Hello folks,

Hoping someone can help. This weekend my Spark lost the plot and tried to fly itself at full speed into a quarry wall face, not much fun! I managed to have a 4min wrestling match with it and got it back under control but i'd like to be able to have a look at the flight data the way others have who have lost their drones.

Unfortunately, for some reason my Spark won't conntect to my PC. I've tried 3 different cables and tried having the Spark on when i plug it in, or plugging it in and then turning it on and its just not recognised as a drive by my computer. I've checked the cables and they work fine with other devices and charge the Spark when plugged into a wall power socket.

As i can't get the drone to connect to a computer, how do you get the data from the app when the drone is completely lost?

My PC is running Windows 10
My AC and RC have the latest firmware installed
The phone i was using with the RC is an Iphone 7 running IOS 12.1

I'd completed 3 flights in the same location between 30mins-3hrs beforehand and have flown there dozens and dozens of times before without issue.

Here is the video of the flight log from the app;



As you can see the home point was recorded on take-off and i had 14-15 satellites on full strength when the two failures occured. The Spark decided it was 'supposed' to be a few hundred metres away from where it was in reality and despite being in normal mode with forward sensors activated which should limit its speed to around 5mph, it took off at nearly full Sports mode speed to get to its imagined location ( it was not 'wind drift' before anyone suggests that, it was nose down full powered flight!) Watch for the sudden position jumps at 0:31 and 2:58 in the video.

If anyone could give me a step-by-step guide to getting the data files and getting them uploaded to here it would be most appreciated. (I think there should be a pinned topic showing people how to do this!)

Hi MKPSG12,

Flightrecords are stored on your mobile device.

For Android > // root/DJI/DJI go app/Flightrecords/*.txt

If you like upload your flightrecord(s) using this link > http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

cheers
JJB

Is there a way to get them from an Iphone?

See www link provided by JJB.
Intructions  for Iphone on that site.
Hope this help.

Many thanks, i'll try to find it once i'm with a PC with Itunes on

So in my case my drone seems to have had a compass error from almost immediately after take off but it didn't give warning on-screen until about 25 seconds into the flight!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/57F121NN0J8R0Q7DMGW5/

MKPSG12 Posted at 11-19 08:48
So in my case my drone seems to have had a compass error from almost immediately after take off but it didn't give warning on-screen until about 25 seconds into the flight!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/57F121NN0J8R0Q7DMGW5/

before you do too many flights.. usually 4-6 .. use Assistant and pull down the flight .dat file from the aircraft.. its more detailed..

then use a tool like csvview to convert and view the csv data paying attention to heading value in the FC and compass .. yaw  magyaw and  yaw-magyaw values to name a few..

there are guys around here that will do it for you if you post up the .dat file

Unfortunately my Spark just refuses to connect to a computer. I've tried 4 different PC's and 3 different cables and it just will not register as a drive/being connected

MKPSG12 Posted at 11-19 08:48
So in my case my drone seems to have had a compass error from almost immediately after take off but it didn't give warning on-screen until about 25 seconds into the flight!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/57F121NN0J8R0Q7DMGW5/

Hi,

Had a look at your flight, amazing many errors in there!

My advice is do not continue to fly with a compass error, bring craft back home and try to find out what the problem is.It is possible to loose your Spark in ATTI, loosing control over it.

I see ATTI mode few times and back to P-GPS, surprised to see that the RTH did work great, see the lines in the chart.
Compass errors, IMU errors and many more. Some showed up in the Go 4 app.

IMO the only thing you can do is to calibrate the IMU and Compass, fly again and be carefull.
If errors persist than seek help/advice from DJI.
cheers
JJB

Thanks for the uploads!

To be honest by the time there was a displayed error the drone was hurtling towards a 20m high quarry wall at 30mph! The only thing i could do was to get it high enough to firstly clear the wall, and then so that the AC and RC didn't lose connection.

Other than a soft/hardware error the only thing i can think of is i may have initially started up the AC when i was standing next to a box of steel plates and they must've screwed up its initial compass reading.

MKPSG12 Posted at 11-20 04:12
Thanks for the uploads!

To be honest by the time there was a displayed error the drone was hurtling towards a 20m high quarry wall at 30mph! The only thing i could do was to get it high enough to firstly clear the wall, and then so that the AC and RC didn't lose connection.

Great action! happy that it did not crashed into that wall.

When i do a compass calibration on my Spark i do it realy slow, i mean slooooow (360+90 extra turning slooow, again nose down....)
Since than never had a error again.

cheers
JJB

JJBspark Posted at 11-20 04:05
Hi,

Had a look at your flight, amazing many errors in there!

I have never gotten a compass warning that wasn't immediately followed by imu exception, gps, etc,  and then atti mode

I think they are supressing the compass warnings until its pretty much too late...

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-20 06:21
I have never gotten a compass warning that wasn't immediately followed by imu exception, gps, etc,  and then atti mode

I think they are supressing the compass warnings until its pretty much too late...

nah, don`t thinks so.

In this flightlog the first compass error showed up in the Go 4 app about 20 seconds after take-off.
And yes, imho i think it is smart to return and land instead of continue flying. But we are all free to do what we think is wise to do. Just my advice, ecspecially for Spark flyers ; as you said, mostly it ends up in a disaster when ATTI mode become alive....

cheers
JJB

JJBspark Posted at 11-20 09:11
nah, don`t thinks so.

In this flightlog the first compass error showed up in the Go 4 app about 20 seconds after take-off.

oh I agree with you there.. if you are lucky enough to get a compass warning.. and you see it before it goes away since you shouldt be staring at the screen while flying.. wink wink.. then by all means bring it home..

Before launch did you notice if the heading of the Red Arrow in you Radar matched the way the AC was pointing?

DeuceDriv3r Posted at 11-20 10:58
oh I agree with you there.. if you are lucky enough to get a compass warning.. and you see it before it goes away since you shouldt be staring at the screen while flying.. wink wink.. then by all means bring it home..

Yep, i missed once some audio beacuse my volume on my device was at zero. ;-(

And ofcourse, like you said, watching your drone and not watching the screen....
Think i fly next time with some headset on to hear the audio!

And i always fly with a screen recorder on, nice to see afterwards what i missed on the screen...


cheers
JJB

Laz22 Posted at 11-20 11:45
Before launch did you notice if the heading of the Red Arrow in you Radar matched the way the AC was pointing?

Good question but if you look at all the drone screen recorded video`s ; not all DJI drone flyers have their mobile device calibrated OK and do a check on the red arrow.

Only a red arrow wich is not steady indicating indicates drone compass problems! If the arrow indicates other direction than the drone heading than depends of the reading if its a drone compass or mobile device compass problem.

cheers
JJB

Laz22 Posted at 11-20 11:45
Before launch did you notice if the heading of the Red Arrow in you Radar matched the way the AC was pointing?

riddle me this.. I do check that every time.. and every time the aircraft lands the arrow is back were it started but its not pointing where it took off... but it thinks it is..

Laz22 Posted at 11-20 11:45
Before launch did you notice if the heading of the Red Arrow in you Radar matched the way the AC was pointing?

I do normally check but i can't honestly say I can remember if i did/remember where it was pointing in this instance.

Unfortunately in my case the drone was already out of control before the first warning appeared on the screen so didn't get a chance to try to land it. The only stick input that appeared to be working was the throttle, so i only had the choice to either crash land it or get it into the sky above the quarry wall, which is the option i went for.

MKPSG12 Posted at 11-19 08:48
So in my case my drone seems to have had a compass error from almost immediately after take off but it didn't give warning on-screen until about 25 seconds into the flight!

http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/57F121NN0J8R0Q7DMGW5/

compass errors do come in during flight but it can go away if you steer the drone up or away from that location. SPARK is  capable of correcting itself from such errors during flight !