Hey guys,

I know this is a fairly common issue with the P4P (never had it with my P4 or P3A) and I'm on my 2nd P4P with this issue of the craft not flying in a straight line/yaw drift. Has anyone been able to solve this? It makes shooting videos insanely difficult because it requires 'straffing' the craft in order to keep it on line. I do not want to send my bird back for repair since this would be the second time on my 6 month trip around Australia and last time it took them 3 weeks to 'repair' my old bird which suffered the same issue as well as major cracks in the shell. It almost always flies to the left which is what other P4P owners have also indicated so this is either a software or hardware issue with commonality amongst other P4P owners. Does anyone's P4P fly straight?
Things I've done to try and solve this:

1. Performed cold IMU calibration (many times - maybe 20 times)
2. Performed compass calibration
3. Performed controller/stick calibration
4. Performed gimbal calibration - the camera appears to be pointing in a straight line.


Compass fine



IMU fine after cold calibration



Nothing has alleviated the issue thus far. Has anyone else solved this?

Here's a link to a video showing this issue. You can see I've aligned the P4P up with the straight road and it flies off in a diagonal direction.Flight log here: http://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/FBCOC4KAAM6EBT50WJTS/

Hey there, could you upload some original DAT files for analysis? Sorry, we do not support the data on the third-party software for now.

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-4-11 03:03
Hey there, could you upload some original DAT files for analysis? Sorry, we do not support the data on the third-party software for now.

I don't understand, you can download the original file from the link I sent.

Here's another copy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... 3M/view?usp=sharing

Here's the DAT file from DJI Assistant

https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... VE/view?usp=sharing

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 03:17
Here's the DAT file from DJI Assistant

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qL_2msyzocUEIzcVA2VkgtVVE/view?usp=sharing

Well received. These files have been forwarded to our engineers for further review. We'll come back as long as there is an update.

Your aircraft seems to yaw very a lot initially but after that it doesn’t seem as bad, have you tried stick calibration?

I uploaded the KML file into Google Earth and I measured the angular deviation between the intended path (the tall light posts and the actual path of the bird) at 15 degrees - sorry, but this is ridiculous. This is the same effect I had on my previous P4P as well...

You will get this symptom if your camera is not pointing straight ahead.
Try the gimbal calibration while the craft is balancing on the rear motors without props making the camera pointing up in the air.

Edited to right procedure

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-4-11 03:34
Your aircraft seems to yaw very a lot initially but after that it doesn’t seem as bad, have you tried stick calibration?

Even if I fly a straight line it continues to drift off that line to the left, the only way to counter it is to yaw right.

See point 3 regarding controller/stick calibration.

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-11 04:03
You will get this symptom if your camera is not pointing straight ahead.
Try the gimbal calibration while the craft is standing on the rear motors without props and corners of the back legs making the camera pointing up in the air.

Sorry, I missed a step in my OP, I've also done numerous gimbal calibrations.

I thought the craft needed to be level for the gimbal calibration?

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 04:06
Sorry, I missed a step in my OP, I've also done numerous gimbal calibrations.

I thought the craft needed to be level for the gimbal calibration?

Yes that would be normal but a lot of users has found the other way to help the camera pointing right again, for some time at least.
If you look down your at your craft from above i think you will see that the camera is pointing to the side when it is supposed to point straight forward.

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-11 04:11
Yes that would be normal but a lot of users has found the other way to help the camera pointing right again, for some time at least.
If you look down your at your craft from above i think you will see that the camera is pointing to the side when it is supposed to point straight forward.

I ran this flight specifically to show the yaw drift issue and ensured that the camera was pointing straight before taking off. I'll take a photo of it next time I run the test.

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 04:28
I ran this flight specifically to show the yaw drift issue and ensured that the camera was pointing straight before taking off. I'll take a photo of it next time I run the test.

That is alright, i can't judge from the movie recorded on AC but i guess you line up for the go by looking at the image from AC but if the camera is pointing just a little to the right, AC would be rotated slightly left and when going forward on the stick it seem to go to the left of what expected.
I am fighting this problem myself and the best solution so far has been the above described gimbal calibration.

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-11 04:38
That is alright, i can't judge from the movie recorded on AC but i guess you line up for the go by looking at the image from AC but if the camera is pointing just a little to the right, AC would be rotated slightly left and when going forward on the stick it seem to go to the left of what expected.
I am fighting this problem myself and the best solution so far has been the above described gimbal calibration.

I've seen quite a few other threads where others also have this issue with the P4P and it seems like the P4P is more prone to this issue than other DJI drones. My previous P4P also had this issue and it's incredibly frustrating! My P4 and P3A never had this issue - they flew as straight as you like... I'll double check the camera tomorrow and try doing your gimbal calibration technique. Do you have a link to the post or article which suggested this technique?

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 04:42
I've seen quite a few other threads where others also have this issue with the P4P and it seems like the P4P is more prone to this issue than other DJI drones. My previous P4P also had this issue and it's incredibly frustrating! My P4 and P3A never had this issue - they flew as straight as you like... I'll double check the camera tomorrow and try doing your gimbal calibration technique. Do you have a link to the post or article which suggested this technique?

There are a few, look at this one to see what i tried to describe.

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 04:42
I've seen quite a few other threads where others also have this issue with the P4P and it seems like the P4P is more prone to this issue than other DJI drones. My previous P4P also had this issue and it's incredibly frustrating! My P4 and P3A never had this issue - they flew as straight as you like... I'll double check the camera tomorrow and try doing your gimbal calibration technique. Do you have a link to the post or article which suggested this technique?

And a correction of my own description, it would not rest on the legs, just balance on the rear motors.

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-11 04:52
And a correction of my own description, it would not rest on the legs, just balance on the rear motors.

I reckon you're onto something here. I'll calibrate it now with it balancing on the motors and I'll run the test again in the morning and post the results. Thanks for your help and the link to the post too.

Should I recalibrate it again on a level surface afterwards?

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 04:03
Even if I fly a straight line it continues to drift off that line to the left, the only way to counter it is to yaw right.

See point 3 regarding controller/stick calibration.

Apologies didn’t see #3 , my point was when you first move aircraft it seems to yaw quite a bit left, if your still trying to move it right then the test is not showing how much left it really is going.

But my thinking is if you have done all calibrations correctly as you seemed to have done, then you might need to send it in to dji .

Phantom is one of the best drone camera which also I personally use. If you want to counter that problem then just yaw right. Or try to calibrate it

sachinkhanna16 Posted at 2018-4-11 06:47
Phantom is one of the best drone camera which also I personally use. If you want to counter that problem then just yaw right. Or try to calibrate it

Wow, thanks for taking the time to write one of the most inane comments ever.

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 05:00
Should I recalibrate it again on a level surface afterwards?

No try the upright method and see how it look after. My experience is that it would need to be repeated from time to time, not sure why it is not constructed so the craft would know that the camera is centered correct.

I really hope it works for you too.

I must say that I have never encountered this problem. Are you centering the right stick

You have HIGH VELOCITY WIND warning that might account for some of the drifting. Do you have a video when there are NO WINDS so we can see the difference. I can add that I never had this problem with P4P or P4P+

Deleted, I now see that you have apparently performed a RC calibration with no success.

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-11 04:03
You will get this symptom if your camera is not pointing straight ahead.
Try the gimbal calibration while the craft is balancing on the rear motors without props making the camera pointing up in the air.

I hope its ok to ask this on the thread.  Why does the way the camera is pointing effect straight flight?  Is the craft using feedback from the camera to maintain its heading and if so does that mean it will always try and follow gimbal adjustments made during flight?

CKAERIAL Posted at 2018-4-12 01:35
I hope its ok to ask this on the thread.  Why does the way the camera is pointing effect straight flight?  Is the craft using feedback from the camera to maintain its heading and if so does that mean it will always try and follow gimbal adjustments made during flight?

You're welcome to ask, also see #13
It is not really the AC that is not flying straight when the camera is not pointing right ahead but you will get the impression that it is so. it is all a visual effect as you line by looking at the picture feed but the craft might be headed some degree off when view is right.

Hope it makes some sense, guess it is more easy to visualize than describe.

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-12 01:44
You're welcome to ask, also see #13
It is not really the AC that is not flying straight when the camera is not pointing right ahead but you will get the impression that it is so. it is all a visual effect as you line by looking at the picture feed but the craft might be headed some degree off when view is right.

Aah yes of course.  Much appreciated.  Incidentally, my camera gimbal seemed to have a bit of drift immediately after calibration but seems to be sorted now after the recent firmware update.

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-11 03:17
Here's the DAT file from DJI Assistant

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7qL_2msyzocUEIzcVA2VkgtVVE/view?usp=sharing

Gyrex, it seems that there are high wind velocity reminders consistently. Have you tested the performance on a windless day? We'd appreciate if you can offer the flight log as well.

Sea breeze inland on a hot day..Atti mode?

Like Hallmark says, check your right hand stick calibration.

Its not Yaw, its translating left, or appears to be. Any pictures available of the drone from above?

DJI Susan Posted at 2018-4-13 02:32
Gyrex, it seems that there are high wind velocity reminders consistently. Have you tested the performance on a windless day? We'd appreciate if you can offer the flight log as well.

There's always wind warnings. If someone farts within 100m of the drone it reports a wind warning.

It's been fixed by doing the gimbal calibration with the bird facing upwards ie resting on it's rear motors but not my horizon isn't level so I'll have to keep playing around with it.

Horizon can be adjust manually if needed any way, so can yaw for that matter

I checked mine again yesterday, about 8ft from the ground it was fairly straight, about 10m it veered to the right, this is nothing to do with the camera because i am watching the P4P itself and not through FPV, having said that, i then aligned the gimbal guard across the front and could see the gimbal was in fact out a few degrees to the left, so i manually adjusted the yaw and checked flight again at 10m, still veered to the right, didnt think the camera played a part in my issue.

Side note, when  adjusting the yaw on the gimbal, pressing either way (clockwise/anticlockwise) a couple of times makes the gimbal go back, press left  once, twice, then a 3rd and it will go back to where it was or just off, damn, hard to explain lol sod it, going to make a coffee, as you were....

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-14 04:38
There's always wind warnings. If someone farts within 100m of the drone it reports a wind warning.

It's been fixed by doing the gimbal calibration with the bird facing upwards ie resting on it's rear motors but not my horizon isn't level so I'll have to keep playing around with it.

Thanks for keeping us updated. Anyway, nice to see you've fixed for now. Feel free to contact us if there is anything we can help.

For others who may run into the same issue:

gyrex Posted at 2018-4-16 08:18
For others who may run into the same issue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8qdLqYSADg

Not sure i like your showing way to calibrate it, the method of have standing on the motors seem to have worked out for the most.
By only supporting in one side you have the risk that it is not standing level, this could lead to the gimbal still not being looking forward even close to but also a horizon alignment off the ideal.

But hopefully you have got your issue solved.

Seeing my Phantom 4 Pro+ V2.0 doing the exact same thing. No IMU, compass, gimbal and RC stick calibration is helping it.

Bad compass circuit??

CT

I bought a new Phantom 4 Pro in January 2018, let's call it drone 1. It didn't fly straight. I contacted DJI support and did all the calibrations mentioned in this thread. This didn't fix the issue so I returned it to the store and picked up another new Phantom 4 Pro, drone 2. Oh dear, this didn't fly straight either. I contacted DJI support, who asked me send the drone to them for a new replacement...magic I thought. Two weeks later I received another new drone, drone 3. Oh dear, this one had the same issue. Note at this point because I returned the drone to DJI, consumer rights with the store (UK) were no longer valid. I returned drone 3 to DJI support and it was replaced with another drone, drone 4. And to my surprise, this too didn't fly straight. Happy days I thought, back to you DJI support. I received drone 5 and to my relief, this one almost flew straight (5m to the right over 100m). This was 97 days after the purchase of drone 1. I decided to cut my losses and keep drone 5.  

Note - I tried flying in differenct locations and carried out all the calibrations mentioned in this thread with all the drones.

And if I ever get the issue again, I would just keep returning the drone to the store and picking up a new one assuming the store had enough new ones until I got one that worked, because my experience of DJI Support was slowwwwwwww.  

I've got bad yaw drift as well.  P4 Pro+ v1 purchased July 2018.  Whats odd is my first p4pro from 2017 (which is now gone, my fault) didn't have these problems.  I wish I still had it!  This yaw drift makes capturing decent cinematic shots REALLY difficult.  Is there ANY relief for us p4 owners?  All I see is long threads going on for months with very little in the form of rectifying the issue.  Yes, I have tried calibrating the gimbal with the craft on its back two motors.  Did not seem to help much at all.

Mine has a horrible drift as well P4P V2

I'm on my 5th drone which either doesn't fly straight or has gimbal issues and after a day of trying to fix it, I'm sending this one back. The phantom 4 pro is the most unreliable and has the worst designed gimbal out of all the DJI drones I've owned (P3A, P4, Mavic air). I never have issues with my Mavic air and only had a couple of issues with my P4.