Just before my very first flight I watched through the excellent video:
DJI Spark Beginners Guide - Get Ready to Fly!

Decided I'd take it really easy ....  took Sparky out to my local park with my iPad, had the drone in Beginner Mode, .... just did a few take offs and landings and practicing RTH, keeping low around 3 to 10 metres.

Sparky was hovering at about 10 metres when the low battery warning (35%) came on so I hit the RTH icon and here's where I got my fright. For some unknown reason Sparky flew up up up really high (I'm bad at estimating distances but it was way above tree tops) and I really thought I was going to lose him

I sort of panicked and pressed RTH again which then gave me a choice to cancel RTH, which I did, then selected RTH again. Sparky stayed really high but I decided to just hold my breath and see what happens.

Well eventually Sparky did slowly start coming down down down down and he did land back home (phew).

Can anybody hazard a guess what happened to make Sparky go up so high ?

Can I use any software to download the data from Sparky to upload here that shows what he did (distance, height over time) ?


thanks !

When RTH is initiated, Sparky will fly up to the set RTH altitude before flying back to the home point. Choose a lower RTH altitude if it's too high for the flying area.

The Spark will return home at the preset RTH altitude. By default this is 30 mtr. You can change this in the settings.

reading manuals first hand is always better than watching half baked videos by internet commandoes... do your homework.. even the spark is somewhat complex and has many settings and behaviors... not all straight forward

Always ensure the RTH alt is higher than the tallest obstacle in the area - especially tress.

A CW Posted at 11-8 06:14
Always ensure the RTH alt is higher than the tallest obstacle in the area - especially tress.

unless you are operating under tree canopies or structures.. then you just want to RTH at current alt or just land

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-8 06:46
unless you are operating under tree canopies or structures.. then you just want to RTH at current alt or just land

Hover and land options are only offered in failsafe (signal loss) - if the battery gets low and starts RTH and is not cancelled or you press and hold the RTH button - it's coming back! If you are flying under objects you should be very close to the drone anyway and in clear VLOS - if the drone is within 20m of the HP it will just land if RTH is activated.

A CW Posted at 11-8 06:54
Hover and land options are only offered in failsafe (signal loss) - if the battery gets low and starts RTH and is not cancelled or you press and hold the RTH button - it's coming back! If you are flying under objects you should be very close to the drone anyway and in clear VLOS - if the drone is within 20m of the HP it will just land if RTH is activated.

that is what I thought but over on the mavic forum the other day I got schooled by dirty bird that if you set the RC disconnect to hover or land it will over ride the low battery RTH...

have not tried it with either my spark or mavic pro.. by flying out to 100ft or so and hover close to low battery and shut off the controller but 2 guys over on the mavic forum agree with dirty bird (all high time guys here) that it will just hover until low batt then just force land at critical batt .. no RTH

let me know if you find otherwise as I don't agree with that flight logic at least since that is not what is written in the manual and also not apparent when making those settings in the controller.. so if true DJI needs to make it obvious those are the behaviors...

A CW Posted at 11-8 06:54
Hover and land options are only offered in failsafe (signal loss) - if the battery gets low and starts RTH and is not cancelled or you press and hold the RTH button - it's coming back! If you are flying under objects you should be very close to the drone anyway and in clear VLOS - if the drone is within 20m of the HP it will just land if RTH is activated.

oh.. and I also believe with the spark that when palm launching or in follow me / active track modes.. that if dynamic home point is set it will update.. but also thought I read somewhere that in certain modes it won't RTH

might also be mixing up my models right now as I have both a spark and a mavic pro

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-8 06:58
that is what I thought but over on the mavic forum the other day I got schooled by dirty bird that if you set the RC disconnect to hover or land it will over ride the low battery RTH...

have not tried it with either my spark or mavic pro.. by flying out to 100ft or so and hover close to low battery and shut off the controller but 2 guys over on the mavic forum agree with dirty bird (all high time guys here) that it will just hover until low batt then just force land at critical batt .. no RTH

Lets be clear LOL
- Failsafe/signal loss - the drone will either RTH, land or hover depending on what setting you have in the app.
- Low battery/Smart RTH - the drone will return to the home point on the map irrespective of the failsafe sequence set
- If the battery hits 10% during the RTH it will begin to land (wind speed and direction is not taken into account with the low battery trigger). You can stop the landing by pushing up on the throttle stick and manually fly the drone back.  
Set failsafe to hover - fly out 100m then press the RTH button - it will fly back and not hover. That's a fact.

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-8 07:00
oh.. and I also believe with the spark that when palm launching or in follow me / active track modes.. that if dynamic home point is set it will update.. but also thought I read somewhere that in certain modes it won't RTH

might also be mixing up my models right now as I have both a spark and a mavic pro

Dynamic home point merely resets the position the drone will fly back to rather than the original take off point. Handy when flying from a moving boat.

A CW Posted at 11-8 07:05
Lets be clear LOL
- Failsafe/signal loss - the drone will either RTH, land or hover depending on what setting you have in the app.
- Low battery/Smart RTH - the drone will return to the home point on the map irrespective of the failsafe sequence set

that is exactly what I told dirtybird and mavicfix or whatever his handle is...

but was told that was not the case

I too argued that the failsafe RTH, low battery RTH were separate events and separate settings but as assured I was wrong...

ever tested this personally I would really love to know..

the way I see it.. if I have the RC disconnect set to hover.. but then low battery kicks in.. obviously I was unable to re-establish connection so having it RTH would be what I would want 99% of the time

I could also underhand that if you are setting RC loss to hover then there is a reason you don't want it to RTH like having a mountain or building between home point and aircraft that RTH altitude is unable to get over.. but again.. not well written in docs or app

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-8 07:25
that is exactly what I told dirtybird and mavicfix or whatever his handle is...

but was told that was not the case

Yes I have tested and stand by what I stated earlier. I don't own the M2P/Z though - may be different on those quads.

A CW Posted at 11-8 07:05
Lets be clear LOL
- Failsafe/signal loss - the drone will either RTH, land or hover depending on what setting you have in the app.
- Low battery/Smart RTH - the drone will return to the home point on the map irrespective of the failsafe sequence set

right but using the button is a commanded RTH not an auto function...

if you have the balls and the open space..

on a depleted battery.. set the RC disconnect to hover and fly 100ft away at an altitude you are comfortable with.. and a low RTH altitude.. and turn off the RC.. it should hover..

according to you. it should hover until RTH low bat is hit then return to home
according to dirty bird it will hover until 10% and force land

oh and lets not forget.. not every RTH will go to RTH altitude.. if you have RTH at current altitude selected in settings.. it will only go up to 3 meters or something and fly back when you are in close...

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-8 07:28
right but using the button is a commanded RTH not an auto function...

if you have the balls and the open space..

Ah, I see what you mean. So in that case I've lost signal, failsafe has kicked in and the drone is hovering as that is what I set. When low battery triggers that fella thinks it will stay hovering then land when it hits 10%? Ok - that I do not know. My position is that if you set hover on failsafe low battery will still RTH. I have no idea whether low battery overrides failsafe. That's a new one and no, I'm not going to turn my Inspire RC off mid flight to see what happens LOL

A CW Posted at 11-8 07:37
Ah, I see what you mean. So in that case I've lost signal, failsafe has kicked in and the drone is hovering as that is what I set. When low battery triggers that fella thinks it will stay hovering then land when it hits 10%? Ok - that I do not know. My position is that if you set hover on failsafe low battery will still RTH. I have no idea whether low battery overrides failsafe. That's a new one and no, I'm not going to turn my Inspire RC off mid flight to see what happens LOL

again... yes.. BUT

I don't have the balls to test it..

I have had atti excursions on both my mavic and spark and I don't think I want the RC off on purpose!!

I agree with your logic.. as it was my understanding of the manuals as well.. BUT

I have my failsafe set to RTH .. have not had a need for hover yet...

and I have yet to really use my spark in gesture mode much .. certainly not down to low battery or follow flight but there are been numerous firmware changes that now allow the spark to follow outside the 30 ft bubble.. would be nice to know what rules it follows when it hits low battery there too

even with dynamic home. if I am walking a trail or under cover or winding path with obstacles.. in gesture follow with no remote to cancel bad behaviour and take over .. the only thing that makes sense for low bat would be to hover until low bat then land .. since any attempt to climb or even nav  30 ft to the last auto home point might try and drive it into an obstacle ...

A CW Posted at 11-8 07:37
that fella thinks it will stay hovering then land when it hits 10%? Ok - that I do not know.

Right, it will hover until the battery reaches the critically low level. At that point, it will land at its current location.

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-8 07:49
again... yes.. BUT

I don't have the balls to test it..

TBH you'll only ever need hover if flying inside a warehouse or doing retail and even then you'll typically be so close to the drone that losing signal is almost impossible. It sounds like you had a futile discussion - one best to agree to disagree on.

msinger Posted at 11-8 07:50
Right, it will hover until the battery reaches the critically low level. At that point, it will land at its current location.

So low battery will not override failsafe - that's good to know - not that I think it will ever make the slightest difference to my flights

Low battery will not override that hover.

msinger Posted at 11-8 08:01
Low battery will not override that hover.

That makes sense - as the reason hover is set is to stop the drone ascending in the first place I guess. Glad that's wrapped up for DeuceDriv3r.

Check this flowchart out on how RTH works under different conditions:
http://dronevideos.synch.hu/dji_spark_rth_guide.pdf

Putzfrau Posted at 11-8 09:54
Check this flowchart out on how RTH works under different conditions:
http://dronevideos.synch.hu/dji_spark_rth_guide.pdf

yep and nowhere does it inform you that low battery RTH won't work if you select hover or land under remote control disconnect settings...

Hi, thanks for sharing the video. If you use the Smart return home feature of the DJI Spark as long as the compass is working and GPS is strong, the aircraft will go up until it reaches the altitude that you've set on your DJI GO 4 app, however, I would recommend setting the altitude of your RTH higher than any object below the ground to prevent incident. You may refer to the image below on how you will set the RTH settings on the DJI GO 4 app. Thank you for the support.

DJI Tony Posted at 11-8 11:06
Hi, thanks for sharing the video. If you use the Smart return home feature of the DJI Spark as long as the compass is working and GPS is strong, the aircraft will go up until it reaches the altitude that you've set on your DJI GO 4 app, however, I would recommend setting the altitude of your RTH higher than any object below the ground to prevent incident. You may refer to the image below on how you will set the RTH settings on the DJI GO 4 app. Thank you for the support.

[view_image]

thanks tony but you are missing the trust of the conversation..

I you set the option under remote control disconnect from RTH to hover.. what happens when the aircraft reaches the point where low battery RTH is activated..

does the aircraft just stop and hover until 10% battery and force land where it is.. never RHT

or does it stop and hover when RC disconnects until low battery RTH kicks in and it comes back at under RTH rules?

you watched a lot of videos but failed to read the manual

Does anyone...anyone at all read their manual, quickstart guide or look up anything at all before flying their first time?

Thank you msinger,  chiplifter and others who answered constructively.

I knew I'd set RTH to 30 metres but in hindsight it seems I simply didn't appreciate high 30 metres really is (and I currently suffer from a bit of vertigo which probably didn't help) and that was why I panicked a bit.  Similarly when I said I was hovering 3 to 10 metres it was actually more like 3 to 10 feet

I did read the quick guide and manual, I work in IT so especially appreciate the importance of doing so.

To the couple of you who responded less constructively I hope you continue going through your lives never once making an error or misjudgment.

Here's a good video somebody pointed me to explaining the various RTH permutations.





cheers,

Its RTH strategy is to fly high enough  not to crash into anything, then head straight home.

Careful! If you're flying under trees, this is NOT a good strategy.

When I was walking the trail, I probably could have gone longer if I had the home point set to the remote's location instead of the takeoff location as it was reserving enough battery to fly back to the takeoff point which was pretty far away.

Interesting. So your Spark refused to go further on your trail because it wanted to make sure it had enough battery to fly back "home" ?

Smart cookies these new drones !

DroneDownunder Posted at 11-9 14:43
Interesting. So your Spark refused to go further on your trail because it wanted to make sure it had enough battery to fly back "home" ?

Smart cookies these new drones !

Yes. At the very end of the video, I had cancelled RTH to bring it to me. It went into auto-land, so I shoved the stick forward. I had to reach down to catch it.

warubikku Posted at 11-8 19:35
Does anyone...anyone at all read their manual, quickstart guide or look up anything at all before flying their first time?

yes....   

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-8 11:28
thanks tony but you are missing the trust of the conversation..

I you set the option under remote control disconnect from RTH to hover.. what happens when the aircraft reaches the point where low battery RTH is activated..

Hi, thanks for the inquiry. If the aircraft will disconnect to your remote controller and the option that you've selected is the "Hover" option once the RC will be disconnected, then you must ensure first to enable the Smart RTH so that it will help to trigger the RTH and locate your home-point as long as the GPS and compass are working once the aircraft's battery gets low.  I would recommend avoiding the hazardous environment to prevent the incident. Thank you for the support.