Hi all. I had a strange one this evening. I recently got a replacement (new) MA2 after my last was wrecked in a crash, and have flown it a few times without issue.

It was a nice evening here today, with a slowly setting sun and a few clouds, so I went out for a leisurely fly in the fields around the farm where I live. On the first flight, I went about 30m up and a few hundred meters out. When I stopped and hovered, the sensors alarm / beeping began randomly sounding. There was nothing around me and I was 30m above the ground, so I was a bit confused and brough it back home to check the sensors. They all looked fine, but I gave them a clean anyway.

I set off on my next battery, only for the same thing to happen at a different location and around 40m up while hovering. The alarm would sometimes stop, but it was very random was getting to the point that it was becoming a concern. Again, I returned home and ran a compass / IMU calibration as a last resort. Same thing.

It wasn't until my last battery that I caught on to what was happening. If the MA2 was orientated with the rear sensors pointing directly at the setting sun, the alarm would sound. Rotating 40 or so degrees would make it stop. I repeated this experiment at different heights and in different locations with the same result, so I'm convinced the rear sensors were being triggered by the setting sun.

I flew over 80 hours with my previous MA2, shooting video and photographs many times during sunrise and sunset, but didn't once have this problem. Has anyone else ever experienced this or is this potentially an issue with my MA2?

Thanks for reading this far

The obstacle avoidance sensors on the Mavic Air 2 can indeed be confused by the sun and other bright light sources that shine on them. It may be necessary to switch into Sport Mode to disable Obstacle Avoidance in order to fly in the direction of the rising or setting sun.

Hello there Red Zeppelin. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. Flying your DJI Mavic Air 2 on an area where the lighting changes frequently or drastically and flying over extremely dark ( < 10 lux ) or bright ( > 40,000 lux ) surfaces can affect the vision system of the said drone. Thank you.

I have the same issue on the M2P from time to time so I just turn them off on bright days.

I never experienced false beeping alarm but on screen sensor indicator goes red from time to time (in mist or direct sun light).