does the issue appear if changed to another mobile device? Could you export the flight records and flight log when the issue appears? I'd like to forward to our engineers for check the exact status.

Android: Connect the device to the computer, find the flight records stored in …\DJI\dji.pilot\FlightRecord\, and copy the required flight records to the computer.

Susan, there are now a few drones with the same issue and we really would like to know whether there is a fix or if they need to be returned for repair.

Jenee 2 Posted at 2018-4-4 21:59
Susan, there are now a few drones with the same issue and we really would like to know whether there is a fix or if they need to be returned for repair.

Given trhat the P4P does not have a downward IR sensor, I would Not be concerned about it. Just more sloppy DJI code.